Confused, bitter and alienated
I have several comments about Jacek Kuroń's article "Around here, capitalists are crazy" (Oct. 14):
" It is the responsibility of every person in the economy to build his own competencies and skills. Why do people think the government is the source of solving these problems?
" The key focus for lower unemployment and a high value economy is education. Private higher education is growing rapidly in Poland. There is a reason for this: many people recognise that they must invest in themselves in order to benefit from the market.
" Higher employee productivity and profits made by corporations go in two directions: to employees through higher real wage increases and to shareholders though investments or dividends.
In the early 1980s, Americans all thought they were going to work for McDonald's. Real wage increases went nowhere. It was only with the advent of adults seeking private education, labour flexibility and the IT revolution that productivity soared. Even with the downturn, why does the U.S. have 5.6% unemployment and not 10% structural unemployment like many economies in Western Europe?
There is a large portion of Polish society that is still confused, bitter and alienated by this change to a free market. I completely agree that the entire spectrum of political leadership has been awful at communicating a vision of the opportunities that are open to the people of this country. Neither the former communists nor the Solidarity generation has straight answers for Poland's economic development in the 21st century.
However, the solution is out there. The opportunity to create more is based on: focussing on higher education across a broader spectrum of the population; clear communication of a long-term vision that boosts real wage increases by producing higher valued goods and services (not agriculture) - and not just by being in the European Union; less government, not more; and dropping the victimisation attitude.
The faster we face these realities, the faster we will have a more prosperous, stable Poland.
It is not a question of "if" but "when".
Peter Strupp
Chief Executive Officer
Intersource
Warsaw
