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TimPhoeniX 4 points ago +4 / -0

I think they jumped the shark in 2014, I have like 5 previous winners in my playlists, decent catchy songs, but 2014 felt rather political with the winner. I don't think any winner caught my ear since then, but some candidates were OK.

1
TimPhoeniX 1 point ago +1 / -0

In the meantime, in Poland, Sławomir Mentzen's Brewery is selling "Hate Speech", "White IPA Matters", "Texas Ranger", "Inflation", and pandemic special "Asymptomatic", among various other brews.

1
TimPhoeniX 1 point ago +1 / -0

I suppose I can try get 1 along the next import. Bought a variety pack once and I wasn't really impressed with most.

4
TimPhoeniX 4 points ago +4 / -0

They added sugar taxes in Poland. I'm now importing Pepsi Bi-weekly from Czech Republic.

The law was such "success" they want to expand it to natural fruit sugar. Supposedly revenue from this tax that was actually committed to healthcare (reason for this tax) went to some diabetes awareness pamphlets or sth. This being said, I'm not sure if any tax, apart from ponzi scheme insurance taxes actually goes directly to the cause - most are pooled to the budget and then distributed.

2
TimPhoeniX 2 points ago +2 / -0

It has the headmen that made Dead Space, yet somehow they forgot what made Dead Space so memorable?

Paraphrasing comment I've read on the internet:

In order to differentiate themselves from Dead Space, they made all the bad choices they've previously avoided.

Devs may have also self-sabotaged themselves by pushing visual fidelity above performance, given their deadlines. Not saying that profiling performance would be easy, but it could use a lot more manhours.

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TimPhoeniX 8 points ago +8 / -0

Any sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from clown world.

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TimPhoeniX 9 points ago +9 / -0

GoWR distribution is a mess - Poland got a bunch of western copies of the game, without Polish language support.

1
TimPhoeniX 1 point ago +1 / -0

We have homeschooling in Poland too, but there were recent rumors (or bill draft leak, or actual bill draft presented) that government is planning to eviscerate current homeschooling system, and to make it more difficult to homeschool.

EDIT: Not a rumor - it's a part of latest education reform, since previous dozen of reforms weren't enough.

EDIT2: And it passed in the Sejm.

4
TimPhoeniX 4 points ago +4 / -0

In Poland we had:

Sasin: Proposes 50% Windfall tax this year, from every big business

Warsaw Stock Exchange: Crashes even harder.

Sasin: Okay, let's not do it yet.

WSE: Goes back to trying to recover.

Newsweek: Secret recording that ended up changing government from PO to PIS were first sold to Russia, before they got to media in Poland.

I wish someone proposed cutting taxes here. Instead, government has been discussing new welfare programs.

6
TimPhoeniX 6 points ago +6 / -0

Government is stacked with EU stooges, so in order to reduce coal participation in Energy generation they decided to shut down coal mines and plants instead of building alternatives. Then they went to media boasting about leading EU in reducing coal use. Czech republic suing us in EU also didn't help.

Energy sector in Poland is largely centrally planned, and democratically-driven, hence the government is quite allergic to Atom and investment money are wasted. In fact, we spend millions (if not billions) of PLN building Nuclear Power plant and I'm not sure if the government locked down building site.

A lot of coal was probably contracted abroad while prices were lower, by smarter governments and after profit margins hike by state owned businesses, in addition to CO2 emissions cost, it is very expensive to buy even if it's available.

We are basically living a Green New Deal.

EDIT: Some people are also pointing out it's a part of manufacturing consent process. Temporary shortage to make sure increased prices are easier to push. Apparently worked quite recently with sugar.

1
TimPhoeniX 1 point ago +1 / -0

https://tvpworld.com/42472231/nato-and-eu-membership-should-be-in-constitution-president

“Today, our task is to build a strong state here. We have a constitution, but we should discuss modifying it because it is worth debating whether we should include entries about the EU in our constitution. Should we guarantee membership of this grand alliance? Personally, I think yes. Should we guarantee our presence in NATO? Personally, I also think yes,” the president said.

1
TimPhoeniX 1 point ago +1 / -0

The biggest issue facing Polands economy isn't who is in charge, though, it's membership to a gigantic money printer.

Latter is caused by the former. Outside of minor frictions with so called "rule of law" they're extremely subservient. PM was actually once boasting that Poland is getting rid of coal fastest in the EU. President wanted EU membership in constitution, some people got flashback to us having constitutional friendship with USSR. There are probably dozens of various cessions made towards EU that aren't covered by accession treaty and some may be even illegal under our constitution.

Not to mention numerous examples of incompetence, just like aforementioned "New world Order" tax bill.

1
TimPhoeniX 1 point ago +1 / -0

Good for the Poles for taking care of their people instead of just multinationals like in my country.

