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End of the Year Russian Economy: Guns and Butter
The following will sound somewhat familiar to any American who knows about the Vietnam War. Why? We did it ourselves. President Lyndon Baines Johnson was committed to a robust civilian economy while growing the military during that war.
We grew into that delusion because we were the victors of the Second World War and the strongest economy to emerge from the war. And to a point, we were. This piece from a Russian economist is impressive because he sees the same issue in Russia. Vladimir Putin has chosen a path where he has tried both. So, this is a small section of a much larger piece. I recommend reading it in full, using the link, and, of course, Google Translate. I am highlighting a small portion of this:
Over the past three years, the total military spending of the Russian Federation has increased several times. In the last peaceful 2021, they amounted to $66 billion. In 2022 and 2023, they rose to 8.4 trillion rubles ($125 billion) and 13.3 trillion rubles ($160 billion), respectively. In the plan for 2024, only their official value is 10.4 trillion rubles, and the actual one may be one and a half times more in rubles, and in terms of dollars, too, apparently, will exceed the level of this year. If we assume that in 2024 they will be 40%, then from the total planned budget expenditures of 36.7 trillion rubles it will be almost 15…