Total value of eggs produced in 2014
Global Economics
Commodities Sick Chicks This spring, the worst-ever case of bird flu hit the upper Midwest, wiping out about 11 percent of America’s egg-laying chickens. While farmers try to replenish their flocks, a nationwide egg shortage has driven prices to record highs and disrupted much of the food industry.
Affected birds
48,091,293 Number of affected birds by state
Cumulative total by week, 2015 50m
Key 0 to 10k 10k to 100k 100k to 1m 1m or more results pending
40m 30m
48.1 million birds
20m
Top eggproducing states: 1. Iowa 2. Ohio 3. Indiana 4. Pennsylvania 5. Texas
10m 0 1/4
Toll on egg supply
32m
6/21
of the birds affected were listed as “layer chickens,” meaning they produced eggs
Total U.S. egg production by month
Average U.S. layers by month 370m
9b
2014
The bottom line With elections a year away and the recession biting, Putin is cutting back on Russia’s 1.4 million federal bureaucrats.
8.5b
2014
8b
2015
2015 7.5b
Edited by Christopher Power and Matthew Philips Bloomberg.com
325m Dec.
June
Nov.
7b Dec.
June
Nov.
GETTY IMAGES (2)
16
Since Putin came to power 15 years ago, the number of federal bureaucrats has jumped to 1.4 million, from 521,000, government data show. The Finance Ministry says the Russian government has a bloated budget. In July, Putin signed a decree ordering the Ministry of Interior Affairs, which has its own paramilitary force and oversees the police, to cut personnel by 10 percent, to no more than 1 million. In an earlier round in late February the federal government, the Kremlin included, cut costs by 10 percent as well; Putin took a pay cut. Exactly how many Kremlin jobs will be lost this time hasn’t been decided, two people familiar with the matter say. Some of the savings may come from reduced wages and benefits, not outright layoffs. That Kremlin workers are facing a second round of purse tightening exposes the shakiness of the leadership’s assurances that the worst is over. Gross domestic product fell 4.6 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier, the largest drop since 2009. The contraction may accelerate to 6.3 percent in the July-September quarter, estimates Capital Economics in London, as low oil prices and sanctions over the conflict in Ukraine continue to batter the economy. The austerity measures are a far cry from the excess that’s characterized most of Putin’s time in power. He more than doubled his own official salary, to 7.6 million rubles ($114,000) last year, as the nation celebrated the annexation of Crimea. The administration’s 1,715 staffers make an average of almost 3 million rubles a year, seven times the national average, according to the state statistics service. Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, declared 9.1 million rubles of income last year, more than his boss. Given the inefficiencies of government in Russia, it’s hard to say if there are too many officials or not, says Andrey Klimenko, director of the Institute for Public Administration at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow. “In Russia, the state intervenes in everything,” he says. “That’s why we have such a huge number of bureaucrats.” —Ilya Arkhipov and Evgenia Pismennaya
$10.2b
