> RM>> Someone has to be in charge of things and they always set
>   >> themselves up (and their friends and families) as an upper class, and
>   >> it always seems to be a very greedy class and you end up with 75%
>   >> of the money going to 2% of the people..

> MP>Yes, the USSR had a name for that upper class but the name escapes me at
>   >the moment.

> Nomenklatura?  By root it's the same as Nomenclature, but in their
> case it defined an elite 'ruling class' who worked at or appointed
> all people who got the high ranking jobs.

<loud Charlie Brown voice>THAT'S IT!</voice>  

I am surprised I forgot that one.  I use it enough.

> MP>Technically, Russia is no longer communist.  That said, I strongly believe
>   >that many of the broken things going on over there are because the people
>   >in charge were part of that USSR upper class discussed above & they've not
>   >really changed enough how they do things.

> Yes, that's true although I think the people Living there are still
> treated the same as when it was fully Communist. These days, calling
> it a democracy is a joke..

Yes, that is part of the problem.  They supposedly did away with the
Communist form of government but never completely changed their stripes.
They seemed like they might be on the right track, at first, until...

> It's more a dictatorship under Putin
> supporting the uber wealthy who help keep him in power.

This.  

Mike

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