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Post by valpomike on Jan 6, 2010 17:34:37 GMT 1
Who told you, people are being turned away from health care, here in the USA?
Mike
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Post by tufta on Jan 6, 2010 18:24:58 GMT 1
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Post by valpomike on Jan 6, 2010 19:01:31 GMT 1
Please read the plan, not some slanted outline given us, take the time, than you will understand. Today, I learned that everyone, will have to buy insurance, at their own cost, or will be fined, and the quality of service will be decided by the government.
Take the time, and read, the full, 2,000 some pages, with all it's pork included, and than you will see the light. Please take the time, don't be mislead by what information, that is slanted, and find out for yourself, I did.
Mike
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Post by valpomike on Jan 6, 2010 19:03:41 GMT 1
You are to smart a man, to be mislead by not knowing for yourself, take the time, don't count on the bias reports put out by this government. If it is so good, why has it not passed yet, and I hope never will.
Mike
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Post by valpomike on Jan 6, 2010 20:23:58 GMT 1
I don't want to talk any more with you on this until you read the full plan, with all the pork.
Any one more out there who has read the full plan, and want to talk on it? What do the rest of you think on this?
Mike
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Post by valpomike on Jan 7, 2010 0:52:31 GMT 1
I did not want to upset anyone, but please read the full 2,000 plus pages, for this health care plan, with all the pork, than we can discuss this more.
Mike
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Post by tufta on Jan 7, 2010 8:56:03 GMT 1
Please read the plan, not some slanted outline given us, take the time, than you will understand. Today, I learned that everyone, will have to buy insurance, at their own cost, or will be fined, and the quality of service will be decided by the government. Take the time, and read, the full, 2,000 some pages, with all it's pork included, and than you will see the light. Please take the time, don't be mislead by what information, that is slanted, and find out for yourself, I did. Mike So in you opinion "the full, 2,000 some pages" plan made by government tells the truth, while the shorter version presented by head of you gorvernment is slanted. Do you think such situation happens often in the USA??? I am sorry Mike, I don't have the time to read the full plan, the concise versions gave me an idea. However, since you read the plan and you think it is wrong, I would be very much grateful for posting citations where taking the plug off, deciding for the doctors about the treatment etc etc, are proposed. Here's a reality check you might like to listen to www.whitehouse.gov/realitycheck/
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Post by valpomike on Jan 7, 2010 17:37:05 GMT 1
Most news here, and going out to Europe, is very slanted, since it is controlled by the party in office now. I don't know I want to talk any more on this, since, you don't act like you have a open mind to this plan could not be good for the Americans. No matter what facts I could show you, I don't think you would believe, any way. You just believe what our government tells the world, but most of us here know better, and don't buy it.
Mike
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Post by tufta on Jan 7, 2010 20:34:47 GMT 1
Most news here, and going out to Europe, is very slanted, since it is controlled by the party in office now. So the full plan made by government which your read is not slanted, yet the summary of the plan made by the government is very slanted....... On the opposite. I am very open to listening to you and changing my mind. Just give me the examples, citations from the unslanted full version, proving that the government will now decide how to treat, when to pull the pklug and so on. Yes, I will believe if you give me facts. Till now you have given me superstitions sufflet in arrogance sauce. Did you notice the sauce, Mike? ;D ;D ;D ;D Exactly! I believe waht your government says as long as it does what it says. Till now your government does exactly what it says. Sometimes it says and does the things I find absurd and sometimes it says and does things which are a realy god job. It is exacty the same in Poland, and in whole EU In every country people know better than their governent does, so you are not alone, Mike ;D ;D ;D
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Post by Bonobo on Jun 25, 2010 18:30:53 GMT 1
That is about me - I don`t use a credit card though I have one and have to pay yearly for its maintanance. I only use debit card. Poles shun credit cards 24.06.2010 14:58
Poles don’t want credit cards, according to a new report from Poland’s Central Bank (NBP).
For the first quarter of 2010, more than 600,00 credit cards disappeared from the market, almost half of all the cards issued by banks in 2009.
There are still some ten and a quarter million credit cards in Polish pockets. Although the number of debit cards has increased, the grand total of all plastic money in Poland slipped to 32.8 million (33.2 million in the previous count).
This is the first such situation in the history of the credit card market here. Banks started to look more closely at their credit cards, concerned over the number of customers who were using the cards to pay off outstanding cash loans.
