[Lessismore]

I always thought it did not end at all, but rather just re-tooled the hammers and sickles into "capitalist" symbols and the old nomenklatura remained in all the positions they occupied before the "fall of communism," but were much better paid. Did they not?

Some of the old nomenklatura did continue on. But I think that there was a lot of social mobility, much of it of the "shit floats" variety.

[Zviadist]

Some of the old nomenklatura did continue on. But I think that there was a lot of social mobility, much of it of the "shit floats" variety.

Well, as someone who was there throughout, I can assure you of one thing: you are mistaken. There was nearly NO social mobility in the former communist world. Why do you think they all went communist in the second elections? They saw "democratic capitalism" and realized that even communism was better than what came afterward. Little more needs said.

I can do this discussion if you like, we can talk about assets and how they were privatized, about wage levels and standards of living, about utilities prices, about new, domestic-owned startup businesses, and so on and so on.