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Posts by mafketis  

Joined: 31 Mar 2008 / Male ♂ 		Last Post: 12 hrs ago
Threads: Total: 43 / Live: 23 / Archived: 20
Posts: Total: 11921 / Live: 7219 / Archived: 4702 		From: tez nie
Speaks Polish?: tak
Interests: tez nie

Displayed posts: 7242 / page 204 of 242
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mafketis   
1 Sep 2017
News / Poles say a big YES to our European Union [996]

Someone (a Poznaniak actually) recently said to me that she thinks Poland needs a Pilsudski now.

To turn his back on Wielkopolska again? no thank you. The whole tradition of rogale świętomarcińskie is actually fairly modern and began as a way of celebrating something besides Piłsudski. Wielkopolska remembers.
mafketis   
1 Sep 2017
Work / Amway Poland - work - salary [18]

Some of it is basically NLP - usually very transparent

NLP is largely reverse engineering on the formula, which is spelled out pretty clearly in Dale Carnegie's 'How to win friends and influence people'. The thing is that a person can know what's going on intellectually and in a face to face interaction with a skilled practitioner still get suckered. No one's immune, especially those who like to think they are.
mafketis   
1 Sep 2017
Work / Amway Poland - work - salary [18]

I once attended one of their rallies. It reminded me of an American evangelical rally - the same language used, the same presentation techniques, the lot.

The American author Douglas Rushkoff has a chapter on pyramid selling schemes in his great book from 2000 "Coercion: Why we listen to what 'they' say"

Very illuminating, typically most participants make nothing or lose money (they often end up inventing 'recruits' and end up with massic stockpiles of merchandise they can't get rid of'.

Part of the point of the book is that different types of sales, cults, pyramid schemes and even CIA interrogation and mass political rallies all follow the same formula which is easy to spot once you recognize it.
mafketis   
30 Aug 2017
UK, Ireland / Polish lorry driver arrested for smuggling 9 million cigarettes [64]

Crime is opportunist, and you fail to (or ignore) the very significant difference between large and small scale smuggling

If there's no market for something there's no smuggling. When's the last time you heard of smuggled anteater meat in Poland?

Who says they 'count on it'?

You implied it heavily more than once, linking 'losses' to specific government programs

the excise duty is high for a reason other than revenue

A very stupid reason. I don't smoke (and strongly dislike the smell of burning tobacco) but most anti-tobacco laws are puritanism in disguise and I just can't get down wit' dat. diggit?
mafketis   
30 Aug 2017
UK, Ireland / Polish lorry driver arrested for smuggling 9 million cigarettes [64]

Fewer than you think buy tobacco smuggled in bulk. Nevertheless, one consignment, the one driven by the Polish guy, cost society a revenue of £2.5 million,

These two sentences contradict each other (smugglers have to know the market, if the market weren't there they wouldn't be 'costing' the government so much money.

And also, I still say it's silly (and terrible policy) to count on a source of income one is trying to eliminate.
mafketis   
30 Aug 2017
News / Poles say a big YES to our European Union [996]

A federation of Slavic states from sea to sea would be wonderful

And impossible. the non-slavic belt of Romania and Hungaria and Austra separate the southern slavs (bulgarians and former-jugoslavs) from the rest
mafketis   
30 Aug 2017
UK, Ireland / Polish lorry driver arrested for smuggling 9 million cigarettes [64]

There's already a massive tobacco smuggling racket in Ireland.

This just cements my idea is that the real problem is the UK's hypocritical tobacco taxes rather than the UK citizens who rebel against it (no buyers = no incentives) or nonUkers who willingly help them. Good for freedom of choice, down with the Miss Grundies!
mafketis   
30 Aug 2017
UK, Ireland / Polish lorry driver arrested for smuggling 9 million cigarettes [64]

But it's not. It has a land border with another EU country, the Republic of Ireland.

Which is on an island even further from mainland europe than Great Britain.... getting contraband to Ireland to cross the border into ulster is too much work for most smugglers (unless they're making contraband stuff in the republic itself...)
mafketis   
30 Aug 2017
UK, Ireland / Polish lorry driver arrested for smuggling 9 million cigarettes [64]

the customs union is expected to remain.

Seems like a lose/lose situation. Being on islands, the UK should be able to keep contraband from coming through entry ports (though then shore patrols would have to be increased of course.

Or they could just figure out some other way to get the money they currently get from tobacco taxes and eliminate the incentive to smuggle in the first place.
mafketis   
30 Aug 2017
UK, Ireland / Polish lorry driver arrested for smuggling 9 million cigarettes [64]

He doesn't want Russia to turn into the type of culture Brussels has promoted

This is not so accurate. Predominantly muslim immigration from central Asia and caucasus has exploded under his rule and ethnic Russians are now a minority in Moscow. He's done nothing to stop this and won't (he's a globalist too, just a different kind of globalist).
mafketis   
30 Aug 2017
News / Tusk turning his back to idea about Intermarium (New Commonwealth), seeing only EU as future for Poland [124]

Those countries are Serbian lands that aren`t Serbian right now for all sorts of reasons

Because majorities in those countries do not wish to be ruled from Beograd. It's a basic question of self-determination. When Serbia wanted to expand its (purposefully limited) role in Jugoslavija it tore the country apart.

