Why did you buy in Croatia?

[Ribaric]

I completely understand madgolfer's "REAL WORLD" comment. I lived most of my life in London and, after a year (nearly) here, I have no regrets and enjoy my time in this beautiful country. However, it isn't as "real" in that the way some things are accepted as normal but for which there is no real cause. I put this down to people not yet having grasped or accepted a free market economy.
It's a bit like the Karl Marx question... Does:

• (A) the boss mostly need the worker? or
  
• (B) does the worker mostly need the boss?
  

If this is applied to fundamental customer services (banks, posta, zupanije, T-Com etc.) then 'B' still applies. This is arse-about-face in a developed country and there's no REAL justification for it hence madgolfer's comments. The more Croats travel abroad then the more they will see how easy such things can be and how much power lay in the hands of the consumer. Until then, little miss Hitler can continue to sit behind her desk and treat you with disdain without consequence. In the real world, the company would have to train, educate, guide or ultimately sack her. If they don't, another company will take the customer and the inevitable dire consequences will result.

Having said all that, it's a lovely place to be.

[lojalnost]

All this makes me think about how much some Croatians are obsessed with image and living a life which they perceive to be ideal. May be it's because for some Croatians, life has been all too real and they have had a very hard life. It depends what circles you move in I suppose. Someone made me laugh the other day because they said that they were from an "Upper class Croatian family". Image is such a big thing for some Croatians and when you think about it image is not "real".

[tootingtony]

Firefly - with respect upon what do you base your information on the property market close to collapse.

I have been investing in property for the past 6 years and quite honestly I have not witnessed any halt in the market, quite the opposite...as a southerner moved north there is no signs of property slowing down here.

BTW - in terms of investment Leeds is currently the fastest growing city outside London

[Knedla]

lojalnost said:

All this makes me think about how much some Croatians are obsessed with image and living a life which they perceive to be ideal. May be it's because for some Croatians, life has been all too real and they have had a very hard life. It depends what circles you move in I suppose. Someone made me laugh the other day because they said that they were from an "Upper class Croatian family". Image is such a big thing for some Croatians and when you think about it image is not "real".

Croatians obsessed with image.

The world is obsessed with image. Look at the papers at the stands. Camilla wears stunning hat, Prince William looks great in designer jeans, Britney Spears has pimples, Kate looks great, want to look like her.

I mean these trashy rags, sell like hot buttered buns on a chilly morning. Who is looking at this stuff. Many people are worried about image. Why do so many people buy the cars they buy, BMW and fancy sports cars and all the other expensive cars out there because they want to look good driving.

Clothes, cars, jewelery, handbags, shoes, why is this a billion dollar industry, why is Prada, Gucci and all these brand names making billions of dollars.

People have images they want to convey and it is not just Croatians.

[irac]

I know that everyone says Zagreb is worst, that people buy a designer t-shirt and have no food on the table, or the best mobile etc, but it's all on scale. Maybe it just looks worse because there is a lack of real money, what is very scary is the lack of saving. The earn and spend attitude, or more to the point, borrow and spend, is going to make the already bad situation worse. The recent reports on the external debt is not going to make for a good few years if the global economy worsens!

[Knedla]

Speaking about how Croatia is so poor. A friend sent me this article. Makes Croatia look like a dream.




