Historical high unemployment rate

I want to know the percent unemployed, not total number.

As for the maximum - that's not so. In dec. 1993 when we were in the hardest times, hit by sanctions and western economic aggression - our unemployment rate was 70%, and the average wage was 20 marks a month. It was miserable. And the west rejoiced in that. Just one reason why we need to know who is our enemy, and why we should beware of their economic models whose goals are to keep us "dependent" on their surplus spending in times of their high consumption.

We need to return to a pro-active approach at making jobs. No regime since Milosevic has been able to do that, because they adhere to the free market - and the free market is basically saying "let the private businesses do everything." It's not enough. The state needs to play an active role in at least creating companies, in organizing stuff and promoting stuff.

The latest in a long line of schemes that will fail.

Remember previous schemes that existed, the most notorious to me was Zoran Zivkovic saying he would create 1 million jobs in 5 years.

Anyways, this same agency promised a net creation of 13,000 new jobs -- it seems they were only able to deliver lss then 1,000.

So given there track record expect 59,000 job losses and 60,000 job creations.

Anyways. This sounds likes a schme G17 Plus introduced. This scheme consists of givng money to firms for job creation.

Well guess what happens with this government program. An employee is employed for a year, then fired and then someone else is hired for a year and the welfare for the business owner come back.

" want to know the percent unemployed, not total number.

As for the maximum - that's not so. In dec. 1993 when we were in the hardest times, hit by sanctions and western economic aggression - our unemployment rate was 70%, and the average wage was 20 marks a month".
Lazar

According to CG before the nineties Serbia was like Monaco.
I just looked up some statistics. Monaco's per capita GDP in 2008 was 212,000 US dollars. #1 in the world.
Serbia: $6,782. I am speachless.

The President of the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, Milan Knežević is probably right in his prediction that these grants or benefits will be abused by exploitative entrepreneurs and politicians alike. Imagine the following; I have a small or medium sized business in the Belgrade area and my business is struggling to survive. I move to Vranje, or an other underdeveloped area in Serbia, and set up shop. I hire myself a 100 or so new employees for which I will receive 300-400K each! Great, I employ these people for 200 Euro a month for 6 months. Within this time I use the company's resources to bleed every cent from the accounts and then declare myself bankrupt. Do the maths and you will see I am the winner, the state and (former) employees back at square one. Now multiply this by 000's and the next bankruptcy will be the state itself.
Serbia doesn't need these kind of incentives. The only way to improve the economy is to make it attractive for (foreign) companies to settle here. In order to achieve this goal the State could better use this money to invest in education (English would be a good start), into the infrastructures of roads, railways, airports and most of all communications (internet connections especially).
Next, introduce a competitive tax regime together with a cut in red tape, a justice system that is impartial and works efficiently and banks that are customer friendly, rather than the greedy leeches that they are.
Now, if I were an interested investor that's what I would be looking at.

Yes Terry you are right, but you forget one thing: the rule of Law, a reliable judiciary system with honest judges, giving fair judgements on fiscal matters.
No arbitrary surprises that can ruin your direct investments. If the mayor can cut you company as he cuts the old trees of belgrade its not gonna work....

I agree with Terry that a better use of the money would be to invest in fixing the tax code, reducing regulations, improving infrastructure. Encouraging people to go into business for themselves is probably not the way to go - even in a country that's comfortable with the concept like the US, most small businesses fail. They say the self-employed businessman is someone who will work 80 hours a week for himself to avoid taking a 40-hour-a-week job working for someone else - it takes a certain drive, stubbornness, and a certain amount of luck.

On the other hand, this might be just what some Serbian Bill Gates needs. Just realize that hoping for this is the equivalent of buying a lot of lottery tickets and hoping that one of them will pay off big.