The increase of bad credits on the Polish banking market had already drawn the attention of the Financial Supervisory Commission. www.thenews.pl/business/artykul134286_poles-shun-credit-cards.html
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Post by Bonobo on Sept 18, 2010 0:05:36 GMT 1
How about comparing the cost of services which are lower in Poland than in NY?
Example - a 1.5 hour cruise on a leasure ex-fishing boat across the Baltic Sea cost me 11$ for one adult and 3 kids. How much in NY?
One New Yorker earns more than four Varsovians 18.09.2010 00:28
An average resident of Warsaw earns four times less than an average New Yorker, shows a report by the Swiss bank UBS.
The average salary in Poland is gradually increasing. In August 2010, it equalled 3,407 zloty (862 euro) before tax, a raise of 4.2 percent year on year. However, Poland is still a long way behind other countries when it comes to the amount of wages received by an average resident.
The salary of an average Varsovian constitutes 23.7 percent of an average New Yorkers’ monthly pay, according to the UBS report.
A resident of Warsaw, however, earns more than an average resident of Bratislava in Slovakia, whose salary equals 19.6 percent of a New Yorker’s pay, Budapest in Hungary (19.7 percent) or Vilnius in Lithuania (19.1 percent).
Poles do not get the highest salaries in Central and Eastern Europe. Inhabitants of Prague in the Czech Republic earn on average 24.4 percent of New Yorkers’ salaries and residents of Tallinn in Estonia 23.8 percent.
Residents of Zurich, on the other hand, receive the highest salaries, which amount to 121.8 percent of New Yorkers’ wages. The report by UBS also shows that a Pole with an average salary can afford 38 percent of what a New Yorker can buy, which is still more than an average resident of Vilnius, Riga or Budapest can afford.
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Post by valpomike on Sept 18, 2010 1:35:21 GMT 1
But remember, the cost of living, in Poland and New York, are far from the same. I think your money would go much farther in Poland, than New York, or Chicago, or even Valparaiso, Indiana.
Mike
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Post by Bonobo on Jan 9, 2011 14:21:05 GMT 1
How about comparing the cost of services which are lower in Poland than in NY? Example - a 1.15 hour cruise on a leasure ex-fishing boat across the Baltic Sea cost me 11$ for one adult and 3 kids. How much in NY?
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Post by valpomike on Jan 9, 2011 17:05:30 GMT 1
Something like this in Chicago for just one child would be more than three times that amount, I am sure. Like I said, you have good prices in Poland, so enjoy.
Mike
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Post by Bonobo on Jan 11, 2011 19:32:48 GMT 1
Something like this in Chicago for just one child would be more than three times that amount, I am sure. Like I said, you have good prices in Poland, so enjoy. Mike Comparing our earnings, it is the same final price. I get 11$ per lesson in my state high school. How much do you get per lesson in US school? Poles pay less for food products than other citizens of EU countries, a new survey published by Euromonitor International reveals. According to the survey, which monitored eleven countries in Europe, Poland has the cheapest tea, beating the UK, where the drink is 14 percent more expensive, whereas in Germany prices are as much as 585 percent higher. Other foodstuffs which are cheaper in Poland than in other European countries include sugar, tomatoes, milk, poultry, flour and milk. Only coffee and wine are not the cheapest in Poland, although prices remain at the European average. By far the cheapest food product in comparison with other European countries is the apple: in France and Italy the fruit is 340 percent more expensive, although analysts in the Rzeczpospolita daily attribute the price difference to the fact that Poland has a large proportion of orchards. “90 percent of food in [Poland] is domestically produced, and as such there is enormous competition,” Andrzej Falinski from the Polish Organisation for Trade and Distribution (POHiD) told the daily, adding that competitiveness among traders also affects prices. The Euromonitor survey reveals that food in Poland is not only cheaper in comparison to western European countries’ prices, but also central Europe: in Hungary, the only products which are cheaper are beer and wine, whereas in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, soft drinks are the only products which are cheaper than in Poland. However, the low prices revealed by the Euromonitor survey do not necessarily point to a ‘value haven’. Andrzej Kalicki from the FAPA Foundation of Assistance Programmes for Agriculture told Rzeczpospolita that “if we compare the prices to [Poland’s] purchasing power, the prices are not so low for Poles after all.”
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Post by Bonobo on Feb 9, 2011 20:46:59 GMT 1
A 4 lbs pineapple - 2.65$
1 lb litchi plums - 1$.
