In many former Warsaw Pact countries, the economic conditions are still pretty bleak. When I was in Poland last year, I heard that many people are unemployed, and yearn for the full employment and security of the Communist era. Conditions do seem much better in Hungary and in the Czech Republic.

In some way, it seems like things are booming in the Eastern Bloc - but not everything is better than it once was. Many people have made a lot of money and earned a very nice lifestyle - but many have sung into unemployment and poverty since Communism fell.
So, that's another side of the coin.

I spent two years studying East Germany in 1973-73, when I was in the U.S. Army. Life in East Germany seemed to be very much like my Army life - a bit drab and regimented and certainly not wealthy - but not a bad life, and it was far more secure than the 9 months of unemployment I experienced after I got out of the service.

-Joe-