The Poor Rouble: Down Again

       More bad news for Mad Vlad:  rouble loses more value.   The Central Bank of Russya raised interest rates to almost 17%.  Sounds like the USA in 1980.   The price of oil continues its decline, and small producers are feeling the pain.  Even big producers are feeling the pain.  Finally, the American companies are getting some revenge for the assault on their efforts to keep their corporations from becoming irrelevant.
      The House of Saud is maintaining production at former levels to maintain or gain market share.  Who can under sell them?   Nobody.   Can Venezuela?  Ha, they are calling on the world to squeeze the USA.  Sorry, Mr. Maduro.  No dice.   You want to play with the big boys?  You have to learn the rules.
     Perhaps the price of oil will fall below $50/barrel.  Hmmmm?   Will Mad Vlad call his oligarchs AND THEIR MONEY home from London, Abu Dahbi, Zurich, and Monaco?   Will they come?  Probably not.  They'll disappear, of course, and leave him holding an empty bag of empty vodka bottles.  Too bad for him.   Maybe he'll strip off his shirt and prance around in the snow to give his girls a thrill.  Maybe he'll even ride a reindeer through the streets of St. Petersburg.  Who cares?
     His puppet Medvedev was threatening  Ukraine with a cutoff of trade if they go ahead with trade agreements with western Europe.  Same old, same old.
     Maybe they should read Pomerantsev, Peter.   He'll give them something to chew on.
     So, where does the rouble end up?  In the Volga River, under the ice, worthless piece of paper that it is.  Roubles.  You can't be serious?   Swiss bankers are thanking their prudence for not buying any of that junk.  Angela Merkel is now looking quite good on the home front, even if she has a few right wingers running around.   The envy of every Russyan.
     Keep it up, Vlad.  It's called political suicide here in the West.