[lit-ideas] Abramovich
- From: "Andy Amago" <aamago@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 14 Jan 2006 11:06:11 -0500
> [Original Message]
> From: david ritchie <ritchierd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Date: 1/13/2006 11:42:54 AM
> Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: The Road to Wigan, Peer
>
>
> On Jan 13, 2006, at 5:29 AM, Andy Amago wrote:
>
> > Why don't we talk about the soccer team
> > Chelsea, specifically about Abramovich, the Russian oligarch who
> > bought
> > them.
>
>
> What would you like to say about him or his team? It's a remarkable
> tale, from selling plastic ducks to being one of the richest men in
> the world.
>
In the U.S. the millionaires/billionaires all started by selling apples
during the Depression or by selling donuts from the backs of their cars.
In Russia, they start by selling plastic ducks. Bill Gates started in his
garage, developed a better mousetrap and everybody rushed to his garage and
made him rich. He never did anything underhanded to make himself who he
is. Who knows why he was sued by the government. There?s something about
mythology that skips the details.
Russia has more billionaires than any place in the world. I don't think
it?s surprising since the place is so lawless following the Stalinism.
Even though we have laws here, Congress is still owned by big business;
business over there simply does what it wants (not unlike the end of the
nineteenth century in the U.S.) until it gets into Putin?s hair, at which
point Putin arrests them. That?s what happened to Khodorkovsky, the guy
who owns UKOS, the Russian oil company, their version of ExxonMobil (I
guess he still owns it; I stopped following it a while back; he?s still in
prison). My understanding is that when the Soviet Union dissolved, the
state-owned natural resources and industries were essentially handed to the
people in the form of shares. Most people had no idea what to do with the
shares, so people like Khodorkovsky (and presumably Abramovich and all the
others), went around buying up the shares, in that way acquiring massive
wealth plus engaging in out and out criminal activity. Abramovich was
essentially a criminal, like the others. Wikipedia does a summary;
embedded in that is a link to Khodorkovsky, which I find more interesting,
quite fascinating actually:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Abramovich
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Khodorkhovsky
The climate over there is changing but exactly how it?s changing is
unclear, possibly simmering down, but Putin?s autocratic style is not
encouraging. I can't imagine a return to Soviet-style politics but nothing
is impossible, especially since Putin comes out of the Soviet era. It?s a
downright dangerous place too. The American editor of Forbes in Moscow was
assassinated about a year ago, it?s unclear why. Plus Putin?s denial of
the AIDS crisis in his country is very damaging.
Things are changing in this country too. In some ways we're moving toward
a Russian style government, with an eviscerated middle class, extraordinary
wealth at the tippy top and business ownership of government. But that?s
just my opinion, not unsubstantiated, but still my opinion.
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/profile/abramovich.shtml
>
> But in football terms, all he seems to have done is apply George
> Steinbrenner's model--buy up the best players. It's got to the
> stange that he lends players to other teams, to keep things more (but
> not too!) even. I think the most interesting sight at the Chelsea
> site is not Chelsea's domination of the league, but Arsenal, number
> two last year, tied for number of wins with...Wigan!
>
> http://www.chelseafc.com/index.asp
>
> David Ritchie
> affiliated, and so wearing his #14 Henry shirt in
> Portland, Oregon
>
>
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