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Posts by polishmeknob  

Joined: 9 Feb 2009 / Male ♂
Last Post: 13 Nov 2012
Threads: Total: 5 / Live: 3 / Archived: 2
Posts: Total: 154 / Live: 121 / Archived: 33

Speaks Polish?: Tak
Interests: language, Polish, German, Photography, Travel, Airplanes

Displayed posts: 124 / page 4 of 5
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polishmeknob   
5 Apr 2010
News / Crucifixes to stay in Polish schools [364]

It muslim french students cannot wear a skarf over their heads.... I think its also justified that we remove Crucifixes from our schools IMMEDIATELY.

France doesn't allow crucifixes or Stars of David to be worn in school either. It doesn't exclusively ban headscarves, but all trappings of faith in public schools.
polishmeknob   
25 Mar 2010
Law / KaczyƄski doubts the Euro currency will survive [49]

The Euro won't be abandoned; Europe has staked too much in it. Some countries (Greece, Portugal) may be booted out, but I seriously, highly doubt that the Euro Area will fall apart.

Some countries may think twice before joining the Euro (Poland first and foremost), but I think that the general trend is that the Euro will become the currency for most of the EU (England will probably never go over to the Euro.) The recent crisis is just going to stall it a bit. They'll take what they've learned and demand more transparency with countries' finances (Greece hid most of its debt with the help of Goldman Sachs) and they'll also probably be more strict in enforcing the conditions of the treaties, especially in the area of debt.

Seanus is one of the people who believes 9/11 was a government plot.

Those people are idiots.

polishmeknob.blogspot.com/2010/03/its-official-buy-zoty.html
polishmeknob.blogspot.com/2010/03/oh-euro.html
polishmeknob   
24 Mar 2010
Law / The Euro, is it a good idea for Poland? [66]

Neither do I, at least not now.

The euro is bad for Poland precisely because that isn't possible. The NBP couldn't have devalued PLN over the last 18 months to make Poland attractive to foreign capital. Growth would have been dead in the water.

Quite indeed.

Let me restate what I was trying to say: I don't think that the Euro is good for Poland (at least not now), but it's not all bad.

I was making a point about how energy (oil) is more expensive with a weak Zloty, but I forgot to also explain how oil dropped a lot, so it didn't really matter; although, oil is recently on the rise.

Anyway, my extended opinion on it is right here:
polishmeknob   
18 Mar 2010
Love / What are the most popular ethnicities for Polish women [90]

I'd disagree with that. I'd say it's the other way around.
Polish girls go wild for Italians (far and away) and others like Spaniards, blacks, even Brits! Down low on the list are Russians, Germans, Frenchmen, and Ukrainians.
polishmeknob   
18 Mar 2010
Law / The Euro, is it a good idea for Poland? [66]

"To put in another way, it is often said here in Poland that the Euro is a powerful tool for growth and an excellent shield, but a heavy one. Be sure you can carry it before you take it..."

Very good indeed.

To be clear, I'm not for Poland taking up the Euro. There are, however, advantages that come with the Euro. For instance, it would make borrowing easier (the ECB has deep, deep pockets.)

Regarding making imports cheaper, the tiny bit that is lost in currency conversion is a pretty terrible trade off outsourcing your monetary policy.

It's far from a tiny bit. Currency devaluation is one of the keys to China's success (why do you think the US is so angry at them right now?) Cheaper exports, but also expensive imports. It's not "a tiny bit", it's a substantial amount (quite indeed.)

I think the doomsday predictions that costs would spiral out of control are misplaced. Costs would rise, but not astronomically. Be reasonable.
polishmeknob   
18 Mar 2010
Law / The Euro, is it a good idea for Poland? [66]

The Euro provides no benefits at all for Poland.

The Euro makes intra-European trade easier and imports (such as cars, energy (oil), airplanes) cheaper. Plus, there's an added stability in that a country such as Germany is there to back it up. It's a two-edged sword, because then you have a country like Greece that could tear it down.

There are pros and cons to each side.
polishmeknob   
18 Mar 2010
Law / The Euro, is it a good idea for Poland? [66]

I don't think the Euro will be good for Poland; at least not now. Maybe in a decade or so, but we'll see if the Euro survives (which it probably will.)
polishmeknob   
14 Mar 2010
USA, Canada / Where can I buy Polish Beer in SC? [26]

You're forgetting that cane sugar is the standard in South America, plus Asia and Africa. Beet sugar is primarily confined to Europe (and mostly eastern Europe) and the US.

Oh, yeah, and the US is the third-largest producer of sugar beets.

The sugar isn't different since it's just sucrose and glucose. The sugar that comes from beets and the sugar that comes from canes tastes the same.
polishmeknob   
8 Mar 2010
Life / Things that annoy you in Poland. [114]

Can't buy some badly-needed **** here (like a desk fan, for instance. Neither Tesco nor LeClerc seems to stock them. Neither does RTV.)

Oh, and the beer sucks.

polishmeknob.blogspot.com/2009/06/beerfest-be-not-held.html
polishmeknob   
8 Mar 2010
Life / Polish "Mall Girl" Culture? [125]

Actually, it was Communism. Look, the USSR stood for: United Soviet Socialists Republics, but they were still all communists. You can bicker and argue and try to call them socialists and deny that they were true communists, but they weren't really; they were communists.
polishmeknob   
8 Mar 2010
USA, Canada / Where can I buy Polish Beer in SC? [26]

Why would you want to? Polish beer sucks.

polishmeknob.blogspot.com/2009/06/beerfest-be-not-held.html
polishmeknob   
8 Mar 2010
Life / Polish "Mall Girl" Culture? [125]

- why is every article about Poland mentioning Communism, while we had Socialism???