Clipping a tomcat - 24.5$
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Post by justine26 on Feb 18, 2011 17:47:53 GMT 1
The prices in Poland are increasing dramatically. Everything is becoming more and more expensive. In addition,the crsis all over the world makes the problem even more serious. Poland is a country with one of the highest price index in relation to the earnings. The unemployment doesn't help the situation. Young people are in the most difficult position. A good start of their adult life is practically impossible.
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Post by valpomike on Feb 18, 2011 19:42:03 GMT 1
Here in the USA all prices are going up also, due to our president. Things are getting bad here in the USA. Many people being out of work, must let there home go, and many are doing without many things. But after our president is out of office, on our next election, we hope things will change.
Mike
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Post by Bonobo on Feb 22, 2011 22:01:41 GMT 1
Here in the USA all prices are going up also, due to our president. So he is bad. ;D ;D ;D But, Mike, for God`s sake, put that gun away!!! Remember, you have wife and children!!! Stopped flying to the moon on vacation? Don`t believe everything they say.
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Post by Bonobo on Feb 22, 2011 22:52:20 GMT 1
The prices in Poland are increasing dramatically. Everything is becoming more and more expensive. Like everywhere in the world, because prices of oil and food have gone up a lot. But it is still endurable. The 2010 inflation in Poland was 3.5%. Exactly. We cannot help it in any way. I know countries where the index is even higher. E.g., Ukraine. Not to mention Zambia or Ethiopia. So, as you see, it can be always worse. Let`s enjoy what we have. I constantly read posts by businessmen who complain they can`t find workers, e.g., tailors, for their factories/shops. People prefer to be on welfare than work. Those youth today imagine they should get everything for free and immediately. Spoiled brats! I remember my youth when I started an independent life at the age of 22. I was well educated and had a job, but I could afford only a 19 year old car which cost me 1000 zlotys, a huge sum of money for me then, today about 300$. Supporting a family of 6 like I do as a mature man today was out of question.
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Post by Bonobo on Mar 4, 2011 21:19:54 GMT 1
I am also cutting back on my driving, but this is not due to Lent, but to the high cost of gas here, for my car around $ 3.85 a gallon now, and they say going up. Mike Mike, the cost of fuel in America is ridiculously low compared to Europe, not to mention Poland and Polish earnings. ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D After meticulous calculation, I received this price for a gallon in Poland: 6.45$. And do you know what the average salary in Poland is? Without going into details, it is much less than US. So, enjoy your prices. It can always be much worse. ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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Post by Bonobo on Mar 13, 2011 23:33:04 GMT 1
Prices of services are still OK, adjusted to Polish earnings. E.g, for a nice haircut I was to pay 14 zlotys/5$. With a tip: 6.5$. However, the prices of serious stuff are high. An average cost of 1 square meter of a condo in a good district of the city of Krakow: nearly 9000 zlotys. It makes an average price for the whole apartment: 200.000 $. Sharpening ice skates costs 5 zlotys - 1.5$.
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Post by Bonobo on Apr 11, 2011 23:16:17 GMT 1
www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/04/new-europe-poland-family-life New Europe: the life of a Polish family
The Baniak family live frugally in a crumbling communist-built steel town outside Kraków, but they remain hopeful for their future
The Baniaks in Nowa Huta, near Kraków
Marcin and Sylwia Baniak with their children Amelia and Olga outside their home in Nowa Huta, Kraków. Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian
'This is it." Marcin Baniak holds the arm of his four-year-old daughter in one hand and points at an empty flowerbed with the other. I'm not sure what I am supposed to be looking at. The only things poking through the dirt are the stumps of a few rose bushes. Marcin senses my confusion and tries again. He turns round and points at another barren patch of mud. "Maybe this," he says, "is it."
Whatever "this" was isn't there any more. And with good reason, as Marcin finally explains. We are standing in a street near his home in Nowa Huta, a suburb of Kraków, and somewhere round here, or maybe over there, once stood a huge statue of Lenin.
The last few years have been an era of flux for both the town and the Baniaks. Nowa Huta, or "New Steelworks", was built from scratch in 1949 by the new communist government. It was to house the 30,000 workers at the factory from which the town takes its name; for decades, Nowa Huta, a place of vast grey housing blocks and wide, wide roads, was considered an icon of socialist town-planning, an up-yours to nearby religious, academic Kraków. The steelworks themselves were named after Lenin. The central square, when viewed from the air, formed a soviet star. And, for a while, there were no churches.
