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Music and Art at the Ukrainian Institute of America
Posted by Mother Teresa'a Lawyer on September 11, 2005 at 12:03:24:
In Reply to: Re: Politicians first look out for themselves posted by Mike Allen on September 11, 2005 at 08:21:35:
"Ukrainians must respect the businessman who is creating jobs even though he is out to get rich himself. Poroshenko the owner of the famous "ROSHEN" brand of chocolates deserves praise"
I don't know too much about Poroshenko, but most of the oligarchs obtained their wealth not by creating it, but by taking it in the form of monopolies or fake privitizations. This is the case in all of the FSU countries. The last story that Paul Klebnikov, the editor of Forbes Russia, wrote before he was murdered was about Russia's top 100 wealthiest people, of this 100, about 75 made their fortune by taking over state businesses, and thus created nothing, many of these businesses were then driven into the ground with their financial assets safely transferred overseas while workers were unpaid, I'd imagine the percentage in Ukraine is even greater. I will tell you this, Ukrainian workers have a very tough life here, there are really no enforced labor laws, abuses of employees are almost universal. In regards to cell phones, everyone here has them, they are the most affordable status symbol, therefor they're a "must have", they can even be bought on credit, the cheapest are affordable at about 100 USD.