Talking about the economy. The numbers are scary in Russia.

The people withdrew in 2025 from savings 1 trillion rubles from banks.
Which makes no sense to me, so how can that number make sense to anyone else. In USD, it’s about 340 billion dollars American. Which seems to me to be a lot. Another way to compare would be with the total government budget. Well, what the government says is its budget. They budgeted 340 billion rubles for the year 2025 according to Wiki. Is that because they need the extra cash, or because they no longer trust their money in banks?

In terms of assets, one of the largest Russian banks has assets of a little over 50 trillion rubles. But two things to keep in mind, how much of that money is frozen in foreign assets, and how much is locked up in loans. Our next topic. The Russian banking system is under stress. The government pressured the banks to loan money to industries that supplies weapons and armour for the war effort. Those companies in turn are paid for by the Russian government contracts. So, see if you spot the problem, The government gives banks money to give to arms industry, then pays the arms industry to make weapons. So, who is doing what again? Or is it simpler to see the money comes from the government on both ends? The government has to find that money somewhere. And it is not from imports or exports. Sanctions.

How bad is it? Let’s talk gas.
Both the USA and Russia export oil and gas. The price of gas in the USA is lower than in Russia. Not by a lot, mind you, within a range of 10 cents to 25 cents per unit. So not a great difference. Except, the USA pays in American dollars, where Russians pay in paper money called rubles. Oh, and one other thing, The average American income is about 7–8 times what the average Russian makes. Yet they pay the same price for gas?

In terms of industry, the Russian Education department has created a new program for students. You can get high school credit for working in military arms factories. In fact, you can just start working now, and forgo the whole book learning. Just work in the industry and forget the need to read or write. You can start your new factory career at the ripe old age of 12. And in 5 years you can get your high school degree. And a real one, not some fake thing. Issued by the state. Verified by the state.
Why?
The simple answer, you do not need to read or write if your life span will end at 18 in a Ukrainian ditch somewhere.
Russians don’t have enough people to work in factories any more, all excess workers drained to the front line. So they are brining them out of class to work for so many years before they join the military and sadly end up dead. Russia has a legal rule for military. If you volunteer, very stupid of you, you can be sent anywhere in the world to fight and die for the motherland. If you are drafted, and all males at the age of 18 are, you cannot be sent outside of Russia. Isn’t that safe? Well no. Russia lost territory to Ukraine a few years ago. So all draftees are sent to fight in that area. And according to Uke Intelligence, captured draftees are sent anywhere the government wants along the front line regardless of status.

Russians are paid to volunteer, except we are finding that they are no longer paid up front. They get paid over the course of their enlistment. Why? It saves the government so much money. If you are dead, no more money. If you are severely wounded, well, sorry you did not serve out the term. No money, and commanders are ordering solders to hand over bank cards and pins before battle so they can drain any money left in their accounts.

Industry, is running out of necessities. So they are shutting down shifts and closing the plant on Wednesday to give people an extra day off… without pay.

Russian banks report that 13% of all business loans are considered compromised, i.e. not being paid fully, properly or on time. 26% of all loans are listed in the same condition. One industry CEO described the growth rate for the company as negative, but still as growth. People who report bad news find windows very tempting to jump from, or is that pushed? So, we can assume that the numbers reported are worse than they seem and more than they expect.