For Marcin, it's funny to remember all this, especially since Poland is often now considered a capitalist success story. The old admin offices at the factory house two banks: Polski and Deutsche. The flat he and his wife Sylwia bought six years ago for around 100,000 zlotys (£22,000) has trebled in value. Poland was the only country in Europe to avoid a recession during the global financial crisis. That statue of Lenin has been ripped down and sent to Sweden, where it's on display in a kitsch theme park; the central square is named after Ronald Reagan. The steelworks – its workforce cut to 2,000 – was privatised in 2003. And now there are churches. "More churches than schools," jokes Marcin.
The Baniaks moved here six years ago. Back then the family consisted of Sylwia, now 34, a clerk at the local council, and Marcin, 33, an up-and-coming music critic. Two years on, Amelia was born, then Olga. Sylwia took time off work to look after the children, though she wants to return this winter to her job. Marcin became a presenter on Radio Kraków, before losing his job in 2008. He now works in the PR department of a Polish publishing house.
The Baniaks have agreed to let me stay with them for four days in mid-March to catch a glimpse of suburban Polish life. But it's not until I arrive on a Saturday that I realise how generous their offer of hospitality is. They barely have enough space for the four of them, let alone an unknown guest.
The Baniaks' flat is less than 50 sq m, and consists of four small rooms – a kitchen, a playroom for the kids, a bathroom and a living room. They don't technically have a bedroom. At night, they turn two sofas into temporary beds and, during my stay, they all sleep in the playroom. I'm surprised, but, says Marcin, this setup is pretty usual for families living in flats. Some of their neighbours get by with only 30 sq m. Polish dwellings are, on average, some of the smallest living spaces in Europe. Many families use sofa-beds and, like the Baniaks, their bathrooms won't always fit a basin.
"It's my dream to live in a house," says Marcin. He has only ever lived in flats, even in Włoszczowa, the rural town where he and Sylwia grew up. But that might soon change. A few miles out of Kraków, in the shadow of a small forest, stands a small, grey, unfinished house. With luck, the Baniaks might live here by the end of the year. They bought the land four years ago for 80,000zl (about £17,000). At the time they saw it as only an investment; they would re-sell it, untouched, after it had doubled in value. But with flat prices in Nowa Huta rising steeply – 300,000zl gets you just 60 sq m – they realised it wasn't much more expensive to build a two-storey house of their own.
It's been hard work, and a big financial risk. "We don't go on holiday," says Marcin. "We didn't buy a car." Their parents have lent them some money, and the family are doing much of the labour themselves.
The Baniaks at home The Baniaks relaxing in their living room. Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian
During my short stay, Sylwia serves an array of Polish delicacies that would silence anyone who has ever doubted central European cuisine: pierogi (dumplings), twarog (a soft, sweet cheese dish), barszcz (borscht, sometimes with rye and sausages), placki ziemniaczane (potato pancakes), smalec (a pork-and-lard spread), gyros (a layered Greek salad), and rosot (chicken soup, traditional for Sunday lunch). But Sylwia is wary of being photographed in the kitchen. She doesn't want to be considered a typical Polish housewife. She wants to go back to work. But, the Baniaks stress, this isn't a choice afforded to most Polish women: many employers find excuses not to keep new mothers on staff. Sylwia should be fine, because she works for the council, but private firms are more discriminatory. "I know women who are afraid to have children because they may lose their jobs," says Marcin. One friend, a pharmacist, was fired after having a baby because her boss thought she would be too tired. Child support is virtually nonexistent in Poland. The state gives families a one-off 1,000zl (£220) at birth, an amount the Kraków regional government matches for its own residents. But there is nothing continuous.
So the Baniaks count their pennies. They hardly ever eat out – most restaurants are just too expensive, and even supermarket prices are rocketing. Amelia, Marcin and I go shopping at the local Lidl, which the family visits about three times a week. They spend about a third of their household income on food and Marcin is slightly worried because he says some foods have doubled in cost in the last month. He picks up a pack of sugar that costs about 5zl (£1.10). A month ago it was not much more than 3zl (65p); now, in some places, it costs more than 7zl (£1.50). Poland avoided a recession mainly because an emergent middle-class kept on buying. But with prices rising, Marcin wonders how much longer that consumer confidence will continue. "I'm worried there will be strikes because if the prices keep going up, it will be very hard for a lot of people."
