Second Thought | How Capitalism Destroyed Russia @SecondThought | Uploaded October 2022 | Updated October 2024, 1 week ago.
If you're like me, you know way too many people who think Russia is communist, or that don't realize the USSR has been gone for three decades now. But even for those who do understand that Russia is is capitalist oligarchy, not many know the full story. Come learn about how the West subjected the former soviet countries to brutal free market shock therapy, and the disastrous consequences that followed.

How Capitalism Destroyed Russia – Second Thought

New video every Friday!

Citations and Further Reading:

Books
books.google.com/books?id=G7pvDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover
books.google.com/books?id=VEh9geWgbjgC&printsec=frontcover
books.google.com/books?id=WSsGEsBUsVcC&printsec=frontcover
books.google.com/books?id=Eal2DwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover

Videos
youtu.be/v6euku8NhtY
youtu.be/bKGdJop7L84
youtu.be/o8d6Vzi7zYg
youtu.be/oF4QkLOP2jU

Shock Therapy
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shock_therapy_(economics)
shortform.com/blog/russia-shock-therapy
project-syndicate.org/commentary/1990s-shock-therapy-set-stage-for-russian-authoritarianism-by-katharina-pistor-2022-02

The USSR and The Russian Federation
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissolution_of_the_Soviet_Union
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_Russian_constitutional_crisis
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Gorbachev
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Yeltsin
nplusonemag.com/issue-24/ukraine-supplement/states-of-shock

Naomi Klein’s definition of shock doctrine/shock therapy
theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/06/naomi-klein-how-power-profits-from-disaster

Individual statistics, facts, and quotes:

250% increase in price following privatization
books.google.com/books?id=G7pvDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover

56% increase in unemployment
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7828901.stm

14.5% fall/ nearly 20% decline in industrial production/1,354% inflation/real incomes being cut in half
books.google.com/books?id=G7pvDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover

Decrease in health and education spending
https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/health-workers-teachers-challenge-yeltsin
nytimes.com/2000/10/12/world/study-finds-poverty-deepening-in-former-communist-countries.html

12.8% increase in deaths
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7828901.stm

6 year drop in life expectancy in Russia 1991-1994/1 year drop due to Covid
link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41294-021-00169-w

85% under the poverty line/Yeltsin’s 35% “correction”
youtu.be/bKGdJop7L84?t=693

Jeffrey Sachs’ “spontaneous market activity” quote
books.google.com/books?id=G7pvDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover

The mafia’s origins in Yeltsin’s decree
books.google.com/books?id=VEh9geWgbjgC&printsec=frontcover

47,000 then 90,000 privatized companies
books.google.com/books?id=G7pvDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover
books.google.com/books?id=VEh9geWgbjgC&printsec=frontcover

$20 vouchers and 14% of privatizations open to the public
books.google.com/books?id=VEh9geWgbjgC&printsec=frontcover

Graphs of wealth and inequality
youtu.be/bKGdJop7L84

Sachs quote about prioritizing speed during the privatization process
https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/shleifer/files/privatizing_russia.pdf

Sachs quote about not prioritizing speed during the privatization process
acamedia.info/politics/ukraine/jeffrey_sachs/What_I_did_in_Russia.pdf

Sachs quote about the urgency of privatization before people caught on
books.google.com/books?id=G7pvDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover

The IMF using its funds to push around economic reforms
books.google.be/books?id=VEh9geWgbjgC&printsec=frontcover

The centralization of power by Yeltsin
nplusonemag.com/issue-24/ukraine-supplement/states-of-shock

Favorable and extra press coverage for Yeltsin
belfercenter.org/publication/assessing-russias-democratic-presidential-election

Yeltsin election rigging
nplusonemag.com/issue-24/ukraine-supplement/states-of-shock

Sachs quote about workers councils
https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/1990/06/1990b_bpea_lipton_sachs_summers.pdf


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