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"Oligarchs" are people who were friends with Boris Yeltsin in the 90s. USSR was collapsing, government upheaval, etc. In this period, the government of Russia s
by 0xB31B1B 5y ago
"Oligarchs" are people who were friends with Boris Yeltsin in the 90s. USSR was collapsing, government upheaval, etc. In this period, the government of Russia sold off state owned enterprises for extremely cheap prices, fractions of a penny on the dollar, to Russian nationals. The state owned enterprises were things like mines, shipping companies, iron smelting, etc. The people who bought these state owned enterprises are "the oligarchs". They have extreme political power in Russia and own or have monopolistic control of huge parts of the Russian economy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_oligarch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_oligarch
It's not a generic slur for "billionaire" its a much more specific term relating implicating them as beneficiaries in a kleptocratic system.
- slibhb 5y agoYou might not be using it "as a generic slur for billionaire" but lots of other people are. Further, according to many people, every rich person is a "beneficiary in a kleptocratic system".
- senko 5y agoThose people clearly do not live in countries in which this is literally true, like Russia and many Eastern European countries. Otherwise the difference would be blindingly obvious to them. Think Bezos is filthy rich? Imagine the president selling Library of Congress to him for the nominal price of the building(s) and paper stored. It's next level.
- rodgerd 5y agoThey aren't going to give your their money if you shill for them, you know.
- slibhb 5y agoNot everything comes down to material interest. When you make this comment, you reveal something about yourself.