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Originally Posted by blind2web
Littlefella,
We seem to be arguing a very similar thing here;
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I had the same feeling
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Originally Posted by blind2web
I think it is possibly worse in the European Union since the new member states - Poland, Czech, Hungary etc joined as they are part of the trading block and many companies have moved production to these countries. I guess it is a very similar situation in North America.
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Here I would disagree a little. New EU member countries had to meet some strick membership criteria; human rights, labor laws, social service, infrastructure, some products quality etc. This is a far cry from India or China. Also, the new member countries are much more open as markets now, and people there do buy lots of what is being manufactured outside their borders. Look at an average street in Poland: Citroen, Ford, BWM, Mercedez etc. These are manufactured outside her borders.
Before Poland was accepted to EU there was a funny set of incidents which had to do with one French politicians complaint. He was fearful of "Polish plumbers" coming to France and taking jobs from the French. No such thing happened, but the whole hoopla actually helped Poland's tourism industry and made the French look stupid (yet again) -
read more here.
On the other hand, countries such as Germany, UK or Sweden don't seem to get enough Polish doctors, who do not work for pennies at all. Look at the Oxford and Cambridge university enrollments in the recent years. As the media has it, it's a Polish invasion, but one that generates revenue for the host countries, rather than stealing it.
Also, EU has a big say in establishing some prices within the borders of all member countries, including the newest ones. That was a big hit on the cost of living, especially to those who already retired.
As for the investments, Chech Republic got some good ones, notably by Volkwagen (Skoda), but I can;t think of many major EU companies who invested in Poland. Those which did were mostly retailers who stole no jobs from the West, but rather made a buck or two for it by selling western goods in Poland. There have been some high tech moves into Poland, but these were from Asia (LG for instance), not EU.