> Unlike, for instance, Iran and Venezuela, Russia has been very
> cautious about spending windfall oil profits in the current oil boom.
> That has meant that the Russian record on inflation is better than
> those of Iran and Venezuela, but the ever growing Stabilization Fund
> has generated political debate. What would you spend it on if you
> could have your say? Spend more on pensions, unemployment benefits,
> health care, education, etc.? Invest in infrastructure like pipelines
> or R&D, basic and applied sciences, with a view to developing hi-tech
> sectors? Loan it to private companies so they can expand and hire
> more people? Create state enterprises where the market has failed to
> produce internationally competitive companies? What do you think of
> Putin's and the Economic Minister's views below? -- Yoshie
>
> <http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20070501/64714247.html>
> Interview with Economy Minister German Gref (Part 1)
> 14:15 | 01/ 05/ 2007
===============================================
I think your characterization of the tighter social spending policy of the
government is accurate. Your questions are interesting ones, and Gref and
Putin would answer them, as I suspect they previously have - evasively, in
the abstract, as "some mix of of the above". So would most of us on the
outside who haven't an politician's interest in doing so - in our case,
evasion by default. These aren't questions of principle; they're practical
questions: How can they be answered responsibly without an intimate
familiarity with the current state and functioning of the Russian economy
and of the likely economic and political implications of the various
measures being proposed? They'd be subject to ongoing debate and evolution
for any reforming government, and you'd have to make your way across the
river by carefully feeling for the stones.
But maybe I'm too tentative. How do you answer your questions?