Marcin's job is at Wydawnictwo Literackie, a high-brow publishing house associated with Polish literary giants such as Czesław Miłosz, Ryszard Kapuscinski and Witold Gombrowich. Marcin enjoys it – "We support Polish literature, and that's why I like it there" – but it wasn't his first calling. He was a freelance music critic and broadcaster for several years, before getting a staff job in 2006 at Radio Kraków, who gave him his own show. But he was squeezed out because of political machinations. A new centrist government under prime minister Donald Tusk was elected, but the outgoing party, the rightwing Law and Justice, still controlled the state media. So when Tusk made the populist gesture of cutting the Polish equivalent of the television licence, Marcin says Law and Justice tried to highlight the financial cost of such a measure by sacking local broadcasters. Marcin was one of the casualties.
He now earns 4,400zl a month (about £960) in his PR job. More than 300zl goes on tax, around 600zl towards their pension, and 300zl on health insurance, leaving the family about 3,000zl (£650) for bills. A third of that goes on food, a fifth on gas and water, and most of the rest on the new house. Amelia's kindergarten fees used to be around 300zl, but the government recently began subsidising almost all of it. The Baniaks are worried about other government announcements, however. At the moment, Poles pay most of their pension savings to a state fund, and the remaining 7% to private schemes. People are suspicious of a plan to switch more into the state fund. "Many people are worried that our retirement [payments] will be lower," says Marcin. "And many people suspect it's because of public debt."
At the flat, Amelia and Olga are building things with Playmobil. Weekends are centred around the kids, though both Sylwia and Marcin love to read. Their living room shelves are crammed with Polish translations of JM Coetzee, John Banville, Doris Lessing, David Mitchell and Cormac McCarthy, as well as some of Marcin's clients: Ignacy Karpowicz and Jacek Dukaj. The family CD collection is large and varied, but Radiohead's entire back-catalogue takes pride of place, and a poster of a smiling Thom Yorke hangs in the playroom.
In the years following 1989, Nowa Huta was "considered something like a slum", says Marcin, and when the Baniaks arrived, their flat was almost derelict. Today, there is still graffiti inside the building, but the place is more gentrified. A re-paint is due, and the teenage girls who used to loiter on the stairwells have disappeared. Several have had babies, says Marcin. "There's a lot of religious education in Poland, but no sex education."
Marcin Baniak and his daughter Amelia at mass Marcin Baniak and his daughter Amelia at mass in the wooden St Bartholomew's church in Mogila. Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian
Catholicism's a vexing issue for the Baniaks – and increasingly for Poland. During communism, the church was a rallying point for dissent. Priests' sermons were often implicitly critical of the regime. Around 95% of Poles still identify themselves as Catholic, but, says Marcin, that figure is shrinking, particularly among the young. They don't like the way the church is still involved in politics, he says, or how it runs a reactionary radio station, Radio Maryja. Or how it campaigns against condoms and IVF. But, clearly, church-going is still popular. On Sunday morning, Marcin takes Amelia and me to a children's mass at the church where the Baniaks were married, a beautiful wooden chapel in nearby Mogila. Congregants are spilling out of the back of the building when we arrive.
Sylwia is religious, and a crucifix hangs in their living room, but Marcin doesn't know quite where he stands. He is not even that keen to talk about it, for fear of causing offence. "The church helped us to survive during communism," he says, diplomatically. But, he hazards, "this is a different country now." He'll still take his children to mass every so often and feels "a big social pressure" to do so. "If parents don't want their children to go to religious classes, they're considered a bit strange."
Poles returning from stints in the UK and Ireland, he says, have brought home "a different attitude to the world", more secular in outlook. Marcin has never considered leaving, partly because overseas work, though well-paid, is not so glamorous. His best friend has two degrees, but when he moved to the US, he could only find work as a roofer. And while emigration helped temporarily lessen unemployment, says Marcin, there are hidden social costs. Emigres created broken families: "Many children don't know their father or mother."
On Monday morning, Olga is poorly so Marcin and Sylwia take her to the doctor. Healthcare is technically free in Poland. "But it's not true," says Marcin. There are long waiting lists, even for urgent consultations. Sylwia had a severe earache recently, but was told she would have to wait a month. Fortunately, a friend who works at a hospital arranged for them to see a state doctor out of hours, but they had been on the verge of shelling out for private treatment.
