At least the residents themselves think so. To some extent this is true, but it is not as simple as blaming it on Kalosek and Havel. The causes of this literal decline go back long before the revolution. The communists did not really play along.

What was it like then?
The communist era took a toll on Czech industry. Yes, there used to be garlic, potatoes, and who knows what else produced in the Czech Republic, but the competition was quite different. What was produced was turned over to trade, under the regime\’s supervision, and the best was exported. The regime never thought otherwise. Televisions and radios produced in this country were not far behind the monkeys of the 1980s, and even we, the great pioneers of the East, could not match the production of the West. Outdated technology, processes, lack of investment in development and evolution. We had many competent and scholarly people, but we were not up to foreign production in terms of technology. You cannot build a country on potatoes and garlic. In this respect, too, Poland, as an agrarian nation, is ahead of other EU members such as Germany and France.

Need for investment

After the revolution, everyone who cared about Czech industry and wanted to protect it knew that foreign investment was needed. That is why after the revolution they literally pleaded at the feet of foreign capital that wanted to invest, and eventually it did. However, he had a very different idea about the future of Czech citizens than the original owners. The goal was to give Czech skilled workers the technology and capital to outperform the rest (the Czech auto industry was beating the competition in a big way), but to freeze their salaries somewhere in the 1990s. In other words, despite being the unofficial powerhouse of Central Europe, workers were paid the same wages for 20 years, and foreign investors and companies made Czech land probably the best-paid gold mine in Europe.

Everything was sold off, not stolen, but just done in a very violent and disorderly way. Today, salaries are a very hot topic and politicians fear that if they speak out in defense of Czech salaries, foreign companies will pack their bags and go elsewhere. This would take us back to 20 years ago, and there would be no miracle in the unemployment rate.