Vladimir Putin has had a lot of fun making Barack Obama look like an idiot, and now, perhaps not intentionally, he’s showing a better grasp of economics than most of what passes for the economics profession outside Russia.
Long a critic of the U.S. Federal Reserve as the world’s dollar printing press, Putin said for the first time that spending cutbacks will extend to defense and security, which together with social outlays account for almost 60 percent of this year’s expenditure. The central bank has repeatedly warned that the budget presents risks to its inflation outlook.
What’s “most important is not to print money but to change our economy’s structure,” Putin said. “The main issues are how to attract investment, make our economy more efficient, and ensure demand — in other words, how to raise people’s incomes.”
Putin Swears Off Stimulus as Policy Mix Moves Toward ‘Orthodoxy’ bloomberg.com
So the former Communist and KGB man knows that what’s “most important is not to print money but to change our economy’s structure.” That would get him kicked out of any Ivy League economics department. The Federal Reserve minions wouldn’t let him in the door. SLL bets that the Russian economy under Putin’s ministrations does better than the US, European, and Japanese economies have done with Yellen, Draghi, and Kuroda, et al.
No doubt. Wonder if we could hire him?