Berlin has an infrastructure and a railways system that Krakow will not have
even in the next 100 years.
It's still not perfect - referring back to the S Bahn problems, the system in Berlin still needs much more investment to even match the standard of London. The saga over U5/U55 is just one example where a badly needed line has only had a short section built because Berlin just doesn't have the money to do anything with it. In fact, with U55 - if work doesn't begin by next year, then they'll be forced to repay quite a bit of cash to the Federal government - and I don't think Berlin has the money to do so.
The fact that Berlin is ran by the SPD and The Left Party isn't going to help things either.
Have you been to Berlin lately? You say that city is bankrupt? Maybe it is only the frustration in you speaking. Berlin has about 40 millions tourists each year,
Yep, I've been to Berlin recently. The economic problems of the city are huge - the last data I've found suggest that unemployment is running at around 13.5% as opposed to a German average of around 7%. There's a fascinating article here
wsws.org/articles/2009/oct2009/left-o16.shtml
and those social cuts are going to hit Berlin hard.
Berlin might be very attractive as a tourist destination, but it has very little to underpin it. For ordinary people, Berlin isn't such a nice place - if it was, don't you think ordinary Germans would be flocking there in droves?
I love the city, but it has huge problems - and those problems aren't going to go away. The Federal government has thrown so much money at Berlin and yet the problems won't go away - and I dare this is partially because Frankfurt and Munich are such powerhouses economically.
Just look at the state of many places in the former East Berlin to see - they're throwing money at the problems, yet the problems still remain. The city is bankrupt and no financial commentator will tell you otherwise - if it wasn't so, they would've fixed the S-Bahn problems much, much quicker. The fact that the trains were allowed to get into such a dangerous condition to begin with is pretty telling about the economic situation there.
Don't let Berlin-Mitte fool you!
But you are right about Krakow - the absolutely ridiculous (lack of) integration with Krakow Glowny and Krakow PKS as part of Galeria Krakowska says a hell of a lot about the place.