According to public opinion polls, Russians view poverty as the central problem that arouses concern, anxiety, and dissatisfaction with the authorities. The theoreticians of our market reforms predicted an increase in poverty among a part of the population in the first years of the transition to capitalism, then rapid economic growth and a decrease in poverty. However, this did not happen. Poverty remains the central problem of Russian society despite the continual inflow of petroleum and gas dollars. The number of the poor is decreasing very slowly, while social inequality-the gap between the rich and the poor-is even increasing and has reached, according to different estimates, 15 to 30 times.
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