[snrplfth]

But not even that well by global standards of autocrats! I mean, that small group could be like the wealthy, globe-trotting Communist Party of China apparatchiks, or the gilded, pampered princes of the Middle East. But instead they get to sit around their grey concrete bunkers, watch irritating propaganda TV, and drink overpriced imported cognac. Whoopee.

I mean, you have to be truly incompetent to be next door to China for the last thirty years and think "nah, we shouldn't do reforms - wouldn't want to lose our luxuries as members of the political class!"

[m0llusk]

They have different goals such as enjoying power and raping young girls. Do you really think that other autocrats and oligarchs get to do things like rape with impunity? Maybe some of them. You are projecting your own tastes and ideas onto people with orders of magnitude more power and money than you will ever have.

[snrplfth]

I guess so. But they're not even actually that good at being dictators. Even a solely power-maximizing autocrat should realize what does and does not work economically. It's like Venezuela - their incompetence means that their influence is limited and their eventual downfall made more likely.