A government can just print money. So looking at a governments budget does not reveal how long they last. It shows how they balance military and civilian spending.

[–] BombOmOm@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Printing money has very real affects on the economics of the country. Go wild with it and you get hyperinflation and a complete breakdown of the economy. There is no free lunch.

[–] MrMakabar@feddit.de 2 points 9 months ago

Sure, but do you seriously go to Putin and tell him that you do not have the budget to continue the war or do you just print the money? I am very certain Putin is much more afraid of Ukrainian drones, then of a number. All of that is also easy to manipulate and almost certainly is. Especially inflation with high interest rates.

To really see an economy collapse, you have to look for shortages of basic necessities. We start to see that. That is the part that not accounting trick can manipulate. Everything to do with government budgets, inflation and so forth can be to a massive extend. It stops when the streets show it is broken.