Will the real Poland please stand up?
This week we go to two wildly differing stories that give an inkling of the gulf in the perceptions of this country abroad.
First up is an article from the International Herald Tribune about a couple "abandoning" the USA and moving to the "entrepreneurial mecca" that is Poland. These people have two furniture stores - one in California and one in Poznań - and they cited California's high labor and rental costs, not to mention burdensome regulations and taxes, as the reasons for their decision to shift their entire operation to this country. They added that the Polish outlet has shown a constant profit, while in the USA running costs are 25 percent higher and the customers more fickle. This sentiment was echoed by the head of California's Small Business Association, who said that because of all the red tape and high taxes, their state was one of the most difficult places in which to do business.
This is very good news because, even given California's onerous taxes and rampant regulations, it is still the world's seventh largest economy, so perhaps there's hope for Poland yet?
However, from the high of so many entrepreneurs now making a beeline for the EU's largest new member (presumably with pot-loads of cash to invest), we come crashing down to a low which is very low indeed. This week's The Socialist World carried a feature piece that would make anyone thinking of coming here seriously reconsider their sanity. Although lacking the personal touch of the first article, it was somehow all the more chilling for it, using dry facts to give a warts-and-all picture that, despite the title of the publication, had precious little to do with socialism.
It began with the low turnout in the recent European elections (the lowest in Europe), saying that this was evidence that the governing elite have lost touch with the public at large, and went on to do a comprehensive demolition job on all the major political parties. From highlighting the communist roots of the current president and current and previous prime ministers, to describing the right-wing anti-everything Samoobrona (Self-Defense) and League of Polish Families, no festering angle was left unexplored. This was all peppered with depressing facts, such as when a Pole is made redundant they only receive unemployment benefit for the first year; then nothing awaits them but poverty and destitution. The author also claimed that EU accession will lead to far greater suffering in rural areas, citing an official study which showed 26 percent of agricultural concerns to be beyond help, before finishing, after several hundred adroit words, with an unexpected and unnecessary 'Workers arise!' sentiment.
While both reports doubtless relate the current state of affairs as the authors see them, if the place names were removed, you'd never know they were talking about the same country.
First up is an article from the International Herald Tribune about a couple "abandoning" the USA and moving to the "entrepreneurial mecca" that is Poland. These people have two furniture stores - one in California and one in Poznań - and they cited California's high labor and rental costs, not to mention burdensome regulations and taxes, as the reasons for their decision to shift their entire operation to this country. They added that the Polish outlet has shown a constant profit, while in the USA running costs are 25 percent higher and the customers more fickle. This sentiment was echoed by the head of California's Small Business Association, who said that because of all the red tape and high taxes, their state was one of the most difficult places in which to do business.
This is very good news because, even given California's onerous taxes and rampant regulations, it is still the world's seventh largest economy, so perhaps there's hope for Poland yet?
However, from the high of so many entrepreneurs now making a beeline for the EU's largest new member (presumably with pot-loads of cash to invest), we come crashing down to a low which is very low indeed. This week's The Socialist World carried a feature piece that would make anyone thinking of coming here seriously reconsider their sanity. Although lacking the personal touch of the first article, it was somehow all the more chilling for it, using dry facts to give a warts-and-all picture that, despite the title of the publication, had precious little to do with socialism.
It began with the low turnout in the recent European elections (the lowest in Europe), saying that this was evidence that the governing elite have lost touch with the public at large, and went on to do a comprehensive demolition job on all the major political parties. From highlighting the communist roots of the current president and current and previous prime ministers, to describing the right-wing anti-everything Samoobrona (Self-Defense) and League of Polish Families, no festering angle was left unexplored. This was all peppered with depressing facts, such as when a Pole is made redundant they only receive unemployment benefit for the first year; then nothing awaits them but poverty and destitution. The author also claimed that EU accession will lead to far greater suffering in rural areas, citing an official study which showed 26 percent of agricultural concerns to be beyond help, before finishing, after several hundred adroit words, with an unexpected and unnecessary 'Workers arise!' sentiment.
While both reports doubtless relate the current state of affairs as the authors see them, if the place names were removed, you'd never know they were talking about the same country.
