News / Czech drug legalisation threatens Poland [111]


They said the same thing about Portugal as well. The Czechs have always been really strong supporters of personal freedom. Look at the gun laws, prostitution laws, and the drug laws. The only thing new here is that they are officially stating what the unofficial policy has been since the revolution.

History / Life in communism vs democracy in Poland [234]


Who forced who into what?

History / Life in communism vs democracy in Poland [234]


But alas, Germany is slipping away from manufacturing, and into the "service based economy". It's worrying to see the number of manufacturing jobs that have been lost over the last 10 years. That's not efficiency, that's outsourcing. Those Touaregs that are made in Bratislava, yea, they count towards the trade surplus.


The welfare system was amazing when there were more people putting into it than taking out of it, lets see what happens when that flips around.

The US is more heavily regulated than Europe, enforcement is just laxer.


China? Singapore? Korea? Or do you mean unregulated non-welfare cowboy states like Iceland, Spain, Greece, and the UK?

History / Life in communism vs democracy in Poland [234]


The reason that the German economy is doing well was pointed out in polkakamons post, Germany still produces (less and less every year of course).


Existing regulation in the US wasn't enforced. But seriously, people that invest in something that they don't have a clue about and then lose their ass, boo-hoo. Would you invest $200m in an investment fund that only gave you a single sheet of paper every month stating that you made money? Sound stupid? That's what every last one of Madoffs clients agreed to.

Who was balls deep in packaging and reselling all the crap mortgages? That's right, Deutschebank, Allianz, Dresdener Bank, Munich RE... I still have a hard time seeing how the US "caused" a global crisis. Anyone that invested in crap securites is at fault for their own actions, plain and simple. No need to pass the buck. Learn what your buying.

That detracts from the bigger point though, the idea that there is a deep difference between any of the countries or the banking systems anymore.

Most EU countries come no where near the level of corporate welfare paid out in the US. Regarding healthcare, Medicare and Medicaid cover more people than the total population of Germany.

As far as what you get for your 40% that is paid in taxes...well, AOK has nice buildings in just about every city...

History / Life in communism vs democracy in Poland [234]


The problems in the US stem from regulation, corporate welfare/social welfare, and idiotic monetary policy. Capitalism was trying to fix itself by punishing companies that made bad loans and bringing housing prices back into line. The government responded by devaluing the currency again. A lot of what you guys are calling the business class/capitalist class should have lost all their money. The government somehow convinced people that houses would stand empty and people would freeze to death if they didn't rescue the mortgage backed securities of the banks/pension funds/mutual funds. Instead of letting housing prices drop back to where people can afford them, the government is keeping them high in order to support people that make bad choices. They fed is also in a bad place with interest rates, as ****** banks are so over leveraged, that increasing interest rates would cause them to tumble down, as they should.

The problem is arguably worse in places like the UK, Spain, Greece, and Iceland, which last I checked were in Europe. Public debt as a percentage of GDP is officially higher in a number of countries in Europe (but I don't trust GDP numbers in general, the US and UK have a grossly overstated GDP), including Germany. The social systems are unsustainable, that's why the government is pushing more children during a time in which smaller families would be much more beneficial to the environment and national infrastructure.


Bwahahaha. Are you serious? Deutsche Bank, Telekom, Allianz, RWE, Deutsche Post, VW, are all Mckinsey clients...If you look through Sr. Management bios, you'll find quite a few ex Mckinsey employees as well. It's all the same, the current crop of management all practice the same poison, regardless of which country they are from.

History / Life in communism vs democracy in Poland [234]


The US is in serious decline because of extensive corporate and social welfare and bad monetary policy. Companies and individuals are dependent on handouts that destroy the level playing field that is needed in capitalism.


Greedy Europeans are to blame for the problems in Europe. European governments fight just as hard to try to prevent needed corrections in the economy. They are just as guilty at keeping people hooked on credit as the US. For bonus points, in Europe, the people that tell us that there is no money for health care, pensions, and infrastructure...the people that tell us that humans are destroying the earth, these same people are telling us to have more kids to support their social ponzi scheme.

