About debts, investments and “salvation of Russia”

A book by Andrey Devyatov, “ The Specific Chinese Character as I Understood It in the Intelligence Service and Business” has been released by the Muravei (Ant) publishing house. Soon, it is to be in Moscow shops. The author has been living in China for a long period and worked in the spheres mentioned in the book’s title; thus, it is quite evident that his approach to depiction of China’s life differs from other publications on the problem. PRAVDA.Ru will soon promote the book. Here is Andrey Devyatov’s last article submitted to PRAVDA.Ru.

The large audience at the patriotic readings of economist Glazyev, the chairman of the Duma’s committee for economic policy, and writer Nazarov, the author of the book “Russia’s mystery” in the Litva cinema in Moscow on February 8 demonstrated the problem of Russia’s salvation is pressing for the Orthodox community.

The lecturers divided the problem into two traditional questions: “Who is guilty?” and “What is to be done?” No problems arose while answering the first question: the liberal democrats and the authorities are guilty. The latter is said to be preserving the order that is quite convenient for a group of Russians who had profited greatly from the breakup of the USSR. The answer to the second question was presented in a form of a slogan.

Mr. Nazarov urged the Orthodox people to live as “if the salvation of Russia depended on you only." Sergey Glazyev told the audience that only the coming of the People’s Patriotic Union to power with 55-60% votes will make it possible for the union-developed economic programs to be put into practice. The programs have been designed for the improvement of the life in Russia.

The statements by Mr.Glazyev rest on state regulation of the economy. However, the contradictions existing between the two lecturers were stressed by the replies and questions of the audience.

Mr. Nazarov ignores the historic reality: the Red Army defeated the White Guards not during “the ten days that shook the world," but over a four-year civil war. He also rejects the result of the changes first by monarchy dethronement and then defeat of the White Army in the civil war to be a visitation for the profanation and decay of the Christianity during the reign of Nikolas II. Nazarov forgot the dogma of the belief: “There is God’s will for everything!”, and criticizes the Bolsheviks, insults Lenin, and disparts patriots.

Sergey Glazyev stated that the US dollar was just paper supported only with 4% of the material values in the USA, while the Russian ruble is supported by 50% of the material value of its face value. Mr.Glazyev thinks that Russia should increase the export of its produce to the world market for dollars and not increase the domestic consumption.

If the dollar is a piece of paper worth nothing and is valuable only virtually, why the capital outflow from Russia? Let these priceless papers drain abroad to swell the bubble of paper and electronic values (like the situation with ENRON energy corporation, which assets reduced from $64 to 0.5 billion within a month). Let the bubble burst there and ruin the fortunes of those rich Russians who prefer to keep their savings in virtual quotations and accounts in the foreign banks. “A personal choice" that is so scary for Western democracy will take place in this case.

From the other point of view, if the world oil prices drop (but oil production and refining is one of the main resources of the domestic economy), domestic consumption of oil for rubles can be easily increased in Russia. For this purpose, the government is to calculate how much money is to be printed to pay the spending of the Defense Ministry on aviation kerosene, diesel oil for tanks, petrol for haulers, and mazut for ships. The General Headquarters is to schedule combat training regarding the amount of the fuel calculated before.

For the newly-printed rubles, empty reservoirs of the state reserve can be filled with oil products to supply tractors and combine harvesters for the harvesting period and for good organization of the north delivery next year. If the supplies are to be created without any reference to the US dollar, the government will avoid the increase of the inflation rate, and the living standard of the population will not sink more. This will also help to revive the army. Russia’s oil producers, in their turn, willget finance to upgrade the technical fleet and other important facilities.

When all contradictions of the lecturers are summarized, the following conclusion can be made.

First, for Russia’s salvation from the Evil, different splits are not to be created, but overpassed not by liquidation of the opponents, but by the harmony of the modern society as it is. The harmony is necessary, because the people who have already grown tired of the struggle for democratic pleasures are now passive and ready to give the hopes to any force, even an evil one, that promises a better life to them.

Second, domestic consumption is to be increased for the natural value created in Russia to remain here and to make for further expansion of reproduction inside the country.

Third, the mass of paper and electronic dollars is to be done away with, and all calculations inside the country are to be done in the rubles. The dollar can be done away with the following way: repayment of the foreign debt, which is done in electronic format now, can be done in paper form. For this purpose, the government should buy dollars from the population and repay the foreign debt in paper dollars. Thus, the foreign currency debt will be transferred to the internal ruble savings of the people and organizations. At that, the debts will be repaid not through equivalents of the capital, but people’s labor.

This method has been already applied in France and Germany. France even quit NATO and ousted the NATO headquarters from Paris to Brussels because of the conflict with paper dollars. After Germany’s return of paper money to the USA with further exchange for the gold, the USA had to abolish the gold standard of the dollar in 1971.

China also successfully uses the instrument of printing yuans for the enrichment of the people. Originally, the yuan-to-dollar rate was considerably understated, and the authorities made it unprofitable for the population to buy dollars for savings (the purchasing capacity of a US dollar equals two yuans at the official rate of 8.3 yuans per one dollar). The rate has been stable for over ten years already, and then Chinese authorities managed to create stability expressed by the “time is money” formula.

Moreover, currency regulation is strict in China: dollar-to-yuan exchange is easy, but yuan-to-dollar exchange is rather complicated. It is also to be mentioned here that the Chinese do not pay taxes as citizens (enterprises and companies pay taxes for them). It is clear with what financing the reforms with triumphant results were carried out in China. Regulation made it possible for the whole population of China to get richer, the capitals were measured in yuans, not dollars.

Over twenty years, the internal savings of the Chinese people in bank accounts have exceeded $7 trillion, as calculated at the official exchange rate. The amount provides a considerable basis for crediting the production sphere of the country, including industrial production, scientific researches or energy objects of any kinds of property. The currency reserve of China reached $212 billion in 2001.

However, when the US Liberty radio in Russia informs the population about the dollar rate every thirty minutes, about its every move up and down, the people understand that it is better to have savings in the US dollar and not the ruble. By doing so, the radio helps to swell the bubble of virtual values in the people’s minds. At that, people certainly profit from saving dollars, because when the ruble drops, the people get richer, if they have dollar savings.

There is also very insignificant protection from the virtual measuring of values in dollars in Russia: the banks credit Russian businessmen only with very expensive credits for short periods, and the sums are not sufficient for the realization of large-scale projects. Russia’s insurers do not insure neither borrowers, nor lenders of credits from the risk of business plan failure. Thus, no long-term investments of the capital in the production sphere can be expected in Russia under such conditions, only money speculations with instant results do interest the people.

Andrey Devyatov

Translated by Maria Gousseva

Read the original in Russian: http://www.pravda.ru/main/2002/02/11/36864.html