Beginning in late 1996, they were joined by a group of people who worked with foreign investments, high quality imported merchandise, and in the tourist industry. Their education and mentality differs a lot from the late Soviet-era middle class. The losses of the new middle class are not yet as dramatic as they were for the previous generation in 1992. The current middle class has some savings, yet the quality of their life will drop many times. They won t be able to provide the same level of security, medical services and education for their kids and family.
Today there are no engineers or scientists.
They are disenchanted in young market reformers and have lost their orientation. In the absence of a governmental economic program, wild speculations about possible anti-crisis measures might only cause a lot of useless and hopeless efforts to save already dead businesses. The government's economic program is the biggest puzzle of all, even in the highly unstable and volatile situation typical for today's affairs in Russia. It is less clear how they intend to do that and whether they can be expected to succeed. The economy will be more ruble-oriented and may have broader social base, not limited to specialists in finance and management.