5 ms·

Pros (imo): Daily essentials not-yet commodified, can access amazing produce for cheap. Geopolitically stable, crime is mostly petty or white collar. Nature. C

Pros (imo): Daily essentials not-yet commodified, can access amazing produce for cheap. Geopolitically stable, crime is mostly petty or white collar. Nature. Cons (imo): no progressive tax rate, effective ~50% tax on income unless you want to do tax evasion (Romanian past-time), very likely to die on the road as public transit is in a state of disrepair, choice of healthcare between expensive and inefficient private sector, or a public sector where you have to bribe your way to not contracting infections while getting treated for something else.

huytersd 3y ago
Interesting. I guess the impression that a lot of people have of Romania is that it is riddled with violent crime.
xandrius 3y ago
Cons (imo) definitely outweigh the pros though.
Rinzler89 3y ago
> expensive and inefficient private sector Interesting, I found the private sector to be better there than in western Europe. Much quicker, easier and cheaper to get a cehck-up, MRI, CT scan, physiotherapy, dentistry, etc. The public system though, yeah, it's rough.
bad_user 3y ago
Not having a progressive tax is a feature, not a bug. If a progressive tax would be introduced, I'd either start avoid taxes in any way possible, or I'd seriously think about emigration. Because yes, the rich always finds ways to evade taxes, while the middle class gets screwed. And I'm also not interested in subsidizing the poor. The total taxes you pay on a regular work contract are around 41.5%, and much of that goes to pensions. Many people in the gig economy, that haven't contributed, will wake up one day to a harsh reality. The public healthcare system mostly works, even if underfunded and with problems. In Bucharest we benefited from treatments and expertise that would be very expensive out of pocket or difficult to find. Private healthcare is mostly a hoax, much like private education (in this country), stop paying for it. Bribery is much less common. Still happens, but you can also get in trouble. We barely have any homeless people, all the shopping malls are full, and home ownership is very high. Official stats can be misleading. Our politicians are incompetents, that's true, but we are in NATO, we are in EU, we are a regional power, and we avoided far-right strongmen or communists thus far. Many Romanians have emigrated, lifting the economy actually, and also many came back. Since the shock of the 90s, the country's economy became really fluid. Unfortunately, Romanians are some of the most pessimist people.
- mhitza 3y ago
  > The total taxes you pay on a regular work contract are around 41.5%, and much of that goes to pensions. With VAT on each purchase (unless you're not living month to month, and are able to set aside some of your income) the effective taxation is closer to 60%. I don't want to go into the topic of why I think progressive taxation is better than what we have now, but I wanted to raise this point because many stop at the tax rate on their salary.
- budududuroiu 3y ago
  Pensions in Romania are a joke, ask your relatives that recently retired. Can I remind you that out of the immediate survivors of the Colectiv fire, 70% of them contracted hospital-acquired infections? (Which were conveniently overlooked by the coroner) Private healthcare is a hoax that most employers can and will redirect their contribution to, further increasing the hole in which the public sector is getting into. Bribery isn’t less common, it’s just becoming increasingly inaccessible to common folk. Police is still in cahoots with “businessmen”. Health and safety authorisations are still handed out like hotcakes to the ones in the inner circle. -> https://www.romania-insider.com/investigations-and-dismissals-after-deadly-fire-guesthouse-romania https://www.romania-insider.com/investigations-and-dismissal... Our malls are full but industry is dead. We’re a consumer economy We’re part of NATO, oh so proud of it, yet barely scrape together an impotent 1.6% of GDP for our defence. Our navy is in such bad state that in NATO joint exercises foreign soldiers training with us thought our ship was on fire (it wasn’t, just badly maintained and burning with a thick black smoke). I also find it funny that you say we “avoided communists” and “home ownership is high” in the same breath. I wonder why home ownership is that high, and what policy lead to that.
  - Rinzler89 3y ago
    >Can I remind you that out of the immediate survivors of the Colectiv fire, 70% of them contracted hospital-acquired infections That is indeed terrible, but as another who emigrated west I realized, malpraxis is rampant here as well, it just doesn't make it into the news as much. Incompetent doctors and medical whoopsies can kill me here as well even if the system is overall better.

huytersd 3y ago

Interesting. I guess the impression that a lot of people have of Romania is that it is riddled with violent crime.

xandrius 3y ago

Cons (imo) definitely outweigh the pros though.

Rinzler89 3y ago

> expensive and inefficient private sector Interesting, I found the private sector to be better there than in western Europe. Much quicker, easier and cheaper to get a cehck-up, MRI, CT scan, physiotherapy, dentistry, etc. The public system though, yeah, it's rough.

bad_user 3y ago

Not having a progressive tax is a feature, not a bug. If a progressive tax would be introduced, I'd either start avoid taxes in any way possible, or I'd seriously think about emigration. Because yes, the rich always finds ways to evade taxes, while the middle class gets screwed. And I'm also not interested in subsidizing the poor. The total taxes you pay on a regular work contract are around 41.5%, and much of that goes to pensions. Many people in the gig economy, that haven't contributed, will wake up one day to a harsh reality. The public healthcare system mostly works, even if underfunded and with problems. In Bucharest we benefited from treatments and expertise that would be very expensive out of pocket or difficult to find. Private healthcare is mostly a hoax, much like private education (in this country), stop paying for it. Bribery is much less common. Still happens, but you can also get in trouble. We barely have any homeless people, all the shopping malls are full, and home ownership is very high. Official stats can be misleading. Our politicians are incompetents, that's true, but we are in NATO, we are in EU, we are a regional power, and we avoided far-right strongmen or communists thus far. Many Romanians have emigrated, lifting the economy actually, and also many came back. Since the shock of the 90s, the country's economy became really fluid. Unfortunately, Romanians are some of the most pessimist people.

mhitza 3y ago
> The total taxes you pay on a regular work contract are around 41.5%, and much of that goes to pensions. With VAT on each purchase (unless you're not living month to month, and are able to set aside some of your income) the effective taxation is closer to 60%. I don't want to go into the topic of why I think progressive taxation is better than what we have now, but I wanted to raise this point because many stop at the tax rate on their salary.
budududuroiu 3y ago
Pensions in Romania are a joke, ask your relatives that recently retired. Can I remind you that out of the immediate survivors of the Colectiv fire, 70% of them contracted hospital-acquired infections? (Which were conveniently overlooked by the coroner) Private healthcare is a hoax that most employers can and will redirect their contribution to, further increasing the hole in which the public sector is getting into. Bribery isn’t less common, it’s just becoming increasingly inaccessible to common folk. Police is still in cahoots with “businessmen”. Health and safety authorisations are still handed out like hotcakes to the ones in the inner circle. -> https://www.romania-insider.com/investigations-and-dismissals-after-deadly-fire-guesthouse-romania https://www.romania-insider.com/investigations-and-dismissal... Our malls are full but industry is dead. We’re a consumer economy We’re part of NATO, oh so proud of it, yet barely scrape together an impotent 1.6% of GDP for our defence. Our navy is in such bad state that in NATO joint exercises foreign soldiers training with us thought our ship was on fire (it wasn’t, just badly maintained and burning with a thick black smoke). I also find it funny that you say we “avoided communists” and “home ownership is high” in the same breath. I wonder why home ownership is that high, and what policy lead to that.
- Rinzler89 3y ago
  >Can I remind you that out of the immediate survivors of the Colectiv fire, 70% of them contracted hospital-acquired infections That is indeed terrible, but as another who emigrated west I realized, malpraxis is rampant here as well, it just doesn't make it into the news as much. Incompetent doctors and medical whoopsies can kill me here as well even if the system is overall better.