On the other hand, this might be just what some Serbian Bill Gates needs. Just realize that hoping for this is the equivalent of buying a lot of lottery tickets and hoping that one of them will pay off big.
(Amer, 20 January 2011 22:29) Funny you should mention Bill Gates he has a villa in Croatia and spends a lot of time in Croatia. Bill is donating millions to Croatia and one of the projects is to demine Croatia that our friendly Serbs left behind all those neighbourly presents. Of coarse the Serbs forgot where they mind and the maps are no where to be-found maybe we can give the Serbs jobs in demining. http://www.croatiantimes.com/news/General_News/2011-01-14/16450/Bill_Gates_to_pay_millions_to_clear_land_mines_from_Skradin_area

Guys guys, regulations are a simple necessity. Capitalism is unstable if it is not regulated. It is a monster that will choke in its own greed. The US loosened regulations - and it has only a big debt and little good to show for that.

The neoliberal economic model is known to be a failure. We hear their rhetoric all the time - reduce taxes to zero, do not regulate anything - and it is the richest of the rich that benefit, while most pay the consequences.

Most of us here are European I hope? We have a tradition where the government is more involved in the economy - and as a result we tend to have more sustainable systems. That is why the Germen and French called this economic an Anglo-disease. Indeed they are right, a disease that Thatcher and Reagan helped cultivate.

Lazar,

Yes that seems ridiculously high. It tried to see it on google again. Here is a link

http://data.un.org/CountryProfile.aspx?crName=Monaco

I always tought Luxembourg was the highest by about 117,000 dollars per capita. We know that Monaco lives from casino and tourism but still 211,000 $ is just too much. Anybody is welcome to come up with a realistic number.

Huh? That sounds ridiculously high. Give us a link else it is not true. Here's my link, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/mn.html , CIA world factbook says that monaco's GDP/capita is about 30,000.

Even if it is 30,000, we all should be aware that there is "unevenness" in just about everything. Got to Chicago and you will see a neighborhood where Billionaires reside in, and one where blacks shoot one another on a daily basis, where there are no businesses. Such conditions of unevenness are very real even on the city level. So perhaps there is some of that in Monaco, with their Casino generating most of the revenue and the rest of the population living as serfs? It ain't like that obviously, but still, never discredit unevenness, for it is nested in the capitalist system.

The problem is not the free market, rather it is government meddling in the economy by way of thick bureaucracy, corruption, weak judiciary and state run monopolies. Show investors that the grass is green here and they will come.

All adherents of free market principles don’t want eastern Europe to pull itself out of the quagmire because it needs cheap labor and materials. As soon as “the locals get uppity and demand high wages” it time to pack up and move next door where the government and people are more compliant.
The reason China is successful is because it has always had a 51/49% partnerships.

According to CG before the nineties Serbia was like Monaco.
I just looked up some statistics. Monaco's per capita GDP in 2008 was 212,000 US dollars. #1 in the world.
Serbia: $6,782. I am speachless.
(Joe, 20 January 2011 17:35)

Serbia was never like Monaco. In the first instance Monaco is not really a country in the true sense of the word; it’s a tax haven for the rich. Just because it has a average income of $US212,000 does not mean money rains from the sky when overcast. The cleaner still gets paid the same as in France. It’s the extremely wealthy that make up that average income not the ordinary worker. Take the wealthy people away and Monaco’s annual income would be $1,500 if it was lucky.
The measurement of wealth in GDP terms has in recent time become an anachronistic system. The real health of any nation is reflected in the true level of unemployment.

"@Amer: we tried many things, in the case of Serbia (or any other country around) much is missing for a successful small business.

"Bill Gates model" - yes, but here Bill Gates had some help to start.

The R&D is incredibly time-consuming, about 80% of your efforts are a monumental failure and someone is needed to finance your life!

Distribution without brand name attached is very tough and how many times an inferior product is bought just because of the channels.

Also the local market is small - in order to survive from R&D one needs access to much bigger markets.
(Ataman, 21 January 2011 01:00) "

So we agree that giving money to start a business to people who would actually rather have a nice safe job (with benefits) is probably a waste of their time and the government's money?

