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Anti-Communism and Counterintelligence: Poland, 1918-1944
On September 24, 2014, the Kosciuszko Chair of Polish Studies at The Institute of World Politics held a lecture entitled "Anti-Communism and Counterintellige...
By: The Institute of World Politics
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Anti-Communism and Counterintelligence: Poland, 1918-1944 - Video
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) Twenty-five years ago this month two remarkable events took place in Washington.
On Sept. 27, 1989, in the musty embassy ballroom of the Polish Peoples Republic on upper 16th Street, Leszek Balcerowicz, finance minister in the new non-communist government, outlined a plan to transform Polands economy from communism to capitalism. Shock therapy would be launched in three months.
Balcerowiczs message was breathtaking. Prices would be decontrolled, individuals allowed to start businesses, the survival of state enterprises determined by the market. There was more the printing press would be shut down halting hyperinflation, the worthless Polish currency redeemed USDPLN, +0.14% .
Financial journalists in Washington for the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund were astonished. Some sprang from their seats to file stories after the modest man in the ill-fitting East European suit stopped talking. For those of us remaining the room was electric. One reporter said, there are lots of books about transforming capitalism to communism, none for going the opposite direction.
This was six weeks before the Berlin Wall came down.
On Oct. 19, 1989, 34-year-old Jeffrey Sachs, the Harvard economist advising the Polish government, made an emotional plea to Washington insiders. At a Willard Hotel dinner arranged by the Institute for International Economics, Sachs said Poland required a cash injection to leap across the chasm from disintegrating communism to capitalism. The next six months, he said, are critical in determining whether Eastern Europes first non-communist government since World War II succeeds.
Sachs had made his name by helping to end hyperinflation in Bolivia. He essentially shamed his Washington audience into action, excoriating the U.S. government, the IMF and World Bank for dragging their feet. It was imperative, he said, that the Polish experiment succeed.
The debate over big bang and shock therapy essentially began that night.
J.P. Morgan Funds global market strategist James Liu explains how investors can stay disciplined during constant global unrest. Photo: AP.
Sachs had offered his services to Poland only weeks earlier and was just off the plane from Warsaw, where there was chaos and anger over shortages of basic commodities, including food. Few outsiders thought the planned reforms, which in the short term would further depress living standards had any chance of working. Sachs said later, It was a terrifying and unpredictable period.
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Let #39;s play The Sims 4! Jon "PyroFalkon" Michael, the writer of the IGN Entertainment strategy guide wiki for The Sims 4, has created a set of house rules to ...
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Republicans Trying to Instigate a Military Rebellion?
Thom Hartmann talks about a Tea Party Republican who may be asking U.S. generals to quit the military in protest of President Barack Obama #39;s policies. If you liked this clip of The Thom Hartmann...
By: thomhartmann
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