I don’t think so. “Rich” is defined as having property rights in valuable assets. I don’t think Putin has a great deal of such property rights (granted, he’s not middle-class either). Instead, he can get whatever he wants and that’s not a characteristic of a rich person, it’s a characteristic of a powerful person.
To take an extreme example, was Stalin rich?
But let’s take a look at the five currently-richest men (according to Forbes): Carlos Slim, Bill Gates, Amancio Ortega, Warren Buffet, and Larry Ellison. Are these the most *powerful* men in the world? Color me doubtful.
A lot of money of rich people is hidden via complex off shore accounts and not easily visible for a company like Forbes.
Especially for someone like Putin it’s very hard to know how much money they have. Don’t assume that it’s easy to see power structures by reading newspapers.
Bill Gates might control a smaller amount of resources than Obama, but he can do whatever he wants with them.
Obama is dependend on a lot of people inside his cabinet.
I don’t think so. “Rich” is defined as having property rights in valuable assets. I don’t think Putin has a great deal of such property rights (granted, he’s not middle-class either). Instead, he can get whatever he wants and that’s not a characteristic of a rich person, it’s a characteristic of a powerful person.
To take an extreme example, was Stalin rich?
But let’s take a look at the five currently-richest men (according to Forbes): Carlos Slim, Bill Gates, Amancio Ortega, Warren Buffet, and Larry Ellison. Are these the most *powerful* men in the world? Color me doubtful.
Well, Carlos Slim seems to have the NYT in his pocket. That’s nothing to sneeze at.
A lot of money of rich people is hidden via complex off shore accounts and not easily visible for a company like Forbes. Especially for someone like Putin it’s very hard to know how much money they have. Don’t assume that it’s easy to see power structures by reading newspapers.
Bill Gates might control a smaller amount of resources than Obama, but he can do whatever he wants with them. Obama is dependend on a lot of people inside his cabinet.