Russia's unemployment rate dropped to a record low 3.3% in April, data showed on Wednesday, highlighting the labour shortage that is stifling economic growth, while other indicators painted a mixed picture.

Russia was hit with a barrage of Western sanctions as it invaded Ukraine in February last year, ultimately leading to a 2.1% gross domestic product contraction in 2022, a better-than-expected decline touted by Moscow as evidence of its economic resilience.
Month-on-month data was not so forgiving. Retail sales, a key gauge of consumer demand, fell 0.1% compared with March and industrial output dropped 5.0%. Excluding seasonal factors, economic growth slowed to 0.2% in April, the ministry said.

Meanwhile, first-quarter corporate profits slumped 22.3% year-on-year and capital investment stood at just 0.7%, down from 13.8% in the same quarter a year ago.

One major issue is the labour market, which the central bank has repeatedly warned poses inflationary risks, even as government officials have presented high employment to the people as a mark of economic health. The shortage of workers, combined with a weak rouble and general uncertainty, is one of the main factors holding Russia back from industrial growth, according to Sergei Tsukhlo, an economist at Russia's Gaidar Institute.

He said Russian industry was experiencing its highest level of staff shortages since 1996.

Russia's market has changed drastically since the sanctions war began, Tsukhlo said, with mass-market and expensive brands alike leaving the country.

https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/russian-labour-shortage-laid-bare-unemployment-drops-record-low-2023-05-31/

From time to time, I like to quote some of the crazy things I've read on the loony-bin chat sites I like to troll.

Just for laughs, here's a sampling of what the whackos are saying about the Durham report.

"They don't care about the damage the dems have done with the Russian collusion hoax"

"And now we know it was all BS that was started by Hillary Clinton...."

"THEY (DOJ, FBI, CIA, and Deep State CABAL)... have a LOT to answer for ! I pray to Everything HOLY, that they ARE brought to justice... KICKING AND SCREAMING if necessary... and THEN, are forced to spend YEARS of their lives in PRISON...FOR the DAMAGE that they have done to America !"

"Agree. If this was Trump that did this to Hillary there would be riots and burning nation wide.
Now the Biden family are involved in a huge historic crime wave. The left doesn't care about either one."

"Yep...a vast left wing conspiracy. And they engaged in it."

"I've lost count of how many things Rachel Maddow has gotten wrong in her time at MSNBC. She still gets paid and the zombies still listen to her."

"Who will be held accountable? Can't say for sure...but Hillary would be a good start."

"FBI and DoJ have to be disbanded. Fire and convict the cancer and rebuild!"

"Now that we are suing the media... I wonder how much Trump is going to get from CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC, msLSD...."

After the mass shooting at a Texas mall that killed eight people on May 7 – the latest mass shooting to horrify the United States– Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene repeated the common right-wing claim that antidepressants could be responsible.

She blamed the shooting at Allen Premium Outlets on "mental illness, drugs, and evil forces" and said it was necessary to "study SSRI's and other factors that cause mass shootings," referring to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, a type of antidepressant.

Greene has previously made similar comments linking antidepressants to mass shootings, as has former Fox News host Tucker Carlson

"A lot of young men in America are going nuts. Are you surprised? And by the way, a shockingly large number of them have been prescribed psychotropic drugs by their doctors, SSRI or antidepressants, and that would include quite a few mass shooters," Carlson said during one of his shows last July.

Psychiatrists say that there is little evidence to suggest the medications could increase homicidal tendencies.

"Blaming medications as a primary contributor to the spate of mass shootings simply isn't supported by evidence, and to me represents more of a political diversionary tactic than a real scientific theory," David Rettew, a child and adolescent psychiatrist and medical director of Lane County Behavioral Health in Eugene, Oregon, told Insider.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/rep-marjorie-taylor-greene-tucker-122009547.html

Tempers flared inside the House Republican caucus after a handful of members voted against the expulsion of Rep. Gloria Johnson last week, according to edited audio from a caucus meeting Monday.

Republican leadership spent this week working to portray a united front and move forward from a historic double expulsion vote that thrust Democrats into a national spotlight and drew nationwide criticism of Tennessee House Republicans.

But audio leaked from a House GOP caucus meeting on Monday — just days after Republicans voted to expel Reps. Justin Jones, D-Nashville and Justin Pearson, D-Memphis, but not Johnson, D-Knoxville — shattered the message of unity the House GOP has pushed as it seeks to move forward.

In the recording, high-ranking GOP leaders vocally expressed their frustration, hurling accusations at Reps. Jody Barrett, R-Dickson and Bryan Terry, R-Murfreesboro for breaking with the caucus and voting against Johnson’s expulsion, saying “you hung us out to dry.”

"Dear God, we were called — you brought racism into it because you didn’t stay with us,” Rep. Jason Zachary, R-Knoxville, can be heard on the recording. “I don't want to hear why there wasn't preponderance of the evidence as an attorney — I need to know why you flipped your vote at the last minute.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/hung-us-dry-leaked-audio-014513713.html

As a public service to DU members, I've put on my bullshit repellent and chest waders. I trolled my way into a right wing chat site and recorded some of the hilarious comments the loonies are saying.

The following comments are for entertainment purposes onkye, so please don't report this thread for promoting right wing talking points.
~~~~~

"Did you hear Bragg today, refuse to say what unlaying law that was used for this indictment?
He was asked by a reporter, and said, I don't have to tell you."

Reply quote>>>>> I heard him... He is a jerk

~~~~~

" didn't watch any of the circus today actually.

