We held out. There is money. Have a good mood!
“There is no money, but you hold on,” said the country’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and immediately burst into the sky of Russian literature like a meteor, temporarily eclipsing our Zlatousts Viktor Chernomydin and Kozma Prutkov.
Engraving. Miser. Dutch school, 17th century
The people understand everything, look with loving eyes and blink their eyelashes. He holds onto the air with his hands so as not to fall. The only thing he doesn’t understand is where the money is? Why are they not there? Where did they go, the damned money, from our Fatherland?
The war is somewhere far away... All the soldiers of the Syrian contingent can be counted on one hand, which, with all our insatiable salary fantasies, cannot be an extremely expensive undertaking. The Fathers of the Fatherland mentioned that the costs of the Syrian conflict will be taken from the bowels of the Ministry of Defense. There were pennies there for combat training, so we are conducting combat training in places where the persecutor of Christians, Saul, converted to the head of the Christian church, Paul, by depriving him of his sight. And this happened on the road to Damascus.
The global economic situation allows Mother Russia to order new beads for itself in the form of the World Cup. Build new stadiums for trillions of rubles, build day and night, of course, the necessary and even vital Crimean Bridge, the longest in Europe. State employees receive a bribe for their work so small that it is hard to see even with a microscope. Our pensioners are never pampered. The winter has been warm for several years in a row, and this also saves money on the budget. Gas and oil flow through pipes where ordered. The sanctions imposed by world imperialism are life-giving for agriculture. There are a hundred billion dollars hanging around in American government securities alone. It is unknown how much money is frozen in European securities, and in Japanese and Chinese securities - there must be a lot. Gold reserves are growing. As of April 20 of this year, the international reserves of the Russian Federation amount to 463.8 billion US dollars. It would seem that everything is fine, but there is no money. I wish you health and good mood.
When there is no money, then deflation must be observed in the economy and life. This is a process when prices for goods fall while wages are relatively stable or slightly declining. The last time this happened in our Fatherland was under Emperor Joseph Stalin. Three or four times during the New Year, prices for certain groups of goods were reduced; you can ask your grandparents about this. The Pravda newspaper invariably noted an increase in trade turnover in the country due to lower prices. Deflation leads to an overall decline in GDP expressed in monetary terms, and this does not look good in reports. With one stroke of the pen, tariffs for housing and communal services and excise taxes are increased. These additional expenses do not allow the figure to sag.
Caricature, author unknown. 20th century
No money left. No - print it!
“No, no, there will be inflation,” economists happy with life will answer me.
Will not be. The nature of inflation in Russia depends little on the amount of money in circulation. In Russia there has not been enough money in circulation for a long time. Both cash and non-cash. Maximum inflation (1998 - 84%) and minimum inflation (2011 - 6.1%) were observed with almost the same increase in the money supply, by 21-22%. The growth of the money supply in some years was at the level of 50% (these are 1999, 2000, 2003, 2006). For example, the acceleration of the growth of the money supply to 50% in 2003 did not lead to an acceleration of inflation, but to its decrease. A similar situation was observed in 2006.
At the everyday level, I will say that the author has never received in the form of change a banknote with the image of a snowboarder against the backdrop of the Olympic venues in Sochi. The banknote was issued in 2014 with a circulation of 20 million pieces. And this, please move, is 2 billion rubles. I also didn’t hold in my hands the 2015 hundred-ruble notes with the image of Crimea, which is also 2 billion. There is one such bill for every 7 people living in Russia! You will laugh, but the cost of such banknotes at online auctions is approximately 200 rubles.
Crimean Bridge, a miracle of the first quarter of this century. The total cost of implementing the Crimean Bridge construction project will be 227.922 billion rubles. If banknotes with the image of a bridge were issued for the amount indicated in the estimate, Russians would have 1.5 banknotes or a little more in their wallets. One and a half hundred-ruble banknotes for each. There is reason to think.
On April 12, 2016, the Central Bank of Russia announced the introduction into circulation of new banknotes with a denomination of 200 rubles. The text of the statement states that the appearance of these bills will simplify monetary transactions and will not affect the total amount of money in circulation. New banknotes will be introduced through the withdrawal of old ones. The Central Bank emphasized that the adoption of this decision is connected with the planned reduction in inflation to 4-6% by the end of 2016.
Due to old banknotes, that is, designated for destruction. This is where you can start to fight in hysterics. 5 ruble banknotes have been withdrawn from circulation. Ten ruble bills are already very rare. Metallic money is also washed out of circulation. Commemorative bimetallic 10-ruble coins are rare. Some issues cost crazy amounts of money in terms of face value to value ratio.
