News / Polish Parliamentary Elections 2023 [933]

Several PiS policies have been highly inflationary

Increases in minimum wage
13th and 14th pension
Suspension of mortgage payments
Extra back to school payments
Ban on Sunday trade and other supply restrictions
Banking tax
And most of all lockdown

Energy prices don't help but lots of the cost is VAT and excise

News / Poland highest inflation in 20 years [319]

GBP already up to 5.40 on the basis of this instance change

Similar moves for the USD and EUR

Real Estate / Landlord in Poland - tenant laws, statue of limitation [26]

Do not lift a finger to help him find a tenant. It is nothing to do with you.

Don't pay your last months rent. Then it does not matter if he does not repay your deposit. Probably he won't anyway, will just make up some BS about things he claims are broken.

Seems there are some terrible landlords around.

Law / Debt in Poland - inheritance after relative death? [14]

As a starting point, it's extremely difficult to throw a sitting tenant out and the procedures needed to do that would cause the windykacja a lot more grief than they need for 50.000. Talk to those charities and good luck - think you have a strong cases

The inherited debt bullshit will be over in a few years - lots of challenges to that in both Polish and EU courts

History / Historical look at various civilisational differences between Russia and the West [159]

But the fact that they have no toilets underlies the insecurities that make them want to portray military might and launch broken space ships

They didn't have the patience or will to build democracy like the Poles or Czechs or Croats or Romanians did. And now they are angry that they became inferior, an afterthought in world affairs and a problem to be managed.

History / Historical look at various civilisational differences between Russia and the West [159]

Your article suggests that the West has traded materialism for meaning.

It's not an original argument - Gandhi was using it 100 years ago.

Personally I would prefer to stick with at least some of the material benefits of democracy. That's because there is no evidence that the more primitive societies that you lionize promote dignity, human rights, creativity etc.

History / Historical look at various civilisational differences between Russia and the West [159]

I will stick with "So called modernity" - a flushing toilet is warm and nice in the morning

Are human rights and human dignity really better in this paradise that Putin built ?

Law / Can I turn my residency as a universal student to work only? [5]

Don't know - ask a lawyer or maybe try some special forum for stimmigrants.

Will you still be studying next year ?

Law / Can I turn my residency as a universal student to work only? [5]

No - you need a work permit, which is not the same as residency

News / Poland highest inflation in 20 years [319]

That's not true Jon - eventually farmers will stop large scale farming, and just go back to having enough eggs meat and whatever to feed their own family and a few city cousins.

That is exactly what happened in Cuba. There is a great film on Netflix - it is called Cuba and the cameraman I think where a US cameraman visits Cuban friends every 10 years from the 70s up until the present day.

Farming commercially is very hard work - early mornings, late nights, no holidays etc. and if there's no profit in it then people are rather going to sit smoking and drinking. Happened in the PGRs and can happen again

News / Poland highest inflation in 20 years [319]

That is exactly what is happening in Hungary.

Orban not only introduce this crazy policy, he has another policy that if the supermarket is making a loss it can be taken over automatically by a locally owned supermarket [which are typically owned by his chums]

So the supermarkets have an upper level on the profits and a lower level of zero. That is pure socialism. He's an intelligent guy, went to Oxford etc but seems to think he can push back the tide here.

News / Poland highest inflation in 20 years [319]

The war is certainly an important cause of inflation.

The zloty is not - it had actually and bizarrely been very strong for the last 6 months.

The main reasons though are the disruptions in supply caused by covid and a series of giveaways by PiS that got out of control - 500 plus. Extra pensions, unsustainable minimum wage increases and the mortgage thing

News / Poland highest inflation in 20 years [319]

In what countries are the price of bread, eggs and milk set by the govt ?

Hungary - and it's a disaster
Udmurtia - enough said
France has flirted with the idea and stepped back because it is madness

Price controls will always lead to supply issues

It will take a long time to get over the inflationary effects of covid and lockdown, but Venezuelan solutions will only make things worse.

