News / Poland Parliamentary Elections 2019 [93]


Have they actually succeeded in any long term project at all? The flats never materialised, the ship they were allegedly building in Szczecin never happened, most road projects were started under PO and not them, they're struggling with that idiotic canal project in Elbląg, the railway modernisation programme appears to be lurching from one mess to another, the armed forces are desperate for cash, the electric car project has gone mysteriously quiet, the school reform was terribly botched with a disaster of a school programme, etc etc.

They've also spent a lot of money in buying up businesses and bringing them back under state control for no real reason, such as the cable cars in Zakopane or now the Baltona duty free shops. Obviously, the only purpose of this is to put in more cronies.

All that they really seem to have done is to create a mess in everything that they touch. I've just read an article about the military university in Wrocław and how it's been decimated by PiS - crowdmedia.pl/doprowadzili-do-ruiny-najlepsza-uczelnie-wojskowa-w-kraju-odchodzacy-wykladowcy-ujawniaja-szokujace-kulisy - this seems to be par for the course with them.

News / Poland Parliamentary Elections 2019 [93]


What I find most disturbing about him and others like Ziobro is that they seem to have no real values at all. Everything appears to be based solely on political calculation, which explains why they've done a dismal job of passing actual conservative legislation over the past four years.

Life / Poles speaking English - examples [263]


Amazing how you defend Communist judges and prosecutors when they're on the side of PiS.

History / Warsaw Rising 1944 - National Disaster or Triumph of Spirit ? [515]


I had a chat with one expert in this field, and she reckons that a large amount of it ended up in the USA after the war. It seems to be backed up by the way that stuff keeps appearing for auction over there...

News / How could PiS better spend billions instead of 500+ ? [280]


You can see the results now: 100aferpis.pl/

News / How could PiS better spend billions instead of 500+ ? [280]


Let's not forget that the Polonia believes everything they read online, because they can't verify it for themselves.

The situation with medicine shortages (only yesterday, I had to call seven different pharmacies before finding a commonly-prescribed medicine) and queues for specialists is entirely beyond them, because they simply don't experience it. Likewise, they have no idea what's going on in schools, or how desperately underfunded the whole health and education sectors are.

As you can see, they believe simple propaganda over actual facts on the ground.

Still, perhaps antheads can tell us about why PiS thought it was acceptable to put someone in charge of the Supreme Audit Office when they were associating with gangsters and renting out rooms per hour for use in the sex trade.

tvn24.pl/wiadomosci-z-kraju,3/dluzsze-kolejki-do-lekarzy-jak-pis-wywiazal-sie-z-obietnic-wyborczych,973953.html

The data doesn't lie: you now have to wait 1.5 months longer than in 2015 to see a specialist.

Let's also remember how PiS awarded themselves huge bonuses while forcing people after transplants to pay 1000's of złoty for medicine.

Study / Various education and school issues in Poland. Opinions, stories, controversies. [1006]

Milo, one difference - in Poland, teachers are legally responsible for what happens on their watch. If there's a stampede and kids get killed, teachers will be punished.

Off-Topic / Random Sports News [855]


I'm quite into it, and the amount of preparation that goes into a game is staggering. Games can be decided on the tiniest of things, such as a coach spotting that a player always does x before y. I'll dig up an article for you on a typical NFL head coach week - it's absolutely brutal!

Johnny, isn't it awful that the head coaches of college teams get paid huge salaries while the players only get scholarships?

News / How could PiS better spend billions instead of 500+ ? [280]

More PiS propaganda from Ironside. In fact, Lech Kaczyński did nothing about sewage pouring into the Wisła daily, but you seem strangely silent about that.

News / How could PiS better spend billions instead of 500+ ? [280]


Free kindergartens and creches for all, a large school building/renovation scheme, more finance for hospitals and what's left over could be used to increase the tax free limit.

500+ doesn't even cover the cracks in society. For instance, there are still vaccinations that are paid for despite being subsidised in the West.

Let's not forget how PiS forced people to pay significantly more for medicine, such as those after transplant surgery. 500+ came at a huge cost to the weakest.

Life / Owning a house in true countryside of Poland - stories [692]


Except they won't, because those hospitals are going to be shut by PiS. Try harder before repeating government propaganda.

By the way, "the government said" - where are the 10,000 flats they promised? What about the 1m electric cars? Or why haven't they built a single kilometre of motorway this year?

News / PiS` magic tricks - the first budget without deficit in Poland [39]


There were some issues with that, though. For instance, some companies were making a profit solely because of political moves to guarantee that profit. For instance, you would see municipal companies forced into buying goods from other municipal companies through rigged public procurement processes. I had a chat with one Polish businessman about this, and he said that it was extraordinarily common in the 1990's for the local mayor to ask him to buy (unneeded) stuff from the local municipal factory in exchange for political favours.

I seem to recall that in the case of TPSA, one reason for the privatisation was the struggle to get them to actually open up and liberalise the market. I've got a Polish book somewhere that talks about this - for instance, they made it very difficult for operators to actually use their infrastructure for local calls. TPSA also benefitted hugely from their monopoly over long distance/international calls. TPSA were also hopeless with infrastructure themselves - I remember reading that the waiting list at the end of the 1990's for a phone was around 2m people, with demand being 3-4x that amount.

