Freedom: Before and After

Before:  East Germany right after the fall of the Berlin Wall, after almost 50 years of communist rule.  It is a country of dilapidation, disrepair, and ruin.  This is what communism/socialism does for a nation.

After:  The same places now, after 20 years of freedom.  Almost unrecognizable.

We are heading in the opposite direction.  There is a good comparison you can easily find online of Detroit in the 1950's and Detroit now.  It is basically the East Germany before-and-after exercise in reverse.

Markt Strasse, in Erfurt, 1991

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,720326,00.html