[Fokamul]

How it happened? (Source: I'm working with polish companies)

1. Hard working people

2. Biggest recipient of EU subsidies used for projects which generates more profit. Infrastructure, internet, etc. To compare, Czechia used it for stupid things like bicycle lanes, child playgrounds etc.

3. Building permit is very easy to get for basically anything. Yes, this way you can sometimes get chaotic new buildings, but this can be solved later. In comparison, in Czechia, obtaining a building permit is difficult and depends on the whim of the official. Also we have basically non-existent property taxes, so new homes are unaffordable for everybody and only used as an investment.

4. Not allowing imigration from countries where people don't want to work and with hugely different religions and customs. This worked for Czechia too though, our biggest immigrants are Ukranians which are also slavs and very hard working. Official statistics is, that they paid in taxes more than they got from social support.

[steve_adams_86]

> Czechia used it for stupid things like bicycle lanes, child playgrounds etc.

Without the full picture, these don’t seem like stupid things at all. What makes it stupid for them to invest in these things?

[inglor_cz]

As a Czech, I am fine with the playgrounds, but the infrastructure like bicycle lanes was quite often built in illogical places where it is underutilized, but where it was easier to build it.

Sort-of like the guy who lost his keys in a bush, but is looking for them under a streetlamp b/c there is more light there.

[atmanactive]

Invest? That sounds like a pure loss in economic terms.

[steve_adams_86]

I'd argue that creating infrastructure that allows people to move and take care of children isn't a loss, it's an investment in functional towns and cities, which leads to better outcomes in general (including economic).

[yread]

I would say Czechia used it more to boost the agricultural holding that's totally not owned by our PM

[thatfrenchguy]

I mean, both GDP and average salaries in Czechia is higher so arguably at some point you might want playgrounds for your children

[grunder_advice]

I feel the need to correct the record. The only reason, there is this racist stereotype in some western countries that such and such ethnicities are not working, is because those countries make it exceedingly hard for those ethnicities to gain employment. For example requiring language fluency and forcing immigrants to attend language school full time instead of giving them a mop and a bucket and a minimum wage. In places where this banal legislation does not exist those same ethnicities are working fine in mixed ethnicity factory floors alongside Poles and Romanians.

And btw those same countries who make it super hard for, for example Syrians, to gain employment, then made a whole bunch of exceptions for Ukrainians. For example in Germany, Syrians without full command of German were told to attend language schools, but when the Ukrainians arrived they suddenly made exceptions and suddenly in our department we had Ukrainian cleaning crew who spoke neither German nor English.

[HDThoreaun]

Some cultures legitimately are less hard working though. Ironically most of these cultures are western, the biggest examples are southern European cultures.

As far as immigrants though, approximately 100% of them wish to be productive members of society, I agree. You dont go through the effort of emigrating without an entrepreneurial spirit.

[Valakas_]

>the biggest examples are southern European cultures

Source for that statement? Because I see the opposite.

https://landgeist.com/2023/09/02/annual-working-hours-in-eur...

>approximately 100% of them wish to be productive members of society

Oh honey.

[HDThoreaun]

Working 1600 hours a year is low. Poland is above 2k. I know many, many immigrants. 95% of them are incredibly hard workers. They take work more seriously than the vast majority of native borns. Their kids are a different story, but the immigrants themselves work their asses off.

[cromka]

> Biggest recipient of EU subsidies us

Yet again this nonsene. Per Capita, which is where this matters, Poland is nowhere near the top of that list.