The Hungarian Model: "Hungary is now one of the poorest countries, and possibly the poorest, in the European Union"

[applegrove]

The Hungarian Model

March 31, 2025 at 7:31 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 32 Comments

https://politicalwire.com/2025/03/31/the-hungarian-model/

"SNIP............

Anne Applebaum: “Once widely perceived to be the wealthiest country in Central Europe (‘the happiest barrack in the socialist camp,’ as it was known during the Cold War), and later the Central European country that foreign investors liked most, Hungary is now one of the poorest countries, and possibly the poorest, in the European Union.”

“Industrial production is falling year-over-year. Productivity is close to the lowest in the region. Unemployment is creeping upward. Despite the ruling party’s loud talk about traditional values, the population is shrinking. Perhaps that’s because young people don’t want to have children in a place where two-thirds of the citizens describe the national education system as “bad,” and where hospital departments are closing because so many doctors have moved abroad. Maybe talented people don’t want to stay in a country perceived as the most corrupt in the EU for three years in a row.”

...........SNIP"

[misanthrope]

1. Trump's model

Coming soon to North America.

[erronis]

6. Putin's model. Without russian backing Hungary with Orban would wither completely.

Get rid of Orban and the russians and it will flourish once again.

Budapest and the rest of the country used to be a very hot tourist destination.

[BattleRow]

10. I was thinking Melanias successor when it said Hungarian model..

[Escurumbele]

19. Dictatorship's agenda is never to govern, to make the country move forward, its always about power, staying in power

Part of the agenda is to fill their coffers to the brim and then get more coffers to continue robbing the country dry, and that is what we are seeing already in the USA, there are no good intentions on anything trump/musk and his minions are doing.

trump and minions have had plenty of dictators to follow, and I am certain that he also has his mentor in Putin, its always the same blueprint, divide, tell lies, create an enemy of Democracy, pretend to be strong, give hope where there is none, cheat, fill the Supreme Court with loyalists, once you win an election (could be by cheating), fill every post with incompetent-not-fit-for-the-job loyalists who are just thrilled to have a title in government and will follow orders without questioning any. Its not the Hungary model, its the dictator model.

[Lovie777]

2. Dictatorship..........

[central scrutinizer]

3. Orban got standing ovations from repugs

https://www.npr.org/2022/08/04/1115541985/why-hungarys-authoritative-leader-is-drawing-conservative-crowds-in-the-u-s

[newdeal2]

4. Went to Hungary almost three years ago

Budapest specifically. While the historic places are nice, you can see that it’s still a pretty poor country and not nearly as advanced as its more pro-EU neighbors like Prague.

[SWBTATTReg]

5. Figures that tRUMP highlights this Country's so called economic boom (yeah, right (sarcasm here)). It's funny

since tRUMP has come into office, he's trying to single-handily wipe out Joe Biden's economic miracle here in the US, simply because he's envious of Pres. Biden's record. What a moron.

The unemployment rate is going up. Jobless claims are increasing. Economic activity is slowing down. Interest rates are creeping up, allies are dumping our treasuries. No one wants to invest in tRUMP's economic dump (and why should they?).

[Kingofalldems]

7. MAGAnomics.

[malaise]

9. I'm stealing that

MAGAnomics- most excellent😀

[mwooldri]

8. Fortunately with the EU,

Hungarians have 26 other countries to choose to live and work. That doesn't excuse Hungarys leaders from their failures though.

Regrettably the USA is in a union only with itself.

[paleotn]

21. For now, anyway. The US that is.

[dalton99a]

11. EU's givers and takers:

[paleotn]

20. Interesting juxtaposition. The Netherlands v. Belgium.

Didn't expect to see Belgium down in that crowd towards the bottom and far below their next door neighbor, the Dutch. The Netherlands is an economic powerhouse but with a housing crises that makes ours look tame.

[DetlefK]

12. The article fails to mention a critical fact: WHERE does Hungary's money come from?

Hungary has huge social programs. Public transport is free for the elderly and much more. Life is GREAT in Hungary.

I happen to know a guy who lives part-time in Hungary. A very successful business-man. So, I asked him, where does all this money come from? How can Hungary possible afford all these huge social expenses?
He looked at me as if I'm dumb: "What do you mean? It's EU-money, of course! Orban is fantastic when it comes to money!"

The hungarian support for the anti-EU-politician Orban is bought and paid for with EU-money. Hungary is living large on foreign money.



And, a speculation of mine, I suspect Hungary of engaging in what Greece did until 2008: Brutally and ruthlessly cooking the books with no mercy to facts whatsoever.

And we all remember how this ended for Greece: A national bankruptcy, followed by a NATIONAL OUTRAGE when the EU refused to bail them out cart-blanche trust-me-bro Let's-throw-foreign-taxpayer-money-into-a-black-hole-of-corruption-and-swindle. Even progressive left-wingers like Varoufakis got mad at the EU for first demanding that Greece stop cooking their books before they are willing to send money.

[Chi67]

18. Yep

It won't end well for Orban either.

[ProfessorGAC]

13. Quick Story

My first time in Hungary, we drove from Budapest to Martfu (about 75 miles)
We were a quarter of the way there when I noticed an exit off the main highway that turned immediately into a dirt road.
So, 20 miles from a metro area of 3 million, highways exited to dirt roads.
Another time, we took a trip to a Romani resort for the folk show & dinner. We went by a village of 30-40 homes & there was one 100 amp service line running to the whole village.
Now, the first one was in the 90s so the Soviet hangover was still in place, but outside metro Budapest Hungary has been quite poor for a long time.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

14. Nicolle Wallace dug into Orban's Hungary today.

Totally corrupt. Money is sucked up like Jeffrey Goldberg's phone number.

[surfered]

15. Conservatives love it. Why don't the move there?

[paleotn]

16. Yeah, but the super wealth Hungarians are doing fabulous!

Isn't that what it's all about?

[Chi67]

17. Huh

I still don't understand how Hungary has not been kicked out of the EU for human rights abuses alone.

[Jit423]

22. But they will be allowed into America as "prime" immigrants, bringing all their fascist tendencies with them. nt