patrick.net

Nah, this is just besmirching campaign waged by all kinds of Nazis against the Great Leader of Mother Russia.

BTW, posting this makes you a Nazi too.

The Clintons were "Broke" when they left the White House, too.

dublin hillz says

he is the ultimate undemocratic tyrant

Riiiight. There's no rational reason a politician who doubled the national income per head after a decade of utter chaos, mafia control, foreign interference, and utter ruin could possibly be very popular.

Why not do a comparison of the USA versus Russia in the following categories:

1.) Military bases and garrisons around the world
2.) Attacks on other countries including drones and invasions in the last decade

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/fareed-zakaria-the-rise-of-putinism/2014/07/31/2c9711d6-18e7-11e4-9e3b-7f2f110c6265_story.html

"The crucial elements of Putinism are nationalism, religion, social conservatism, state capitalism and government domination of the media. They are all, in some way or another, different from and hostile to, modern Western values of individual rights, tolerance, cosmopolitanism and internationalism."

What a beacon of democracy and enlightment. We should emulate him just like some former soviet puppet governments, I mean client states....Pinochet and Lee Kuan Yew are also experts on combining societal development with human rights (I mean human rights abuses), we should take their teachings into account as well...

Putin laughs at rationale for in invading Iraq. Oh, wait,....

dublin hillz says

"The crucial elements of Putinism are nationalism, religion, social conservatism, state capitalism and government domination of the media. They are all, in some way or another, different from and hostile to, modern Western values of individual rights, tolerance, cosmopolitanism and internationalism."

Modern Western Values?

Utterly inhumane. Succeed in competing for an ever-dwindling supply of decent jobs or you deserve to die starving under a bridge. You won't just be poor and hungry and homeless, you deserve it because you're a loser AND immoral to boot. If you weren't, you wouldn't be poor.

dublin hillz says

modern Western values of individual rights, tolerance, cosmopolitanism and internationalism."

.

Look how much more criminal and deserving of incarceration Americans are than everybody else!

Criticizing others is safe and easy. Cleaning up your own mess, hard and not very fulfilling in the self-righteousness department

Fewer financial criminals were indicted after the 2008 Financial Crisis than during the 80s S&L Crisis.

thunderlips11 says

. You won't just be poor and hungry and homeless, you deserve it because you're
a loser AND immoral to boot. If you weren't, you wouldn't be poor.

Homelessness is alive and well in current russia. Estimated russian homeless population is between 1.5 to 3 million citizens.

http://rbth.com/society/2013/10/08/living_without_address_moscows_homeless_tell_their_stories_30607.html

Between 10,000 to 50,000 are in moscow alone.

"“Government services do not focus on precautionary or preventive measures, while the social work with those who have already become homeless is complicated by bureaucratic obstacles, a low level of cooperation between separate services, insufficient development of the network of specialized agencies, and so on."

thunderlips11 says

Riiiight. There's no rational reason a politician who doubled the national
income per head after a decade of utter chaos, mafia control, foreign
interference, and utter ruin could possibly be very popular.

The improvement in national income is likely due to 2 factors - prices of oil and natural gas and the fact that tax structure was changed where businesses were flat taxed at 13%. Additionally, the baseline was so low that "improvement" still leaves russia way behind western europe and united states. Additionally, the wealth disparity is horrible. Moreover, the new "wealth" is concentrated primarily in urban centers, when one leaves to villages/small towns the poverty is still horrendous.

thunderlips11 says

utter chaos, mafia control

That was unavoidable. After communism imploded (god bless gorbachev), shortly thereafter one of the worst inflations in modern history beseiged the population during transition to capitalist economy. Once prices were "liberated" they adjusted very quickly to reflect systemic inefficiency and lack of productivity. Not that people were able to save much during soviet times but whatever meager savings they had quickly became worthless like toilet paper. Moreover, during privatization, the government cronies got first and only bids on the action. Mafia quickly stepped in.

However, it is a mistake to believe that mafia is gone. Far from it. Just because you don't hear stuff like dramatic street car bombings like in 1990, doesn't mean that organized crime is under control. Well, it is under control, Putin's that is to serve as one more weapon is his arsenal to go after whomever he chooses :-)

Regarding 40% of american wealth being gambled away - that so called wealth was in the form of home equity/stock prices. Middle class had most of it in the former category. However, "losing" that wealth which has by now mostly been recovered depending on the region is not the same as someone going into your checking/savings account and stealing 40% without your consent. Everyone understands that home values and stock prices fluctuate and are not protected by the government. The people who treated their homes like ATM machines during the bubble got a well deserved and harsh dose of reality.

dublin hillz says

However, "losing" that wealth which has by now mostly been recovered depending on the region is not the same as someone going into your checking/savings account and stealing 40% without your consent.

You mean like Putin did with Russian equivalent of 401k plans by simply confiscating this year's contributions? Stop this Nazi nonsense!