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Bulgaria is the world’s fastest-shrinking country

bbc.com

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Re: Bulgaria is the world’s fastest-shrinking country

#41

Post by StavrosK »

tyri_kai_psomi wrote: post #36
StavrosK wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not by a long shot. The problem is that the poverty and corruption that the destabilization creates pervades the entire culture, and it's very hard to move away from that especially when everyone who hates corruption just emigrates away. We have the same problems in Greece (though probably not to that degree). Everything is slow, inefficient, there's lots of corruption and everyone is looking out for themselves becau…

Who in the hell actually hates Greek culture? It's the best part about Greece! No re malaka, we just leave for the money and jobs, but we would all come back if we could have the same economic opportunity and environment. A true Greek loves their country and hurts to see what it has become, and would do anything to see it prosper, even with all the bad, Greeks have been able to consistently maintain the separation be…

You don't? You like people not giving a shit and parking in disabled spots/ramps, double-parking everywhere, civil services closing at noon because they have "work to do", employers paying employees starvation wages because it saves them a euro, everyone evading taxes because their pocket is more important than schools and hospitals, contractors padding their invoices by 200% to pocket the money from EU investments, etc etc?

I'll venture a guess and say you've never lived abroad?

> A true Greek

How do you even type that without expecting to be linked to Wikipedia?

Re: Bulgaria is the world’s fastest-shrinking country

#43

Post by obuda »

ivankolev wrote: post #34

The current situation there is very sad indeed, and it hurts me double because half my family still lives there, but all hope is not lost. We are a country that has persevered countless setbacks throughout history, bearing the brunt of the islamic invasion, the wrong choices in the two world wars and the subsequent sovietization, and we still stand. The tide will turn, I have no doubt.

We may have done those things, but not remotely. Let's see how this one goes.

Иване, "there" и "we" някак не се връзва.

Re: Bulgaria is the world’s fastest-shrinking country

#44

Post by tasuki »

abstractbarista wrote: post #16
e2le wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Those are synonyms by definition.

Care to share your definitions?

Communism and authoritarianism definitely aren't synonyms by definition. Not all authoritarian countries are communist. And yes, in practice, communist countries often are authoritarian.

Re: Bulgaria is the world’s fastest-shrinking country

#45

Post by Lucadg »

I don't have stats to back me up but many are arriving too from Western countries in search for a lower tax, lower salaries (except tech) great quality workforce, friendly business environment and so on. Cheap flight completely changed the perception of how far Bulgaria is from the rest of Europe.

Re: Bulgaria is the world’s fastest-shrinking country

#46

Post by dsfyu404ed »

namarie wrote: post #37
dsfyu404ed wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A good system of government is resilient to bad leadership. Edit: do any of the down-voters care to explain why this is not the case? Stable is generally considered a prerequisite of good and history indicates that not going totally down the tubes when you have a bad leader is a perquisite of stable.

So there are no good systems of government then.

The Roman empire lasted a pretty darn long time even with a lot of mediocre leadership. Various flavors of representative democracy seem to weather crappy leaders pretty well.

Re: Bulgaria is the world’s fastest-shrinking country

#47

Post by tyri_kai_psomi »

StavrosK wrote: post #41
tyri_kai_psomi wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who in the hell actually hates Greek culture? It's the best part about Greece! No re malaka, we just leave for the money and jobs, but we would all come back if we could have the same economic opportunity and environment. A true Greek loves their country and hurts to see what it has become, and would do anything to see it prosper, even with all the bad, Greeks have been able to consistently maintain the separation be…

You don't? You like people not giving a shit and parking in disabled spots/ramps, double-parking everywhere, civil services closing at noon because they have "work to do", employers paying employees starvation wages because it saves them a euro, everyone evading taxes because their pocket is more important than schools and hospitals, contractors padding their invoices by 200% to pocket the money from EU investments,…

> You don't? You like people not giving a shit and parking in disabled spots/ramps, double-parking everywhere, civil services closing at noon because they have "work to do", employers paying employees starvation wages because it saves them a euro, everyone evading taxes because their pocket is more important than schools and hospitals, contractors padding their invoices by 200% to pocket the money from EU investments, etc etc?

So basically just like everywhere else in the world. You ever been to a Walmart parking lot? Or a DMV?

Sounds like maybe you are the one who has never lived anywhere else. This is called fallen human nature, and it is everywhere.

Re: Bulgaria is the world’s fastest-shrinking country

#48

Post by pjmlp »

StavrosK wrote: post #28
kfk wrote: post #22

Random facts from living 3 months there on why this could be a high potential country: * 10% income tax (second lowest in EU), 5% dividend tax * Very low costs of living (rent is 300-400 eur for a flat in Sofia) * Relatively easy to start companies * It's quite safe, at least safer than Naples from where I am from * Very good quality of food * Close to the seaside (about 3 hours from Greek coast also) * Nice summers…

I hope the new Greek government manages to compete with this, so the next post will advertise Greece in this way. Most of your list applies here as well, except we have amazing food and beaches.

As regular visitor, I thought Thessaloniki was already getting some startup pockets around.

Also maybe some bigger islands could be advertised on this way, although having to go through Athens for business trips might be a negative selling point (longer trips).

Re: Bulgaria is the world’s fastest-shrinking country

#49

Post by feu »

StavrosK wrote: post #28
kfk wrote: post #22

Random facts from living 3 months there on why this could be a high potential country: * 10% income tax (second lowest in EU), 5% dividend tax * Very low costs of living (rent is 300-400 eur for a flat in Sofia) * Relatively easy to start companies * It's quite safe, at least safer than Naples from where I am from * Very good quality of food * Close to the seaside (about 3 hours from Greek coast also) * Nice summers…

I hope the new Greek government manages to compete with this, so the next post will advertise Greece in this way. Most of your list applies here as well, except we have amazing food and beaches.

Bulgaria also has amazing food and beaches in my opinion.

Re: Bulgaria is the world’s fastest-shrinking country

#50

Post by dsfyu404ed »

cpursley wrote: post #25

A side effect of a stagnant economy and population shrinkage is that Bulgarian property is really cheap. You can purchase a modern flat starting around $15,000 (or rent for really cheap) in a ski community with a very strong remote worker presence (Bansko). If you do this right, you can also become a resident and benefit from a flat 10% income tax which is lowest in the EU. No affiliation; I just find this type of ar…

And assuming the EU's freedom of movement holds eventually people and business will realize this and move there. Then they'll do what everyone else does shoot themselves in the foot by making everything expensive. Eventually the new growth will happen elsewhere and the cycle will repeat.
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