And yes, I agree that Gates had more than an idea and a garage - he had a large, functioning society available to provide support. That's why Terry and I both suggest that the government's real role is to improve the tax structure, reduce corruption, provide the legal and technical infrastructure ... Without this - and some luck (more than you had), even Bill Gates wouldn't have been Bill Gates.


Michael Thomas - going to a dinar-based economy would be fine, in an economically independent country. I'm not sure there are any such countries, BTW. As long as Serbia depends on imports to the extent it does, it has to worry about the dinar's value in other currencies. Even Serbia's best friends the Russians are not going to take play-money for their oil. And how do you pay for the capital goods - the machinery to make the actual products - without having a currency the manufacturer will accept? Or goods that he will barter for?

"According to CG before the nineties Serbia was like Monaco.
I just looked up some statistics. Monaco's per capita GDP in 2008 was 212,000 US dollars. #1 in the world.
Serbia: $6,782. I am speachless.
(Joe, 20 January 2011 17:35) "

You are not the only one speechless. I'm speechless too -- at your utter inability to distinguish between unemployment rates (the topic of discussion on this thread) and per capita GDP.

This is the result of all those bad privatizations starting with the entry of the DOS. The new owners sold off the businesses in pieces and threw everyone out of work, leaving only warehouses which they rent out.
Serbs didn't understand or research the DOS platform or they would have known it would have meant a lot more unemployment.
Tadic and company do not run the economy well so stop voting them back in!

Monaco is a highly developed Western country with at least 500 romanesque cathedrals on every corner. People in Monaco are rich, but not as rich as I am. I have several houses in Vasköcsöggödre, even in my cheapest house the WC is made of gold and I flush down my own sh*t with milk and honey.

The per-capita GDP in our gated community is 600,000 US Dollars, surpassing Monaco.

I know everything a human should know and even more. The only reason why Hungarians and Serbs hate me is that they know, I am here to teach them the lesson what an American can do with his money. They should not be envy - if they work hard like I do, they, too can buy a car I have. I am proud of my car because this is how I was able to increase the average IQ / square meter ratio within the car.

http://tinyurl.com/66dv5x3

I really have no time to discuss problems of that Serbia. I have to meet with my friend Sarah Palin and present her the evidence of Romanian nationalists conspiring with ruskies and mishandling autochon population of Erdelj.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZL8wwPaL-g

It ain't like that obviously, but still, never discredit unevenness, for it is nested in the capitalist system.
(Lazar, 20 January 2011 20:21)

Lazar - be careful - it's OK to feed the trolls... as long as what you feed them is inedible and makes them sick.

---

@Amer: we tried many things, in the case of Serbia (or any other country around) much is missing for a successful small business.

"Bill Gates model" - yes, but here Bill Gates had some help to start.

The R&D is incredibly time-consuming, about 80% of your efforts are a monumental failure and someone is needed to finance your life!

Distribution without brand name attached is very tough and how many times an inferior product is bought just because of the channels.

Also the local market is small - in order to survive from R&D one needs access to much bigger markets.

There are plenty of unemployed in Croatia today to do the demining work.
(sj, 22 January 2011 05:40)

SJ
Not three days ago you have being telling us some tales of economic miracle in Serbia, so miracle that even albanians of Kosovo were looking for jobs over there. How is it possible now that Serbia has historically high unemployment rate? Would you be so kind to clarify what you (dis)informed us three days ago?
We can not buy clarifications like "there are jobs that serbs are not willing to do".

Serbia doesn't need these kind of incentives. The only way to improve the economy is to make it attractive for (foreign) companies to settle here. In order to achieve this goal the State could better use this money to invest in education (English would be a good start), into the infrastructures of roads, railways, airports and most of all communications (internet connections especially).

