By 19 95, the economy was in the gutter. Crime and corruption were everywhere. Boris yelson had gotten super unpopular. His approval ratings were the low single digits. The government was broke. It couldn't pay salaries and pensions. And it was desperate for money to solve this constellation of problems. Anatol tobias offered a slogan that would benefit ordinary people rather than a handful of owners. He initially sold privatization as ushering in democratic capitalism. But these auctions weren't really what they seemed. They were a total sham. A group of oligarchs who actually devised this entire scheme. This is how they went from lake sportscar rich to megayat rich.