Zbigniew Piekarski on Poland's historical destiny
"Pluralitas non est ponenda sine neccesitate." William of Ockham in the fourteenth century
Manners and custom dictate that you should but what would economic considerations imply? If you give up your seat she may live longer and thus be a drain on the State for longer. However, if you let her stand then she may get fitter and consequently live even longer or, because of the normal habits of bus drivers, have an accident and then be consigned to hospital and be an even greater drain on the State. I do not know the answer and I do not really care either, but Poles should and probably will debate it incessantly without reaching a conclusion and with even less of a chance of producing a solution. Things will continue as they are until the State becomes bankrupt.
The quotation above translates as "entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily'' and is known as Ockham's Razor, a principle in philosophy and evaluation. Simply put, when we are faced with two theories which have the same predictions and the available data cannot distinguish between them, the Razor directs us to study in depth the simplest of the theories. It does not guarantee that the simplest theory will be correct, it merely establishes priorities.
My simple theory is that Poland is determined to fulfill its historical destiny and lead Europe into the future. Let us examine the evidence.
In order for any Nation to prosper it needs four essential ingredients: Pro-active and forward looking leadership; a state sector that facilitates and encourages entrepreneurship and the development of market forces; a strong local banking and financial sector; and a steady supply of highly educated and enthusiastic individuals entering the labor market.
The leadership sector has proved to be very pro-active deserting one political conviction for another in order to preserve their sources of power for, as we all know, it is their power that provides them with their real income and not the petty gratuities from the State. They have also been very pro-active in setting the scene in Brussels. Not content in alienating the existing political élite, they have made sure that the existing bureaucrats have received their share of Polish pugnacity, thus setting the foundations for the responses to follow.
Their greatest achievement to date is that in order to abrogate responsibility for their own ineptitude and inactions they saw the European Union as a solution and now have turned it into a problem - an example of Polish pro-active perverse pragmatism at its historical best.
Entrepreneurship and the development of market forces have been encouraged by cosmetic changes in the rates of taxation, whilst retaining the whole cumbersome structure of anti-capitalism and bureaucratic malfeasance and institutionalizing the Order of the Brown Envelope. Once again bureaucrats have triumphed in the most rapidly expanding sector of all major advanced societies, the Health Service, and will guarantee the export of highly qualified medical staff with a consequent drain on financial recourses.
Within the local financial and banking sector, distortions have been legally compelled. Local and international organizations - given the right to act as custodians of the enforced savings of individuals - have been coerced into supporting State debt and inflating the valuations of the local stock market.
Spurious arguments that improvements in Corporate Governance will shed light on the shenanigans within some of the listed Companies, detract from the fact that the same companies have hidden state connections, are hugely overvalued and ridden with book-keeping practices that will become accounting irregularities as their share value plummets.
Whilst not a phenomenon confined to Poland, all banks have been allowed to encourage the amassing of personal debt to levels that are historically high and totally unsustainable. What is a Polish phenomenon is the fact that financial products which have failed in more sophisticated countries have been allowed to proliferate in the local market and sucker the unsuspecting Polish punter and, worst of all, the Polish geriatric.
But all the above factors are merely minor inconveniences when we consider the "highly educated and enthusiastic individuals entering the labor market," as the average Polish Male is an entity created by a doting and caring Mother and, as such, totally incapable of survival in a competitive, commercial world.
My experience of the average Polish male is that a sniffle is a cold; a cold becomes influenza; the flu evolves into pleurisy or pneumonia and the Lord preserve us should he have a cough - that immediately is a sign that his lungs are atrophying and that he has only a short time to live.
Then there is the question of education. Achieving a certificate from any educational institution, no matter how laudable and prestigious, means only one thing when it applies to business. It means that you have spent some time reading and writing and doing sums and that you have managed to pass through an institutional sphincter and achieved a certificate. That's it. There is no more. It does not mean that you should be lauded and applauded and given a position of status. Status in the real world has to be earned anew and your education will never end.
For a summation of the probable future on the investment scene, read our specific report on www.gpmanagement.com.
The last word on the WSE: All the refurbishment and disinfection of the old apartment blocks in Warszawa has never managed to eradicate the cockroaches and as we all know, there is never just one cockroach. In addition, a related rule to Ockham's Razor, which can be used to slice open conspiracy theories, is Hanlon's Razor and encapsulates Poland's dilemma perfectly: "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity''.
