The political elite live incredibly fabulous lives in the poorest authoritarian nations. Look at the DPRK. The political elite there are wealthy and powerful beyond the wildest dreams of the elite here in the US. There no comparison.

That's what they want. They don't want to have a few million dollars that they have to ferret away over decades, they want to grab it with both hands and scoop it up and if anyone says shit about it, they get disappeared.