> > It offered Russians hungry to buy fridges, cookers and electronic goods
> > 5,000-150,000 rouble credits for up to 12 months at 35-45 percent annual
> > interest. The bank asks for a 20 percent down payment and two
> > identification documents.
>
>Fresh meat for capital.
>
The big problem here for the middle class taking out loans is that a large hunk, maybe the majority, of the MC is not officially MC. They get paid in black cash and are terrified of registering their incomes (the dreaded tax police will show up, and you'll probably get fired by your tax-evading employer), so they show up officially as poor and don't qualify for loans. (As I've said before, official stats on income in Russia are way, way out of whack with reality. For instance, official average monthly income in Moscow is $134. In the real world, on the other hand, you can make four times that just peddling shoe polish on the metro.)
>>$15 a barrel and a bucket of blood more like it.
Ain't capitalism great? The recovery of Russia depends on bloodshed in the middle east! Seriously though, high oil prices started before the current Intifada.
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