Manners and custom dictate that you should but what would economic considerations imply? If you give up your seat she may live longer and thus be a drain on the State for longer. However, if you let her stand then she may get fitter and consequently live even longer or, because of the normal habits of bus drivers, have an accident and then be consigned to hospital and be an even greater drain on the State. I do not know the answer and I do not really care either, but Poles should and probably will debate it incessantly without reaching a conclusion and with even less of a chance of producing a solution. Things will continue as they are until the State becomes bankrupt.
The quotation above translates as "entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily'' and is known as Ockham's Razor, a principle in philosophy and evaluation. Simply put, when we are faced with two theories which have the same predictions and the available data cannot distinguish between them, the Razor directs us to study in depth the simplest of the theories. It does not guarantee that the simplest theory will be correct, it merely establishes priorities.
My simple theory is that Poland is determined to fulfill its historical destiny and lead Europe into the future. Let us examine the evidence.
In order for any Nation to prosper it needs four essential ingredients: Pro-active and forward looking leadership; a state sector that facilitates and encourages entrepreneurship and the development of market forces; a strong local banking and financial sector; and a steady supply of highly educated and enthusiastic individuals entering the labor market.
The leadership sector has proved to be very pro-active deserting one political conviction for another in order to preserve their sources of power for, as we all know, it is their power that provides them with their real income and not the petty gratuities from the State. They have also been very pro-active in setting the scene in Brussels. Not content in alienating the existing political élite, they have made sure that the existing bureaucrats have received their share of Polish pugnacity, thus setting the foundations for the responses to follow.
Their greatest achievement to date is that in order to abrogate responsibility for their own ineptitude and inactions they saw the European Union as a solution and now have turned it into a problem - an example of Polish pro-active perverse pragmatism at its historical best.
Entrepreneurship and the development of market forces have been encouraged by cosmetic changes in the rates of taxation, whilst retaining the whole cumbersome structure of anti-capitalism and bureaucratic malfeasance and institutionalizing the Order of the Brown Envelope. Once again bureaucrats have triumphed in the most rapidly expanding sector of all major advanced societies, the Health Service, and will guarantee the export of highly qualified medical staff with a consequent drain on financial recourses.
Within the local financial and banking sector, distortions have been legally compelled. Local and international organizations - given the right to act as custodians of the enforced savings of individuals - have been coerced into supporting State debt and inflating the valuations of the local stock market.
Spurious arguments that improvements in Corporate Governance will shed light on the shenanigans within some of the listed Companies, detract from the fact that the same companies have hidden state connections, are hugely overvalued and ridden with book-keeping practices that will become accounting irregularities as their share value plummets.
Whilst not a phenomenon confined to Poland, all banks have been allowed to encourage the amassing of personal debt to levels that are historically high and totally unsustainable. What is a Polish phenomenon is the fact that financial products which have failed in more sophisticated countries have been allowed to proliferate in the local market and sucker the unsuspecting Polish punter and, worst of all, the Polish geriatric.
But all the above factors are merely minor inconveniences when we consider the "highly educated and enthusiastic individuals entering the labor market," as the average Polish Male is an entity created by a doting and caring Mother and, as such, totally incapable of survival in a competitive, commercial world.
My experience of the average Polish male is that a sniffle is a cold; a cold becomes influenza; the flu evolves into pleurisy or pneumonia and the Lord preserve us should he have a cough - that immediately is a sign that his lungs are atrophying and that he has only a short time to live.
Then there is the question of education. Achieving a certificate from any educational institution, no matter how laudable and prestigious, means only one thing when it applies to business. It means that you have spent some time reading and writing and doing sums and that you have managed to pass through an institutional sphincter and achieved a certificate. That's it. There is no more. It does not mean that you should be lauded and applauded and given a position of status. Status in the real world has to be earned anew and your education will never end.
For a summation of the probable future on the investment scene, read our specific report on www.gpmanagement.com.
The last word on the WSE: All the refurbishment and disinfection of the old apartment blocks in Warszawa has never managed to eradicate the cockroaches and as we all know, there is never just one cockroach. In addition, a related rule to Ockham's Razor, which can be used to slice open conspiracy theories, is Hanlon's Razor and encapsulates Poland's dilemma perfectly: "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity''.
