News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2223]

@Ironside
American companies are not making "billions" of dollars in Poland. Maybe millions, but not billions. They are spending money here which saves them from spending money on higher waged employees in the USA. Thats about it. It takes one new level of corporate taxation on foreign income to end everything the USA companies are doing here.

Yes, Poland is a member of NATO. And just who is NATO without the USA? Its not much. There is a reason they are up Trump's a$$ for the military base. Because without it, they have accomplished nothing with the USA. The USA though has said NO to being on the Russian border where Poland wants the base, so this makes PiS look not only stupid, but weak. Does Duda or JK really think Trump or the USA want to antagonize Putin on behalf of Poland? No way.

Its funny to drive through Silesia now, and see only a handful of Duda signs from Opole, Chorzow to Katowice. They are screwed in Silesia, and they totally miscalculated how they handled the coal mines.

Think Konfederacja isn't talking to both sides? Of course they are. They have a lot to gain by aligning with the group who will be flexible and work with them. This sets them up for the future if they play it right.

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2223]

@amiga500
I dont care what a politician said. The facts are that small business got nothing. The Shield was like holding wax paper in front of a machine gun. A joke.

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2223]

@amiga500
Clearly you dont know American politics. Trump openly compliments Putin as a strong leader. Putin helped get Trump in office.

@Lenka
Family values is the anti or not supportive LGBTQ rhetoric, I get it, and dont care if they get support or not. I prefer to not make it an issue because its a personal issue not political. I like the PiS views and stance on immigration. It was very difficult as an American to get residency and I have money. Why should Poland be forced to accept third world people? They shouldnt.

But PiS has zero economic clout, and have pissed all over small business. They have no clue what they are doing and will drive Poland into a depression not seen since the Russians left.

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2223]

@Lenka
While I am neither right or left, I am a centrist, most feminist I know end up divorced and alone. This is true around the world. PiS has a lot wrong with it, but the family values and traditional family structure is not one of them. If they could only get it together on economic issues, and other common sense issues I would support them. But they waste too much time and too much money on BS.

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2223]

@Spike31
I expect two rounds for sure. But a late June photo op isnt going to help him nearly 3 weeks later in July. Poorly timed for real effect.

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2223]

As for Duda's photo op with Trump on the 24th, it will be too little too late. By the time it hits news cycles here in Poland it will be the middle of the evening if not late at night. Voters minds will be made up before then. It would have been much better timing if it happened between the first and second rounds of voting. I suspect thats why Trump wouldn't schedule it around the 4th of July holiday. It would paint a much more powerful picture for Duda then.

Cant wait to pay on the wager if Duda is re-elected as president, almost as much as I cant wait to collect. If the IPSOS poll is accurate its going to be a fun July.

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2223]

@Spike31
LOL and Duda needs to know his. He bowed to Trump, and PiS will lick the boots of America because they are so weak. They are dependent on the American military presence and begging to build Fort Trump. Only the USA doesn't want to pay for it, and Poland is too busy giving money to TVP to afford it.

The fact that this woman, who is doing an excellent job for her country, can because Trump told her to, control the rhetoric from Duda and PiS tells everyone everything they need to know. She controlled Duda and PiS with their big "platform" in less than 72 hours from his homophobic rant. Thats the President of Poland.

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2223]

@amiga500
My company wouldn't qualify, we make too much. Thanks though. I have never complained about my corporate taxes. I saved 14% just by moving my company to Poland from the USA. CIT is very friendly compared to CIT when adding the state and federal levels together in USA. My personal situation isn't effected by PiS. I can leave if I dont like it, no problem. But it effects everyone I know and do business with here, and they are struggling.

You know nothing of economics. Workers not paying income tax at all is a completely economically retarded policy. It does not create growth. It created a consumerism purchasing mentality and no one prepared for the future that's why they are all broke now. How about those 20 something couples with 4 kids getting 2000 a month plus an extra 1000 a month to mom for not working, plus unemployment to dad who lost his job? Lots of motivation to go back to working a 15 pln per hour job? Women are popping out babies like crazy for cash now, living in very low standard housing, and turning into welfare families. What happens when the 500 plus stopps and all the kids are gone from the house? Disaster.

PiS is robbing ZUS to give away money. If it were tried in the USA with social security? They wouldnt last a day.

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2223]

The whole airport investment is really funny. Especially after the chinavirus. Every major airline and investment indicator around the world see's a minimum of two years before airlines, and shipping internationally by air rebounds to pre virus levels. Poland should be spending that money on small business. Programs based on gross sales volumes below say 500 thousand per company getting a grant to develop business and hire new people. That would have a national impact immediately. Give each company in that range who qualifies something like 100K to develop business, and you have people getting back to work and more money flowing pretty quickly. Then if you want to long term plan for a new airport you will have the tax base to do it without killing the people already paying taxes.

