What do you people think of the resignation of Laszlo Bekesi, the finance
minister, in protest over the slow pace of privatisation?
I can't quite figure out who the socialist government is trying to please...
They go after their own constituents with huge price increases in basic
services (gas, electricity, telephones), and then they scare the hell out of
everyone else by holding up privatisation.
The last government was voted out largely because people felt they were too
ideological and incompetent.  The present government was to be made up of
experienced technicians who would concentrate on the economy.  It's only
been seven months now, but it looks like the more things change, the more
they stay the same.
     According to the government, after a decade of economic
free-fall, there will be slow GDP growth only after three more years.  How
much longer can this go on?  Already so many items in the ABC are more
expensive than in food stores in Germany and the US.

Dear fellow-listmembers,

I'm forwarding this at the request of the sender, thinking it might be of
some interest to members of this list.

Sincerely,

Hugh Agnew

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It was a forwarded post, not me talking...
 ac uk

>
> On Tue, 31 Jan 1995 12:34:02 +0000 Eva Durant said:
> >>
> >> The point of my comparison is that in terms of a steady measurement, like
> >> constant dollars, one can see that the real productivity of labor has grow
n
> >> tremendously since the 1950's.  The problem is that the real wages haven't
> >> grown with this productivity.
>
> --No argument on this point from me.
>
>                               then it would stand to reason that the best way
> >> to get the economy going again would be to see that more money goes into
> >> the pockets of those who produce the wealth.  This is more of a trickle up
> >> theory, if you will.
>
> --While I agree that extreme inequality is bad for a smooth running
> market system, American has a booming economy with a very low
> unemployment rate.  We don't need any further stimulation, because
> it is inflationary.  We could use more fairness in who benefits from
> the economy, but this is a matter of simple justice, and I don't think
> that we should or need to tax the rich out of existence.  After all,
> they buy a lot of things that the rest of us make, and they are also
> a source of constant amusement.  Where would we be without Di and Charles
> to read about?
>
> Charles

It has no amusement value for me; it makes me bored stiff. Not
worth a penny of mine, and the homeless shouldn't be made to
pay for such senseless luxuries...

Greg writes in HUNGARY #211 :

GP> I can't recall the exact data but about 40% of the population
GP> lives around (and below) the minimum life level.

G> Exactly why I say the government should have higher spending
G> priorities.

        Be careful, Greg, you are approaching a slippery topic.
Higher spending priorities->No party subsidising->Parties
cannot function->Democracy to expensive for Eastern Europe->
Better to restore some kind of autocracy. Logically.
I won't subscribe to this point of view.

Regards, Gabor
PS : Spending priority is a really difficult question, I don't
     state that I know the solution.

Dear Timothy,

I forwarded your request to my son (Gabriel Ramsey).  He attends
UMAss/Amherst and studied in Pecs, Hungary last year.

Perhaps you can help me.  We want to visit New York City this summer for
about 3 days in July.  We plan to leave our car in White Plains and take
a train to a hotel downtown.  Do you know of any reasonably priced,
clean, safe hotels where we might stay?  I know that New York City rates
are high compared to the Midwest, but I don't know where to locate
information about hotels.

Thanks!

Linda Ramsey >
Centralia High School Library
Centralia, MO  65240
314-682-3508

In article >,  > wrote:
>Tibor Benke apparently speaks a rather old-fashioned Hungarian. Bela Batkay
>who learned Hungarian at Columbia claims the same. Well, somehow I don't
>think that it is so old-fashioned that it would be noticeable. After all,
>Tibor was eleven in 1956. I was older than that and nobody says that I speak
>old-fashioned Hungarian. I may not use some of the newest slangs: I simply
                                                   ^^^^^^^^
>couldn't bring myself up to saying "felment a pumpa," when I am angry but I
                                   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>think it has more to do with age than with anything else.
>
>Eva Balogh

The question is, what do you call old-fashioned Hungarian. I think every
new generation uses a different language, while thinking of older
generations as old-fashioned.
I think even "felment a pumpa" is old-fashioned.
A contemporary Hungarian would use "tokre ki vagyok akadva" or
"kiakasztottal".  But who knows, even I could be old-fnd. :-)
                Zsolt

Gabor Paller wrote:

: No party subsidising->Parties cannot function

I doubt it.

--Greg

Greg asks in connection with the current political situation in Hungary:

>How bad would (will?) the economy have to get before there is a
>chance of early elections?

