News / Polish GDP per capita has dropped ! [30]


That would mean that Polish purchasing power increased on the global market.

Polish GDP in 2000 was 744b zl
...in 2008 1,342b zl

And the zloty is worth nearly twice as much now against the dollar as it was in 2000.

Really not following you.


I can assure you that both of the leading parties in Poland are equally worthless when it comes to stimulating the economy. Poland has the NBP to thank for good management of the zloty over the years.

News / Polish GDP per capita has dropped ! [30]

Your post seems a bit confused :)

USA, Canada / PolAm style Thanksgiving? [35]


I know that individual farmers have ducks, geese, turkey, etc. I know that. Do you not read posts before you comment on them? I buy my chicken, pork, beef, and lamb from two different farmers, I've posted it about it before. I just mentioned that I don't know of any farms from which to get turkey here in the area (where Fuzzy lives). I'm not sure how practical it is to try to hunt down a full grown turkey 3 days before you need it in your kitchen. Why even make a comment about political parties in a thread about Thanksgiving?

News / Will many Poles migrate to Germany in May 2011 (after opening labor market)? [157]

I think it would work without a hitch if the fiscally unsound nations were removed. If you can't manage your finances, suspension along with punitive measures. The labor markets should be opened much slower for the poorer nations than they have been.

May2011, not so big a change...

USA, Canada / PolAm style Thanksgiving? [35]


Most of the butcher shops should be able to order a frozen turkey, last year we got ours at the tiny shop in Biskupin next to Chata Polska. Regarding the farms, I don't know of anywhere that raises turkey in the area.

Law / Does a normal Polish citizen working from Polish home need to pay tax for foreign works? [23]


As has been stated a couple of times, if you want to do it illegally, just be creative. Legally, he should pay taxes.

USA, Canada / Not everyone that lives or comes from America is RICH! [300]


It is never the time to borrow money to consume. To invest, yes, but the investment has to give you a good return in order to beat the inflation "tax" that artificially low rates produce.


Near zero loans are available at the Fed to 18 specific other private banks. Those banks in turn can buy US treasuries with a 3% return (treasuries can also be used to fulfill reserve requirements). In turn, the US government can keep doing its thing because people have faith in it and keep buying securities...

No, not everyone that lives or comes from America is rich, but then again rich is relative. Your average Jan and Jane Kowalski had an income of $26,530 a year in the US. If they worked, they probably earned a salary close to $30,899. The average was $41,928 per year.

Your average Jan and Jane in Poland earn 3256zl a month, or about $13,500 a year. That is average, median will be south of that.

News / Local elections in Poland, EU citizens should register to vote [57]


That's neat, here're some of the candidates:

hasanciftci.pl

denbult.pl/pd/Home

News / Local elections in Poland, EU citizens should register to vote [57]

Hmmm, so as an expat, here are my choices:

PO: we don't do anything that promise
PiS: we say we do everything that we promise, but don't actually do anything we promise

It's tough, thank god for independents....

USA, Canada / Not everyone that lives or comes from America is RICH! [300]


I think your uncle would get his ass kicked for doing that.

USA, Canada / Not everyone that lives or comes from America is RICH! [300]

some people are envious, some people are sad...

Love / 'Battered husbands' - still a taboo subject in Poland [387]


Don't understand why the guy that got hit was arrested...

Travel / Vegetarian places to eat in Krakow [30]


Yup, yup, and yup.

Also ,there are quite a few Indian places, Italian places (pasta and veggies), Thai...

And uh, ruskie pierogi should be on the menu at that fancy Polish joint you were going to :)

News / Will many Poles migrate to Germany in May 2011 (after opening labor market)? [157]


In business, Germans are interested in one thing, how best to make money. If Polish engineers are up for the job, and are willing to integrate into the environment, they get hired.


Finished your copy of "Deutschland schafft sich ab" already? :)

News / Will many Poles migrate to Germany in May 2011 (after opening labor market)? [157]


Most went over in the 90s and established themselves.


It's one of many research centers. Same goes for Erlangen. Quite a few South Americans there as well.


Browse through some of the profiles on xing, should clear up that misconception.

News / Will many Poles migrate to Germany in May 2011 (after opening labor market)? [157]

The larger companies in Germany are protected by the workers councils, who wouldn't allow new hiring at lower pay rates. The engine of Germany's economy are the hidden champion SMEs who do specialized work and usually have very strong employee-management relationships.

I think that is the big difference between the labor market in say the UK and Germany. It seems like in the UK, employees are more interchangeable than in Germany. Granted, that is changing in Germany as well, but it still seems to be a much tighter relationship than in a lot of other places (Poland included).

News / Will many Poles migrate to Germany in May 2011 (after opening labor market)? [157]


Actually there are quite a few Poles working white collar jobs, particularly in IT. I think if anyone will go to Germany, it'll be the white collar workers. There isn't much difference in salary for illegal manual labor and legal manual labor...and Germany isn't exactly strict on enforcing employment laws concerning manual labor.


The helmet market has taken a real beating lately, might want to reconsider.

Law / The risk of investing in Europe has risen and Poland has suffered accordingly [90]


And you claim to be a 19 year old student who's making comments about a country you lived in briefly as a child, I was sure you'd put that one to rest based on the earlier comment. Quite a few people on here know each other. We live here, we're surrounded by Poland every day, and we can see the fiscal situation improving. Even if we don't agree on how fast (or why) it is moving forward, I think you would be hard pressed to find anyone to tell you that the fiscal situation is worsening. Is it forever sustainable? The foundation is there. Especially considering the factors that I mentioned earlier with regards to debt, there is no reason to expect that it will not continue to grow at a steady pace well into the future.


