• afk_strats@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        30
        ·
        4 months ago

        A little over a decade of economic stagnation, a massive flow of money and power from “the state” (the oligarchs) to private citizens (oligarchs, sometimes new ones), and years of privatization, austerity, and general kleptocracy against public goods…

        Then one of the fastest growing economies in Europe, with a good standard of living, and insane rates of home ownership and some of the best and cheapest Internet in the world.

        The dictatorship was overwhelmingly bad though it had some positive, socialist traits. What Romania is today is much better with some bad capitalist traits. People in the country sometimes look back to the communist days with nostalgia. Others got stuck in the post-communist bleakness and never saw that their country moved forward past them.

        • EgoNo4@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          7
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          4 months ago

          Much better now? Yes, of course.

          But getting here was tough, especially the first few transition years. They were bad enough to crush people’s high hopes about freedom.

          Corruption however is still rampant, the education and healthcare systems are in decline and I doubt I’ll ever get to see any of the money the government is taking out of my salary for when I retire…

          • afk_strats@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            6
            ·
            4 months ago

            Of course. But that’s not uniquely Romanian or some rememenace of the communist times. That’s capitalism. Look at the US and England. They have the same problems.

      • PugJesus@lemmy.worldOPM
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        17
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        4 months ago

        Pretty sure it wasn’t anything nearly as bad as the Ceausescu regime.