America's rags-to-riches dream an illusion: study
> By Alister Bull 1 hour, 45 minutes ago
>
> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - America may still think of itself as the land
of opportunity, but the chances of living a rags-to-riches life are a
lot lower than elsewhere in the world, according to a new study
published on Wednesday.
> The likelihood that a child born into a poor family will make it into
the top five percent is just one percent, according to "Understanding
Mobility in America," a study by economist Tom Hertz from American
University.
> By contrast, a child born rich had a 22 percent chance of being rich
as an adult, he said.
> "In other words, the chances of getting rich are about 20 times
higher if you are born rich than if you are born in a low-income family," he
told an audience at the Center for American Progress, a liberal
think-tank sponsoring the work.
> He also found the United States had one of the lowest levels of
inter-generational mobility in the wealthy world, on a par with Britain but
way behind most of Europe.
> "Consider a rich and poor family in the United States and a similar
pair of families in Denmark, and ask how much of the difference in the
parents' incomes would be transmitted, on average, to their
grandchildren," Hertz said.
> "In the United States this would be 22 percent; in Denmark it would
be two percent," he said.
> The research was based on a panel of over 4,000 children, whose
parents' income were observed in 1968, and whose income as adults was
reviewed again in 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1999.
> The survey did not include immigrants, who were not captured in the
original data pool. Millions of immigrants work in the U.S, many
illegally, earnings much higher salaries than they could get back home.
> Several other experts invited to review his work endorsed the general
findings, although they were reticent about accompanying policy
recommendations.
> "This debunks the myth of America as the land of opportunity, but it
doesn't tell us what to do to fix it," said Bhashkar Mazumder, a senior
economist at Top of Form 1
> Bottom of Form 1
> Bank of Cleveland who has researched this field.
> Recent studies have highlighted growing income inequality in the
United States, but Americans remain highly optimistic about the odds for
economic improvement in their own lifetime.
> A survey for the New York Times last year found that 80 percent of
those polled believed that it was possible to start out poor, work hard
and become rich, compared with less than 60 percent back in 1983.
> This contradiction, implying that while people think they are going
to make it, the reality is very different, has been seized by critics of
Top of Form 2
> Bottom of Form 2
> to pound the White House over tax cuts they say favor the rich.
> Hertz examined channels transmitting income across generations and
identified education as the single largest factor, explaining 30 percent
of the income-correlation, in an argument to boost public access to
universities.
> Breaking the survey down by race spotlighted this as the next most
powerful force to explain why the poor stay poor.
> On average, 47 percent of poor families remain poor. But within this,
32 percent of whites stay poor while the figure for blacks is 63
percent.
> It works the other way as well, with only 3 percent of blacks making
it from the bottom quarter of the income ladder to the top quarter,
versus 14 percent of whites.
> "Part of the reason mobility is so low in America is that race still
makes a difference in economic life," he said.

[irac]

I hope that's not trying to excuse the deliberate lack of wealth and opportunity distribution in Croatia by deflection. It'd be nice to see some good news in such a manner on Croatia. But not all of us read the lingo so it's few and far to get it.

[Knedla]

I think many people agree. Croatia has gotten a bit better in the last couple of years.

Wages have gone up.

New laws have been brought in and enforced. ( Especially nice is the zero tolerance)

People looking for opportunity have moved in (Chinese, British, Australians and even Americans) starting business and building homes.

Croatia future is looking up. Who would not want to move here. ;D

[lojalnost]

me

[Knedla]

lojalnost said:

me

Do you live in Croatia. Then why not move out?

If you don't live in Croatia. Why do you give that answer?

[irac]

Wages have no risen in line with inflation, unfortunately, which means that more peopel are earning less than they need to survive. Credit seems so easy to get, which is causing greater problems, but I agree with zero tolerance, we can only hope that zero tolerance on corrupt police will also come on stream. What goes on here would never be tolerated anywhere else (other than 3rd world countries and the like).

[lojalnost]

irishladyflower said:

lojalnost said:

me

Do you live in Croatia. Then why not move out?

If you don't live in Croatia. Why do you give that answer?

...I am under attack, batter down the hatches, stock up on Ajvar and Vegeta

[Knedla]

Police corruption in UK 'at Third World levels'
By Geoffrey Seed and Alasdair Palmer




Special Report: The shameful truth about police corruption



The confidential report seen by the Telegraph
POLICE corruption in Britain is now so widespread it may have reached levels which normally only occur in unstable Third World countries, according to a confidential document obtained by The Telegraph.

The growth of the international drugs trade and the massive amounts of money available to criminals to offer as bribes are identified as the key cause.

The document, the minutes of a meeting organised by the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS), and attended by 10 of Britain's most senior officers and policy makers, states that "corrupt officers exist throughout the UK police service". NCIS's Director of Intelligence said that corruption may have reached "level 2: the situation which occurs in some Third World Countries".


I could put the whole article up but it was boring.

[irac]

Wow, all the times I've driven in the UK, even when living there and I was never "fined" for driving. I wonder is this rank and file or at the top. They might not win at football but they'll beat the English at police carry on!

[Knedla]

lojalnost said:

irishladyflower said:

Do you live in Croatia. Then why not move out?

If you don't live in Croatia. Why do you give that answer?

...I am under attack, batter down the hatches, stock up on Ajvar and Vegeta

Not an attack. ;D Just a simple question since you made the comment?