News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2222]

Around 30 percent of companies have benefitted from the shield and not all of those have received cash yet.

The rest are excluded by various loopholes - one of the most common being seasonal variances in their results and being too successful before the lockdown (so then the have the double whammy of seeing their taxes spent on propping up badly managed competitors).

Small businessmen were a key part of the PiS vote in 2015 and 2019 but they have been ignored by the so called shield.

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2222]

What pathetic reasoning - they have already had 4 months of this crisis to formulate an economic response. What do we get ? Free fire engines, holiday vouchers and a focus not on the economy but on organizing postal elections

Life / Is Polish church involved in politics too much? [137]

Yes, they should be prepared for that. I go to church but less and less and when I am there I rarely her anything about empathy, love, respect etc.

Life / Is Polish church involved in politics too much? [137]

I haven't got a problem with it, they have as much right to interfere in politics us say the business lobby or trade unions and they are obviously going to support people that have similar views.

What I do object to is them receiving public money as a quid pro quo of the support.

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2222]

Both PO and foreign intelligence services will have vetted Trzaskowski thoroughly. Voters are unlikely to care about sex scandals these days or minor drug use and PiS are never going to win a fight about corruption.

How about Duda go on Tv, explain his policies, explain why he is not a puppet and how he intends to govern in his second term. Revolutionary I know but would be more interesting than some bad Netflix rip off about a dead prostitute.

Life / Poles speaking English - examples [263]

I dont think Duda English is so bad but he lacks confidence and has no gravitas - I can't think of any other world leader who so visibly shrinks from eye contact and proper body language.

Travel / Fortune Tellers/ Astrologers in Warsaw [27]

I was working on a file that nobody had opened for a few years and the Ask Donna flyer fell out of it which was a bit freaky so I thought I would visit and see what it was like - was up in Spanish Harlem, before it was gentrified. She told me I would soon become a father, which was true but would work for most straight 20s males. Can't remember much else really except I win a few bucks at Papaya King afterwards which she hadn't predicted. .

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2222]

Yes, the rule of JK.

Why doesn't he stand for election himself?

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2222]

I'm still waiting for the first Duda presidency to start

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2222]

That is an atrocious American accent. Where's Max Golonka when you need him ?

The worst thing is these troll fools are being funded by our taxes.

Travel / Fortune Tellers/ Astrologers in Warsaw [27]

I went to one in New York once when I lived there - a Chinese woman called Ask Donna. Must be 25 years ago but she didn't mention any Wuhan virus

Travel / Fortune Tellers/ Astrologers in Warsaw [27]

I do wish some of them had warned me about this virus so we could have got some shopping done and canceled some plane tickets

Work / Hands-on agricultural jobs in Poland? [20]

If it's Genuine piecework then no but if it's Something that has the characteristics of work e.g turning up at the same time each day, having to request days off etc then yes minimum wage applies.

That's the way it was explained to me a few years ago but not sure how it's enforced

Work / Hands-on agricultural jobs in Poland? [20]

A disgrace and farmers paying below minimum wage should be investigated.

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2222]

Driving in the countryside today for a few hours I didn't see a single Duda poster. In fact not many at all, what I'd do see as for Holownia and KK. So turnout could be low there

News / Tesco abandon Poland [66]

Any other store.

I think the other retailers have just as much from China, probably more.

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2222]

Exactly - svetoid surowki and szlacheta ogorki can only go so far in promoting the pan Slav project - what we need is a union of slav speaking grocers stretching from the Black Sea to the Baltic.

Real Estate / Buying land in Warsaw, Poland and the following [14]

I also think that is a faster, cheaper and simpler option - though it comes with its own complications and generally with neighbors to worry about.

I think there is a bit of a thing about Poles who work abroad that their dream is to come back and build a place, od nowy, in a field far from anywhere. But the changes in law on land purchase and the increased cost of builders and connections make it much pricier than it was 15 years ago.

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2222]

Brat Biedron could strengthen pan Slav unity by filling his shelves with the best Serbian products - kajmak and rakija.

Real Estate / Buying land in Warsaw, Poland and the following [14]

Your gmina office may be closed at the moment - you certainly will have a long wait outside.

You can check the Land registry (ksiega wierczysta) online if you know the plot numbers. But you will need a polish speaker with you, one who understands not only the zoning status but also whether there are any easements and mortgages on the land.

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2222]

There is no Duda Trump connection. Trump might be a senile fool but he will still only want to deal with the real boss - doing anything other than a handshake and a grin with Adrian is beneath his pay grade.

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2222]

Big airport construction and allocating slots are a prime way of getting kickbacks and bribes to keep the troll factories in business and line the pockets of the PiS szlacheta.

Nobody really has been asking for this new airport and I am not convinced the long haul demand exists apart from to the US and Canada which are already well served from Okecie.

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

Obama is not in charge now - left 3 years ago. Now it's Crazy Donald the disinfectant drinker.

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2222]

I think PO wasted a lot of opportunities in Poland for sure during their time in charge. But overall it was a stable time of good growth and rising incomes.

I think PO were corrupt but I didn't feel democracy was under threat and I didn't feel I was propping up a growing dependent class with my taxes. That is why I strongly think Duda needs to be removed.

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2222]

Watch this space Spike as it is already happening - most speculators disregard ethics but the largest funds in bond purchases are US pension funds.

These include the state pension funds of California, New York, Illinois, Michigan etc and they all have ethical investment policies in place - this will be right on their radar and rightly so. So taking them out of the market will increase the borrowing cost and reduce the number of people willing to lend to PiS dinosaurs.

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2222]

So I notice on my LinkedIn tonight that Dudas words are being shared widely, often by people I didn't think were political. This could have a serious blowback - especially for selling Polish bonds and for Poland's state owned banks - PKO, Alior and Pekao - by depositing money with them you are lending it to the Polish state.

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2222]

I didn't know Adrian spoke English - but there is no way he can claim this is fake news.

There will be a few international effects - I expect the US are considering their response. A slap on the wrist to Poland costs them nothing politically at home and I think the US ambassador has very inclusive values. She has been a positive surprise to me.

I also expect some effect on international investment in Polish stock market - of course most international funds left already but the ones who are left will not want To invest in govt owned companies until this blows over.

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2222]

Well it probably achieved one thing - we are talking about that and not about their pathetic economic response to the pandemic. Where PiS will need to shore up its support is not in the villages but in the new housing on the edges of cities - they did well there in 2015, even among voters in their 20s and 30s. And they won't win more votes there by obsessing about gays.

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2222]

Dudas words today were disgraceful. This is from the sitting President, not from a fringe candidate. A low moment for Poland.

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2222]

The debates should focus on two things - the fact that he is not the real boss and the fact that most businesses have been left to fend for themselves.

Even so I think Duda will be able to get his message across to the old and the stupid.