Re: Economic revolutions

[Yoshie Furuhashi <furuhashi.1@xxxxxxx>]

> Dennis:
> >Whence this fetishism of Eastern European state-party father-figures? Per
> >capita GDP in Poland, Slovenia and the Czech Republic is higher now than
> >in 1989, and many of these economies are growing pretty fast.
>
> Inequality is higher now as well. Socialists are not interested in economic
> growth for the same of economic growth. We are interested in social justice.
>
> Louis Proyect

Speaking of Slovenia, by 1990, while it only accounted for 9 percent
of the Yugoslav population, it produced about 16 percent of output
and accounted for 27 percent of foreign trade.  The dissolution of
Yugoslavia was fueled in part by the resentment of the richest
republic Slovenia: why should we subsidize the poor in Kosovo and the
rest of Yugoslavia, rich Slovenes thought, when we could be part of
Europe.  "On the fiscal side, Slovenia benefited from the break-up of
Yugoslavia because it had been a net contributor to the federal
budget. While tax revenues were maintained, the transfers to the
other republics decreased, so the budget has, until now, remained
approximately in equilibrium"
(<http://europa.eu.int/comm/enlargement/slovenia/op_07_97/b21.htm>).
The average unemployment rate in Slovenia is 15.2 percent (1997), but
the percentage of women represents in typical rural regions up to 60
percent of the total population of the unemployed
(<http://www.fao.org/UNFAO/Bodies/ECA/WPW/9WPWSVN.htm>).  The
transition to capitalism has imposed a higher cost on women than men
in Slovenia, as in other former socialist nations.

Yoshie