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2223]

@Ziemowit
WOW such stupidity. More bribery for votes. So everyone pays again for this bumbling idiot and his crew to continue the destruction of the economy in Poland. Any idiot buying into this actually deserves the ruin that Duda will bring on Poland and the joke that PiS will make of the country to the rest of the world. Simply remarkable how this can happen in a modern informed world. Simply remarkable that people would sell out their countrymen for 500 pln. That is honestly sick.

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2223]

@amiga500
You couldn't be more incorrect in your opinion. Having been to the Middle East myself, I can say that seeing an American of Canadian there who isn't in the Military or Oil business simply isn't happening. I know a few, very few Poles who went there, but it was to work. Both countries are crazy expensive to visit and not worth the money. Oil is the only draw for the west. And you think that Dubai and Abu Dhabi seriously want to promote Poland who outright says they don't want people of color? Wow talk about grasping at straws.

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2223]

@Ziemowit
LMAO because the Catholic church, and a retired Priest know what's best for all of Poland? This is hilarious. Isn't it our current Pope who said that the church must be more tolerant and accepting of all people? Thank god that when everyone loses their jobs those gays will be out on the street with everyone else. LOL

@cms neuf
Excellent points cms. Not only are their rules internally for bond purchases but looking at the Polish economy after this quarter results are in will make people hesitate anyway. People think they understand the investment business, and economic issues when they really dont.

Anyone thinking the international business community wont turn their backs on Poland over this PiS crap isn't too smart. You never know who has a family member or a child that may belong to the alphabet soup group of movements. And you never know how influenced they are by that person in their family. People can think and feel how they want on these issues. Too express them, politicize and thus monetize the issue on a national level is simply the act of a moron.

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2223]

@Ironside
Dunce? I stopped name calling in grade school. I prefer to point out idiotic and antiquated ideology. Duda is simply moronic. He is bad for the country, so is PiS. Without foreign money, Poland is still stuck in 1991. Without EU money nothing PiS has done would be possible. The administration is nothing but cronyism and the country should be embarrassed. Making an issue out of gays? Stupid.

Whats the plan for economic recovery? Whats the plan for foreign policy? Who is going to pay for Ft. Trump? It sure wont be the USA, and where is that money going to come from? With USA taking troops out of Germany, the threat of Russia becomes greater. Trust PiS to deal with Putin? Yep, thats like sending the president to Russia with the whole cabinet and expecting everything to be ok. Wait a minute, that already happened.

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2223]

@Spike31
WOW I wonder how many priests knew that quote?

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2223]

@Ironside
Clearly you have no clue how important foreign policy is and how other countries use it to determine trade deals. You have no clue and follow antiquated principals proven not to help anyone advance society. Duda is so stupid to think that this ranting to the same people who will support him anyway will win new voters? Undecided voters dont give a damn about the anti gay or other movements. They care about their finances and how the rest of the world views Poland. But hey while PiS is at it maybe they should talk about some priests? You know because so much of their activity was simply a mistake right? Or it didnt happen? Oh wait, it did and Rome admitted it. The obsession with gays is really telling.

@kondzior
You're funny. Degenerate activity? Maybe education is a degenerate activity too? Perhaps we should all grab a hammer and sickle get down into the coal mines and out into the fields? Clearly this was a successful economic and societal plan that worked so well. Maybe everyone just needs to go back to eating kapusta, potatoes, and smoked meats? Who needs dishwashers, clothes washers, cable TV and internet?

You cant live in the modern world with a stone age mentality. Eventually people who try this end up left behind.

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2223]

@Spike31
Your business education is from where? If not for small business Poland is still a third world former Soviet economy and in the same condition as Ukraine. Three month, not two, and it will take another 18 months before recovery actually begins. Unemployment will be someplace in the 15 to 20% range when the numbers come out. Something not seen since the Russians left.

This is what PiS, and yes the rest of the world, did to the economy. Its why Trump and others wont likely be re-elected. Szumowski is just another PiS crooked politician caught with his hand in the cookie jar time after time.

Intelligent people, whether they are left or right, pay attention to what others think. No one wants to stand next to an idiot. People who do are also perceived as idiots. Idiots don't get strong business partners, and left or right, if you have money, you want to associate it with people who are smart. Trump doesnt care if someone is a Democrat if they are buying property from him, and he doesnt care if its a Democrat who gets small business money because he knows without small business, economies collapse. Duda and PiS dont even understand the simplest economic principals.

