Yes I know what an exchange rate is, the dollar's has dropped by 10% so we get less for a dollar than we used to.
The effect of foreign currency exchange on trade - Bing
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The big rat in the woodpile is that there is such a thing as the "exchange rate".
"If we trade with ourselves, we have the money and the goods." A. Lincoln
Americans don't have any money, they owe it all to other countries who have lent money.
That "affluence" is based on debt, the US (American people) owe 38 trillion dollars, I wouldn't personally call that affluence, perhaps living high on the hog? or sponger?
Americans pay far more for health care than any other country, so that eats into this supposed higher wages. So that's one product that is very costly.
The weakness is that there is a currency exchange at all.
And it's about to get worse. As other opportunities for good paying jobs decline the healthcare industry offers such. It's the fastest growing segment of the economy now due the need for medical personnel, the result of the abysmal ignorance and apathy concerning personal health and safely. Soon most of one's income will be devoted to paying medical/insurance costs.
I lived in Russia for more than 30 years. In my opinion, this doesn't work with Putin. He (for the most part) has started this war, or at least he said it was his decision (he often tries to diffuse responsibility, as he did with the mobilization, when he said the generals made the decision, or with the withdrawal of troops from Kherson, when he didn't even say so directly, and Surovikin was the one "making" the decision). But this war is now affecting the Russian elite. If before this war Russian oligarchs would travel to Europe or the US and have their feet practically kissed right at the plane's steps, now their property is being taken away, their accounts are being frozen, and they must receive something in return from Putin so that it will be clear why they are suffering losses. Putin has nothing to offer in return, but for now Putin has enough force to hold on to power.
And now we see that Finland and Sweden have joined NATO, NATO (Europe) has launched programs to finance the military-industrial complex, Russia has suffered serious losses in its fleet and strategic aviation and long-range airborne early warning aircraft (and these will not be replaced in the near future).
Yes, the USSR had plans to annex Finland, since before the revolution this country was part of the Russian Empire. A puppet government of Finland was created, headed by Kuusinen, which was supposed to lead Finland and begin the process of "voluntary" accession of the Finns to the USSR.
I don't understand what you're trying to refute. The USSR started a war with Finland and organized a puppet government. Why Stalin ultimately refused to include Finland into the USSR, I don't know—you can't ask the dead. Perhaps because the Finns put up fierce resistance, and the USSR suffered heavy losses in that war, they deemed it inadvisable to have potential separatists within the country.
In another words, Russian leaders saw independent, but neutral Finland as better option than Finland as a part of Russia.
