u/Willing_Cost2665

What made 1998 such a massive turning point is that Russia never forgot the humiliation. Putin basically spent the next 20 years building a system meant to make sure the country would never get cornered like that again — stacking reserve funds, creating backup payment systems, and making energy deals outside the dollar system.

So when the West froze $300 billion in 2022, this wasn’t some random surprise to Moscow. They’d been preparing for that exact moment for years.

Full breakdown: https://youtu.be/akegMBOeo74

https://www.worldbank.org/en/region/lac/publication/perspectivas-economicas-america-latina-caribe

The average worker today? Not really moving up like you'd expect.

Since the late 70s, paychecks in the middle barely budged. Yeah, they went up a bit — but not like everything else did.

Meanwhile?

Rent, houses, college… all took off.

So you're working, earning, doing everything right — but it still feels tighter.

And then you hear this:

"Student debt? You can't even wipe it out in bankruptcy."

Now it starts sounding less like bad luck… and more like the rules were written a certain way.

Went deep on this one: https://youtu.be/b4bHj6JyLeg