(author’s note: after this article ran, several Hungarians set me straight right away. This annual ‘cleaning out’ is a type of re-cycling. People were not protecting their garbage: the less affluent travel from the countryside and ‘lay claim’ to what they find on the street. Mars can indeed be a wonderful place and life here can be a humbling experience.)

Since moving to Budapest, we’ve been robbed, swindled, short-changed, over-charged and still we love the place. You might be tempted to question our sanity. But that’s not what you should question. What you should question is our nationality. We’re Canadians. And we Canadians tend to put up with anything. Just look at our weather. The most desirable place to live in Canada, as far as weather is concerned, is the west coast of British Columbia where it starts to rain in September and doesn’t stop until May. If you’re lucky.

Of course, being robbed, swindled, short-changed and over-charged is something that you cannot allow yourself to put up with for long. If you allow it to continue, the day will come when you have no more belongings and no more money. So you learn to adapt. You learn to bolt everything to the floor and put a little crazy glue on anything you’re going to leave on a table. Like a tip for the waiter.

Liberating people of their belongings or their money does seem to be a bit of a national pastime here in Hungary. Or is it a sport?

Like the language, the economic perspective here tends to be quite unique. Last fall, we watched with fascination the annual large item garbage pickup day where it seemed like the entire city was under either demolition or renovation. If it wasn’t part of a structure, anything had the potential to be out on the street for pickup. Dead TVs, computers, furniture remnants, boxes, debris and who knows what potentially toxic waste was strewn all over the streets waiting to be picked up as garbage. I thought it was a pretty cool service for the city to offer. Granted, it made one of the world’s most beautiful cities look like a refugee camp but it was only for a day, unlike places like Detroit which look like that 24/7. What fascinated us was not the massive scope of it, but rather the behaviour of many garbage owners. They took out chairs and sat there with their garbage. I can’t think of any motive for that other than a profit motive. As best I can guess, I assume that while they were throwing those items away, they figured that if anyone came along and wanted anything, that item had to be worth something. And therefore they should be paid for it. It’s the most bizarre yard sale I’ve ever seen. Oh, those crazy Hungarians. But if there’s money to be made in garbage, why aren’t we exporting it?

Move over Reaganomics, here comes Hungaranomics. Rob, swindle, short-change, over charge and don’t let anyone take your garbage without paying for it. Things don’t trickle into the economy, they disappear into the economy. Like your laptop, your clothing, your wallet, your margins, your profits and even entire taxpayers. Poof. Gone.

The question is where did Hungaranomics come from? And how do we send it back?

Let’s start with robbing. That might have origins with uranium going unpaid for to the Soviet Union,  one of the catalysts for the revolution of October, 1956.

Swindling. It certainly didn’t originate in Hungary but it has definitely set up camp. For instance, in real estate.

Short-changed? That would date back to the middle ages when Hungary found itself sitting squarely between the Mongols and their Christian brothers to the west who were busy doing their laundry or something when Mongol armies decided that liberating Belgrade of its citizens for a host of non-paying jobs (unpleasantly referred to as slavery) wasn’t enough and had designs on heading north. That would be here.

Over charged. Tried buying an Apple Mac here?

Yet due to the current state of the economy, instead of leaving, Hungaranomics is liable to become even more entrenched. If robbing, swindling, short-changing and over-charging are economic practices in the good times, one can only imagine what will take place in bad times. Like these.

Through no fault of its own, Hungary has been transformed from an emerging market to a submerging market. As I’ve said before, I’m no economist. But I don’t think Hungaranomics is a way to get out of this mess. Mind you, it would work if it was possible to bolt more than your furniture to the floor. Like foreign investors.

What makes matters worse is that after being robbed, swindled, short-changed and over-charged, I still have to pay taxes. Or is it one and the same?