A Ukrainian Perspective
Julia Pilyavskaya, a Ukrainian on the MBS team provides a perspective of current events:
I read many discussions about Ukraine and how different it is from the
rest of the world. People ask me how it is to live in Ukraine. Well,
certainly it is different, it cannot be the same. We grew up having
different realities, different mentality and conditions of life.
Being isolated from the rest of the world for many years, some things unusual
for foreigners are “normal” for Ukrainians, because they have never
seen different. And many years will pass before things will change.
Government doesn’t really care about people and not many believe this
will change with new elections. People don’t know where taxes go and
prefer not to pay them. People don’t trust banks and that is why cash
everywhere.
With our “free medicine” one would think twice before going to a hospital without money. And so on… Most people wonder why change if it’s not going to change.
And now the most popular word is “crisis”. Whenever you go, you hear
it, in the streets, transport, restaurants, homes, television… 90 %
of conversations are only about it, and also prices that go up
constantly and are higher than in Europe, exchange rate, business that
is down, unemployment and certainly government that people can’t trust
anymore.
It will definitely take time for people to understand how to do things
properly, how to work in customers’ service, how to change attitude
and make our country more attractive to live in for ourselves first of
all.
Tags: cash, Europe, free medical care, Julia Pilyavskaya, MBS Ltd., taxes, ukraine, Ukrainian mentality, unemployment
April 9th, 2009 at 12:35 am
Good take, Julia. These are my exact observations, among others, since living in Odessa for the past 2.5 years.
It will take a great deal of time to change minds and attitudes, politics aside. It is human nature to resist change. Personally, I live for change. This is one of the reasons I moved from the USA to Ukraine.
Voter apathy is rampant in Ukraine. It is also high in my country, the USA. When the populace believes it does not matter what/who they vote for, that is a very slippery slope that descends rapidly. That’s when the politicians run amok, spending trillions of dollars they do not have. The prime example for this is the current US Administration’s monetary policy and extremism.
Along with my friends and associates at MBS, we refuse to participate in the so-called “crisis”. This statement is no joke. Millionaires were made during the Great Depression of the 1930’s. In every economic downturn, there are bargains galore, i.e. stocks, real estate, merchandise, currencies, etc. It is our job to find them. I firmly believe in getting into new ventures (startups) in a down market. It’s a challenge indeed. However, the rewards can be staggering.
April 9th, 2009 at 6:56 am
Ukraine, in 2008, had more billionaires per capita than the US. So did Russia. The problem is that these billionaires, many of whom are blatantly criminal, do not contribute to Ukraine, its people or its economy. The rules are different for them. To be fair, the rules are different for the elite in America also but, we have freedom to travel to almost any country in the world and, in spite of the crisis, most Americans are coping very well by doing more with less. many small businesses are not laying off people. They are simply scaling back where they can, suspending hiring, suspending pay raises and, even in some cases, reducing salaries for the greater benefit of all the employees.
As to the housing crisis. What crisis? Only slightly more than 3 percent of American homes are in foreclosure. The other 96- 97 percent of homeowners are honoring their financial obligations. The problem is that the majority of people who cannot honor their oblications are people who knowingly took on more than they could afford through shady bank practices made possible by a few people in congress who blocked regulation.
America is down but, far from out. America is the world. Almost every nationality in the world is represented in tne population. America is you, my Ukrainian and Russian friends. No one was ever killed trying to get out of America. But, many have died and been killed trying to get there.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
Hello Julia,
Ukrainians are bright people Julia and they should never trust bankers or the government. It’s a damn shame that so many Americans still believe that our country is this great and wonderful place. Once you start looking at history you discover that what is spoken is not always the truth. Phil makes a remark about no Americans have ever been killed trying to leave here; Phil must live on the west coast or perhaps he’s not up with American history. Millions of Black Americans wanted to leave the US in the 1800’s but as slaves they did not have freedom to do so. They were murdered and tortured at will by there American owners. The black race is not the only race of Americans that the US government has slaughtered when trying to escape America. In 1890 after having there leader assassinated the Sioux tribe some 300 old men women and babies were slaughtered at the hands of the US Calvary; in reports from the scene some women and children ran as far as 3 miles trying to escape but were chased down by the US military and slaughtered mercilessly.
In a recent article Julia I read that young Americans mainly white by race are leaving
America aged 18 through 40 the numbers were startling. Millions had left over the past 5 years and the number of Americans leaving and taking there money is growing.
In 2008 Congress passed a new law that taxes Americans who wish to leave and take their money with them. That’s right folks this wonderful fair country says go ahead and leave but you can’t take your money with you! Right now you can leave with 600000$everything above that amount is met with a 50% exit tax. Can you say unconstitutional!
My friends ask me Julia why I would even consider moving to Ukraine right now and I tell them Ukrainians have tasted some of the good life but are not like Americans who are Junkies addicted to the soft life. Ukrainians still have the bitter taste of Communism in there mouths they remember what slavery is. Americans are sheep and are walking to the slaughter house while listening to there I pods. Julia Ukraine will suffer but not nearly as bad as the US. Most Ukrainians have had to live very meager lives this is not the case for Americans even our poorest live a lifestyle that many poor Ukrainians would die for. So cheer up Ukraine will be thriving years after America meets her long awaited fate!
April 19th, 2009 at 11:46 am
Well Steven people have grounds not to trust banks and government. Having bad experience before and losing money people are “being smart”. When the Soviet Union collapsed, all bank accounts vanished. Last year by our prime-minister’s programm people got $200 compensation for having thousands of roubles at that time. Now many people can’t close their deposit account at banks. Though the National Bank states it is not true and everyone can have his money back. Why then do we hear on the news about people threating to put themselves on fire if they don’t get their money?
Soon the new election campaign starts… But we don’t know what to believe. The biggest problem now is trust for what politicians say. The latest research show that nowadays only 2% of people trust government (it was 30 % before).
You mention Steven that poorest people in the States live a lifestyle that many poor Ukrainians would die for. I can’t judge as I am not an expert. But I can tell you that not many people know that there are poor people abroad. For many America is what they see in Hollywood movies and you understand that it is far from reality. For many it is a bitter disappointment that not everybody lives in a mansion they had seen in “Home Alone” movie. Once I read an interview of one of our politicians. He said they would work for a Ukrainian to reach the average European salary of 80000 euros. I had to laugh hard reading those figures. But now there is a question. How many people would believe that? I would say, unfortunately a lot… Not many people travel freely to see what life is out of Ukraine.