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I just sorta assumed they didn't care much beyond the pure economics? (Maybe that's what you are saying.)

philipkglass 10y ago
It's worse than that. Poland's government is giving preferential treatment to coal fired electricity even when other sources are cheaper. They're deliberately obstructing renewables because Poland is already oversupplied with coal and coal-fired electricity. Polish coal mines have repeatedly been unable to turn a profit and rescued only by government subsidies: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-poland-coal-idUSKCN0XC209 http://www.reuters.com/article/us-poland-coal-idUSKCN0XC209 Paying extra money to cut emissions is one thing. Paying over-market rates to prop up the filthiest fuel around is really perverse. But it happens, directly and indirectly, wherever there are Coal Jobs to save. I've noticed similar propping in Australia, Germany, India, USA, China, and Czechia too. If a group of workers is politically weak they get screwed over when they're no longer needed. If the workers are politically powerful they want the rest of society to subsidize their refusal to change. I don't know if anywhere has achieved a happy medium where workers in obsolete industries aren't abandoned by the rest of society yet are willing to walk toward the future instead of digging their heels in against it.
- codeisawesome 10y ago
  Do you mean Czechoslovakia?
  - philipkglass 10y ago
    I thought they were calling themselves Czechia now but it looks like the announced name change hasn't really caught on yet.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - TomMarius 10y ago
    While Czechia is a new name, it's not Czechoslovakia for more than 24 years. It used to be Czech Republic in the meantime (and still is, Czechia is only a shortened name)
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - dagss 10y ago
    That country has not existed since 1992! Or is there some point I am missing?

It's worse than that. Poland's government is giving preferential treatment to coal fired electricity even when other sources are cheaper. They're deliberately obstructing renewables because Poland is already oversupplied with coal and coal-fired electricity. Polish coal mines have repeatedly been unable to turn a profit and rescued only by government subsidies: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-poland-coal-idUSKCN0XC209 http://www.reuters.com/article/us-poland-coal-idUSKCN0XC209 Paying extra money to cut emissions is one thing. Paying over-market rates to prop up the filthiest fuel around is really perverse. But it happens, directly and indirectly, wherever there are Coal Jobs to save. I've noticed similar propping in Australia, Germany, India, USA, China, and Czechia too. If a group of workers is politically weak they get screwed over when they're no longer needed. If the workers are politically powerful they want the rest of society to subsidize their refusal to change. I don't know if anywhere has achieved a happy medium where workers in obsolete industries aren't abandoned by the rest of society yet are willing to walk toward the future instead of digging their heels in against it.

codeisawesome 10y ago
Do you mean Czechoslovakia?
- philipkglass 10y ago
  I thought they were calling themselves Czechia now but it looks like the announced name change hasn't really caught on yet.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- TomMarius 10y ago
  While Czechia is a new name, it's not Czechoslovakia for more than 24 years. It used to be Czech Republic in the meantime (and still is, Czechia is only a shortened name)
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- dagss 10y ago
  That country has not existed since 1992! Or is there some point I am missing?