News / Karol Nawrocki - the New President of Poland [495]

When did you see it ? With your own eyes ?

The area it flows through has been significantly depopulated since the war and even more since German reunification. Many of its communities are now split in two - Gubin, Frankfurt, Kostrzyn. Its main towns Opole and Wroclaw are connected by fast road to Gdańsk, Hamburg and Szczecin - how could boats compete ?

I don't know when it stopped being a trade artery but I do t think it is Tusk's fault. I reckon I crossed it 300 times and never really saw any commercial barges

News / Karol Nawrocki - the New President of Poland [495]

Talking of pontificating - when was the last time either of you saw the Odra ?

News / Karol Nawrocki - the New President of Poland [495]

What do you expect to happen on the Oder ? It's pleasant enough but better for birdwatching than trade. You think it will be something like Rotterdam ?

Off-Topic / Stock Market Talk and Trading - part 2 [747]

Speaking of gold, the Golden Cow circus has been in town again

Announced high tariffs on gold bar imports. Realized shortly afterwards that this is nuts and reversed course

Not before a few well placed insiders had skimmed hundreds of billions from a price spike

The economic team in the Whitehouse is really low quality unfortunately - a reason why the dollar remains week

News / How will Polish-American relations change if Trump is elected president again? [812]

Not realistic - we have half the money of thr big countries, no real access to the sea, a smaller defence industry and less manpower.

More achievable to be a loyal part of a common defence mechanism

News / Karol Nawrocki, the New President of Poland, Sworn In [12]

Easy to buy, difficult to sell

And now there is VAT on both gold and silver

Anyway - stay on topic with the new President

News / Karol Nawrocki, the New President of Poland, Sworn In [12]

It's flexible enough that nobody left and lots of countries joined.

You are talking about problems that were a generation ago - the fact people are happy to use it outweighs most arguments.

I'm fine with the zloty but ultimately if you invest in zloty long term you are at the whim of Polish politics

News / Karol Nawrocki, the New President of Poland, Sworn In [12]

How do you feel the EUR is obsolete and cannot work ?

If people are happy to transact in EUR then QED it works

The EUR is already the de facto currency for big transactions in Poland and has been for about 10 years - want to build a freeway or an airport or an apartment block ? You will be borrowing and repaying in EUR. Want to export or import something - even to non EUR countries UK or Switzerland ? Often the invoice is in EUR.

It's the same in Hungary and Romania.

Zloty are increasingly for the tram and Zabka.

I know the political steps will take a long time but it's a situation where the market is moving quicker than a bunch of right wing voters in small towns

News / Poland Sports News - part 2 [91]

Instead of fighting in pubs with Ukrainians or Poles couldn't they show their love for North Nigeria by volunteering for a stint in the muddy trenches of Pokrovsk, with a crappy 1950s rifle ?

Off-Topic / Stock Market Talk and Trading - part 2 [747]

For Poland ? A strange move politically as savings levels are way too low and much better to encourage people into lokata or safe investments before they encourage stock market investing - something like Premium bonds or tax free muni bonds would be more sensible. Too many Polish families are putting their savings into buy-to-let crappy apartments, which is also not ideal.

For the equity markets then I just don't think there are enough Polish public companies to absorb this amount of new capital, half of the market is various monopolies or state run businesses, and then you are down to maybe 15 to 20 well-run businesses.

As an investment - it's OK, don't really see the downside - if the tax kicks in at 100k then just stop at 100k. Can you still do IKE, IKZE and this too ? If so then it's a pretty good deal (though again it's strange politics, they are helping out the richest part of of society.)

Off-Topic / Stock Market Talk and Trading - part 2 [747]

No i am happy with your 200.000 figure. But your claim yesterday to have made 50.000 in a few months also implies you have 500k liquid in the market - even more if you consider tax.

So I know you have balls of steel.

6 stocks please

Off-Topic / Stock Market Talk and Trading - part 2 [747]

They are certainly my own rules - and I made them all clear

No cheating has taken place - at least nobody else has complained

6 picks Ptak - should be easy for Balls of Steel

Off-Topic / Stock Market Talk and Trading - part 2 [747]

Oh wow ! Mr Balls of Steel is back ! When are you going to give us your six stock picks ? I can even give you late entrance into our competition- PolAm won the first round easily, but now with your 6 picks there would be a new sheriff in town.

So tell us, as a man who puts down 200.000 buck bets on a single stock. If the Labour office statistics have never been correct, where do you get your reliable and bankable information from? Would love the advice.

Off-Topic / Stock Market Talk and Trading - part 2 [747]

Yes and the freaky thing is that Golden Cow noticed her incompetence just a few hours after seeing some numbers he didn't like

This behavior will have long term effects on confidence, not "next week" effects. Here in Poland we saw that when the govt interfered with central bank NBP and statistics office GUS - it was a major reason for less investment in the market.

