> Slovenia seems to hanging on to the worker controilled
> cooperative socislaim of the former Yugoslavai, with OK results. Poland's a
> disaster story, polarization, poverty, the works. Unlike Russia, though, it
> has an economy. Humgary's atwo decades behind the C.R, so it'a anybody's
> guess. The Baltics are in terrible shape because their economiesa re
> depoendent on Russia's. Finland too, by the the way.
Poland has been growing 7% a year for awhile now, though, and Finland's economy has turned around after the meltdown of 1990-93, posting some of the highest growth rates in the EU. None of this is due to shock therapy, of course; Poland tried it briefly, the economy imploded, and since then they've gone back to the Listian basics (tariff walls, widespread state ownership, tough negotiations with Western firms, etc.). Finland was hurt by the Soviet collapse, but the welfare state is alive and well there. But it's true that the richer countries have gotten richer, and the poorer countries have gotten shafted, which is exactly what neoliberalism is all about, now isn't it.
-- Dennis