For whatever reason the Russians are sort of the of the suburban teenager of the ultra-rich age. They go absolutely crazy at the mall when they have a few bucks in their pocket, and melt down into a pile of sobbing Jell-o when the funds dry up. Russia is very much a bellwether of the luxury market with 18 month latency in this way. Their spending excess on last year’s trend gives firms like Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton a perfect opportunity to dump two-season ago hot items that have backed up inventory and charge premium pricing to do so. The risk, of course, is getting stuck when the oligarchs start sucking wind. That would be circa now.
Moscow had 74 billionaires a year ago, more than any other city in the world. Now it has 27, according to Forbes magazine. The 25 richest Russians lost a combined $230 billion during six months last year as the value of their companies plunged along with commodity prices, according to Bloomberg calculations.
As if this were not enough, the degree to which the Muscovite oligarch depends on the acquiescence of the Kremlin in all of his affairs makes the cross attention of Putin an experience that makes being a bailout spending, private jet flying Big Auto executive look tame. After all, Obama, for all his bluster, was never a member of the KGB. (We’re pretty sure on this one).
Sounds like it might be time for Western consultants to hire a pair of AK toting “guides” and head over to draw some consulting fees again. Who’s in?
Party Ends for Russian Rich After $230 Billion Losses [Bloomberg]
I think the Russians watched too many Bond films and thought, that that is how they are supposed to act.
I’ll bet the neocons think that Obama was in the KGB. And he wasn’t born in America. And he’s Muslim.
Stupid neocons.
Wonder how much it costs to ship a S-class Benz from Moscow to NYC…
also, @ #1, while its a little too soon to tell, you’re looking like a strong FTW contender in the early running
@2….He aint, he wernt and he aint and oh yeah ???/?
~Karl Lugummer
Shack, Idaho
If tombstones tell a story, it looks like left handed Sergei was in Red Square one gloomy night, jerking off through a hole in his double breasted suit pants, and got run over by a Mercedes.
On the obnoxiousness scale, rich Russians are second only to rich liberals.
@ anal
I hear Putin was most likely to hold the world hostage while sipping Moet in a casino in Monaco
@ 5 – “plums? plums? when did I buy plums???”
Well Larry Summers is too busy right now trying to fux0r our economy this time — the russkies are on their own this decade…
2 Over the past day or two I’ve seen multiple references here to “neocons”, all used in a way that implies that “neocon” and “conservative” are the same thing. Almost as if a neocon is a conservative thats young and hip. Not true. You people need to look up the term before you start spouting this in public and embarassing yourselves.
Wealth declining in Russia. Is there a Russian Bride ETF I can buy? Those chicks are going to come back over here full force.
@9 ok, I looked it up: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neocon
That said: I’ll bet the neocons think that Obama was in the KGB. And he wasn’t born in America. And he’s Muslim.
Stupid neocons.
2 Russians were walking down the street and one, trying to impress the other, says “See this watch? I just bought it at that store over there for $30,000″. The other, unimpressed, says “You idiot. You could have bought it at the store across the street for $60,000!”.
Tom Brady looks good in that double-breasted suit.
Where oh where did you get the pic of the tombstone? Prekrasna!
@2 – No, we “neocons” don’t think Obama is a Russian KGB agent. First off, he’s too stupid to be Russian — he’s a crack smoking, affirmative action Muslim puppet financed by the Teamsters and possibly the Chinese and we think Syria might even be in on this.
Seriously though, while this “neocon” doesn’t actually like the idea of starting wars, I also don’t like the alternative.
Think being reasonable with some of the more easygoing Taliban members is going to work? Unocal tried that back in ’94 when they were trying to get their pipeline down to the port in Pakistan. That worked out well, didn’t it?
Think a nut like the Dear Leader or the crazy shithead in Iran are going to stop building their bombs just because Obama wants to just get along now? C’mon, they are laughing at him while their elves toil away.
Throw in a few extremists running around with Dr. Khan’s bombs and what a great time to disarm the big guys.
Idealism aside, there is no negotiating with terrorists or “hugging it out, bitch” with insane dictators.
Oh, but it takes one to know one, say the peace loving liberals.
Personally, I’ve found Westside liberals who have likened Bush to Hitler have usually a) never lived under Hitler or another dictator themselves and have always enjoyed the political freedoms and protections of living in a (once)free and capitalistic society.
Ask someone who had friends and relatives disappear courtesy of the STASI in the GDR or Stalin in the USSR how much they liked living under a communist regime — certainly, not as much appreciation for socialism and communism as you will find from the NYC Whole Foods crowd.
Oh, but war is not the answer — true, it’s not ever a good one and should be avoided at all costs. But what is the alternative right now? Just sit back, use diplomacy and send diapers and rice? Yeah, that’s worked in Darfur, hasn’t it? That approach certainly stopped them from building their rocket in North Korea, eh?
I wonder what the Chinese are up to with penetrating our electric grid? I’m sure it’s just a pair of college kids, no harm meant.
We may be bullies, but we’re predictable bullies who have avoided for a very long time having a war with a foreign enemy fought on home soil. Like it or not, it’s kill or be killed and you are engaged in either one or the other.
@15
You KILLED it. #2/#11 might has well go back to his/her protesting animal rights and global warming and leave the big conversations to the real citizens.
@16 No, he didn’t. Painting the world as a binary choice between John Bolton and Neville Chamberlain is the sort of stupidity that was endemic the past eight years.
@17:
No, of course, you’re right. It’s a continuum between Neville Chamberlain and Maurice Gamelin.
(Duh).
@EP That’s only on the Entente dimension. On the Soviet-Axis axis, the Tukhachevsky-Guderian spectrum complements the Papal Divisions Criterion for foreign relations.
Sorry, is Mikhail Tukhachevsky supposed to be Chamberlain or Gamelin in this example? (Either answer is equally daft).
Neither, it’s a separate dimension.
I would go with General Nivelle, if I were to replace with Bolton with someone similarly in thrall to elan and the offensive.
I think you missed the point of your own generalization.
No, but I did overreach.
@1 Is good, rest is crap.
Why cant this just be a collection of humour rather than a Discovery channel? Tuha…what?
I just have to laugh at neocons.
Russian babes are the hottest and know the deal: pussy for cash-equivalents…ie, PE, VC, MDs apply
Polish, Czech, Ukrainian, Romanian, Hungarian are not far behind in looks…but are willing to accept future earnings power….ie, Assoc/VPs apply etc
all however beat bloated/ann taylor white chicks who provide zero benefit in looks dept. or investment return…hard up bankers have applied
Sadly, Asian, Latin, south-asian chicks are mimicking white dumb ass ways and giving away their trade-down babe status to Eastern-euros….
They never learn…
@15 – Bravo.
There is nothing more to say.
@15
The US and its preponderance of power over the last 50 years have been the only force that prevented another great power conflict.
I hope that Obama doesn’t continue to disarm us of modern weapons and make us into a peace keeping force. And with many new players on the nuclear weapons map, he wants to make sure we lose our credible deterrence? Simply unbelievable.