Catastrofa Economica Ruseasca!

NO!  It's Not Latin

<hack spit>, nor is it Italian.  It is a language that has a 77% commonality with Italian, which is to say -

     Romanian.

     You can possibly guess what it means - "Ruffian Economic Catastrophe" as lifted from the title of Joe Blog's vlog on the subject, which is the main focus of this Intro, with input from me and other social media vloggers and Tweeters.

      Why Romanian?  Because it's exotic and different, which is reason enough.  Art!

     That, gentle reader, is an AI-generated BALLISTIC MISSILE HIPPO.  Of course - obviously! - it couldn't be anything else.  Don't worry, I shan't go through the entire animal kingdom with this theme*.

     There is a caveat here.  Several months ago the Ruffians disabled external access to their economic data, which had been filleted to begin with.  Instead of being able to use detailed statistics, economists and observers can only use headline information, which, to be frank, cannot be trusted, or data outliers that the liars haven't cancelled access to yet.  Art!

THE WAR ECONOMY: Of itself, this is an admission of failure, since the "World's Number Two Superpower" (note quotation marks) cannot organise itself to defeat a grossly inferior opponent by normal economic means.  In the short term, going over to a war economy boosts GDP and has aided businesses contracted to support said economy.  This has been the case for 18 months BUT it's already having serious negative consequences.  Art!

     In 2024 Ruffian industrial production increased by 1.9%, which is a lot less than the 3.6% increase in GDP predicted by the IMF (who just blithely accept whatever figures the Ruffians give them).  As you can see from the chart above, all priority is being given to military industries.  

INVESTMENT: This next chart is an indicator of where the Ruffians are putting their capital, over time from 2018.  Art!

     As of last year, you can see the sudden and large increase in money going into war industries, about 1/8th of the overall total.

     RETAIL SALES: Have a look at that first chart.  "Other Manufacturing" includes goods produced for the Ruffian public, which comes waaaay behind making tanks and guns.  Art!

     I've had a nosy on teh Interwebz and nobody has figures for July 2024 yet; I imagine they'll be out at the end of August.  You can see from this that Things Being Bought By The Average Orc have diminished severely; June 2023's figure stood at 13% but for June 2024 the total is just 6%, which continues the downward trend from February 2024.  What's happening here?  Well, cast your mind back to the Sinister Union 1.0, where they, too, concentrated on building tanks and guns at the expense of retail goods.  A ten-year wait to be able to buy a car, comrade?  Well you don't have a choice.  This phenomenon is now afflicting Modern-day Mordor, where the serfs have the money yet nothing to spend it on.  Which brings us to -

INFLATION: This is one of the metrics that the Ruffians can't hide, although whether they're telling the truth about actual rates as opposed to what Putinpot wants the world to believe is quite another matter.  In June 2023 the official rate stood at 3.3%, which is a couple of months after the Ministry Of Finance arbitrarily chopped 9% off the overall rate.  As of July 2024 the official rate is now 9.1%, whilst the unofficial rate is reckoned to be around 24%.  This is despite interest rates being hiked again, to 18%.  Art!

Ruffian inflation rates to June 2024

     Just to be malicious with statistics, there's the Ruffian interest rate graph since April 2023.  Not only does it stand at an eye-watering 18% - This Sceptred Isle's current rate is 5.25% - but there is talk in the Ruffian Central Bank of raising it again, possibly to 20%, and 24% has been mentioned.  A hike that large would probably kill inflation but would also terminate the Ruffian economy, with extreme prejudice.  The underlying problem is that there is too much demand and not enough supply - see that first chart again.

THE DEATH SPIRAL: Okay, this is me being hyperbolic again.  This title is just to sweep up a couple of other dire effectors on the Ruffian economy.  One is the lack of migrant workers from the 'Stan republics.  These were the peons who did the hard, dirty work that Ruffians don't like doing themselves - building sites, bin collectors, sewage treatment, stuff like that.  A prime reason for not working in Modern-day Mordor is the very real risk of being arbitrarily conscripted for the meat-grinder in Ukraine, as well as the other very real risk of being attacked thanks to the terror attack on Crocus City Hall.  The other effector is the palsied state of the ruble, which means migrants are less likely to journey for a worthless currency, and how it makes imports a lot more expensive.  Plus, the National Wealth Fund is running low.  Art!

     The AI-generator jibbed at 'Death Spiral' and 'Fatal Spiral' so I had to go with 'Spiral of Doom'.  I bet "Doctor Who" never had problems like this.

     I hope you enjoyed this lightly-spiced soufflé of doom.  Next!

"The War Illustrated Edition 192 October 1944"

Let's see what the two-week delay is allowing this publication to print.  Art!

     Here we have the usual centre-page montage, with text far too small for you to read, so I shall describe individual pictures for your elucidation.  No, no need to thank me, all part of BOOJUM!'s service.  Art!

     This is the bridge at Nijmegen, and that monstrous bit of kit visible is the British 17-pounder anti-tank gun, which would deliver the glad news to any Teuton tank it came across.

     There is a bit of an 'however', here, though.  You see, those trail legs really ought to be bedded-down in earth, or covered with sandbags, because if or when they fire the gun, it will recoil all the way down that bank and into the road.  If the gun is moved forward to bed the trail legs into that bank, the barrel will be projecting all the way over the hedge, giving it's position away.

Life Imitating Art

For some reason the name "Joe Bonamassa" cropped up in my head upon waking a while ago, for no good reason.  As I am wont to do, I made a note of it in my notebook - which is a bit too hefty to be so called, maybe 'journal' is a better description? - for use at a later date and here I offer the evidence.  Art!

Ignore "Syd Mead!  Ignore "Syd Mead"!

     There you are, you ravening sceptics, you.  I am vaguely aware of him as a musician - a bass player, possibly?  I don't have any music by him, nor do I know if he's a solo artist or part of a band, so why Steve bothered with him I cannot tell.  

     ANYWAY - Art!

From my browser feed today

     Thank heavens for my armoured underwear or the Coincidence Hydra would be nibbling on my nethers.  

     They could at least have a picture of Peter Green in the background instead of Jimi Hendrix.

Wright On, Bernie

Okay, here's a monochrome illo that Bernie Wrightson did for a comic, although which one I haven't been able to determine - possibly this title page was also the cover?  Art!

     Just look at the detail that went into the lake waters here, and the inclusion of a puny human boat to give the monster a sense of scale and sheer size.  Conrad also suspects that Bernie did the title lettering as well, because it's not a normal font.

In Sfarsit -

Which is obviously - of course! - Romanian for 'Finally' - that's all folks.  Wave goodbye politely, Vulnavia.

*  Or maybe I shall.  I can be horrid like that.