I wouldn't mind trying that idea as long as we have laws in place that if those politicians and business people get caught stealing the people's money, they will be the ones physically building us the public bathrooms, roads, railways, rebuilding the infrastructure, cleaning our streets...
Work cures all evils and makes for great rehabilitation therapy.
Practically speaking.

Serbian can recover economically only if it controls its own money supply. The Serbian National Bank can only issue Dinars if it holds enough Euros in reserve to cover them. This rule does not apply to America or Britain or China or Russia or France or … any free country. It only applies to colonies and puppet states.

Serbia should assert its independence and issue Dinars to domestic industry and instruct them to build new roads, schools, and hospitals. Issuing tens of billions of Dinars is not inflationary if that money is used to produce new goods and services.

If you give this new money to bankers, as we are doing in the West, then they will use it to buy company shares, gold, and other commodities; they will use it to push up the value of existing assets. If this new money is used to buy existing assets, then that is inflationary.

This investment of billions of Dinars will employ hundreds of thousands of Serbians who will be paid in Dinars. They will use these Dinars to buy food and clothing in Serbian shops. If foreign companies (Nestle, Nike, Sony) don’t want to accept these Dinars for their goods, then that would be their privilege; Serbians will buy Serbian produced goods instead.

By printing Dinars in this way, the Serbian government would not only kick-start the Serbian economy and take the unemployed out of poverty; it would also succeed in rebuilding Serbian infrastructure at no cost to the Serbian taxpayer.

Under the current Western-inspired economic model, the Serbian government must borrow money before it can invest in important infrastructure.

Under the model of economic self-management that I am proposing, the government simply creates funds interest-free. The taxpayer will pay nothing.

Those of you who want to learn more about this idea; I suggest you read Ellen Brown http://www.webofdebt.com/.

(Lenard, 21 January 2011 09:08)
Just because Bill Gates holidays in Croatia does not mean his intellect will rub off on Croats.
There are plenty of unemployed in Croatia today to do the demining work.

This is the result of all those bad privatizations starting with the entry of the DOS. The new owners sold off the businesses in pieces and threw everyone out of work, leaving only warehouses which they rent out.
Serbs didn't understand or research the DOS platform or they would have known it would have meant a lot more unemployment.
Tadic and company do not run the economy well so stop voting them back in!

"According to CG before the nineties Serbia was like Monaco.
I just looked up some statistics. Monaco's per capita GDP in 2008 was 212,000 US dollars. #1 in the world.
Serbia: $6,782. I am speachless.
(Joe, 20 January 2011 17:35) "

You are not the only one speechless. I'm speechless too -- at your utter inability to distinguish between unemployment rates (the topic of discussion on this thread) and per capita GDP.

I want to know the percent unemployed, not total number.

As for the maximum - that's not so. In dec. 1993 when we were in the hardest times, hit by sanctions and western economic aggression - our unemployment rate was 70%, and the average wage was 20 marks a month. It was miserable. And the west rejoiced in that. Just one reason why we need to know who is our enemy, and why we should beware of their economic models whose goals are to keep us "dependent" on their surplus spending in times of their high consumption.

We need to return to a pro-active approach at making jobs. No regime since Milosevic has been able to do that, because they adhere to the free market - and the free market is basically saying "let the private businesses do everything." It's not enough. The state needs to play an active role in at least creating companies, in organizing stuff and promoting stuff.

Huh? That sounds ridiculously high. Give us a link else it is not true. Here's my link, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/mn.html , CIA world factbook says that monaco's GDP/capita is about 30,000.

Even if it is 30,000, we all should be aware that there is "unevenness" in just about everything. Got to Chicago and you will see a neighborhood where Billionaires reside in, and one where blacks shoot one another on a daily basis, where there are no businesses. Such conditions of unevenness are very real even on the city level. So perhaps there is some of that in Monaco, with their Casino generating most of the revenue and the rest of the population living as serfs? It ain't like that obviously, but still, never discredit unevenness, for it is nested in the capitalist system.

