You lived through communism in a communist country, and you ended up in the lucky ~10-15% who were able to transform into the new elite when the system changed. You mistakenly think things are 'much better for you', despite you occupying a more or less similar position in your society compared to the communist era due to your education etc, but hey - that's a long topic.

The real catch is that the majority of the population was not able to end up in that privileged 10-15%, and they got shafted. They lost guaranteed jobs, guaranteed housing, all encompassing healthcare, reasonable work hours, reasonable retirement age and pay, paid vacations, free social clubs, free hobby clubs and a lot of other stuff.

That's why ~60% of such Eastern Europeans want communism or 'whatever they had before' back. Because they got the butt end of capitalism. If they got the better end, they would speak like you, saying that its the best thing since sliced bread - mistakenly so.

Reality of capitalism is that a large majority lose things, for a very tiny 0.1% to make bank, a tiny 1% to live much better, and a small 10-15% like you to think that they are living much better. As the article bluntly demonstrates.

And no - technological development has nothing to do with capitalism - it existed forever.