One quote from the paywalled FT

A group headed up by the two previous heads of the agency, Friends of BLS, echoed that concern, noting that, "when leaders of other nations have politicised economic data and destroyed public trust in their data infrastructure, the consequences have been dire".

Off-Topic / Stock Market Talk and Trading - part 2 [747]

Golden Cow has fired the people who do the jobs report

Mao Tse Tung style of government. Will be very negative for the market in the long run

Off-Topic / Stock Market Talk and Trading - part 2 [747]

No - I said every quarter until June 2026

News / How will Polish-American relations change if Trump is elected president again? [812]

What have lobbyists and NGOs got to do with the number of EU bureaucrats. You were wrong, can't do decimals and don't want to admit it.

The combined population of Brussels and Strasbourg is 1.5m so it is mind of unlikely there are a million "parasites" there. Are you saying if you walk down the street that 2 out of 3 people you see there are Eurocrats ?

Why can't you do these sums yourself ?

Off-Topic / Stock Market Talk and Trading - part 2 [747]

This is no time to be piling into US stocks - market is way too high, tariffs will hurt profits annd growth and inflation still rising.

I think when we have the September results the cautious people will be on top for this quarter

News / How will Polish-American relations change if Trump is elected president again? [812]

You are one zero too many - there are 40.000 EU employees. Not 400.000.

If you are worried about bloated bureaucracy look closer to home - there are 400.000 public employees in New South Wales

Travel / Do Poles like to hunt? Hunting in Poland. [211]

Can't the wolves control the wild boar ?

News / How will Polish-American relations change if Trump is elected president again? [812]

People live longer, live healthier, less crime, more holidays, nice food, more fun - it's easy to see why MAGA hate Europe - they have a victim complex and can't stand to see people better off than them

Weird and pathetic the way EU leaders have turned on VdL since she agreed this abomination. If she didn't have a mandate why did she even bother traveling ?

Off-Topic / Stock Market Talk and Trading - part 2 [747]

Not for me - prefer to invest USD in the US market. But interested how you get on - the hedging always costs money to someone and can be quite an expensive process, so I am guessing that long run these funds will underperform the nasdaq and s&p by a couple of percent.

I am doing the IKE though - in Santander I think. Good that the limit is moving in line with inflation.

Off-Topic / Stock Market Talk and Trading - part 2 [747]

Thanks - will take a look - but these are zloty denominated as I understand ? Not at all sure about that arrangement - did something similar w few years ago and never made money on it. When I go to the bank they keep bringing the dick who recommended it into meetings

So I would say double check performance of the ETF v the market and then overlay that on a US v PLN graph - if they track closely then happy days, if there is white space between the two lines the bank are taking a bit more on forex.

News / How will Polish-American relations change if Trump is elected president again? [812]

No doubt a poor deal for the EU - and they have some explaining to do to their citizens. Like in Covid it seems VdL has acted unilaterally. The place for these deals is in government buildings, not the golf course.

Will at least calm the markets

Law / Gun control in Poland: should Polish people be allowed to own guns? - part 2 [54]

Yes - small arms fire is always effective against tanks.

Which reminds me - you haven't answered the question yet !

You are at home with your crappy pistol. Suddenly you hear glass breaking and people speaking Spanish quickly. The Mexican cartel arrived in a helicopter and there are 5 of them with korean sub machine guns they bought in a yard sale. They want the keys to your fake ass Lexus. Which do you shoot first ?

Off-Topic / Stock Market Talk and Trading - part 2 [747]

Yeah I know -it's disorganization on my part mainly ! Thx for the reminder !

Off-Topic / Stock Market Talk and Trading - part 2 [747]

No I know I should open an IKE as no downside and I would save a few zloty but the cap is quite small at 27k so I never got round to it yet

I have a brokerage account at Citi (they are neither the cheapest nor the best, but I do know they will never be allowed to go bust) plus a couple of foreign brokers.

Law / Gun control in Poland: should Polish people be allowed to own guns? - part 2 [54]

Good that you are done - so maybe sit in the garden and enjoy the summer.

Law / Polish Police and Their Tactics [237]

Will you answer my question ?

3 heavily armed young crackshot home invaders v a retired old man and your cheap pistol. Which one do you shoot first ? How do you stop the other 2 shooting you ?

Law / Polish Police and Their Tactics [237]

Broken glass downstairs? Not my problem - though the next morning I might check on the guy that lives there

Let's reverse the questions though

You are asleep in your Illinois bedroom - three "home invaders" arrive. One has an Uzi he bought in Walmart, one has an AK47 he bought in Jewel and one has a bazooka he bought in the local gas station. All are veterans with extensive military training. which do you shoot first with your crappy pistol ?