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2223]

@Spike31
He is preaching to his own choir. No boost will come. When the employment and economic numbers start coming out PiS should be done. This topic will last about 5 minutes in the debates. Duda will look like a complete incompetent when pressed on the economy.

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2223]

@kondzior
You may not, but a lot of other tourism realted business not only want it, but need it more than ever now.

@Spike31
I agree with you. The militant marches are a joke. So why give more fuel to them with this stupid posturing? Leave them alone. Stop recognizing there is even a movement. Let people who live together have some rights to medical information and inheritance regardless of where they are same sex or not and move along. Couple who are opposite sex have no rights either unless they are married, and that is simply stupid too.

Poland looks absolutely stupid on the world stage. Doesn't anyone care about how the country is perceived by other intelligent people? By foreign investors? By the people with real money? Poland needs money. Not to alienate people who have it.

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2223]

PiS doesn't understand how this effects Poland internationally. Any family with a member who is LGBTQ isn't going to be coming to Poland to spend their money now. That's how people respond to this kind of thing today. I am not pro LGBTQ or anti. I simply don't care about them either way, and most people are the same. People who obsess over this may have something they are hiding themselves. Who really cares who does what in their own home. Gays have been around since the down of time, its not going away. Just a joke of a campaign platform.

Now lets see how those unemployment numbers look when they start leaking out in a few days. An 11% increase in the last three months will show anyone with half a brain that PiS cant manage a crisis, and they sure cant manage a country.

I wonder if PiS have their suits designed by Hugo Boss too. Anyone know?

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2223]

This is hilarious. A presidential election platform of banning homosexual education? This is the best PiS can come up with? Preaching to the choir who is already singing his praises is not exactly a surgical execution to garner more voters. If this guy is re-elected based on this policy Poland will laughed at. This policy sounds far too familiar to something that was tried in the 30's by another guy. Hmmmmmm just cant put my finger on the name......

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2223]

While PiS may still hold much of rural Poland, they have also scared the $**t out of their older voters with the virus. Just look around and clearly people who are older are staying inside more. They wont come out until the all clear is given. I think some of them will simply not vote because of this and because some think there is no way Duda could not win.

I also believe that when all the Poles came home from abroad at the start of this, that PiS didnt anticipate those younger people being here to vote in the election. Just how many young people came home? That demographic alone is likely enough to swing some districts and they wont be voting PiS. How many young people have lost jobs, their business, or had friends who lost jobs and/or a business? If people vote with emotion, which some believe, then those massive numbers will not vote PiS.

In the end, every election comes down to money. Who is going to do the best job to get the most money into the hands of the most people. Or it is about removing the group who screwed up the money, whether they are directly responsible or not. It is this way everywhere. When people cant pay their bills, or lost a business, they dont care if the neighbor across the hall is gay, they care about getting their life back.

To think that some ideology campaign is going to work in todays corona climate is wishful thinking at best. PiS would have rolled to victory if not for the virus and how it handled the money during the virus. Any pittance of money for holidays or something else is too little too late. They have shown they are completely incompetent to manage crisis and manage the economy. Those are the two things that matter most to most people.

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2223]

Have to agree with Spike as well. Well said. I think this is what 90% of Poland thinks and its a very small percentage that want the craziness we see in San Francisco and other places. I dont see straight pride months being worked on anywhere, so why does there have to be a gay pride month? The whole "I need a cause" mentality is really interfering with clear and rational decision making on the things that really effect society. This is on all sides of politics. Movements or personal matters should not be political issues.

Anyone thinking theyare certain on how this election will end clearly hasn't looked at recent history. I think this is a dead heat in the second round. The person who mobilizes the most people wins. Anyone thinking its locked up and doesnt mobilize the vote is going to be very disappointed at the results. This is exactly why I dont think Duda can win.

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2223]

@Spike31
He and his party have done nothing for the country to advance it other than spend EU money. The country is in a recession and paying out more than its taking in. Pretty simple to explain, now what is the PiS Duda solution?

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2223]

@Spike31
I think you are so far off base on Duda that you cant see straight. Duda has no appetite for winning, his campaign is a laughing stock outside of PiS to all challengers. He is embarrassing and offers no stability. You clearly arent seeing any other news other than TVP.

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2223]

@Spike31
You are way off. Coming out of a pandemic and a clear recession coupled with inflation, more people than ever are looking for substance. This is not an emotional election except for the old PiS guard who will do anything to hold on to power. The problem is they dont know how to use the power, and the country has seen the corruption and failed leadership for five years. Duda is not capable to framing a picture let alone framing his opposition. He is simply incompetent. We will all know the direction of things starting in 17 days though. Momentum is a curious thing. Like an avalanche it can pick up speed and crush everything in its path. Momentum is not something PiS has and they dont have enough time to create it. Its going to be fun to watch.

