Poland will take half a century to catch up with the West

What catching up needs to be done, save for the roads?

Railways too, don't forget.

Eastern border crossings could do with significant improvement, though I think it's a deliberate policy by the Straż Graniczna to try and restrict non-EU movement as much as possible.

Generally infrastructure is lacking, I think - but then again, Polish tramways are vastly superior to anything in the UK.

A couple of tram systems still exist in the UK, right? I heard that Nottingham has trams.

Apparently Edinburgh might be getting one - coming soon !

People have mixed attitudes to trams but I have come to like them. The standard ones in Hiroshima were nice but there was one in Shiga prefecture which went uphill. It wasn't a conventional tram yet it was a tram if you see what I mean. Like sth out of the future it was.

Catch up with West?

Doesn't Poland already have Starbucks?

hahaha good one. Poland is fine.my boyfriend thinks Polish people are the best and work the hardest so why isnt Poland so advanced like western Europe or Japan or USA it still has alittle catching up to do but Poland is doing well compared to Russia and other nations.

Isn't your boyfriend Polish? What does 'the best' mean? It's a nonsense phrase without further specification. Poland is still behind in some areas but has the technology of tomorrow in IT.

Doing well compared to Russia? Care to explain?

mmmmmmmmm!!! half of which centuary? 25th, 26th, 27th?

Agree. It takes bloody 10 hours to get from Poznań to Kraków by train! It's ridicules! The lack of proper infrastructure is something that is mentioned time and time again by foreign and polish investors, but the improvment comes at the speed of a disabled elderly snail...

Also, it costs a bloody fortune just to get a bit over the border due to the lack of good connections. I remember wanting to go to a place in the north of Slovakia and thinking how bad the options were. I'd just drive now.

well try telling my boyfriend all the things wrong with Poland.

Why do you want to catch up with the West? Not everything is about money. I think Eastern European people live happier and better than let's say, Germans or Austrians. Life in the "West" is tiring and stressful! :/

Yes,because in the West everyone has rights.This is the problem.For example a german woman can put her dog in front of my nose in the tram and I cannot say anything.But if she does the same in Greece,I will tell her:''Pardon,Madam,can you please remove the sh1tter from here?''.Basically she will not even dare to do sth like that.

If it's so stressful, why don't you leave Germany and move on to Russia or some other place in eastern Europe?

Because he is gay, and gays are much more accepted in Germany than in eastern Europe.

Being gay amongst some Polish or Russian skinheads is definitely less tiring than in the west... ;)

How does education in Poland rate compared with the West?

I would say it is on a par.

question isn`t clear.

Poland is the West

But less developed than say, the UK or US.

However. The Western European economies are in freefall, the US is in an even worse situation, and just waiting for energy poverty, so in 50 years the differences won't be so marked anyway.

And then came the crisis and Poland was the only country that kept developing, and the West shat itself:)


Quite a bit, Poland is about 20 years behind a typical Western European country.

USA should not be used as example its a country with huge disparities across it.

Poland is not an island. If the western economies go down, Poland will join them. The recent anticyclical growth of the country's economy will not continue forever. Guaranteed.

Exactly. Poland has had a lot of catching-up to do and that economic activity has helped growth.

The crisis has already come here and people are feeling it.

I'm not living in Poland. What's happening over there?

Large companies are making budget cuts, smaller companies have empty order books, new apartment buildings in my neighbourhood are half-empty, restaurants are going bust, banks are less flexible about company overdrafts, and wages seem to be frozen.

jonni

Thanks.

following the international trade, means knowing present stiuation of the world trade reality, poland could not be different. the stiuation is worse in the wealthy western countries now.

some capitalist centers started to pump some hopes using the media, but, won't work.
now, they are using the christmass to activate the economy. they used muslim holidays past months. gods for sale.

And in the meantime, the zloty seems to be collapsing. Banks are selling now at 4.73 to the GBP, and the rate has steadily worsened throughout the day.

Bad things happening.

waluty.onet.pl/notowania-walut-on-line-forex,18906,notowania-online

edit My bank is now selling at 4.8 zl to the pound. Horror.

Currency rates not so important. But, Poland too must be in bad stiuation cause Poland has been a good exporter in low and medium value added industral items in last years. Since crisis's biggest hit is on international trade of industrial items Poland's industry must be in really bad stiuation now. But, again, whole world is in same stiuation. Bad things happening? If maniacs don't start to throw the nukes here and there, good things happening.