Reply #1: This is horribly unsurprising. [View All]

[Robb]

I remember visiting Czechoslovakia back in 1990, when it was that... we were touring newly privatized businesses, breweries and such that used to be state-owned and were doing their best to enter capitolism.

Very ugly situation developing, even then, for those of us who could see it. Basically good people playing catch-up. They were so poor, relative to their neighbors. A German Mark had such an inflated value, same with the dollar. Even then, there were the beginnings of businesses that would offer "tours", some of them on the up-and-up, some not, for the trainloads of Germans who would ride over, drink, eat, and whatever, and leave the same night. I remember thinking it was like the relationship between San Diego and Tijuana; they'd just come over to party. And we all know how good that is for a developing economy.

Made me rather cross, actually. Prague was such a lovely city -- I know it became fashionable shortly thereafter for college kids to go over, teach english, or just live on the cheap and listen to Dvorak. But it was just an exploitation of currency that all of us saw coming a mile away, and were powerless to stop.