There were other scams as well, such as companies being profitable on paper and yet actually cooking the books on a large scale - Szczecin Shipyard being the posterchild in this case.

News / PiS candidates are losing positions in EU Parliament. Will they keep power in Poland? [358]


Isn't that pretty much how they operate though? They never seem to be able to stay united for long. Of course, it will probably guarantee that they won't cross the 5% threshold.


Most people ;) She seems to arouse a lot of dislike across the political spectrum, but I suppose she's really out of options. She's alienated PiS and the nationalists/Korwinists, so what else does she have? Still, surprising that Jurek would embrace her rather than simply mopping up whatever support she has left.

News / PiS candidates are losing positions in EU Parliament. Will they keep power in Poland? [358]


Won't that just split the vote between them, Konfederacja and other right wing parties?

Strange move of Jurek to join with Kaja Godek though, given how hated she is.

News / Scandals, conflicts, tensions, arguments - real life examples from Poland [492]


A friend of mine is a local councillor, and he says that they all behave like that. He gave an example where one of the couple of PiS councillors read a pre-prepared text demanding action against LGBT in the gmina, and he had nothing to say when the mayor asked him for specific examples from the gmina.

Food / British food products in Poland? [334]


Best kajmak I've ever eaten was in Serbia, Crowie ;)

Food / British food products in Poland? [334]


Very similar to Germany in this respect, really.

History / Warsaw Rising 1944 - National Disaster or Triumph of Spirit ? [515]


I find their contribution to be heavily diminished in today's Poland, to be honest. It tends to get drowned out by the hyenas screaming about Yalta and the alleged lack of promised assistance during the September Campaign.

History / Warsaw Rising 1944 - National Disaster or Triumph of Spirit ? [515]


Interesting. How did he manage to restart his studies and succeed in his career after the war, I wonder?

History / Modern myths and legends about communist past in Poland [250]


Pawian, didn't things get a little bit better once martial law was imposed? I seem to remember that one reason for imposing it was that prices had to rise in order to get things back in the shops.

nytimes.com/1988/02/01/world/protests-erupt-in-poland-over-big-price-increases.html

Yup, early 1982, they doubled prices of food.

History / Modern myths and legends about communist past in Poland [250]

Elwro were quite ahead of their time, and it's a shame that the company never had any real long term focus. I've read an interesting article about their activities, and had they been allowed to keep operating as a company focusing on institutions and not consumers, they might have still been around today.

It's quite a legendary company, and I had the pleasure of meeting a former worker there who had been working as a programmer back in the 70's. She said that there was no system of patriarchy in the company, and that they had some incredibly talented people working there.

History / Modern myths and legends about communist past in Poland [250]


Powerful one, though.

The myth falls apart as soon as you look at why some of those industries existed.

USA, Canada / Poles Living in the Chicago Area [343]


What's a greaser gang, Dirk?

Is that a bad area that they're driving around?

Life / How much money to comfortably retire in Poland (a married couple)? [57]

You'll get a tax credit in Poland for any taxes paid to Canada, but that's it. Double taxation means not being taxed twice, but you still have to pay Poland.

Electricity prices are likely to reach 25 euro cent/ kWh next year.

Work / Gross Salary 20000 PLN in Poland [9]


They don't even have to work here. Someone that turns up from Somalia with 10 kids to "study" is also entitled to it.

I know one case where an Arab guy with 5 kids is claiming 500+, and he works in a kebab shop.

Life / How much money to comfortably retire in Poland (a married couple)? [57]

No need to have it done privately, the EU provides the right to cross-border healthcare if it can be done quicker elsewhere. A lot of Poles get routine things done in the Czech Republic at the expense of the NFZ as a result.

Life / How much money to comfortably retire in Poland (a married couple)? [57]

How else can you fund 'FREE MONEY'?

Life / How much money to comfortably retire in Poland (a married couple)? [57]


Yup. You'll get a tax credit for any taxes paid in Canada on the pension, but a good rule of thumb is to assume that you'll pay 18% tax on everything (32% above 170k a year for a married couple).

Life / How much money to comfortably retire in Poland (a married couple)? [57]


No, not at all. Food costs have risen dramatically in the last year, and hidden taxes have been introduced. It's also worth pointing out that pensions are taxed in Poland, so if you've got a 10-12k PLN pension between two, then you can expect to pay 18% of that in tax.


Not cheap, then. Maybe rather than looking at cities, something like this would be better? olx.pl/oferta/dom-do-wynajecia-w-zgorzelcu-CID3-IDA3v93.html#f79405a814

You've got the advantage of being close to Germany, yet in Poland. That way, you could access German medical care if the treatment in Poland isn't enough, which is quite common for things where there are ridiculously long waiting lists here.

Life / How much money to comfortably retire in Poland (a married couple)? [57]

If Poland does join the Euro, they'll more than likely do what Slovakia, Estonia and others did - dual pricing before and after for a significant period of time, so prices wouldn't change that much.

However, prices are growing rapidly in Poland regardless. It depends where you want to live, of course, but it's not common for houses to be rented here. Do you have any particular part of Poland in mind?