Word: polished
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...more striking. Poland, a Soviet bloc country whose economy is based on Marxist-Leninist dogma, is appealing to the capitalist West for financial aid. Warsaw has asked Washington, to which it is already in hock for $ 1.2 billion in assorted credits, for another $3 billion in assistance. The Polish government clearly needs the cash: it must pay off foreign lenders and continue to finance the food imports required to keep the Poles from becoming more restive than they...
...billion in foreign debts. Already Warsaw must spend 82% of its foreign sales revenue to service such debt. Most of it stems from bobbled efforts to build an industrial base after World War II. Two primary exports, steel and textiles, have been hurt by slack demand abroad. Polish agriculture contributes little either to foreign earnings or domestic stomachs. The workers' strikes, set off by hikes in meat prices, added to the economic breakdown...
...past and could do so again, for example, and today it is flush with funds. Thanks to foreign sales of gold and oil, the Soviets have paid off $2.5 billion in private bank loans. Thus far, however, they have shown no inclination to bail out the Poles. A Polish default on foreign loans might give Moscow an excuse to tighten its hold on the economy or, at worst, grab direct power in Warsaw. don't go bankrupt," as Citicorp Chairman Walter Wriston once said. But they can delay or, as in the case of Iran, freeze payment on foreign...
...Washington or private banks were to bail out Poland again, it could be taken as a vote of confidence in the Soviet Union: lenders would be saying that they expect the Polish economy to be nursed back to health by Moscow so that it will eventually be able to repay its loans. In the international financial community the prevailing sentiment is that the West cannot afford to turn down Poland's money request for fear of a more pronounced Soviet intervention in the country's internal affairs. Says Lawrence Brainard, a Bankers Trust vice president: "The real issue...
...intriguing glimpse of Polish attitudes was provided last week by the French magazine Paris Match, which published the results of an unusual public opinion poll taken inside Poland. Working with handwritten questionnaires, eight pollsters from Public S.A., a French firm, clandestinely queried a representative sample of 500 Poles. Most of the respondents were deeply dissatisfied with the quality of their Eves: 86% said their purchasing power was insufficient, and 69% found the government unresponsive. An overwhelming 90% blamed "the men in power." By contrast, 86% favored the Gdansk agreements, but 65% expected the government to "gnaw away" at the concessions...