Let’s see…

- Obscenely wealthy upper class, where the rich and well-connected buy and sell influence, operating businesses and factories that little better than sweat shops, with a general disdain the working man.

- An increasingly useless ruling class, with the few voices in favor of the working class and poor drowned out by those in the pockets of upper classes, arguing that poor, dumb workers are better for the country because they provide a great wealth of cheap labor to industries.

- A history of going into futile war after futile war, spending mountains of treasure and manpower for little gain, except for the gains made by the upper class who control the arms industries.

- And an increasingly impoverished working class, which has little political power, but is expected to bear the burden of the state’s taxes and fees. Yet they’re told that their desires for basic needs, from food and shelter to medical care, are too expensive for the government to provide, but the market prices out of their reach.

Funny, I’m sure I’ve seen this scenario before. The word “Romanov” keeps popping into my head.