Polish contrasts - rich man, poor man?

[Bonobo]

50% Poles go on holiday and the rest stay at home.


Holidays abroad out of reach for Poles this summer?
23.06.2011
A new survey for Polish Radio reveals that over 50 percent of Poles are not planning to go on holiday this year, with most people deciding on either staying at home or vacationing in the country.

The survey, undertaken by Homo Homini pollsters shows that 52.5 percent of Poles are not planning any vacations. 38.2 percent of respondents have decided to holiday in the country, while only 10.2 percent of respondents said they are planning to go abroad this year.

Head of the Homo Homini pollsters Marcin Duma told Polish Radio that people who can afford to go on vacation have decided to spend their time off work domestically in an effort to save money.

The holiday period may be one of the worst for Polish children, as 72.7 percent of parents who were polled said that they would not be sending their children on holiday camps this year.

However, Marcin Duma states that many children living in the countryside will have contact with nature, while 12.9 percent of children can count on going on holiday with their parents, with a further 5.1 percent spending their vacations with other relatives.

The Homo Homini poll was conducted on 22 June on a representative selection of 1069 adult Poles. (jb)

[Bonobo]

The title of the thread refers to an American TV miniseries which was also shown on Polish TV in late 1970s. I vaguely remember those times, how the family sat down in front of the TV set and all watched the episodes with utter fascination.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Man,_Poor_Man_%28TV_miniseries%29

Based on the best-selling 1970 novel by Irwin Shaw, it spanned the period from 1945 through the late 1960s and followed the divergent career courses of the impoverished German immigrant Jordache brothers. Rudy was the rich man of the title, a well-educated and very ambitious entrepreneur who triumphed over his background and constructed a corporate and political empire. Poor man Tom was a rebel who eventually turned to boxing to support himself.

Why am I mentioning it at all?

Today`s Poland resembles the story of two brothers - one is poor, the other is rich. And I still watch it with fascination.


According to the UN, Poland is a developed country. It occupies the 41th position on the 42 country list.

The latest index was released on November 4, 2010 and covers the period up to 2008. The following are the 42 countries classified as possessing a "Very high human development" with an HDI at or above 0.788 and are considered as "developed countries".[12]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developed_country

According to Newsweek's quality-of-life survey of 2010, Poland occupies 29th position.

Research[24] about standards of living and quality of life by Newsweek, resulted in the "world's best countries" index, measuring: "health, education, economy, and politics". As of 15/8/2010, the highest-ranked countries are:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developed_country

At the same time, those who live here can witness how people barely make ends meet and struggle with economic hardships.

Let`s bring up facts which show this double nature of modern Poland.


I read that due to budget cuts in the police, officers have to buy and bring to work their own rubbers, pencils and other stationery stuff. The electronic equpiment they use at stations is antiquated.



However, the latest bomb threats in Krakow are dealt with by means of hi-tech device:



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