This Banana Republic **** makes me want to vomit. We've lost our Country at this point."

~~~~~

I am now a 200% Trump supporter. **** Democrats. Give me Trump or Death."


~~~~~

"Get your Trump not guilty gear... You can get it all HERE"

~~~~


"THIS WILL BE HEADED TO SUPREME COURT, NO DOUBT "

~~~~~

"Where do we show up for the rally? Trump Tower? NYC courthouse? Wherever MTG goes?"

~~~~~

"I always knew it would be a *** backed by a jew that would turn the US into a third world nation."

A new Yahoo News/YouGov poll — one of the first conducted after former President Donald Trump was indicted Thursday for his role in paying hush money to a porn star — shows Trump surging to his largest-ever lead over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, his likely 2024 GOP primary challenger, as Republican voters rally around the only president in U.S. history to face criminal charges.

In the previous Yahoo News/YouGov survey, which was conducted less than two weeks ago, Trump (47%) led DeSantis (39%) by eight percentage points in a head-to-head matchup among registered voters who are Republicans or Republican-leaning independents. As recently as February, it was DeSantis who was narrowly ahead of Trump, 45% to 41%.

But the new, post-indictment poll suddenly finds Trump lapping DeSantis by 26 percentage points — 57% to 31% — in a one-on-one contest. The former president even attracts majority support (52%, up from 44% previously) when pitted against a wider, 10-candidate field of declared and potential GOP challengers, while DeSantis plummets to 21% (down from 28%).

No one else cracks double digits.

https://news.yahoo.com/trump-indictment-poll-surges-lead-desantis-151150006.html?.tsrc=daily_mail&uh_test=0_00

He's still only getting 57% of Republican votes, even in this situation.

Bottom line, there is still a large percentage of Republicans that will never vote for anything MAGA again.

The last 3 elections should have been enough for the GOP to learn, but if it takes a 4th time, we'll give it to them.

Luckily, everything passed just to the south of us. It was a huge tornado that isn't seen often in this area.

Just for the fun of it, I checked out some posts on a right wing chat site.

Thought I'd share some of their brilliant "insights" with you.

Disclaimer: The following comments are posted for entertainment purposes only. They are not posted in an attempt to change the mind of anyone on DU.. Please don't alert this post for pushing right wing talking points.

~~~~

"It's going to be interesting for sure.

I kinda get the feeling that Bragg has mixed feelings about this, like maybe in the 11th hour he was really hoping they wouldn't indict him... after it came to light that his star witness for the prosecution perjured himself (again) before the Grand Jury to get said indictment."

~~~~

"I think the pressure came from much further up the food chain than the NY DA's office.

Bragg is a Soros stooge. He was probably told to do this, or else."

~~~~

THIS while Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, and the Biden Family have a LAUNDRY LIST of CONFIRMED MILLION $$$$ transfers, paid to the Biden Family FROM Chinese businessmen, who are CONTROLLED by the Chinese Government... and the FBI, DOJ, and other Deep State PUPPETS... do NOTHING !!

THIS is ALL:

1) a TRAVESTY of JUSTICE
2) an OBSTRUCTION of JUSTICE,
3) an ABUSE of POWER, and
4) Election Interference !!

The Democrat Party, and the Deep State, are doing this because they are TERRIFIED that Donald Trump will run again and WIN... "

~~~~~

"Personally I believe THIS will only make him STRONGER, as both a Candidate, AND a President... it should ALL be investigated by the House of Representatives... and ALL those involved should be Dis-BARRED, Charges with the crimes above, and spend YEARS in PRISON for their crimes !"

~~~~~

"Hillary pulled some strings. You know it."

~~~~~

"I bet he easily raises over one billion dollars on this alone"

~~~~~

They have three more indictments waiting in the wings. Predict he will beat this one easily and the others will be stained for this one being brought."

~~~~~

"I still have my Trump "Les Deplorables" t-shirt from 2016.....
Alan Dershowitz suggested if Trump had a Mug-Shot taken, to put that on his 2024 t-shirts, buttons & bumper stickers.. Not only will it help get him elected, but his campaign will bring in untold $Millions in political Merch sales... "

~~~~~

"I got about $50 in Trump $2 bills and .50 cent pieces. Were they do the fancy artwork over the $2 bills and the Kennedy half dollars. Oh, and I got three 1oz silver Trump coins"

~~~~~

"The Great Liberal Ejaculation Event"

~~~~~

"They say you can indict a ham sandwich 🥪

~~~~~

Just a small sampling of how the exploding heads are analyzing this historic event.

This epic band sounded as good live as they did in the studio

https://m.

Drugmaker Eli Lilly & Co. on Tuesday said it will cut prices of its most commonly prescribed insulins by 70% and cap monthly prices at $35 per month at certain retail pharmacies for people who have private insurance.

Lilly said it will list its Lispro injection at $25 a vial effective May 1 and slash the price of its Humalog and Humlin injections by 70% starting in the fourth quarter.

The announcement comes amid growing federal pressure to lower the cost of insulin prices. The Inflation Reduction Act capped insulin prices for Medicare beneficiaries at $35 per month but did not protect people with private insurance or who don’t have coverage from higher prices.

In President Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech, he called on Congress to cap insulin prices at $35 a month for everyone. Lilly said at the time that it supports extending the price cap to all Americans.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/01/lilly-cuts-insulin-prices-70percent-cap-prices-at-35-per-month-for-private-insurance.html