I can't answer this question, but I just read a very interesting report from
Hungary. On the Forum a subscriber answered an earlier question "How big a
shit are we?" affirmatively. According to him Horn and his friends will
achieve what many people thought was impossible. The population will look
back to the 1990-1994 period with nostalgy.

Greg further asks:

>Are there any fracture lines showing in the MSzP, which could
>ultimately lead to a loss in Parliamentary majority?

Of course, there is a left wing and a right wing, but again I wouldn't know
their relative strength. Moreover, what I am afraid of that there is such a
thing as party discipline in the MSZP as opposed to the other parties where
parliamentary representatives were changing parties as frequently as other
people change underwear.

According to the same imformant on the Forum the Hungarian TV was showing
film clips which demonstrated deep-seated differences and open debates
between Gyula Horn and Laszlo Bekesi, but they were shot in September and
never shown until now. This is a wonderful example of how a state-run media
works!

Another piece of news from our fellow Interneter in Budapest is that Iva1n
Peto3, chairman of SZDSZ, had a news conference and announced that his party
refuses to endorse the establishment of the two ministries, most importantly,
the new ministry of privatization under MSZP leadership and under direct
control of the prime minister.

I was also wondering whether perhaps Be1kesi might leave the party and move
over to SZDSZ (where he actually belongs). But of course you must remember
that Be1kesi's wife, Judit Cseha1k is also MSZP member and minister in Horn's
cabinet. Then there is Iva1n Vita1nyi who is supposed to be a very liberal
MSZP leader. I remember that Horn was supposed to be somewhere in the middle,
holding these factions together. However, he seems to be more to the left
than most people suspected. Even foreign journalists are commenting on that
fact.

Eva Balogh

Greg wrote:

: >Based on what evidence?  The crocodile tears of the two arrested
: >youths?
:
:
: I`m sure this was a completely unbiased statement. We have no evidence
: to go either way, eventhough anti-semitism is the more obvious reason
: for the attack.

>Some circumstancial evidence is very strong, as when you find a trout
>in the milk.  (Thoreau)
>
>"More obvious" is putting it lightly.  We have no evidence pointing
>to anything except that it was an anti-Semitic act; if there is any,
>someone please post it.
>
>--Greg

Of course it was ...

By the way, this attack happened on Szalasi's birthday. When is
Szalasi's birthday anyway ...???

-george

Greg asked:

How bad would (will?) the economy have to get before there is a
chance of early elections?
Are there any fracture lines showing in the MSzP, which could
ultimately lead to a loss in Parliamentary majority?



Greg,

I don't think that the problems of the economy have anything to do with
the CURRENT ruling coalition. The trouble started five years ago...

year                        '89   '90   '91   '92   '93   '94
trade balance ($bn)         0.5   0.3   0.4   -0   -3.2  -3.4
exchange rate (Ft/$)        60    64    75    79    95    111
budget balance (%of GDP)   -1.7   0.5  -2.1   -5.7 -6.1  -7.1

If you look at the table above, the situation was not that bad in 1989-90.
Also, the external debt was high, but manageable..

The trouble started in 1991 when the Antall regime 'discovered' how to
finance their stubborn budget deficit with internal debt. This resulted high
internal interest rates, coupled with high inflation... At the same time,
Antall refused to devaluate the Ft. By 1992, the tiny trade surplus
evaporated and was replaced by a huge trade deficit. True, Hungary has
to import in order to export, but the overvalued Ft makes it impossible
to improve the country's export performance.

If we assume 22% annual inflation in this period, the theoretical
$/Ft exchange should have followed the pattern below:


year                        '89   '90   '91   '92   '93   '94

Theoretical Ft/$             60    73    89   109   133   162

Yes, this means that today 1$ = 162 Ft exchange is realistic, in
other words, the Ft is about 50% overvalued !!
Even if the government could balance the budget tomorrow, in order
to improve the trade balance, they'll have to institute a massive Ft
devaluation... no other way out...

Basically, the irresponsible, amateurish economic policies of the Antall
regime led to the current catastrophic situation...

-george

Hungarian 3rd year student - male - at College of Tourism-Budapest
is looking for a possibility to spent the compulsory hotel training in USA.
The offered jobs can be:
   waiter, jobs at the front office, jobs at the housekeeping, etc.
The period of training:
   minimum 4 months between 1th of April - 30th of September.

Thank you in advance for helping me.

Please send information to      Zoltan Toth
                                1116, Budapest
                                Temesvar u. 1
                                Hungary

                        or