The other side of the coin

Bulgaria began privatizing right after the communist regime ended. Generally, it had a positive effect, saving the government money and increasing efficiency, but there were also some abuses, too. For example, a factory was deliberately brought into insolvency and then bought for one Bulgarian lev (BGN). One of my father’s former colleagues once called him. He and I attended a meeting together in the city of Burgas. When I was not at school, I spent most of my time with my father. At the time, I was not more than eleven years old, so no one paid any attention to me. Suddenly, my father stormed out angrily after talking for a while. I didn’t understand what was happening, so I asked him. The plan was to put the factory into insolvency so that the person who bought it would be the one who offered to pay more to the person involved in the insolvency. My father said he did not want to leave hundreds of families out of work and without food just for his own benefit. It was a factory that produced meat. I accidentally met the person who bought it later in life. While my father lost everything, the new owner was a well-established politician, the former Prime Minister, and a businessman...