Discussion on Economic Transition and Privatization

As I hear your big picture description of this transition,

uh, through which we're moving,

the first thought that comes to mind is, boy, that sounds a little bit like what

happened after the Soviet Union collapsed in the summer of 1991,

and all of a sudden Russians woke up 10 years later and all state industries were

owned by a small group of people. It was-

Correct.

I mean, that, that's kind of what it sounds like.

Well, if you, generally, I mean, I'm grossly oversimplifying, but

if you look at

the people who did the r- what's called the Rape of Russia.

Yes.

You know, it's a similar group, and I'll, I'll give you a story.

I was in the city of London making a presentation in 2001, and

I'd been asked to speak about what I call pirateization in the

United States, the consolidation of the real estate and

housing market, so I'd been the assistant secretary of

housing.

And I gave the presentation, and two presentations followed,

one by Anne

Williamson, who had been covering Russia for the Wall

Street

Journal during the Rape of Russia, and she got up and gave a presentation.

And then John Laughland, who's a remarkable, uh, British

commentator now in Paris, stood up and did the same on what

had happened in Eastern Europe. And the three of us went into

shock, as did many of the investors in the room,

because we realized it

was the same firms, the same law firms, the same

intelligence agencies, and, and what they were doing in Eastern

Europe and in Russia and in the United States was a very

similar game. We have a big presentation story called

Plunder.

But they were basically going in and plundering,

and it was one plan. It wasn't three different plans

or three different groups.

It was a process of, of consolidation of the

economies in all three places.

And basically a privatization of the nation's resources.

Well, here's the thing. Privatization, Tucker, is when I

transfer an asset or involve, uh,

corporations in a service at a market price.

Pirateization is when I transfer an asset to a

private party at 10 cents on the dollar.

Yes.

So at a below market price. And what we've been watching by and

large around the world is pirateization, not privatization,

or plunder.

That, that, they're looting