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In the last six months, nearly two out of every five (39%) Russians have gone without food and drink due to a lack of funds, a poll has revealed. The country has seen rapid inflation of grocery prices during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The latest figures come over three decades after Perestroika and the market-like reforms introduced by then-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, which led to worsened food shortages. The subsequent fall-out led to the collapse of the USSR, and the introduction of a hyper capitalist system, where a small oligarchy quickly took over key sectors of the economy. The 1990s were a painful decade in Russia, and while things have improved since then, pronounced inequality remains a feature of the country's economic make up.
The poll, published by Levada, also revealed that 52% of all Russians have had to forgo necessary purchases of clothes and shoes, while 71% decided not to go ahead with essential large purchases for the home.
If anyone remembers the Savings and Loan collapse in the 1980's, this coming show will make that look like your brother in law welched on that $20 you loaned him. Chaos doesn't even begin to describe it.
It's just pointing out the obvious.
โThe illusion of freedom will continue as long as it's profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater.โ
Frank Zappa