Love / Does your Polish partner suffer from disposophobia [46]

I am not really one for complaining about my life especially my personal life, I would rather get on with it and work to a better end. There is one thing that has always been the bane in our relationship, the need for my Polish wife to hold on to things for the long haul, my wife is a compulsive hoarder to the point we have 200 english woman's magazines sitting in my front lounge. It is so annoying the excuse she gives is that the kids may need them for projects at school. Our cupboards,drawers and storage are bursting at the seams with valueless items. The one that kills my sister is the story of my wife demanding that I go out and buy a new iron 6 months ago because the old one had been dropped on the floor and was dangerous for the kids. We now have a total of three irons in our utility room, the reason she does not want to throw them away is because her father may be able to fix them, thats the logic I live with on a daily basis. I know it is a cultural thing so many Poles I have met just don't know how to let go,

Any other stories out there of Polish disposophobia?

News / Global recession in 2012 and how it affects Poland [17]

Now it is a foregone conclusion both Europe and The USA will fall into recession in 2012. Even if the Germans find the 1 trillion Euro package to prop up the Euro, it will still be weighted on the negative side. The euro will not be safe until Europe answers some fundamental questions that it has run away from for many years. At their root is how its nations should respond to a world that is rapidly changing around them. What will it do as globalisation strips the West of the monopoly over the technologies that have made it rich, and an ageing Europe starts to look increasingly like the western peninsula of a resurgent Asia?Some Europeans would like to put up carefully designed fences around the EU’s still vast and wealthy market. Others, including a growing number of populist politicians, want to turn their nations inward and shut out not just the world but also the elites’ project of European integration. And a few—from among those same elites, mostly—argue that the only means of paying for Europe’s distinctive way of life is not to evade globalisation but to embrace it wholeheartedly.This is not some abstract philosophical choice. It is a fierce struggle for Europe’s future, being waged in Athens as George Papandreou lost his power to a temporary government of national unity, in derelict factories in France and Belgium and in the wasted lives of millions of unemployed young Spaniards.

One way the euro crisis could affect Poland, is through its banks. Roughly 70% of Poland's banking assets are controlled by Western European banks. Overall, banks in Poland are well-capitalized, liquid and relatively free of bad loans. Poland has private capital that could be used to put a larger share of the country's banking sector into Polish hands.There's nothing unusual for a country Poland's size to think about such an evolution and benefit from market dynamics.Belgium's KBC Group NV and Portugal's Banco Comercial Português are considering sales of their Polish holdings. Others are also considering selling Polish operations. Who will step in to buy the banks?