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Would you like to know what real-world, real-time effects Putin\u2019s private and personal war on Ukraine is having on the Russian economy? Okay, the list of many companies that do business in Russia is below. All of them are either shuttering their stores or pulling out completely. Some of them have been there since the USSR went bye-bye.\u00a0 It is a remarkably long list and they are ALL pulling out, period.<\/p>\n
Stupid is as stupid does. I am SO disappointed in Putin. He\u2019s no better than Krushchev and those who followed him. Idiocy must be a genetic thing with the post-Soviet government.<\/p>\n
The information comes from Business Insider<\/em>. If you want to know more, it appears that there may be more to come in the form of rampant inflation \u2013 up to ++8.0% – that could have been avoided. We ourselves have got it bad enough here in the good ol’ USofA, so you can imagine what it will feel like to Russians who have never had to go through that kind of thing because they were born after the Soviet Union collapsed into the dust of history.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a list of some of the companies yanking their business out of Russia after a couple of post-Soviet decades of being there. Source is Business Insider.<\/p>\n Ikea, Adidas, and Canada Goose<\/p>\n H&M Group<\/p>\n Disney & Warner Bros., Lego<\/p>\n Expedia<\/p>\n Exxon-Mobil, BP, and Equinor (<-Norway energy company)<\/p>\n Harley-Davidson, General Motors, Volvo and Daimler Truck Holdings<\/p>\n Apple, Netflix, TikTok, IBM, Amazon Web, 3M, Spotify<\/p>\n Norges Bank Investment Management, the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund in Norway<\/p>\n Luxury fashion giant LVMH \u2014 which owns several high-end brands including Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Fendi, and Givenchy<\/p>\n Kering, the conglomerate behind luxury brands such as Gucci, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, and Balenciaga<\/p>\n Hermes, Chanel, Inditex, Burberry, Prada, Goldman-Sachs, Uniglo<\/p>\n PayPal, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Deutsche Bank (Just imagine being used to using a bank card to buy stuff and suddenly it no longer works. The cashier wants cash, too.)<\/p>\n PwC, KPMG (accountancy firms)<\/p>\n AirBnB, Bumble<\/p>\n Unilever, Coca-Cola, Starbucks, Pepsico, Heineken<\/p>\n KFC, Papa John\u2019s, Nestle, Philip Morris, McDonald\u2019s<\/p>\n Since most of these are familiar to us, consider what it would feel like to\u00a0 you if you wanted to take your kids\/grandkids out for a treat, only to find that you can’t even afford a small bag of fries and a soda for one, never mind The Grandkid Horde.<\/p>\n It happened here in the 1920s, when the US government made some serious mistakes that affected the banks and banking in general. And before long, the entire system crashed, when banks ran out of cash because the Federal Reserve could not get deliveries to them quickly enough. Banks closed, some to never reopen, and people lost jobs when their businesses\/employers shut their doors.\u00a0 There was no unemployment compensation in the 1920s and 1930s, but people like Al Capone (yes, that<\/em> guy) opened soup kitchens. Capone’s was at 1053 South Dearborn in Chicago. I believe it’s a parking lot now.<\/p>\n And think about this for a moment: there will be NO spring planting (of grain and other foods) in Ukraine this year, thanks to Putin’s ineptitude and sheer stupidity, which means that there will be a grain shortage in eastern Europe for foods such as bread, flour for cooking, and feed grains for livestock (beef, hogs, chickens, ducks, geese, turkey), which means that inflation in Europe may become rampant. No money to buy junk will also affect China’s flourishing economy when the cash isn’t in the cash drawer. It all rolls downhill, you know. In case you’re wondering, inflation will likely hit everywhere and everything confounded thing.<\/p>\n The projected inflation rate here is speculatively set at 8%++, so take that into consideration when you shop. If it happened once, it can certainly happen again. Even China can be heavily affected if people simply stop buying whatever they ship to us…. which means I’d better make sure I have a good stock of Miss Punkin Squawfypants’ favorite flavors on hand, never mind treats for Yours Truly.<\/p>\n The irony is that gas at the pump (and I told you all about Gas Buddy’s price map) is, for now, holding steady, but does not seem inclined to drop.\u00a0 If anything the blame for that rests squarely on the inept shoulders of the current (lack of) administration and no one else. There is some talk of using some oil reserves, but revive and finish the Keystone Pipeline?\u00a0 Oh, hell, no! That would make sense! People would be back at work again! They could afford things like Kleenex and toilet paper and food again….<\/p>\n