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"I live in Prague, and the instability and corruption following the fall of the iron curtain made many people very rich." Prague went from one kind of stabilit

"I live in Prague, and the instability and corruption following the fall of the iron curtain made many people very rich." Prague went from one kind of stability - to a different one. Without the resulting stability - nobody would have been rich. Yes - I agree - a 'shock' to a system will create winners and losers, arguably, you could say that there is something to gain for the 'winners'. That said - the cause of the 'fall of the iron curtain' was not 'capitalists' - their power was not nearly sufficient for this. There was great sociopolitcal upheaval - and I might add most citizens where 'on the whole' good with it. Of course there is 'change', and sometimes 'shock' - but on the whole - most businesses want stability, decent governance, baseline growth. McDonald's would love African regimes to be stable and for their citizens to have $$$.

timthelion 10y ago
To be clear I didn't mean to say that captialists caused the velvet revolution, I said that they benefited from it. While the post-revolution years were mostly peaceful, I don't think anyone could honestly say that they were stable. > There was great sociopolitcal upheaval - and I might add most citizens where 'on the whole' good with it. This is an extremely wrong interpretation of the revolution, which I myself was also a victim of for a long time. Czech people were very much for change, afterall, they were literally occupied by an army that used tanks to keep control https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wW3LCclYoz4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wW3LCclYoz4 (I'm sorry, I cannot find this video with English subtitles, it is the "last radio anouncement" from an independent Czechoslovakia on the day when Russian forces invaded.) The Russians didn't invade a captialist state, they invaded a totalitarian communist one. The vast majority of Czechs are "good with" the idea of no longer being occupied by the Soviet Union. The majority of them are "good with" the idea of the Czech Republic being a capitalist state. The VAST majority are very much against the current political structure which is mostly manned by people who were in power before the revolution. To say that they are "on the whole good with it" is just wrong. Indeed, there is, on occasion, signs that there might be a second revolution, only, no one is sure which direction that would go (probably not towards communism... ), sadly, if it happens, it will probably in a nationalistic one. The "lets take care of our old people, break away from the EU, and impose strict laws and draconian punishments for anyone who is the slightest bit lazy or corrupt" is popular among a very vocal minority, which might just have the energy to gain power. EDIT: Just to back myself up a bit with facts, only 2/5ths of the population or 38% thinks that things are better now than they were before the revolution. 17% thinks that things were better then, and the rest aren't so sure either way. That's pretty pathetic, really, when so few people are sure that they are better off now than they were under a totally insane totalitarian state. It's like asking "is it better to have corrupt capitalism or a pile of shit thrown in your face" and most respondents aren't clear on the answer to that question. At the same time, %66 say that the revolution was a good thing. Afterall, who wants to be ruled by an occupying force? https://globe24.cz/domov/19542-mame-se-lepe-nez-pred-rokem-1989-cesi-promluvili https://globe24.cz/domov/19542-mame-se-lepe-nez-pred-rokem-1...
- edblarney 10y ago
  "To say that they are "on the whole good with it" is just wrong." Do you think Czechs would really like to go back to being occupied by the Soviets? No? Then they were 'good' with the change, overall.

timthelion 10y ago

To be clear I didn't mean to say that captialists caused the velvet revolution, I said that they benefited from it. While the post-revolution years were mostly peaceful, I don't think anyone could honestly say that they were stable. > There was great sociopolitcal upheaval - and I might add most citizens where 'on the whole' good with it. This is an extremely wrong interpretation of the revolution, which I myself was also a victim of for a long time. Czech people were very much for change, afterall, they were literally occupied by an army that used tanks to keep control https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wW3LCclYoz4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wW3LCclYoz4 (I'm sorry, I cannot find this video with English subtitles, it is the "last radio anouncement" from an independent Czechoslovakia on the day when Russian forces invaded.) The Russians didn't invade a captialist state, they invaded a totalitarian communist one. The vast majority of Czechs are "good with" the idea of no longer being occupied by the Soviet Union. The majority of them are "good with" the idea of the Czech Republic being a capitalist state. The VAST majority are very much against the current political structure which is mostly manned by people who were in power before the revolution. To say that they are "on the whole good with it" is just wrong. Indeed, there is, on occasion, signs that there might be a second revolution, only, no one is sure which direction that would go (probably not towards communism... ), sadly, if it happens, it will probably in a nationalistic one. The "lets take care of our old people, break away from the EU, and impose strict laws and draconian punishments for anyone who is the slightest bit lazy or corrupt" is popular among a very vocal minority, which might just have the energy to gain power. EDIT: Just to back myself up a bit with facts, only 2/5ths of the population or 38% thinks that things are better now than they were before the revolution. 17% thinks that things were better then, and the rest aren't so sure either way. That's pretty pathetic, really, when so few people are sure that they are better off now than they were under a totally insane totalitarian state. It's like asking "is it better to have corrupt capitalism or a pile of shit thrown in your face" and most respondents aren't clear on the answer to that question. At the same time, %66 say that the revolution was a good thing. Afterall, who wants to be ruled by an occupying force? https://globe24.cz/domov/19542-mame-se-lepe-nez-pred-rokem-1989-cesi-promluvili https://globe24.cz/domov/19542-mame-se-lepe-nez-pred-rokem-1...

edblarney 10y ago
"To say that they are "on the whole good with it" is just wrong." Do you think Czechs would really like to go back to being occupied by the Soviets? No? Then they were 'good' with the change, overall.