When an economic crisis looms, Russians go shopping. As the ruble crashed through new lows last month, tills buzzed late into the night in the mega-malls that surround Moscow’s ring road as Muscovites rushed to buy Ikea sofas, new cars and washing machines. Russian state television, attempting to put a cheerful spin on the ruble’s collapse, reported the panic buying as a “consumer boom.”
Of course, the rush by Russians rush to spend their rapidly devaluing rubles is anything but a boom, and the buzz of tills is the sound of history repeating. Ordinary Russians are deploying survival skills learned …read more
Source: Newsweek
