To the Point
Russia Split over Free-Market Capitalism, Authoritarian Rule
During the regime of Boris Yeltsin, a few Russian businessmen picked up formerly state-owned assets for a fraction of their real value. Mikhail Khodorkovsky got the Yukos Oil Company and parlayed it into a fortune worth $8 billion. Now, Russia-s richest -oligarch- is behind bars, but says he might challenge President Vladamir Putin in next year-s elections. Putin-s Kremlin is divided over what impact the oil billionaire-s imprisonment might have on the nation-s economy and foreign investment. Is Russia returning to totalitarian rule, or is crony capitalism getting just what it deserves? With Russia becoming dominant in oil and natural gas, we join Russia and energy experts, including a senior technical advisor to Yukos Oil, for a look at a country that could have a lot to say about America-s future. Making News: Growing Evidence of Mutual Fund Abuses After more reports of scandal in a $7 trillion industry handling investment for 95 million people, Illinois' Republican Senator Peter Fitzgerald declared mutual funds -the world's largest skimming operation.- Tom Lauricella, mutual funds reporter for the Wall Street Journal, has more on the alleged abuses, the SEC, and possible redress for investors. Reporter's Notebook: The Politicization of Disasters President Bush toured California-s devastated fire zones today, an area he-s already declared a -major disaster.- That means billions of dollars in federal aid. This is the fiftieth -major disaster- declared by the President this year, which means more than one a week, double the average number of disasters declared in the 1980-s. David Rosenbaum has written about the politics of disaster declarations for the New York Times.
By Warren Olney • • 1 min readDuring the regime of Boris Yeltsin, a few Russian businessmen picked up formerly state-owned assets for a fraction of their real value. Mikhail Khodorkovsky got the Yukos Oil Company and parlayed it into a fortune worth $8 billion. Now, Russia-s richest -oligarch- is behind bars, but says he might challenge President Vladamir Putin in next year-s elections. Putin-s Kremlin is divided over what impact the oil billionaire-s imprisonment might have on the nation-s economy and foreign investment. Is Russia returning to totalitarian rule, or is crony capitalism getting just what it deserves? With Russia becoming dominant in oil and natural gas, we join Russia and energy experts, including a senior technical advisor to Yukos Oil, for a look at a country that could have a lot to say about America-s future.
Growing Evidence of Mutual Fund Abuses
After more reports of scandal in a $7 trillion industry handling investment for 95 million people, Illinois' Republican Senator Peter Fitzgerald declared mutual funds -the world's largest skimming operation.- Tom Lauricella, mutual funds reporter for the Wall Street Journal, has more on the alleged abuses, the SEC, and possible redress for investors.
The Politicization of Disasters
President Bush toured California-s devastated fire zones today, an area he-s already declared a -major disaster.- That means billions of dollars in federal aid. This is the fiftieth -major disaster- declared by the President this year, which means more than one a week, double the average number of disasters declared in the 1980-s. David Rosenbaum has written about the politics of disaster declarations for the New York Times.