Going forward economically, who will be in the best position
Russia with resources they are willing to sell but demand rubles or gold for payment
USA and other western countries with resources they do not sell very much, but what is sold is settled in USD payment. Biden tried to stop russia from payment settment process but russia simply said if anybody wants oil, then pay in rubles or gold. Biden can not stop rubles or gold payment process
Looks to me as if the USD is in inflation mode. Look at price of cars, houses, food, utilities, health care and tell me if the dollar is losing value. If prices are going up that means more dollars to buy stuff which means USD worth less or am I wrong??
In russia they want rubles or gold for payment. Where do you get rubles or gold, and since oil is sold by x amount of rubles who is the winner in the end game some yrs from now.
Do we print USD to buy rubles to buy oil
Does russia print rubles or tell us to buy gold to buy rubles
What do we have to do to get some rubles for oil
What happens to the value of the USD or Euro when we print to buy rubles
Our inputs are 2 - 3 times more expensive
Our machinery is 3 times or more expensive
Is that inflation??? so what happened to the value of the USD
Tell me why I am wrong when I say our dollar is and will be worth less compared to rubles Yes our CAD is mostly lock step with USD, but not always
Sanctions can bite you. Other people are not stupid IMHO
What is that old saying
Guns or butter???
I think I might just be starting to figger that one out a bit, although I wonder if russia might want both.
I dunno
Some interesting thoughts there. Speaking of inflation, as bad as inflation is in USA, it looks to be worse in Japan.
My main evidence for this is the usd to jpy exchange rate. For years, the exchange rate has been pretty stable around the $1 USD = 110 JPY. Keep in mind that Japanese yen does not use a decimal point, but essentially the rough conversion rate is 1 JPY is ~0.01 USD. This is how it was when I visited Japan in 2016 and it has been fairly consistent up until about a month ago.
Right now, the conversion rate is $1 USD = 124 JPY. So it costs Japanese more of their money to buy USD. This is 'good' for US travelers to Japan (if Japan was even allowing travel to their country) as it means you have more buying power there but it's bad for Japanese.
So you have been to Japan
Good for you
Do you travel for business or pleasure
We had a Japanese exchange student visit us for a couple of days
My wife and myself picked a destination every yr until Covid stopped that
Travelled in Europe and one trip to China many yrs ago when it was safer in China
Never got to Germany as covid stopped our travel. Was working our way through Europe a small part at a time
Also most all 48 USA main land except north western region like Washington or Oregon region
Hawiia a couple of times