Economy
Reflections On The Edge Of Bed
Reflections on the destiny of the eurozone and on the steps being taken to avert the crisis reminds me of an old joke: one girlfriend whispers to the other that she has not enough sex in her new marriage and the other asks – Isn’t your husband interested in sex? – No, the former answers. [...]
Arguments for increasing retirement age
Debate on a longer retirement age is difficult owing to the fact that the most important arguments are non-intuitive. In communism era things seemed to be clear. Since the state guaranteed a fixed pension, early exit from the labour market was the most rational choice for an average citizen. Because seniority had indeed a minor [...]
„Buy French!” … and a look at the causes of stagnation
Nicolas Sarkozy, coming into the home straight of the presidential campaign, is urging the French to spend their money on locally manufactured goods. His rival, Francois Hollande, also spoke in similar vein recently, albeit in a less nationalistic tone. But in essence they are both saying the same thing – that Europe must protect its markets both by encouraging [...]
Positive effects of the crisis
The economic slowdown that currently takes place in Poland has also some advantages, as it is the time when more traditional strategies work, all hooray-optimistic plans will fall apart and when the 100% mark-up has to be reduced. Fortunately, what we deal with in Poland is only an economic slowdown and not the recession, such [...]
War dances around shales
Judging from various statements and behaviors, politicians – and not just them! – sometimes think of Poland as of Kuwait – the country of rentiers, living on “manna falling from heaven” (or rather from the depths of the earth). You can understand them. What a wonderful prospect! You can always promise what social problems will [...]
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Shale, shale
It is tempting to envision Poland as a shale gas Eldorado. If the prognoses about the amount and accessibility of shale gas prove to be accurate, it is great news, and a promise of the enormous profits, or even a hope for our country to change its position on a geopolitical chart of Europe. Becoming [...]
Has the crisis in the USA come to an end?
Recent data on American economy may give some cause for optimism. The employment increased at 243,000 in the non-agricultural sector and 257,000 in the private sector. It proves undoubtedly the upturn in the job market. Taking into consideration that the situation has not changed for months, we may be optimistic about American economy. Although the [...]
Reimbursement revolution
Unfortunately, the leitmotiv of many changes against patient and competition enclosed in the Reimbursement Act is shifting the reimbursement costs onto patients or eliminating competitiveness in the drug circulation market. The most offending thing about those changes are politicians who claim to protect patient’s best interest while the new law has nothing to do with [...]
Europe on its last legs
Europe is in crisis. Not for the first and not for the last time. The only reasonable solution is to integrate more. Contrary to what one could have expected, supporters of the option of enhanced integration are anything but scant. Not so long ago, it seemed that the worst was over. More cautious commentators warned [...]
A Wish List for 2012
During the last day of 2011, just when the fact that GDP has not been exceeded by 55% was being hailed as one of the year’s triumphs, I tweeted my wish list for 2012. To sum up it was for the euro zone to stay intact, for the government to keep its promises, for investments [...]
