Mr. Putin's Holiday Headache

     Won't somebody stop pumping oil?  Won't the Saudis turn off the faucet?  Why are Venezuelans selling oil at these low prices?  Why are Canadians fracking the oil shales out West?  Why won't my fellow Russyans hold roubles- aren't they concerned about Mother Russya? "Woe, woe, woe is me," says Vova.
     What has caused this end of the year malaise?  Price of oil is going down, again.  The rouble hits a new low against the dollar for 2015.  "Oh, I hate that stupid dollar.  I know I have some in a Swiss Bank, but not more than a billion or two," says Vlady.  Perhaps the Russyan president can hope that 2016 will see an uptick in price per barrel prices.  Ha, ha, ha, ha.  Fat chance.  The outlook is for continued price declines, which = further declines in the economy run by the Kremlinistas.  Without even trying(he's even in Hawaii with the fam), Obama has managed to kick Vova in the shins from 8000 miles away.  The dollar climbed 2.2% to 72.19 roubles, coinciding with a decline in Brent crude futures below $37 a barrel. Tsk, tsk.  Other countries currencies also felt the effects of oil price declines.  Brazil, Turkey, and South Africa suffered loses in values against the dollar.  Mexico's peso suffered a 4% decline this month.  Sergey Romanchuk, chief trader at Mettallinvestbank, said, "We are hostages of the main factor--prices for oil." Live by crude prices,  die by crude prices.
      So, the Russyan economy will contract again in 2016, but the little ex-KGB colonel/mayoral assistant of St. Petersburg, will strut around and go to the beach at Sochi, take some sun, look over the women from Belarus, Moldova, and Armenia.  Please, no Chechens.   Without a growth in investments, and poor consumer demand, the poor citizen will have to accept the blabber mouths in the Kremlin for another few years while the USA economy picks up speed going into the final year of Obama's administration and the November elections of 2016.
Happy New Year to all in the Largest Country in the World