Re: OT: PING: Barb S. - Slovakia

In article <[email hidden]>,

Gregory Morrow said:

Melba's Jammin said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Gregory Morrow said:

[Thought you would find this interesting...]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/28/business/worldbusiness/28slovakia.ht
ml

December 28, 2004

Once a Backwater, Slovakia Surges

thanks, Greg. I've mailed it to myself. I hope it will help the
horrendous unemployment rate there.

They are good folks and deserve to be successful in life...

That's a fact. I don't think their backs were broken under the
communist regime - I hope not. But I had a conversation with a Croatian
businessman, about Slovakia's prospects for economic success, in 1992, a
few months before the division of the country of Czechoslovakia. I
asked him how he thought my cousins' country would fare. He said that
he thought it would be far more difficult for the Slovaks than for the
Czechs. That he would much prefer to do business with the Czechs than
the Slovaks. "The Czechs," he said, were "hard at the table" but once a
deal is made, things will go smoothly--like with the Germans." Tough
negotiators, but would deliver the goods. He said the Slovaks were
"more like the Baltic states -- they'll promise you anything to get the
deal, and then it's nothing but headaches thereafter." He attributed
those traits to the time when it was Austro-Hungary and the western
(Czech) part being governed by the Austrians and the eastern folks
(Slovaks) being governed by Hungarians, which he equated with more
emotional, less rational folks. I don't really know if that's true but
I sure thought it was interesting. :-0) He also attributed future
economic difficulties to the lack of exports for the Slovaks. He said
you have to be exporting stuff to be successful in the world. They
didn't export much and what they did went to the Czechs and THEY
exported it to the world. The biggest industry in Slovakia had been a
factory that built Soviet tanks -- and the need for those had gone down
dramatically at the end of the Cold War. So he was predicting tough
times. And they have been difficult. Big increases in crime. The
stara babas at the village 7-11 were up in arms about the increase in
the cost of staple goods. This was in 1992 and they were expecting
further increases in the next year. We're talking about a 400% increase
in the cost of a kilo of rice, and other basic goods, from bread to
feminine hygiene products. Their government pensions were not
experiencing similar increases.

Thanks again for the pointer -- I'll send the article to my cousin there.
--
-Barb, <www.jamlady.eboard.com> Updated 11-29-04; Sam I Am!
birthday telling; Thanksgiving 2004; Fanfare, Maestro, please.
"Are we going to measure or are we going to cook?" -Food writer
Mimi Sheraton

Melba's Jammin said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Gregory Morrow said:

Melba's Jammin said:

In article <[email hidden]>,
"Gregory Morrow" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

> [Thought you would find this interesting...]
>
>

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/28/business/worldbusiness/28slovakia.ht

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

> ml
>
> December 28, 2004
>
> Once a Backwater, Slovakia Surges

thanks, Greg. I've mailed it to myself. I hope it will help the
horrendous unemployment rate there.

They are good folks and deserve to be successful in life...

That's a fact. I don't think their backs were broken under the
communist regime - I hope not.

In fact after 1970 the government in Prague poured a lot of money in
Slovakia to try to equalise things with the richer Czech lands...some
infrastructure, those weapons factories you mention below, and other stuff.
Slovakia was even supplied with desirable consumer goods, e.g. imports from
the West (Japanese cameras/electronics, Italian foodstuffs, British shoes,
etc. etc.). Friends of mine in Prague in the 70's would go to Bratislava to
search out this stuff...

This was done by the communists actually to pacify a restive population
post - 1968 Soviet invasion...

But I had a conversation with a Croatian

Quoted message said:

businessman, about Slovakia's prospects for economic success, in 1992, a
few months before the division of the country of Czechoslovakia. I
asked him how he thought my cousins' country would fare. He said that
he thought it would be far more difficult for the Slovaks than for the
Czechs. That he would much prefer to do business with the Czechs than
the Slovaks. "The Czechs," he said, were "hard at the table" but once a
deal is made, things will go smoothly--like with the Germans." Tough
negotiators, but would deliver the goods. He said the Slovaks were
"more like the Baltic states -- they'll promise you anything to get the
deal, and then it's nothing but headaches thereafter." He attributed
those traits to the time when it was Austro-Hungary and the western
(Czech) part being governed by the Austrians and the eastern folks
(Slovaks) being governed by Hungarians, which he equated with more
emotional, less rational folks. I don't really know if that's true but
I sure thought it was interesting. :-0)

I tend to agree. The Czech lands were the industrial powerhouse of the old
A - H Empire and also of Central Europe after independence in 1918..

He also attributed future

Quoted message said:

economic difficulties to the lack of exports for the Slovaks. He said
you have to be exporting stuff to be successful in the world. They
didn't export much and what they did went to the Czechs and THEY
exported it to the world. The biggest industry in Slovakia had been a
factory that built Soviet tanks -- and the need for those had gone down
dramatically at the end of the Cold War. So he was predicting tough
times. And they have been difficult. Big increases in crime. The
stara babas at the village 7-11 were up in arms about the increase in
the cost of staple goods. This was in 1992 and they were expecting
further increases in the next year. We're talking about a 400% increase
in the cost of a kilo of rice, and other basic goods, from bread to
feminine hygiene products. Their government pensions were not
experiencing similar increases.

Also the factor in the regressive Soviet - style policies of the Slovak
leader Meclar after the Czech - Slovak breakup...the country was pretty much
pariah and a backwater.

They are getting a late start but hopefully all will turn out well...

Quoted message said:

Thanks again for the pointer -- I'll send the article to my cousin there.
--

Yer welcome :-)

--
Best
Greg