A bit about Poland, but first, Freeland says Canadians are Relieved by High Interest Rates

 

I was going to write about Poland this morning, but before I got to it, the Google news feed drew my attention to a speech Chrystia Freeland gave at what appears to be a childcare centre (center for you Americans). In yet another liberal wtf moment, she celebrated that the Bank of Canada’s decision this week to maintain the current overnight interest rate is “welcome relief for Canadians”. Do you feel like celebrating that interest rates will stay high?  She seemed to be saying that if you are Canadian, you are relieved that interest rates will stay up in the clouds. Does she think everyone has the money she has? Maybe not, but you could if you follow her advice: cancel your Disney Plus subscription and stop driving a car. What did you say? Oh….well yeah…I agree that if the government also provided you with a chauffeur and a car, you could do that. Good point. Glad you raised it.

Enough of the nonsense from the most amateur and incompetent federal government Canada has had maybe ever. Let’s say something about Poland. It’s been on my mind for a few years that Poland is becoming positioned to be the prime regional sovereign power in eastern Europe. The notion has been informed by Peter Zeihan and George Friedman. Their arguments make sense. A few days ago, I ran across a youtube video that explains the advances Poland has made in the past 30 years and that explores the trends. It’s worth watching and is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-taT9JfSFAk. Russia has the position of being the regional power there now, but is demographically challenged: Russians are aging and not replacing themselves as quickly as needed. But the Polish birthrate is substantially worse. (1.38 vs. 1.5 children per woman). Poland has gotten a population boost from Ukraine, but that won’t happen every decade, so the thesis of Poland’s rising star might see a challenge on the basis of aging population.

We can look at the population pyramids. First, Poland.              

 

 

 

                

Now Russia.

 

 

     

They are fairly similar, but notice the higher percentage of gen-Z in Russia. Those are the folks entering the labor force in the next 20 years. Nonetheless, the current status of Poland shows what innovative thinking, a relatively free market, hard work and a culture of morality can achieve.