The Critic’s Blog

This is my presentation I made in Krakow in Akademia Polsko-Litewska. You can find slides here.

Lithuanians and Poles have common but still very medley history. We were friends and we were enemies, we defended each other from outside invaders and also killed each other without mercy, we crated a common state and made it fail as well. What is even more shocking, less than a hundred years ago we supported terrorists in each others territories and now we are allies in the war against terror.

Al these thing I’ve mentioned are so called “high-politics”, games elites play. They can hardly say anything about how Lithuanians and Poles feel about each other or how good we know each other. If we need to understand how close two peoples are, we have to look not at politics, but economics. Engagement in common economical activities is, I guess, the best way for common people to know each other. This presentation is my modest and provocative trying to diagnose current state of business relations between Lithuania and Poland. Read the rest

Books are expensive. They are expensive in Lithuania, and other countries as well. It is not surprising to see that Lithuanian translations of famous foreign writers in local bookstores cost more than books in original language at amazon.com or other on-line sellers. However, price difference of 1 or 2 EUR is too small to cover shipping costs so there is still a motivation to buy book published in Lithuania.

Few week later I got a surprise which encouraged me to write this post. Surprise came from Fyodor Dostoyevsky but not for what he wrote or did. Surprising was the price of one of his most famous novels “The Brothers Karamazov” in one of the Vilnius bookstores. Price of English translation of this novel published by Oxford University Press was only 22 litas (1 EUR = 3.45 LTL) while Lithuanian translation price in all bookstores is higher than 26 litas. So in the case of English classical books the difference should be even higher. Read the rest

Jeigu dar negirdėjote atsakymo į šį klausimą, jūs esate arba kurčias, arba visiškai nesidomite, kas vyksta pasaulyje. Krizę sukėlė kiekviename žmoguje tūnantis godumas ir gal dar truputį centriniai bankai, su Alanu Greenspanu priešakyje. Trumpai tariant, žmonės buvo godūs, valstybė jų ne tik netramdė, bet ir davė pigių pinigų, ir dėl to viskas nuėjo velniop.

Kapitalizmo kritikai suskubo paskelbti jo pabaigą ir galutinį pralaimėjimą. Jeigu kas užmiršo, tai kapitalizmas yra būtent ta socialinė-ekonominė doktrina prieš nepilnas dvi dešimtis metų pripažinta kaip vienintelė ir galutinė nugalėtoja, o štai pabudę kritikai – tai tie, kurie nuleidę galvas prieš tas pačias dvi dešimtis metų prisipažino klydę ir prašė atleidimo. Taigi, jei kas dar nepastebėjo, tai pernai pasaulis apsivertė aukštyn kojomis. Read the rest

Prieš porą mėnesių vienas Lietuvos savaitraštis paprašė parengti analitinį straipsnį tema “Kaip aplenkti infliaciją?” Pradžioje sutikęs netrukus atsisakiau pasiūlymo. Nors pagrindinė atsisakymo priežastis buvo laiko stoka, meluočiau, kad vienintelė. Nė nepradėjus gilintis, galvoje kirbėjo mintis, tiesiog parašyti “niekaip”. Read the rest