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When the Czech republic and other ex-soviet states dropped communism and started "moving west", the west greeted these countries with open arms and a chorus of

When the Czech republic and other ex-soviet states dropped communism and started "moving west", the west greeted these countries with open arms and a chorus of "opening your countries up to foreign investments will spur growth and make your economies flower!" The Czech Republic responded, by allowing foreign investments essentially without reservations. This lead to a highly corrupt fire sale, called the "privatization process" in which state assets were sold off for far bellow market price to foriegn investors. Czech people, just comming out of communism, of course, could not afford to invest in their own country. Now, most of the valulable assets have been sold off, and the Czechs, to a large extent, live in a country which they do not own. Now, when the Chineese do the same thing, but in much fairer circumstances (Germany is hardly recovering from a repressive communist regeim), we're crying foul? I do not like foreign investment, but a part of me is satisfied, that the West is finally getting a taste of it's own medicine. Not that it will reverse the damage done, and not that two wrongs make a right.

Create 10y ago
This is one of the reasons why Europe is falling apart. The hidden cynical double standard always trumped good will. Brexit voters were unusually open (in a secret ballot) about east-west relationships.
- Create 10y ago
  Dear downvoter: The production and exports of cars, run by foreign owners, is a key driver of economic growth in the eastern European Union member where wages for skilled workers are well below Western European levels. Daimler workers in Germany, where wages are much higher, took part in strikes earlier this year, which led to a deal in May to lift wages by 4.8 percent in the metal and electrical engineering sectors in Germany. http://www.euronews.com/2016/11/24/hungarian-mercedes-workers-hold-brief-wage-strike http://www.euronews.com/2016/11/24/hungarian-mercedes-worker...
  - timthelion 10y ago
    You mean "Daimler workers in Hungary" right?
wowoc 10y ago
The same happened in Poland (and other countries from behind the Iron Curtain). Most stuff here has German or French owners now.
- timthelion 10y ago
  Do you live in Poland? I live in Prague, and here, I'm surprised at how little people care about the foreign investment aspect of the privatization process. Even though almost everyone complains that it is corrupt, people here are mostly pro-west. The economy is strong here, and people don't see a big problem. Sure, we were among the richest countries in Europe pre WWII, but that was a long time ago, and people are now used to being relatively poor. But outside of Prague, especially on the Moravian side of the country I think opinions are very different, and many people actively say that "communism was better" and that the west has robbed the country. It is true, that heavy industry, like the car maker škoda auto (Now owned by VW), and the slevarny (metal making firms that are owned by the west), and the coal mines(owned by the Swiss) are all outside of Prague... Do Pols realise the extent that they were robbed?
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - hiacynt 10y ago
    More Poles realise this now, but they are often frowned upon by the mainstream media (surprise, surprise - they are mostly German-owned) and called regressive, nationalistic, etc. But the trends are rather positive, we now have a government that seems to support Polish industry, and peoples' attitudes have changed. For example, there's a very popular mobile app called Pola, which tells you how much a product is "Polish" (it computes a score based on where the owners are located, whether the company does R&D in Poland, and so on) based on barcodes. It's actually pretty trendy now, and it's not uncommon to see people scanning stuff with it in supermarkets. More about it here: https://growthengine.withgoogle.com/intl/en-eu/voices#card-story/4706573205110784 https://growthengine.withgoogle.com/intl/en-eu/voices#card-s... Interesting fact - some people responsible for the sell out to the west have been recently given prominent positions in Ukraine's government structures.
timthelion 10y ago
At the same time, there is a similar smell of unfairness. Chineese companies a free to invest in the west, but western companies aren't free to invest in China. China is like "we're all for free trade, but no, Google can't buy Baidu" or whatever.
- dforrestwilson1 10y ago
  Firms in China also have massive state subsidies due to currency controls and bank funding requirements. In the 1980s Japan went on an international buying spree only to see its economy crash in the late 80s/90s. Eventually even government supported economies crash, and when that happens Chinese companies may regret being so aggressively acquisitive.
- jza00425 10y ago
  If Google buy Baidu, I am sure there will be another Chinese company which will buy Google. Are u OK with that?
msolujic 10y ago
Same privarization scheme was applied to all statea in eastern Europe post iron curtain fall. Serbia is one example of huge corruption during privatization of companies

Create 10y ago

This is one of the reasons why Europe is falling apart. The hidden cynical double standard always trumped good will. Brexit voters were unusually open (in a secret ballot) about east-west relationships.

Create 10y ago
Dear downvoter: The production and exports of cars, run by foreign owners, is a key driver of economic growth in the eastern European Union member where wages for skilled workers are well below Western European levels. Daimler workers in Germany, where wages are much higher, took part in strikes earlier this year, which led to a deal in May to lift wages by 4.8 percent in the metal and electrical engineering sectors in Germany. http://www.euronews.com/2016/11/24/hungarian-mercedes-workers-hold-brief-wage-strike http://www.euronews.com/2016/11/24/hungarian-mercedes-worker...
- timthelion 10y ago
  You mean "Daimler workers in Hungary" right?

wowoc 10y ago

The same happened in Poland (and other countries from behind the Iron Curtain). Most stuff here has German or French owners now.

timthelion 10y ago
Do you live in Poland? I live in Prague, and here, I'm surprised at how little people care about the foreign investment aspect of the privatization process. Even though almost everyone complains that it is corrupt, people here are mostly pro-west. The economy is strong here, and people don't see a big problem. Sure, we were among the richest countries in Europe pre WWII, but that was a long time ago, and people are now used to being relatively poor. But outside of Prague, especially on the Moravian side of the country I think opinions are very different, and many people actively say that "communism was better" and that the west has robbed the country. It is true, that heavy industry, like the car maker škoda auto (Now owned by VW), and the slevarny (metal making firms that are owned by the west), and the coal mines(owned by the Swiss) are all outside of Prague... Do Pols realise the extent that they were robbed?
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- hiacynt 10y ago
  More Poles realise this now, but they are often frowned upon by the mainstream media (surprise, surprise - they are mostly German-owned) and called regressive, nationalistic, etc. But the trends are rather positive, we now have a government that seems to support Polish industry, and peoples' attitudes have changed. For example, there's a very popular mobile app called Pola, which tells you how much a product is "Polish" (it computes a score based on where the owners are located, whether the company does R&D in Poland, and so on) based on barcodes. It's actually pretty trendy now, and it's not uncommon to see people scanning stuff with it in supermarkets. More about it here: https://growthengine.withgoogle.com/intl/en-eu/voices#card-story/4706573205110784 https://growthengine.withgoogle.com/intl/en-eu/voices#card-s... Interesting fact - some people responsible for the sell out to the west have been recently given prominent positions in Ukraine's government structures.

timthelion 10y ago

At the same time, there is a similar smell of unfairness. Chineese companies a free to invest in the west, but western companies aren't free to invest in China. China is like "we're all for free trade, but no, Google can't buy Baidu" or whatever.

dforrestwilson1 10y ago
Firms in China also have massive state subsidies due to currency controls and bank funding requirements. In the 1980s Japan went on an international buying spree only to see its economy crash in the late 80s/90s. Eventually even government supported economies crash, and when that happens Chinese companies may regret being so aggressively acquisitive.
jza00425 10y ago
If Google buy Baidu, I am sure there will be another Chinese company which will buy Google. Are u OK with that?

msolujic 10y ago

Same privarization scheme was applied to all statea in eastern Europe post iron curtain fall. Serbia is one example of huge corruption during privatization of companies