Russian demographics

[shmage at pipeline.com]

>Brad De Long wrote:
>
>>>alec ramsdell wrote:
>>>
>>>>And she notes: "Now, the IMF just gave Russia $22 billion. . . .
>>>>Everyone's ecstatic . . . the government is patting itself on the back,
>>>>and now life can go on as it was pre-crisis."
>>>
>>>And the kleptocrats' foreign bank accounts will probably swell by at least
>>>$11 billion.
>>>
>>
>>Nahh. Only $3 billion at most...
>
>Well, a World Bank anthropologist once told me that they assumed that
>Marcos was stealing 1/3 of the money the Bank lent the Philippines. I think
>you could say the same (at least) about Suharto. Why should the Russkis be
>any less thievish than those thugs?
>
>Doug

Because most of the money is earmarked to repay short-term debt (ie., to
validate previous theft, as in our S&L heist).

Shane