The rich-poor divide grows

Russia is going through a recession. Over 50% of the population there cannot even afford to buy basic necessities of life like food and warm clothing to survive the harsh Russian winter. Yet, a select few, some 1% of the population is driving up sales of its luxury brands. In fact some of the luxury brands reported their highest ever sales in 2015. Russia was the strongest market in mainland Europe for Rolls-Royce.

The going is so good that many of these luxury brands – Hermes, Jimmy Choo. GUM, Bulgari, Mercury have opened new shops and are in expansion mode.

So on one hand, Russia has some 4 million people living below the poverty line and on the other, it has these small subset of population which is super rich and spending money like there is no tomorrow. This chasm between the have and have-nots is so deep rooted – another pointer to all things wrong in Russia. And in any country where inequality goes this high, take it as a thermometer which shows that it is a very sick country and needs immeidate cure.