You didn't have socialism, you had communism. The Communist party was in charge. A country like Finland had socialism.
polishmeknob   
5 Mar 2010
News / What does Poland Import? [18]

Pratt and Whitney also has offices here and I think contracts PZL to make the engines (especially for all those F-16s Poland just bought.)
polishmeknob   
3 Mar 2010
News / What does Poland Import? [18]

Lots of military equipment and aircraft engines. Also, it exports aircraft engines (I know! Right?!)
polishmeknob   
17 Nov 2009
Language / Short Polish<->English translations [1033]

[Moved from]: Weights and Measures in Poland; kopiasta / czubata lyzeczka

What exactly are kopiasta lyzeczka and czubata lyzeczka compared to tablespoons and teaspoons?
polishmeknob   
30 Oct 2009
Life / Things that annoy you in Poland. [114]

Polish ppl love to talk in superlatives, 'the best', 'the longest', 'the most ......' etc without showing any evidence of any of this

I think that's a universal trait. I've seen it from a lot of people (from around the world.)
polishmeknob   
30 Jul 2009
News / Are Polish People Being Discriminated Against? Problems getting a US visa. [258]

At the embassies they treat people like real ****, like you are worth nothing and that you only want to still their riches. Its just disgusting they treat people.

That seems to be the rule of thumb for all embassies in every nation.

other people too, is the general american inmigration policy.

It's the immigration policy of many countries, not just the US. US immigration policy (allowing people to immigrate there) is actually less strict than many other places (Japan for instance.)

To get a tourist visa to Russia, for instance, one needs a letter of invitation. One also needs a visa to go to China or India.
polishmeknob   
29 Jul 2009
News / Are Polish People Being Discriminated Against? Problems getting a US visa. [258]

It depends how you look at it. In terms of GDP per capita you're in
10th position in the world.

You forget that the US is also the third-most-populous country (and third-largest depending on how you look at it.) Other countries with populations that are larger (India, China) or closer in size (Indonesia, Pakistan, Brazil, Russia) are nowhere near as close in GDP per capita. It's quite a feat to be that large and to have a GDP per capita that good.

If America had to pay off all their debts, where would they be?

Debt per person in the US is comparable to the rest of the world, and, in some cases, better. Plus, a good deal of debt is (or was) owned by Americans. The whole rational for a large deficit was, "We owe it to ourselves." I guess that's changing now, and China is buying up a lot of the debt.

As for consumer debt, it's actually a fraction of the people that have large amounts of debt (in the form of credit cards.) Plus, a great deal of personal debt (owned by a household) is in the form of medical bills. It's something like 60% of all personal bankruptcies are because of medical bills.

Well, I said in a way it is discrimination :)

No, it's not. Poles are only holding themselves back in the case of visas. It's the failure of the Polish people in having such a high rejection rate, not because of some "American bias" against them.

It should be noted that the US has the largest Polish diaspora in the world, and a great deal of the people there are proud of their Polish heritage. Any "discrimination" is largely imaginary, and the State Department's rules are not there to specifically restrict Poles.

Plus, I just found out, that Canada is totally tapped out of work visas for Poles (damn quotas!!!)
polishmeknob   
20 Jul 2009
News / Are Polish People Being Discriminated Against? Problems getting a US visa. [258]

All I want is for others to recognize that such restrictions are nothing more then political games and in a way it is discrimination of Poland.

That's a pretty stupid statement. There is no such "discrimination."

Could you explain in plain English what is all about?
Because so far I understand that certain number of Polish citizens are refused visas to USA and based on the quota of those refusals US government is forming is visa policy?!
Its seems like a catch22 :)
Embassy in Warsaw should give more visas and problem is solved - question - why they refuse visas to so many people?

There is no "Catch-22."

There are a certain percentage of people who apply for a US visa and are denied. This percentage is too high and deemed unacceptable by the US Government. Countries like the Baltic States has percentages that were much lower, so the Government deemed that there was no much risk of illegal immigration from these countries.

The people that do the interviews at the embassy at trained to judge and evaluate the interviewees.
They refuse applicants because they:
A) Think the people are lying. i.e. Giving a reason to go the US, when all the really want to do is immigrate illegally.

B) They think that the person applying for the visa has no intention of returning to Poland.
C) They apply for work visas when they do not have proof of employment (i.e. a note from a US employer saying "I have promised this person has a job here.")

You might say, "Well who cares if they emigrate to the US?" But the Government is not interested in people who do not have jobs coming and many fear that the State will have to support them (through stuff like Welfare.)

It's all about the risk of people trying to stay illegally in the States. When the State Dept. decides that this risk is low—which right now it isn't, because there are a lot of Poles who are denied visas—the restrictions will be totally removed.
polishmeknob   
20 Jul 2009
News / Are Polish People Being Discriminated Against? Problems getting a US visa. [258]

Who cares?
But its a bullish anyway and why people have to pay for a privilege of applying for visa - 100$ ?

Who cares? The US Gov't cares, for one. Certain benchmarks have to be met before the restrictions can be lifted.

Payments are because for the cost of processing. The embassy isn't making money off visa application fees.

Look, I'm for removing visa restrictions.