The latest in a long line of schemes that will fail.

Remember previous schemes that existed, the most notorious to me was Zoran Zivkovic saying he would create 1 million jobs in 5 years.

Anyways, this same agency promised a net creation of 13,000 new jobs -- it seems they were only able to deliver lss then 1,000.

So given there track record expect 59,000 job losses and 60,000 job creations.

Anyways. This sounds likes a schme G17 Plus introduced. This scheme consists of givng money to firms for job creation.

Well guess what happens with this government program. An employee is employed for a year, then fired and then someone else is hired for a year and the welfare for the business owner come back.

On the other hand, this might be just what some Serbian Bill Gates needs. Just realize that hoping for this is the equivalent of buying a lot of lottery tickets and hoping that one of them will pay off big.
(Amer, 20 January 2011 22:29) Funny you should mention Bill Gates he has a villa in Croatia and spends a lot of time in Croatia. Bill is donating millions to Croatia and one of the projects is to demine Croatia that our friendly Serbs left behind all those neighbourly presents. Of coarse the Serbs forgot where they mind and the maps are no where to be-found maybe we can give the Serbs jobs in demining. http://www.croatiantimes.com/news/General_News/2011-01-14/16450/Bill_Gates_to_pay_millions_to_clear_land_mines_from_Skradin_area

" want to know the percent unemployed, not total number.

As for the maximum - that's not so. In dec. 1993 when we were in the hardest times, hit by sanctions and western economic aggression - our unemployment rate was 70%, and the average wage was 20 marks a month".
Lazar

According to CG before the nineties Serbia was like Monaco.
I just looked up some statistics. Monaco's per capita GDP in 2008 was 212,000 US dollars. #1 in the world.
Serbia: $6,782. I am speachless.

The President of the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, Milan Knežević is probably right in his prediction that these grants or benefits will be abused by exploitative entrepreneurs and politicians alike. Imagine the following; I have a small or medium sized business in the Belgrade area and my business is struggling to survive. I move to Vranje, or an other underdeveloped area in Serbia, and set up shop. I hire myself a 100 or so new employees for which I will receive 300-400K each! Great, I employ these people for 200 Euro a month for 6 months. Within this time I use the company's resources to bleed every cent from the accounts and then declare myself bankrupt. Do the maths and you will see I am the winner, the state and (former) employees back at square one. Now multiply this by 000's and the next bankruptcy will be the state itself.
Serbia doesn't need these kind of incentives. The only way to improve the economy is to make it attractive for (foreign) companies to settle here. In order to achieve this goal the State could better use this money to invest in education (English would be a good start), into the infrastructures of roads, railways, airports and most of all communications (internet connections especially).
Next, introduce a competitive tax regime together with a cut in red tape, a justice system that is impartial and works efficiently and banks that are customer friendly, rather than the greedy leeches that they are.
Now, if I were an interested investor that's what I would be looking at.

Guys guys, regulations are a simple necessity. Capitalism is unstable if it is not regulated. It is a monster that will choke in its own greed. The US loosened regulations - and it has only a big debt and little good to show for that.

The neoliberal economic model is known to be a failure. We hear their rhetoric all the time - reduce taxes to zero, do not regulate anything - and it is the richest of the rich that benefit, while most pay the consequences.

Most of us here are European I hope? We have a tradition where the government is more involved in the economy - and as a result we tend to have more sustainable systems. That is why the Germen and French called this economic an Anglo-disease. Indeed they are right, a disease that Thatcher and Reagan helped cultivate.

Lazar,

Yes that seems ridiculously high. It tried to see it on google again. Here is a link

http://data.un.org/CountryProfile.aspx?crName=Monaco

I always tought Luxembourg was the highest by about 117,000 dollars per capita. We know that Monaco lives from casino and tourism but still 211,000 $ is just too much. Anybody is welcome to come up with a realistic number.

