Twenty years after the wall

[Sarmatian]

The problem is that when Hungary transitioned it allowed direct foriegn investment and lost everything. They should have used indirect foriegn investment so that everything stayed in Hungarian hands. Also, there are so many socialist elements left over.

I don' think that's the problem. The problem is that Hungary doesn't have any industry to speak of and has a considerable debt...

You can't build economy on shopping malls and banks...

[Vuk]

I don' think that's the problem. The problem is that Hungary doesn't have any industry to speak of and has a considerable debt...

You can't build economy on shopping malls and banks...

Sure, Szeged lost its industry with Trianon, but that does not mean that it could not make more. In fact, it started to develop industry under the socialist regime, but the socialism just was not sustainable and the country got into huge debt. The problem is then that it opened its assets to direct foriegn investment and a lot of investors bought the industry up just to close it down to make sure that it did not become competition. The country was hungry for its own industry and plenty of investors would have been willing to invest MONEY in Hungarian businesses through bonds and such (as no Hungarians had money of their own after years of socialism). Right now foriegn companies are not going to build industry to compete with their own and there are more profitable places for them to build branches, that is why industry is not developing. The mistake was using direct foriegn investment instead of indirect foriegn investment. The socialism elements left over in society now are making sure that no one has enough money to start their own up, which is why I mentioned them.

EDIT: and where did the debt come from BTW?