After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, both companies and countries around the world began to cut Russia off. Sanctions were placed almost immediately on key Russian officials and oligarchs, followed by cutting off the country’s financial sector from the rest of the world, and now bans on purchases of natural gas and oil. Even further action could be taken to cut even more industries off from world markets, but those actions could harm US consumers even more than they could harm Russia.
A lot of pundits seemed to think that the only thing Russia offered to the world was natural gas and oil, and that it would be relatively easy and painless not only to cut off Russia from the rest of the world, but to cut the rest of the world off from Russia.
What they failed to realize was that Russia is a major producer of all sorts of materials, not just oil and gas. Russia is the world’s largest producer of palladium, second-largest producer of platinum, and third-largest producer of nickel and titanium. Russia is also a major producer of aluminum and steel, as well as gold and silver.
We’ve already seen nickel prices climb through the roof, forcing the London Metals Exchange to shut down for over a week. Titanium from Russia is a critical component in both Boeing and Airbus aircraft. Cutting off Russian gold and silver would immediately cut precious metals supply by 5-10%. And Russian palladium is absolutely critical in the production of catalytic converters, so cutting off Russian palladium would hamper car production and drive prices skyward.
We’ve already seen gas prices exploding upward too, as a result of Russian oil being sanctioned. How many more prices throughout the economy do we need to see increase before this is all over?
Perhaps the only thing more disgusting than these prices increasing is the fact that the Biden administration is trying to blame Putin for the price increases. And he’s enlisting social media influencers to help him deflect the blame. Are Americans really going to buy this? Or will they say enough is enough and hold Biden and Democrats accountable for the price increases that are ravaging American households?