Old data was specially taken for the so-called fat years of the economy. The actors in the economic arena are still the same. The level of monetization of the Russian economy in 2005 was 33%, while in countries comparable to Russia the level of monetization is much higher: China - 201%, Canada - 162%, Japan - 124%, USA - 71%, India - 71% . In 2007, the level of monetization of the Russian economy was about 35%. Data for subsequent years allow us to draw a conclusion about the artificial and economically unjustified under-monetization of the Russian economy.
The icon of liberal economists, Friedman, formulated his famous monetary rule: the money supply circulating in a market economy should increase following the increase in the nominal market value of the GNP produced; it should not increase discretely (intermittently), but constantly, from month to month, and so on for whole year.
And further beauty in this theory: if the money supply circulating in a market economy turns out to be significantly greater than the nominal market value of the GNP produced, then the money supply must be compressed. MORE THAN THE NOMINAL VALUE of the gross national product. You need to triple the money supply before you start compressing it! Instead of grumbling, I will note that in the first months of this year there was 305 billion rubles less cash in the economy. There was 3.2 percent less cash. In addition, it must be said that 5,000 ruble bills make up 75% of all money in circulation. And 100 ruble bills are only one percent of the total amount.
There is no money, and we need to get it. The hand involuntarily reached for the Mauser. Put aside, let’s reach for A. Gridin’s book “How the Bolsheviks nationalized commercial banks” (1962, “Experience and documents of the post-October days in Petrograd”). This work is a continuation of Gridin’s book “How the Bolsheviks took control of the State Bank,” published by the State Financial Publishing House in 1961. Not suitable as a means?
A very good example of raising money for public needs was left to us by the civil war commander Nikolai Shchors.
On February 5, 1919, Kyiv was occupied by the Red Army. The commandant of the city was the 23-year-old commander of the 2nd brigade, Nikolai Shchors. Taking a revolver out of his holster, he went into the bank office, introduced himself and demanded that he be given a truly astronomical amount. Hearing that there was no cash in the bank, he became angry, ordered an urgent gathering of staff and made a speech. The speaker was told that communism is wonderful, but there is still no money, because it was withdrawn by investors. Then the brigade commander demanded that the bank immediately force wealthy clients to return their savings to their accounts. They objected to him that the bank did not have such powers. Shchors was amazed at the gentleness of the old-regime employees and ordered that lists of the richest investors be sent to him, indicating their home addresses.
Each “money bag” was issued a personal invitation to appear at a meeting of depositors, which would take place at the Gaiman Theater at 8 Meringovskaya Street (now Zankovetskaya Street, the building has not survived). The note stated that if the recipient did not show up, he would be arrested. For greater persuasiveness, these summonses were carried out by Red Army soldiers with rifles.
The theater hall was filled with a brilliant audience. Finally the curtain opened to reveal a dark and empty stage. Those present looked at each other in bewilderment. A moment later, the spotlights suddenly flared up, flooding the stage with bright light. Shchors appeared from behind the scenes with a Maxim machine gun. The hall was numb.
The commandant of Kyiv, with decisive movements, tucked in the belt with cartridges, lay down on the floor and pointed the “iron agitator” at those gathered. Those sitting in the front rows ran away, but the doors to the auditorium were locked. There was no escape. Literally deathly silence reigned. Nobody knew whether there would be a burst of fire in the next second or not. The shock experienced made the right impression on investors. The next morning, the millions needed by the Bolsheviks were returned to the bank.
I’m afraid that this performance, repeat it in Moscow in 2018 in a theater with ... [censored], will also not be liked by fellow citizens.
There are many peaceful ways to saturate the economy with money. It is possible to allow the circulation of the “Yeltsin coin”, which now in fact does not differ in denomination from current coins. Still the same metal, still the same diameter, still the same double-headed eagle.
Based on the experience of Tsarist Russia, it is possible to issue stamps - money that “travels on a par with a silver coin.”
You can turn to the experience of Germany and give the right to cities and towns to print “emergency money.”
Or you can simply dismiss the economic bloc of the government, exile the entire directorate of the Central Bank to the remote taiga... study Friedman's theory! Now is the right occasion - the assumption of power by a newly elected president, who must (and even is obliged) to dismiss the government.
Dear Comrade President! Find yourself and us a financier who will say: “We held out. There is money. Have a good mood and good health!”
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