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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

#31

Post by Tade0 »

dsego wrote: post #9
misterkolaz wrote: post #6

[flagged]

It's now been almost 30 years. Isn't that enough time to be able to revert the damage and develop prosperity?

If Poland can serve as an example it's enough to become enamoured and then disillusioned by neoliberalism at least.

Prosperity is definitely there, but so is inequality, which appears to go hand in hand with capitalism.

We're still at least a generation behind the west, but throughout the years some western economies slowed down so much that in say, 20 years, we may be considered a "poor first-world country" like Greece, Portugal, Italy.

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

#33

Post by StavrosK »

dsego wrote: post #9
misterkolaz wrote: post #6

[flagged]

It's now been almost 30 years. Isn't that enough time to be able to revert the damage and develop prosperity?

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 because nobody else will look out for them, and anyone who hates this culture just leaves. This makes it extremely hard to change anything, and things improve at glacial rates.

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

#34

Post by ivankolev »

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.

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

#36

Post by tyri_kai_psomi »

StavrosK wrote: post #33
dsego wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's now been almost 30 years. Isn't that enough time to be able to revert the damage and develop prosperity?

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 between its people and the corruption that is in power.

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

#37

Post by namarie »

dsfyu404ed wrote: post #15
e2le wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

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.

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

#38

Post by eanthy »

_hao wrote: post #12

As a Bulgarian living and working in London for more than a year now, I have no intention of going back. The IT sector in the country is booming and the money you can make relative to the cost of living is insane - you can live like a king. To me that is not enough. Money are not enough to make me go back, even though I miss my friends and family. One of the biggest problems for me is that the country is stuck in thi…

How does the politics and whatever people are saying affect your day to day life though? If you can make 10k a month there and buy a flat for 15k, in a few years you don't even need to work anymore. Why would you not even consider living there? Maybe as the old saying: familiarity breeds contempt

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

#39

Post by mieseratte »

mschuster91 wrote: post #29
mieseratte wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even in prosperous Germany, the formerly communist East is well behind the capitalist West. One would assume for a nation with less means the problems would be more pronounced.

> Even in prosperous Germany, the formerly communist East is well behind the capitalist West. That's "thanks" to the Treuhand scandal. West Germany essentially bled East Germany dry - brains, infrastructure, everything. East Germany perfectly shows what happens when all young people who can flee - the only ones remaining will be conservatives and outright Nazis.

Yes, which bears remarkable resemblance to the Bulgarian situation such that 30 years isn't going to allow for anyone to recover.

And if you believe the Treuhand situation is the start and end of East German problems you are being overly reductionist, Herr Antifa.

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

#40

Post by zerogvt »

ovi256 wrote: post #2

Its neighbour to the north, Romania, may be in a similar situation, for the same reasons. It lost 6 million people since 1990, with several million each living in Spain and Italy.

Greece is on a similar path ever since the first austerity measures few years back.
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