In praise of Czech consumerism

Local society is on the edge of the next evolutionary stage. It awaits the most mysterious transformation imaginable.

Anyone who turned on the television or radio on Monday of last week might have experienced a strange feeling of déjà vu. „Czechs buy billy-ho!“ „Czech Republic seized by shopping fever!“ „Revenues are rising as never before!“ All of this was happening here already by the mid-1990s. People were adding new mixers, washing machines, microwaves, video recorders and stereo systems to their standard appliances. And they were happy about getting closer to the West. Czechs used to leer at Western shopping malls because they believed that full shelves and relatively easy access to all goods meant capitalism, democracy and a market economy.

We are not consuming the future

The nearly 10% real growth in retail revenues in March differs from the shopping fury of the early years of the first Klaus cabinet in many essential macroeconomic factors. It is a better-established growth; the economy is not threatened by overheating, nor is there a risk of a currency breakdown caused by an excessive flood of foreign goods. Foreign trade is in the black; there are many settled foreign and domestic companies in the Czech Republic which thrive enormously, invest in new production and increase productivity. Outside of the state administration, over-employment, which decreases productivity, does not exist. To the contrary, over-employment is…