PUTIN DOESN’T CARE; HIS MONEY IS IN DOLLARS AND EUROS: The Russian Ruble: How Low Can It Go?

The Russian ruble hit a new low against the dollar, breaking its previous record by a significant margin. At its nadir, it took seven rubles more to buy a single U.S. dollar than it did when we last checked a little over a month ago. . . .

The above quoted “fair ruble price” matches, not coincidentally, what a surveyed group of economists agreed was Russia’s breakeven price of about $100 dollars per barrel of crude oil.

But the real current price of the ruble, fair or not, is being dragged significantly lower than that by a global glut which is being fed in no small part by America’s huge uptick in energy production over the last several years, and which shows no signs of stopping. That spells trouble in the medium and long terms for the oil-dependent Russian economy and for Putin, whose regime derives its continued power from a compact with the people to ensure stability and economic prosperity.

More fracking! It weakens the Arabs and Iranians, too.