Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Vilnius - quality of life

Apparently, Vilnius has one of the highest quality of living standards in the former Eastern Europe. A survey by Mercer ranks it quite high, and a similar ranking by New York Times seems to confirm this.

On a different note, it seems that Lithuania ranks quite high in internet connectedness - it looks like it currently has the World's highest download speed.

Monday, November 28, 2011

Lithuania's remarkable recovery

An interesting article by Anders Åslund is here. One argument that I have is that not all IMF advice or predictions miss the point. Real property tax is long overdue in my opinion and that is one of the things that the IMF is proposing. However, there is too much hidden interest, since a lot of people privatized property cheaply after the fall of the USSR. And they are in position now to keep it for a very long time and sell it later for bigger profit or when they need money. Thus there is quite a few neglected or poorly maintained properties that the owners do not feel pressured to do anything about - it does not cost them anything to hold them like that.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Apie emigrantus

Manding gana įžvalgus straipsnelis apie emigrantus iš Lietuvos. Iš tikrųjų - yra keletas tipų emigrantų kurių motyvacija ir požiūris į Tėvynę yra visiškai skirtingas.

Pavyzdžiui žmogus išvažiavęs tarkim 1994 kai šalyje buvo gana didelis chaosas - tarkim Kauno gatves valdė (suomiškais) treningais apsirengę jaunuoliai turės visai kitą požiūrį nuo to žmogaus kuris viso to neprisimena. Lygiai taip pat kaip žmogus bėgantis nuo tikros ar įsivaizdauojamos "betvarkės" šalyje turės visai kitą norą padėti šaliai iš kurios jis išvyko ir kuri kažkada buvo jo ar jos namai. Arba žmogus kuris buvo išvykęs studijuoti ir grįžęs gavo gana gerą darbą.

Friday, November 25, 2011

House prices worldwide

The Economist has an interesting article about house prices (part 1 and part 2). Are we only a half-way through?

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Alina Orlova and SunSay

The Lithuanian singer and Ukrainian group present their new song - you can hear 3 languages in there:

Monday, November 14, 2011

Kas valstybėje blogiausias?

Klausia R. Valatka.

Man patinka Prezidento Adamkaus drąsa. Gal laikas pradėti daiktus vadinti tikraisiais vardais ir baigti pusinės tiesos sakymą?