All adherents of free market principles don’t want eastern Europe to pull itself out of the quagmire because it needs cheap labor and materials. As soon as “the locals get uppity and demand high wages” it time to pack up and move next door where the government and people are more compliant.
The reason China is successful is because it has always had a 51/49% partnerships.

According to CG before the nineties Serbia was like Monaco.
I just looked up some statistics. Monaco's per capita GDP in 2008 was 212,000 US dollars. #1 in the world.
Serbia: $6,782. I am speachless.
(Joe, 20 January 2011 17:35)

Serbia was never like Monaco. In the first instance Monaco is not really a country in the true sense of the word; it’s a tax haven for the rich. Just because it has a average income of $US212,000 does not mean money rains from the sky when overcast. The cleaner still gets paid the same as in France. It’s the extremely wealthy that make up that average income not the ordinary worker. Take the wealthy people away and Monaco’s annual income would be $1,500 if it was lucky.
The measurement of wealth in GDP terms has in recent time become an anachronistic system. The real health of any nation is reflected in the true level of unemployment.

(Lenard, 21 January 2011 09:08)
Just because Bill Gates holidays in Croatia does not mean his intellect will rub off on Croats.
There are plenty of unemployed in Croatia today to do the demining work.

The problem is not the free market, rather it is government meddling in the economy by way of thick bureaucracy, corruption, weak judiciary and state run monopolies. Show investors that the grass is green here and they will come.

Serbian can recover economically only if it controls its own money supply. The Serbian National Bank can only issue Dinars if it holds enough Euros in reserve to cover them. This rule does not apply to America or Britain or China or Russia or France or … any free country. It only applies to colonies and puppet states.

Serbia should assert its independence and issue Dinars to domestic industry and instruct them to build new roads, schools, and hospitals. Issuing tens of billions of Dinars is not inflationary if that money is used to produce new goods and services.

If you give this new money to bankers, as we are doing in the West, then they will use it to buy company shares, gold, and other commodities; they will use it to push up the value of existing assets. If this new money is used to buy existing assets, then that is inflationary.

This investment of billions of Dinars will employ hundreds of thousands of Serbians who will be paid in Dinars. They will use these Dinars to buy food and clothing in Serbian shops. If foreign companies (Nestle, Nike, Sony) don’t want to accept these Dinars for their goods, then that would be their privilege; Serbians will buy Serbian produced goods instead.

By printing Dinars in this way, the Serbian government would not only kick-start the Serbian economy and take the unemployed out of poverty; it would also succeed in rebuilding Serbian infrastructure at no cost to the Serbian taxpayer.

Under the current Western-inspired economic model, the Serbian government must borrow money before it can invest in important infrastructure.

Under the model of economic self-management that I am proposing, the government simply creates funds interest-free. The taxpayer will pay nothing.

Those of you who want to learn more about this idea; I suggest you read Ellen Brown http://www.webofdebt.com/.

I agree with Terry that a better use of the money would be to invest in fixing the tax code, reducing regulations, improving infrastructure. Encouraging people to go into business for themselves is probably not the way to go - even in a country that's comfortable with the concept like the US, most small businesses fail. They say the self-employed businessman is someone who will work 80 hours a week for himself to avoid taking a 40-hour-a-week job working for someone else - it takes a certain drive, stubbornness, and a certain amount of luck.

On the other hand, this might be just what some Serbian Bill Gates needs. Just realize that hoping for this is the equivalent of buying a lot of lottery tickets and hoping that one of them will pay off big.

Yes Terry you are right, but you forget one thing: the rule of Law, a reliable judiciary system with honest judges, giving fair judgements on fiscal matters.
No arbitrary surprises that can ruin your direct investments. If the mayor can cut you company as he cuts the old trees of belgrade its not gonna work....

