[OPE-L:8529] Russian Billionaires

["gerald_a_levy" <gerald_a_levy@xxxxxxx>]

The annual list of billionaires has been printed by

_Forbes_ magazine (for full story, see www.forbes.com ). 

Particularly noteworthy is the list of billionaires from Russia. 

There are now  -17-  billionaires in Russia -- up from -0-

in the year 2000.  The _Forbes_ article claims that Russia may

have the "highest billionaire-to-GDP ratio"  in the world and

in absolute terms only the US, Japan, and Germany have more

billionaires. Most of Russia's billionaires made their fortunes in the

oil industry. 

 

Fully story at  http://www.forbes.com/global/2003/0317/074.html

 

Neoliberal advocates of privatization must be heartened by this

news: surely, they must see the potential wealth that can be

redistributed globally by following "Russian model" for the

oil industry, i.e. by privatizing the domestic oil industries of

nations.  One might ask, also, what role the domestic oil

industry has for Russian foreign policy in relation to Iraq.

 

In solidarity, Jerry