Are you worried about advanced housing prices? Cheer up! – comforts Jędrzej Bielecki in “Rzeczpospolita”. In fact, everything is going as planned. "The prices of apartments in the Polish capital are almost as advanced as in Spanish. This is due to the fact that Poland is becoming an integral part of Western Europe. This should not be worrying" – writes.
According to Bielecki, housing prices in Warsaw present are about 3.5 1000 euros per square metre. She states: “The hold that Warsaw has been pursuing late has long since been caught up with Prague (€4.8 1000 per square metre), and present it is not cheaper than Vienna (4.9 thousand), and it is not so much more than Berlin (5.7 thousand). The example of Lisbon, a capital that is poorer than Portugal, where EUR 5.3 1000 must be paid for a meter, shows how large the margin of rising prices on the Vistula river is.”
Do you feel the excitement of chasing Prague and Vienna? possibly we should put a peculiar counter in Warsaw and celebrate all time the prices of apartments in the capital skyrocket in another European city? The west's getting closer!
It is easy to mock Bielecki's speech, but this should not obscure the most crucial thing for us: behind his reasoning lies a very popular idea, which one more time returns in the Polish public debate.
Just look at how Bielecki actually justifies the emergence in housing prices. He writes that in relation to Poland, “a image of a country where it is possible to place its savings safely and with profit. besides in real estate’.
In another words, advanced housing prices are due to the fact that the owners of capital want to invest in Polish real estate. And that's good, right? due to the fact that that's how you measurement Progress, Modernity, Western, European. Not how many people can afford decent surviving conditions, but how many people want and can invest in us. Not how the poorest and middle-aged can do, but how much the wealthiest can afford. Not how much we have in common, but how much private business we can open.
"The economical awareness of Poles is increasing. possibly we won't be old enough" – yes Krzysztof Stanowski reaction 70 percent of Polish housing is purchased for investment purposes. It's the essence of this way of thinking. It doesn't substance how many people can afford basic goods – it matters how many people can afford to rise capital on them. This is how you avoid ‘grandparenting’.
He is enjoying expanding economical awareness of Poles. possibly we won't be old. https://t.co/c2HL7YJX3B
— Krzysztof Stanowski (@K_Stanowski) September 28, 2023
Confession of religion of the 3rd Polish Republic
Take care of the richest, and prosperity will come itself – this is the capitalist confession of the religion of the 3rd Republic.
That's why never adequate to say that this thought is simply a stupid myth. It is based on a misconception of the past of the improvement of Western countries, on a repeatedly discredited belief in the scrapping of wealth from the wealthiest to the rest, yet on a naive approach to prosperity itself.
Where did this thought come from? As usual, there's no single reason.
Many will say that it fits perfectly in “long lasting” Poland. Who is curious, even for the book Adam Leschinski Phoenicians, where the author shows how Polish elites felt that what was good for them was good for the country – and what was good for the remainder was the beginning of the fall of Poland.
However, 1 can besides point to a much closer historical trend: the delight of the United States. Especially the United States of America from Ronald Reagan. Many of the most influential politicians, journalists, or simply commentators of reality were raised in the cult of the Reaganian America. Honestly. wrote Tomasz Lis erstwhile said, "My generation, as well as the older generation, dreamed that Poland would become something akin to America's idealized by us then."
Ministers of Labour took part in the celebrations opening First McDonald's in our country, and the fresh Rich They dreamedTo be like the Carringtons with Dynasty.
U.S. cult is the first sin of the 3rd Republic, which distorted our view of progress, improvement and the full West. We imagined capitalism as an unfettered marketplace in which they would be resourceful and little enterprising individuals, either way, benefit from this wealth due to the fact that it drives the economy. Everything that contradicted this imagination got the label: PRL, homo sovieticus, gulags.
And so we ended up in a country that most likely has 1 of the highest inequalities rates in Europe, a notoriously underfunded wellness strategy and a deficiency of designation for common goods. And the horrendous prices of housing are regarded by any as a symbol of progress.
Missed Inspirations
One might wonder what the Polish political debate would look like if we did not follow Reagan's U.S. example, Germany, France or any Scandinavian countries. It is clear that no economical strategy from these countries could be transferred to Poland 100%. However, another points of mention could aid us to break down our political priorities differently.
It would be easier to realize that the West is not only a free market, but besides a generous social policy. And no, it was not that these countries were earning the full 20th century, and only then they were "handing out." That's what only individual who sees socialism as publishing alternatively than investing can think. In fact, advanced state spending did not hinder the economical improvement of these countries, but continued to support it.
How write Esteban Ortiz-Ospina and Max Roser, economical improvement researchers: “In the late 19th century, European countries spent little than 10% of GDP through the government. In the 21st century, in many European countries, this figure exceeds 50%. Growth in absolute values – alternatively than comparative – is much higher as GDP per capita has increased importantly over this period". They besides point out that the period after planet War II was crucial. erstwhile we had PRL, the Western countries did not restrict the function of the state and social policy. On the contrary, "public expenditure grew peculiarly rapidly between 1945 and 1980 [...] due to an increase in social expenditure", notes Ortiz-Ospina and Roser.
It would most likely besides be easier for us to realize that strong trade unions and the protection of workers are not socialism either, but a essential component of any capitalist state that does not want to hazard the disintegration of democracy as a consequence of increasing inequalities. And possibly we'd have a small better union membership statistic right now. By CBOS data Only 5.5% of Poles belong to them, or about 10.5 percent of employees (average In the EU, it is 23 percent of employees).
It would most likely besides be easier to realize that no, Poland does not have advanced taxes, surely not for people who gain above the national average. And the discussion of the taxation strategy would not be so much under the dictatorship of blackmail that entrepreneurs and resourceful would escape from Poland if they had to pay a small more in taxes. By the way, it is interesting that they usually want to flee to those countries where taxes for the best earners are much higher than in Poland. It's a small bit like it's not a low taxes, though, as a determinant of a good state...
And possibly it would besides be easier for us to realize that we cannot view all service solely from a profit point of view. This would save us the discussion of "monetary" wellness care or unprofitable railways. And it would give us the chance to follow the way praised by historian Tony Judt, who explained the extra-financial value of public services on the example of railways: “French and Italians have long regarded their railways as providers of public services. To keep trains moving to distant regions, even though these are non-profit lines, local communities lay down. This reduces environmental harm caused by alternate road transport to railways. Thus, the railway station and the services it provides are a manifestation and symbol of society as a collective that has common aspirations."
Water for the anti-Union mill
So alternatively of just mocking the advanced prices of housing as signs of progress, possibly it's time to take distant the roots of the myths on which specified stories are planted? And alternatively of hopeless attempts to build the second United States of the Reagan era, go boldly towards what is best in European heritage – or state of prosperity?
And the stakes are highly advanced today. We have at least 2 parties – the PiS and the Confederacy – who give voters an eye on the anticipation of leaving the European Union. Even if they only do it cynically, not for real, just for the sake of easy voting, the example of a brexit shows that once-awakened Eurosceptic sentiments are hard to cool down.
Let's ask ourselves a simple question. If we start to propose to Poles that “Europe” and “West” trust on the fact that most people cannot afford an apartment, who will be favored by specified stories? I will take the hazard that it is the opponents of the European Union. due to the fact that they have a simple argument: why do we request specified a Europe? Europe as a field of investors is an unattractive imagination for most Poles. We request another affirmative imagination of the West and Europe. Just take a good look at this Europe.
