What you are witnessing with regards to Russia right now is a social credit scoring model applied to a country that acted in a very unwise manner. If you act up and do something stupid, no more Apple, Microsoft, Nike, McDonald’s, Starbucks, etc. (I could go on and on but you get the idea). Oh and by the way, they will pull your credit, and collapse your currency and stock market in a matter of days.
The Russian people will suffer and there will be no relief in sight. It’s my belief that Russia will stay in a penalty box for 20-30 years, not unlike Germany after WW2. No investment, no credit, and not a part of the world economy. They are going to be made an example of.
But Russia has vast oil reserves, you say. If nobody buys it, or in this case only China buys it, you are screwed. You can read my earlier blog post about the great migration to EVs. Record high oil prices will only quicken that move and are basically more detrimental to the Russian economy. In the end, what you are witnessing is an economic iron curtain developing. On the one side, you’ll have new technologies and innovation. On the other, you’ll have people using flip phones.