Serbia is everything to Poland. Only way out of misery

Serbia is nothing to Poland. Poland, unlike Serbia, is not a miserable isolated country with delusions of grandeur.
mafketis   
28 Aug 2017
UK, Ireland / Polish lorry driver arrested for smuggling 9 million cigarettes [64]

Better to have one unified excise policy across the EU, one National Health Service, one economy.

How's that worked out for Greece? Europe has many different kinds of economies and uniting them without massive financial interventions (in the form of transfers) is impossible.

And.... it's very undemocratic. Do you seriously think you could get that vision passed in elections? You couldn't manage to win a referendum that should have been a slam dunk. Different peoples and nationalities like being different and will resist nudges from on high to become Euro-cogs.
mafketis   
28 Aug 2017
UK, Ireland / Polish lorry driver arrested for smuggling 9 million cigarettes [64]

which should help to deter others.

or encourage them (crackdowns mean price increeeeeaaaases).

That's not the prevalent view in the jurisdiction where the smuggler was caught.

it's almost as if unregulated free trade across borders weren't an absolute good to be pursued no matter what....
mafketis   
28 Aug 2017
UK, Ireland / Polish lorry driver arrested for smuggling 9 million cigarettes [64]

the excise revenue from the remaining smokers is important to society.

Milk those tax cows! Yaaaahhoooooooo!

You can't have it both ways. If the number of smokers (as in people wanting to smoke) is decreasing then there wouldn't be a big market for free trade cigarettes.

The revenue from jacked up prices can't be that important because the government itself is, in theory, trying to destroy that revenue stream entirely.
mafketis   
28 Aug 2017
UK, Ireland / Polish lorry driver arrested for smuggling 9 million cigarettes [64]

They do - it's been a declared policy for decades and is working.

You are almost touchingly naive.

you should read this blog //velvetgloveironfist.blogspot.com/ lots of interesting info on governments fudging data on smoking figures (and unintended consequences of ineffective tobacco control policies)
mafketis   
28 Aug 2017
UK, Ireland / Polish lorry driver arrested for smuggling 9 million cigarettes [64]

No, it isn't - even a very bad idea, one that would cripple economies and styme free movement.

but you keep giving evidence to the contrary.

If tobacco taxes are levelled across the EU then one of the two scenarios will play out

- the prices will be aimed at Western Eruope and make tobacco products very, very expensive in places like Poland creating a very big market for smugglers (the original proponents of free movement of goods!).

- the prices will be aimed at Eastern Europe dramatically dropping the price of tobacco products in the west which probably means more smokers

The high price and the restrictions on smoking in the UK has reduced the number of smokers dramatically

Why makes you think the UK government wants to reduce the number of smokers? Tobacco taxes are a very high source of revenue. That's why governments have actually attacked electronic cigarettes (possibly the most effective in stopping people smoking as it still gives them the oral stimulation that gums and patches and abstention don't).
mafketis   
24 Aug 2017
News / Poles say a big YES to our European Union [996]

Kaczyński and his supporters want Poland out of the EU. They know the mechanism exists to leave but they're not going to bother going through talks etc

This. Poland is not a place where people feel compelled to follow rules that don't benefit them and that applies to politicians as well. the Polish way is to simply stop playing along and let the other side deal with it.

It's largely how the country broke out of the Soviet sphere (or at least how it was ready and able to take care of a possibly short window of opportunity).

plans to press ahead with the Supreme Court reforms will go ahead in the Autumn

And how are they going to deal with Adrian? (nickname of Duda)

Poland at present is heading towards becoming a totalitarian state.

Poles don't do totalitarianism (toooooo much effort!), it would be weakly authoritarian. The Media 'reform' and reactions to it will be very telling.
mafketis   
23 Aug 2017
Language / Slang term for "pants" in Polish? Gacie. [32]

Gacie is more slang for underwear ....For pants

This is a UK / US difference (not sure where Ireland comes in)

UK pants = majtki / figi damskie = US panties

US pants = spodnie = UK trousers
mafketis   
21 Aug 2017
News / Poles say a big YES to our European Union [996]

I'm not sure there is a convincing answer.

That's the problem, Poland has enough on its plate without jumping into risky unknown territory

there are some major issues

This. If France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Netherlands etc have failed to deal with this, what is Poland supposed to do? Just happily join the club?
mafketis   
21 Aug 2017
News / Poles say a big YES to our European Union [996]

Because we never get real, convincing answers, just pre-cooked boilerplate. If you actually had convincing arguments you'd use them. You don't so you just dismiss claims and hand wave real concerns away and ignore the worst results of your preferred policies.
mafketis   
21 Aug 2017
News / Poles say a big YES to our European Union [996]

If the EU ca

88% of Polish Citizens support the EU.

Honestly, how are you different from Polonius? You just want people to endlessly repeat the results of one contextless poll without noticing any other issues?