> "the US is heading this way. We've seen this movie, and we don't like the way it ends."
I grew up in post-communist Romania, and I've also seen this movie before. Immediately after 1990 (the fall of communism) money started losing their value. At the beginning money were losing their value by "only" 40-50% per year, to a maximum of ~150% inflation rate in the late '90s. It was only in the mid 2000s' that the inflation rate first dropped to single digits.
I can still remember reading Malthus in high-school, and about how he was saying that the middle-class people are always the worst affected by the economic crisis. What can I say? My parents went from a secure, middle-class position (apartment, car, country-house) to relying on subsistence-agriculture in the space of maximum 10 years. And they weren't the only ones.
Relax, things are a lot better now (even for me, I'm on HN, ain't I? :)). What I'm talking about happened 10-15 years ago.
And congratulations for choosing Cluj. I'm usually trapped in Bucharest but I'm happy that tomorrow I'll go to Sibiu for a 4-day vacation. It's only a 2-h drive from Cluj I think, I highly recommend it for when you have time to discover the rest of the country :).
I've been to Sigishoara, which was really nice. I really look forward to seeing more.
The first week here, I had this conversation...
My work friends said: "That is worth checking out, there is a nice lake over there." I yawned and told them that I've seen lakes before, but "the mountains around the city looks really cool". They looked confused and said "Uh, do you mean the hills?"
But frankly, I'm not that curious about Bucharest. :-)
I do wish there were more gypsy music bands around Cluj.
It is a bit embarrassing to like "muzika popular", which seems to be the most uncool thing around? (-: Otoh, it might help make me popular with the girlfriend's 70 year old mother... :-)
I grew up in post-communist Romania, and I've also seen this movie before. Immediately after 1990 (the fall of communism) money started losing their value. At the beginning money were losing their value by "only" 40-50% per year, to a maximum of ~150% inflation rate in the late '90s. It was only in the mid 2000s' that the inflation rate first dropped to single digits.
I can still remember reading Malthus in high-school, and about how he was saying that the middle-class people are always the worst affected by the economic crisis. What can I say? My parents went from a secure, middle-class position (apartment, car, country-house) to relying on subsistence-agriculture in the space of maximum 10 years. And they weren't the only ones.