This is going to hit polish rising businesses more than international molochs than can generate costs like farts.

What's more hilarious, it's being pushed under guise of taxing state-owned business (including energy sector), that jacked up their profits margins multi-fold in the middle of the crisis(so much for taking care of "their" people), but also has special provisions that are pretty much aimed at public sector companies that can reduce their tax basis.

1
TimPhoeniX 1 point ago +1 / -0

Tax brackets were adjusted to 9% / 9% + 12% / 9% + 32% / 9% + 32% + 4%.

EDIT: Also, the brackets are 0 / 30 000 / 120 000/ 1 000 000 PLN.

It was 17 instead of 12 and there was so called "middle class" relief, that was supposed to smooth the entry into the 2nd bracket, but that turned out to be a shitshow, so it was retroactively abolished, with reducing 17 to 12.

I'm self employed, so I can actually deduct part of 9% from my basis, but next year I'm getting increase on social security pyramid scheme tax, due to 2 minimum wage rises. I'm going to get about $13k this year and only get about 1.5% more income left, and that's nothing compared to covidflation and lockdownflation, cultivated since 2020.

This tax reform is largely meant to transfer cash to PIS'S voter base (lower class) from people that actually aspire to something more.

change in income tax is quite substantial.

Would you sell your vote for $30 per month if you were earning minimum wage? It's going to get eaten up by inflation real fast.

Pretty much anyone's gains are going down the drain due to inflation, All while dude that was warning about incoming deflation in April 2020 got reappointed as National Polish Bank chairman and dude that Invested 5 mil PLN in 2021 into Inflation-indexed bonds is still Prime Minister.

1
TimPhoeniX 1 point ago +1 / -0

they lowered taxes pretty substantially recently

Which ones? Temporary VAT?

I'm curious what you think will happen when Platforma gets in?

Is current PM going to advise opposition PM, like before?

It's probably going to more gay, although PO politicians my not want to antagonize church's lobby too much.

There will be probably as much redistribution as previously, since PIS has shown it's really efficient to bribe people with their own money.

They are also going to be more submissive to the EU, but won't likely add EU membership to Polish constitution, as PIS's President of Poland suggested.

Also, why do you think I want Platforma back in? Gang of Four must go (for a free chopper ride.)

3
TimPhoeniX 3 points ago +3 / -0

Westerners aren't paying for their reelection. I Do.

Westerners don't have to deal with local tax code.

They probably miss out out hundreds or thousands of various idiocies and absurdities due to language barrier.

I guess Party Chairman Mao Kaczyński saying "Buy 1.5 tonnes of coal if you can't afford to buy 3" is better than "Let them eat cake".

Boy, I guess the grass is really always greener on the other side, innit?

You'd probably love a 50% tax on excess income (excess being anything over averaged income from years 2018, 2019 and 2021 when you're hiring more than 250 people). It's also retroactive from the start of 2022.

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TimPhoeniX 4 points ago +4 / -0

So does "conservative" government in Poland. It's especially hilarious when you put PM saying that 20% wage raise is going to cause Turkish level of inflation next to the bill raising it by 19,6%.

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TimPhoeniX 7 points ago +7 / -0

Not really. In Poland we still need masks to see a doctor.

And government is expending it's anit-constitutional powers in it's new "population protection bill". It's also abolishing reparation for financial damages caused by the government during state of emergency (including those phony states of pandemic, danger, etc.). Oh, and further bypassing constitution, those new states give executive power to take away constitutional right at will. And once again, it's dropping bid requirement for any public procurement.

EDIT: And I believe there were some booster talks in last month.And I even have jab referrals, last of which was late July.

1
TimPhoeniX 1 point ago +1 / -0

So supposedly, Polish Prime Minister said that they're rising minimum wage by 19.6%.

Why 19.6? Because same PM has previously said that rising wages by 20% is going to cause inflation, and compared the situation to Turkey, where they went from around 15% inflation (Poland now) to 60% (Poland soon?). So obviously 19.6% is below limit of 20%.

For real though, it comes out at 19,6%, because they're planning increase to a nice round 3600PLN.

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TimPhoeniX 6 points ago +6 / -0

About staying warm - In Poland shutting down schools due to cold has been elevated to a law bill and they added option to go into remote schooling after 2 days of shutdown. It is supposed to be an emergency provision and not a way to save money by local government. It's supposed to be verified later, but we all know they will first check on opposition-controller local govs.

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TimPhoeniX 16 points ago +16 / -0

Somehow Grooma doesn't sound as good as Nigga.

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TimPhoeniX 2 points ago +2 / -0

I've actually recently learned that in Poland state forests' brushwood belongs to State Forests Administration. You can pay per weight (or volume) to pick up some.

It was actually promoted recently due to inflation. Now if only the government didn't previously subsidize modernizing heating installations to eco-variants that didn't accept wood.

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