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2223]

@Ironside
Isn't it sad the the President of Poland has zero leadership responsibilities if that's the case? Shouldn't that change? While I would agree that the Prime Minister likely has more power, he isn't even a real leader and has no leadership qualities. Its absolutely clear they all got to power by promising money to people who wanted it and not by any real plan or change.

Watching JK on TV is really quite funny though. The leader of the "party" looks half dead, and the country allows this man to dictate policy through the PM and President? Some of the things this group has done is really globally embarrassing. Censorship of a song because JK actually broke the law when no one else could? WOW Talk about gutless leaders, they cant even take the heat of their own actions. Then the paid rants on TVP against the competition, sound like spoiled children saying who's ideas are better to build the lemonade stand.

The EU will eventually fail. It is simply a bad experiment. The EU president is more of a CEO of a big board of directors and he simply manages those meeting and agendas based on the boards suggestions and wants. I don't know enough about Germany to say anything intelligent so I will accept your comparison.

The only point i am trying to make with any of this discussion is that Poland, while having tremendous opportunity to develop into a European power is squandering the opportunity on needless arguments. It is wasting money, and killing the thought of growth. This is not what leaders do for their country, it is what people do who usually get investors money to run a company and then they end up bankrupt pointing the finger at everyone else.

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2223]

@Spike31
Maybe Bosak would beat Trzaskowski, but thats not what is going to happen. Everyone will seek to destroy Duda and PiS in turn in the debates. Judgmental about his looks is not really a platform that even PiS supporters would buy into. Even PiS supporters want to hear something substantive.

Looking at Duda I personally see an incompetent clown with JK's arm so far up his a$$ that if Duda opens his mouth to wide you see JK's fingers. Duda doesn't come across as a leader, or even manly. The guy has zero presidential charisma. He is not someone who can motivate people or lead people. He has had 5 years and has done absolutely nothing.

Maybe Trzaskowski drinks latte, who knows, and who cares. He knows the issues, has the pedigree, and education to be respected on the world stage of Politics. I can imagine how Trump laughs about Duda and how weak he is. Trump may be many things but he is at least a leader, right or wrong he picks a direction and goes. Putin is a leader. Even the donkey Boris in England is a leader. Duda has zero leadership qualities. Not once in five years has he had an idea of his own. Maybe we should focus on who does the best for the most people in Poland and not who serves his one antiquated idea master.

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2223]

Duda cant escape the debates. He will look absolutely amateur in comparison. This may actually be funny. Karta Rodziny will be forgotten about after today's holiday. Its not even worth the attention it got yesterday. Most of what he proposed he cant even do without support of the government which he wont get.

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2223]

Its an interesting exit poll. One of the reasons I think most polls are off is because the government ordered people home at the beginning of the pandemic. Lots of young people came home from their jobs abroad, lots of them who are going to be politically active in 17 days that may or may not have been if they were still abroad.

While PiS is certainly the choice with the older demographic, their numbers really jump after 50 yrs of age. KO is steady throughout every demographic. Konfederacja drops off after 30 but the collective opposition is pretty steady when you look at things.

PiS has really pooped the bed, the campaign is really laughable on their end. Only people who blindly follow the party will buy into what they are selling. Trzaskowski comes off as young, intelligent, energetic, and representing the "Poland" that people want to have the world see. I he also resonates with some of the older demographic who simply want a change in the message. The PiS message is really just more of the same. It doesn't energize people. 17 days to stop a tidal wave that grows every day is not something that is likely to happen at this point.

News / Presidential elections 2020 - your opinions about campaign, candidates [2223]

Watching and reading the news, and it really is comical how Duda is being portrayed now with this Karta Rodziny. With all the children standing behind him holding these propaganda cards? What are they thinking? These kids don't even know what is going on, and they think using them will sway voters who have not decided? Again, all this does is harden the core of support and likely makes people who are undecided go the other way.

Maybe there is some truth to JK wanting to have Duda gone. Have someone to blame, look for a fight to win someplace else. It wouldn't be a smart strategy though when PiS would turn into a much less powerful group for five years. Who knows if JK is even around in five years.

This is certainly entertaining now. Watching hardliners squirm at the thought of young people making the rules. It was going to happen eventually. Like it will happen in other countries. The old ways simply aren't what the majority of people want today. People are concerned with progress, measurable impacts on their lives. Not rhetoric and inaction.