Monaco is a highly developed Western country with at least 500 romanesque cathedrals on every corner. People in Monaco are rich, but not as rich as I am. I have several houses in Vasköcsöggödre, even in my cheapest house the WC is made of gold and I flush down my own sh*t with milk and honey.

The per-capita GDP in our gated community is 600,000 US Dollars, surpassing Monaco.

I know everything a human should know and even more. The only reason why Hungarians and Serbs hate me is that they know, I am here to teach them the lesson what an American can do with his money. They should not be envy - if they work hard like I do, they, too can buy a car I have. I am proud of my car because this is how I was able to increase the average IQ / square meter ratio within the car.

http://tinyurl.com/66dv5x3

I really have no time to discuss problems of that Serbia. I have to meet with my friend Sarah Palin and present her the evidence of Romanian nationalists conspiring with ruskies and mishandling autochon population of Erdelj.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZL8wwPaL-g

It ain't like that obviously, but still, never discredit unevenness, for it is nested in the capitalist system.
(Lazar, 20 January 2011 20:21)

Lazar - be careful - it's OK to feed the trolls... as long as what you feed them is inedible and makes them sick.

---

@Amer: we tried many things, in the case of Serbia (or any other country around) much is missing for a successful small business.

"Bill Gates model" - yes, but here Bill Gates had some help to start.

The R&D is incredibly time-consuming, about 80% of your efforts are a monumental failure and someone is needed to finance your life!

Distribution without brand name attached is very tough and how many times an inferior product is bought just because of the channels.

Also the local market is small - in order to survive from R&D one needs access to much bigger markets.

Serbia doesn't need these kind of incentives. The only way to improve the economy is to make it attractive for (foreign) companies to settle here. In order to achieve this goal the State could better use this money to invest in education (English would be a good start), into the infrastructures of roads, railways, airports and most of all communications (internet connections especially).

I wouldn't mind trying that idea as long as we have laws in place that if those politicians and business people get caught stealing the people's money, they will be the ones physically building us the public bathrooms, roads, railways, rebuilding the infrastructure, cleaning our streets...
Work cures all evils and makes for great rehabilitation therapy.
Practically speaking.

"@Amer: we tried many things, in the case of Serbia (or any other country around) much is missing for a successful small business.

"Bill Gates model" - yes, but here Bill Gates had some help to start.

The R&D is incredibly time-consuming, about 80% of your efforts are a monumental failure and someone is needed to finance your life!

Distribution without brand name attached is very tough and how many times an inferior product is bought just because of the channels.

Also the local market is small - in order to survive from R&D one needs access to much bigger markets.
(Ataman, 21 January 2011 01:00) "

So we agree that giving money to start a business to people who would actually rather have a nice safe job (with benefits) is probably a waste of their time and the government's money?

And yes, I agree that Gates had more than an idea and a garage - he had a large, functioning society available to provide support. That's why Terry and I both suggest that the government's real role is to improve the tax structure, reduce corruption, provide the legal and technical infrastructure ... Without this - and some luck (more than you had), even Bill Gates wouldn't have been Bill Gates.


Michael Thomas - going to a dinar-based economy would be fine, in an economically independent country. I'm not sure there are any such countries, BTW. As long as Serbia depends on imports to the extent it does, it has to worry about the dinar's value in other currencies. Even Serbia's best friends the Russians are not going to take play-money for their oil. And how do you pay for the capital goods - the machinery to make the actual products - without having a currency the manufacturer will accept? Or goods that he will barter for?

There are plenty of unemployed in Croatia today to do the demining work.
(sj, 22 January 2011 05:40)

SJ
Not three days ago you have being telling us some tales of economic miracle in Serbia, so miracle that even albanians of Kosovo were looking for jobs over there. How is it possible now that Serbia has historically high unemployment rate? Would you be so kind to clarify what you (dis)informed us three days ago?
We can not buy clarifications like "there are jobs that serbs are not willing to do".