History / Life in communism vs democracy in Poland [234]


That's the big one right there. Taking on debt to fund consumption is about as close to voluntary slavery as you can get. This is worrying, as here in Poland it's rampant. Debt destroys people and locks them in a cycle of working crappy jobs to pay off the worthless junk that they shouldn't have purchased in the first place. And for bonus points, it drives up the cost of everything (price at which the market is willing to bear, however artificial, yay).

Consumer debt is the ultimate evil.

History / Life in communism vs democracy in Poland [234]


I chose a job that I liked that pays the bills plus some and didn't go to uni to do it. It's not either or. You can do something that you love and make good money doing it.

History / Life in communism vs democracy in Poland [234]


Money isn't everything, but it does make things a hell of a lot easier. Putting money in your pocket while doing something that you love is the point of those options.

History / Life in communism vs democracy in Poland [234]


Pisa does however look into socioeconomic background of students. It's not that favorable to Germany.

If you graduate in the US, hell, even if you don't graduate, you can go to college as long as you you're test scores are in line. Student loans and Pell grants are readily available for people from low incomes, my brother is going to school on a Pell grant as we speak. If you managed to screw up in highschool, it's simply a choice if you want to correct that or not. You said it yourself, you have to work a lot harder in Germany if you were already moved to a non university track when you were 13 years old.

History / Life in communism vs democracy in Poland [234]


That's post secondary graduates

History / Life in communism vs democracy in Poland [234]


Isn't good old bafog just another loan? There are a couple of Bundeslander that are charging now too, it's only a matter of time until this goes up even more... How difficult is it if you're going to a Hauptschule and decide you want to go to Uni? Isn't it just a bunch of well off kids in Gymnasium in Germany? The Pisa findings make it pretty obvious that if you come from a low income background, you're probably not going to university either

pisa.ipn.uni-kiel.de/PISA2003_E_Zusammenfassung.pdf

doch net so einfach...

As a percentage of the population, the US has 50% more graduates than Germany.


It's only going to get worse. The world got competitive all of a sudden.

Work / Salary for Teaching EFL in Krakow [120]

Take the job in Krakow, see how you like it, and then figure out how to make more money :)

History / Life in communism vs democracy in Poland [234]

No you don't. I'm living proof of that. Of my successful friends, most of them don't have college degrees, they worked their way up.

In Europe, you do have to pay too. There are quite a few costs outside of tuition (which you have to pay for in a few countries as well..). Housing, food, transportation. You can't pay that without having some kind of income.

In the US, student loans are available, grants if you're low income, and you can always go to community college which is dirt cheap. If you want to go to university in the US, there are plenty of ways to make it happen.

Food / Polish culinary dislikes [83]


heh, that was actually running through my head when I reread what I wrote...


Spirytus is rectified spirit, so I guess it would be cherry infused rectified spirits. You can save a lot of money by just heading down to the gas station and buying it for 4.20 a liter straight out of the pump.

History / Life in communism vs democracy in Poland [234]


It's much easier to be successful in the US than it is in Europe if you come from modest means. You don't need a degree in the US for starters, it helps, but it's not required. Employers can't take the same risks with a new hire in Europe as they can in the US. Making people easier to let go also makes it easier to take a chance on someone new. Either they can do the job, or they can't regardless of what the piece of paper says.

Here in Europe, you need the little piece of paper for all but the most basic of jobs. The universities churn out pieces of paper, and the quality of education suffers tremendously.

Food / Polish culinary dislikes [83]


Kvas street vendors are all over the place in Moldova and the Ukraine, quite a few street vendors in southern Russia too.


Wow, really? A light alcohol? 40% is light? If it's snobbish drinking what tastes good to you, then yea, I'll take being a snob. What is it again that they call the people that don't care what they drink as long it gets them hammered?

