Why are there so many billionaires in Russia,is it all dodgy money ?

Question

Why are there so many billionaires in Russia,is it all dodgy money ?

Answer 1

They have lots of resources, and also there are a ton of poor people who are all exploited.

Answer 2

1. Because there are so many poor people in Russia.

2. Probably money earned from sales of arms and radioactive materials to similar corrupt states around the world (Zimbabwe?) and a whole load of oil.

Answer 3

Most of the money is okay - it is just that it should be public money and has been highjacked by thugs in business suits who bribed corrupt officials and basically stole the businesses from the state and the people of Russia.   If you speak out against them in Russia, you are likely to be dead.

Answer 4

Are you so egocentric that you think the U.S. is the only country with vast resources?  Russia was part of a world superpower that, not too long ago, rivaled the U.S. in money and power (the U.S.S.R.).

Answer 5

Conventional wisdom is that in the collapse of the Soviet Union, the well connected took control of what were formerly state run industries. Russia, like Canada is benefitting from the huge demand for natural resources as billions of people are slowly moving from poverty to middle class.

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You are seeing something similar in the West. There weren't as many state run institutions, but there were a lot of companies owned by shareholders. They are increasingly being taken private as the private equity firms are buying up all the choice corporations.

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Also in the third world you where state run firms are being sold to private individuals you see great fortunes being made. In Mexico, Telmex was sold to Carlos Slim for what most people considered a fair price. What wasn't fair was the gaurantees he received for future business. It catapulted him so fast that he briefly was the richest man in the world.

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   It's remarkable for Carlos Slim to make this kind of money. Bill Gates is incredibly rich, US$50 billion, but the world GDP is 1000 times that high [$54,311 billion]. Microsoft has business interests all over the world. [EU is 31.0% of World's GDP and USA is 25.5% of the World's GDP]

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   Carlos Slim has a similar networth, but all of his business interests are in Mexico which has a GDP of $894 billion.

Answer 6

Nah, unlike Americans and the British they work hard and are not fat!!!