And I don't believe that to be true. The vast majority of the population is much better off than 10 years ago by every measure. Lifespan, personal wealth, income, assets, employment...

Law / The risk of investing in Europe has risen and Poland has suffered accordingly [90]


Strange article to reference. Why not reference something with regards to the economy? Anyway, based on the article, things are looking good for Poland.

Regarding the overall economy, things are going well. Growth is not an overnight phenomenon. I think if you ask anyone whether things are better/easier fiscally now compared to 10 years ago, you will receive a positive answer. Fiscally, Poland has been run pretty well steering clear of allowing too much credit to flood the market at once. Debt wise, the government and corporations are doing well, consumer debt would be a place to watch, but right now it's fairly low per household and that probably won't change anytime soon. Most Poles own the places that they live, and don't have mortgages to pay off. Combine that with wages that have been steadily rising (sometimes by quite a bit year on year according to GUS) for the last 20 years, and you have a good mix of something that I would say is fairly successful.

Another little interesting note, M&A (by value) by Polish companies tripled over last year. FDI is also up substantially over last year. Most people that I know who start a business with any kind of business sense whatsoever are doing incredibly well. Those opening up tshirt shops, gyros shops, cafes...not so well.

Why do you think it's a bad place to invest?

News / Smoking ban in Polish bars and restaurants (AT LAST!) [400]


No actually. If it were a public space, I could walk into a bar, sit down, and a read a newspaper all day long without buying something. If it were a public space, you could hand out fliers about the evils of smoking inside. If it were a public space, people could come in not wearing shoes. If it were a public space, I would have the right to throw you out. Indeed, it was public space, I wouldn't be able to lock the doors, as I wouldn't be the owner. Public spaces are owned by the public.

Open to the public, not public property, or a public space. It's very much private property.

Law / The risk of investing in Europe has risen and Poland has suffered accordingly [90]


I thought you were interested in the short term bond market which the quote used for the title reflects.


How so? If you would have read the article, it was stated that Poland will be cutting back on issuing debt next year.


Of course, saying that you understand an economy is like saying that you understand a people, or a culture, or whatever. It's a living changing thing.


Greece took itself down. No one is forced into a CDS bet.

There was nothing successful about Ireland. Credit does not equal success. Look at countries that are growing without getting into unsustainable consumer, corporate, and government debt...those are your long term winners.

USA, Canada / Not everyone that lives or comes from America is RICH! [300]

I'd have to agree with cheehaw regarding credit. I took the wise step of messing up my credit early, and now my credit record hasn't had a thing on it for the last 8 years. Just a blank page :)

Which means I can't get access to credit as a consumer...which is great, because I have to pay cash for things. In order to consume, have to figure out how to make more money. Plus, without loans and mortgages holding you down, you have a lot more freedom to take risk.


That's ok. The investor loses, and the family who goes bankrupt also loses. On the flip side, housing prices drop dramatically as they are no longer put out of reach of the average buyer by the excess available credit. Therefore, they once again become affordable to the average working class family.

News / Smoking ban in Polish bars and restaurants (AT LAST!) [400]


Open to the public does not mean public. It is at the owners discretion in almost every country on earth, who from the public is allowed into their private establishment :)

Language / The Future of Polish Language [179]


The proper German spelling is "Zwetschge", those freaks in the Southeast speak their own hillbilly form of German, we'll call it Austrian. Mitsammen, grindig, hudelig, and a bunch of other bastardizations which they include in their language.

PS: Zwetschge is a type of Pflaume :)

News / Smoking ban in Polish bars and restaurants (AT LAST!) [400]


With all the regulation and costs around running a business now a days, it's not feasible to run a small place with a couple of patrons and make any kind of money off of it. The only way to do that is to run a living room extension/hobby bar with no expectation of profit. If you're place isn't packed, you're not able to pay rent/mortgage...not to mention any staff fees if you have any.


Me too actually, that's why I usually drink with friends at places where we can choose the music.


I think the politicians love the superpubs, they do everything possible to support them legislatively :(

Travel / Vegetarian places to eat in Krakow [30]

Most of those "food by weight" places have quite a bit of vegetarian fare on the menu. I'm pretty partial to meat, but at the cafeteria places, I usually stay away from the "meat" dishes. The veggie dishes don't disappoint though :)

And for Barney, let me quote Bourdain:

"Vegetarians, and their Hezbollah-like splinter faction, the vegans ... are the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit."

:)

News / Smoking ban in Polish bars and restaurants (AT LAST!) [400]

Come on, you don't want people to smoke in a place that sells alcohol.....because of health reasons? You're against it because it bothers you. Fair enough, but at least be honest about it.

By not smoking, you're not railing against consumerism, it's a product, just like anything else. Just like my bar is, fair trade coffee, hostels, airplanes, this website...

PS, I'm still not smoking...but fully support those who do in private!

History / The Greatest King of Poland? [117]

Anyway, my vote goes to Sobieski, not just because of the vodka, but I think he deserves to have his name on the bottle. He's probably the most well known among foreigners.

"Greatest" has to judged against some kind of metric though.

Law / The risk of investing in Europe has risen and Poland has suffered accordingly [90]


Sure.

Are you reading my posts? There're no problems in the world? When did I ever say that? Just read through this thread...

Anyway, we've already examined the quote used in the title. The lines make a lot of sense in context and article seems to be incredibly positive about Polish bonds as a whole (the last sale was successful).

Apparently the market for Polish debt is pretty strong.

History / The Greatest King of Poland? [117]


The vodka is named after him. Society generally names things and builds monuments to "great things".