UK, Ireland / Mercy flight for dying Polish woman living in the UK [21]

In the US they have Angel Flight that flies exactly these kinds of missions. They are quite active. I can't find any trace of a similar organization in Europe.

Bristol has quite a bit of private general aviation, it's a shame that there is no volunteer organization wiling to help out.

Work / Salary for Teaching EFL in Krakow [120]

350 big macs aren't enough?

I think there are two separate issues:

1. is 3000/mo is a good salary for an English teacher?

2. An English teacher salary may or may not be enough to live comfortably in Krakow, depending on the standard of living you're expecting. It's plenty to have a good time on, not that great if you have expensive tastes.

Work / Salary for Teaching EFL in Krakow [120]


cat food has come quite a ways.

Work / Salary for Teaching EFL in Krakow [120]


It's not enough to pay the mortgage on a modest apartment. Double that for a dual income, and use 28% of your income, and you can still only afford 1680 a month towards a mortgage.

I would say that not being able to afford a modest apartment in the city I want to live in is not a comfortable wage.

Now if comfortable is putting half your monthly wage towards a tiny apartment, then it is indeed comfortable.

If comfortable means living with roommates for 20% of your monthly income, then you will be really comfortable.

Every month, you can buy 11 Big Macs every day on your salary. You can buy 30 monthly public transportation passes. 500 beers, a steak for lunch and dinner at miod malina everyday, 1,5 32gb iphones, drive 11,000km in a new VW golf, but you can't afford to make the payments.

What's comfortable for you?

Language / WHY THE HELL CANT I LEARN POLISH?? [64]

Go to the countryside for a couple of weeks with a dictionary. You're not learning Polish because you don't have to learn Polish. No motivation. I could live my entire life "getting by" with English and German in Wroclaw. I learned more during my month in the countryside than a year in Wroclaw.

Life / Reliable Weather Service In Poland? [25]

If you're close to an airport, a METAR is accurate for immediate weather, and the TAF (usually 8-12 hours) is based on what a local meteorologist at the airport thinks the weather will look like.

en.allmetsat.com/metar-taf/poland.php

As mentioned above, Pogodynka has good radar images

pogodynka.pl/radary.php

Euclid is good for tracking thunderstorms

euclid.org/realtime.html

If you learn a little something about how weather works, the forecast maps are goldmines. Not so much for exact temperatures, but they will usually tell you what kind of sky you can expect.

For more in depth forecasting of temps, the 16 day plots are pretty good

wxweb.meteostar.com/sample/sample_C.shtml?text=EPWR

USA, Canada / REFUSED A HOLIDAY VISA TO THE U.S CAUSE IM POLISH [323]

You got the point I was trying to make.

USA, Canada / REFUSED A HOLIDAY VISA TO THE U.S CAUSE IM POLISH [323]


US-VISIT, the $1.3b database of 200million names... is what's used, not the stub system. US-VISIT compares who entered with who left at all port of entries. Apparently, the system is about as effective as the stub system, you have to write the DHS in order to get the statistics on overstays, they're not posted online.

Food / Polish culinary dislikes [83]

Take a 55gal drum, saw it in half, put some hinges on it, drill some holes, throw some bolts in to hold the grill rack, buy a bunch of oak or beech... the start of a beautiful bbq.

Life / Are foreigners welcome in Poland? [267]


That's just kind of what happens when something new and different comes along. If I drove a Ferrari through a village, people would stare.


I agree with you, "monkey" should be reserved exclusively for Amy Winehouse

Food / Polish culinary dislikes [83]

Anything spicy.

Real Estate / How do you comment on "Poland real estate analysis" of the biggest property site [24]

I agree, why live with savings and disposable income when you can be burdened by debt to pay for inflated assets!

Travel / Free wifi in wroclaw and krakow? [12]

La Donna Cannone at Plac Grunwaldzki has free fast wifi...and really good pizza.