In general, though, the Baniaks are upbeat about Poland. Historian Adam Zamoyski, writing in Poland: A History (2009), describes the country, which suffered appallingly in the second world war, as "one which has been through hard times and turned the corner". Two years on, Marcin may be worried about whether Poland's economic strength will hold, but his overall outlook is optimistic. "These are maybe the most successful years of our history," he says. "Independence, Nato, the EU, and maybe now the euro. It's exciting."
When Marcin first talks of his international ambitions for Poland, they are limited to gaining the respect of the international community. "I would like Poland to be an ordinary, normal country in Europe. Nothing less and nothing more." But later, he speaks with more ambition. "Maybe we have an important role to connect western Europe to the east," Marcin says. "We are here between Germany and Russia. So we can be something like a bridge."
My last morning with the Baniaks coincides with the first day of spring. To celebrate the passing of seasons, it is traditional for Polish schoolchildren to congregate at the nearest river and "drown" a colourful paper doll. The teachers at Amelia's kindergarten lead all 40 children to the bridge across the local stream. Marcin and I tag along. The doll is called Marzanna (in Polish folklore, she is a friend of winter) and one boy has the special job of putting her in the water. He hoists her above his shoulders, teeters towards the rail of the bridge, and lets the breeze take her. "Zegnaj zimo! [Goodbye winter!]" the children sing, as she touches the water. "Witaj wiosno! [Hello spring!]"
It's politically symbolic, I joke. Marcin smiles. "Maybe," he says. "Communism was a bad winter, the bad years of our country. So this is goodbye communism, hello brave new world."
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Post by valpomike on Apr 12, 2011 0:03:59 GMT 1
This is the same story worldwide now, and not getting any better. But the world will end on 12-21-2012, per many say.
I hope not, and I hope things get better for all.
If we all could spend the money that they spend on wars, and use it for the poor, could be things would be better.
Mike
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Post by Bonobo on Apr 6, 2012 11:07:17 GMT 1
Sopot, not Warsaw, Poland's richest district 02.04.2012 08:57 The Baltic seaside district of Sopot has the highest monthly income per capita in Poland of 6,509 zloty (1,570 euros).
Warsaw has a per capita income of 4,854 zloty (1,172 euros), according to data released for 2010 by the Central Statistical Office (GUS).
Though the Polish capital has annual revenue amounting to 30 times that of Sopot, though ten percent of that is re-directed back to investment and spending in the regions.
Sopot's advantage is that out of every 1,000 inhabitants in 2010, 125 owned their own business – a record in Poland – with a high number of entrepreneurs and lawyers living there who pay high taxes, adding to the richness of the district council, according to the Gazeta Wyborcza daily.
Sopot is also home to one of Poland's insurance giants, the Ergo Group.
The third richest administrative district was Polkowice, in the south west of the country in Lower Silesia. With an average per capita income of 3.827,000 zloty, the district is home to large industrial company's such as the copper mining giant KGHM and Volkswagen, all of which are high tax payers.
The district cincluding the nearly city of Wroclaw was fourth richest in 2010, with an annual per capita income of 3697.82 zloty (935 euros)
The Be³chatów district was fifth richest, with a per capita income of 3,381 zloty (816 euros) monthly, which contains 8 different municipalities, containing mining companies and other industrial heavyweights. (pg)
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Post by Bonobo on Apr 6, 2012 11:10:05 GMT 1
Price of eggs up 100 percent for Easter 03.04.2012 09:05 Customers looking to stock up on eggs for Easter in Poland will pay 100 percent more than last year, following new rules introduced by the EU.
The price of meat is also on the rise, although fruit and vegetables are slightly cheaper than a year ago.
The vast increase in the price of eggs is principally due to new regulations enforced by the EU that compel farmers to provide larger, more comfortable cages for hens.
“The situation should calm down after the holidays,” Krystyna Swietlik of the Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics told the Rzeczpospolita daily.
Eggs are a central part of the Easter Breakfast that Poles eat on Easter Sunday.
Painted eggs are also included in a basket of food stuffs, brought to church on the Saturday for blessing by the priest.
However, the price of meat is steadily on the rise.
In 2011, the prices for pork and beef rose by ten percent. Swietlik predicts that by December 2012, the costs will have grown by a further 4-5 percent for pork, and 5-6 percent for beef, with a short-term rise over Easter as well.
Prices for fish, oil and cheese may also rise by the end of the year, aside from the Easter bump.
Meanwhile, the slight drop in the cost of fruit and and vegetables may also be echoed in sweets and sugar.
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