F.A. Hayek Foundation

Why do conditions for doing business and entrepreneurship keep deteriorating when politicians are trying to convince us on a daily basis that they want to improve them instead? No deeds follow their words. Although the government pretends to listen to our concerns, they do not usually take them into account.

Our Athena++ reform plan was made available to the wider public at the beginning of February 2017, aiming to spark further debate. In the upcoming months, we will be presenting our ideas to government representatives, MPs, political parties, professional associations and the media in Slovakia.

The education system in Slovakia stands before a challenge: the last significant changes were implemented in the 19th century, yet the system is supposed to meet the standards of the 21st century. Thus the education system has to go through a radical transformation, not just a series of cosmetic changes.

The law on criminal liability of legal persons is based on the idea that not just the suspects, but all parties will be burdened by annoying duties. As a result, the government would take control over all transactions where there is a possibility of tax evasion or some other crimes.

Similarly to Le Pen, Donald Trump or Brexit, Kotleba has been playing on the same phenomenon (the frustrated, dissatisfied people), which he skillfully manipulates to such an extent that he easily gets public support. The real threat to Europe is right now posed by Europeans themselves.

Steak tartare is a traditional specialty form raw meat, popular not only in Slovakia, but in most of European countries. However, unlike in other European countries, in Slovakia it is illegal. It was outlawed by an act passed by the Ministry of Healthcare in 2007.

One could rather poetically suggest that it has been all quiet on the cryptoccurency front since the Bitcoin hysteria we experienced 2-3 weeks ago. Its price has been mostly dormant, stagnating around the value of EUR 850. And yet, the crypto-world kept its ball of development rolling.

Part of today’s general disgust with political elites is the increasing disappointment of entrepreneurs with the countless declarations and promises of members of several cabinets, which remained just on paper. The new Slovak cabinet did not yet manage to regain the trust either.

If you think that these trends won’t affect you, because although you still have plenty time before you retire, or because you are not a blue-collar worker, don’t cheer too soon. The development of artificial intelligence can bring robotization and automatization not only to sectors where manual work with often repeated actions is needed.

Recent developments in India continued to steal headlines in the past couple of weeks. A surprising upshot was reported in both China and Vietnam while Spain and cannabis in the U.S. also generated significant interest.