Decline in Value for Russian Ruble

News outlets are widely reporting on the decline in value of the Russian unit of currency, the ruble. BBC compares the ruble to the euro and the dollar and discusses what Russia is doing as a reaction to this fall. Leon Aron, in the Wall Street Journal, says this fall spells trouble for U.S. relations with Russia and indicates how economic problems will hurt Russia's poor the most.

Meanwhile, travel magazines drool over Moscow's luxury scene - its outrageously priced meals, its heart-of-Moscow hotels, and its nightclubs that can command prices of tens of thousands of dollars for services. The real Moscow, or the Moscow of the average person, seems forgotten among this envy and excitement. Yes, Moscow's reputation as a playground for Russian and international billionaires has been earned. However, Moscow has always been a city of extremes. Stalin's regime, bent on building towering monstrosities that would, presumably, put the world's tallest skyscrapers to shame, had the Seven Sisters constructed in the late 1940s and early 1950s, but most people were living in cramped communal quarters. Before the Revolution of 1917, tsarist pomp and circumstance contrasted sharply with peasants' poverty. Today is no different - the wealthy shamelessly sport accoutrements of their lifestyle, while

. . . 37% of all families have money enough only to cover food. Unemployment and inflation (already 14%, year-on-year, in November) may well push these people over the edge and into the streets. (Leon Aron, "Russia's Woes Spell Trouble for the U.S.")

Travelers only really need to watch the ruble when it relates to travel plans - rise and fall compared to the dollar or the euro can mean greater or lesser spending power. However, a ruble that decreases in value means a greater divide in Russia's rich and poor. While the very rich will continue to flaunt excess, the poor will wonder how to buy food. So, while it seems, according to many glossy publications, that Moscow is only for those who want to purchase luxury goods, pay $50 for a hamburger, or rent bodyguards by the day, this is simply history repeating itself, and this is only one side to the story.