Italy's govt decided to blame it on the banks and had a bruising encounter with the real world yesterday - they had backed down by teatime

Off-Topic / Be aware Pro Buy Sp. z o.o. and CENTROPRO SP. Z.O.O. are scammers! [5]

Keep your review up there - at least it will warn other people

Travel / Changing trains in Poznan [29]

All of the late planes out of Warsaw to Krakow, Poznan etc will wait for connections - you are often sitting 30 mins on the asfalt while a few stragglers arrive from Paris or Madrid. It's irritating until you are the one who benefits from it

Travel / Changing trains in Poznan [29]

Trains do wait and there is a big chance that in this case they would for a small delay

Travel / Changing trains in Poznan [29]

Yes - assuming its on time.

UK, Ireland / Polish Visa from London Embassy [9]

What citizenship does she have ?

Normally her Polish employer would sort out the work permit and formalities ? Have you told them about these difficulties

Law / How to pay Polish fines when you are not in Poland [10]

Write them a letter saying you tried to pay and asking for details how to do that

Get some proof you posted the letter.

There is only a tiny chance they will answer that.

After that forget about it

Travel / How to go to Frankfurt from Poland? [16]

A fine town to visit for business or pleasure - lots to do, great pubs and clubs, excellent museums and nice countryside nearby.

A quick stop to change planes or trains is certainly not enough to appreciate it

Law / Possible Visa Problem Due to VAT Refund [3]

It will be fine - they have better things to do than lose sleep about that

News / Should Poland pay for gas in rubles? [194]

Well one reason for the different inflation figures is that the Polish statistical team aren't answerable to an insane murderous boss. The Udmurtian figures are whatever Putin says they are going to be.

That fool Orban has been trying Udmurtian style price controls this month and essentials are already disappearing from the shelves.

Off-Topic / Pop A Cork - Wine [440]

I assumed you were joking but turns out there is such a thing in the US

findlaw.com/legalblogs/law-and-life/social-host-liability-legal-tips-before-serving-alcohol-at-a-party/#:~:text=What%20Is%20Social%20Host%20Liability,during%20or%20after%20your%20party.

Rightly or wrongly, in most European cultures it is rather rude not to offer alcohol to a guest.

I see one of the suggestions above is to offer your guest a bed or couch - but then presumably they could hold you liable for food poisoning at breakfast or being scalded by hot water in the shower

Off-Topic / Stock Market and Trading Talk [1011]

Well I do my accounts every quarter end but off to Warsaw for a few days so will count up when I get back. Most are doing Ok but a couple of disasters

Life / Do colored immigrants in Poland function better than in Western countries? [295]

Time for another pill Rich

Law / Can a tenant change locks to house without giving access to the landlord [37]

There are more and more retailers defaulting or delaying on their rents - not sure about office or warehouse tenants. So you might end up with a couple of issues the next few years

Love / Is it true that Polish women are very busty? [71]

Sense - now a Kebab King.

She wasn't acting for a while but on my Netflix I saw she did something last year, some kind of Galerianki theme

Law / Can a tenant change locks to house without giving access to the landlord [37]

Some stone age views here - that once you are a "worker" then you stay that way, and that "middle class" jobs don't count as work.

If you want lots if public housing then the answer is simple - put it in your election manifesto that you will build it and expect it to be laid for via taxes. People in Poland and Britain would probably not support that - this is not the 1950s and people have more aspirations than a 2 up 2 down or a small 40sqm in some bloki.

Off-Topic / What's your connection with Poland? Penpals. [595]

Why ? I pay taxes and PiS put them up by a huge amount since 2022 to pay for handouts and kielbasa. They took an OK tax system and made it very punitive for hard workers and successful businesses

Life / Do colored immigrants in Poland function better than in Western countries? [295]

I would say Latino, though I don't know when I changed from saying Hispanic, probably 20 years ago.

Don't know about Pacific Islanders - knew a few Hawaiians, but apart from that not had much contact.