Poland is now among the 20 largest economies

Working 1600 hours a year is low. Poland is above 2k. I know many, many immigrants. 95% of them are incredibly hard workers. They take work more seriously than the vast majority of native borns. Their kids are a different story, but the immigrants themselves work their asses off.

I think you are collapsing too many different causes into a single explanation.

Yes, consumerism probably influences expectations and lifestyles. But many of the things I mentioned are not just superficial manifestations of consumerism - they are structural economic and social changes.

When people say they "cannot afford" more children, they usually do not mean literal starvation or inability to keep a child alive. They mean they cannot afford the living standard that modern society effectively requires or expects for a family with multiple children.

I mentioned, in Poland when I was growing up, it was normal for 3 kids to share a small apartment and for grandparents to help raise children. Today, many young adults had to move to larger cities for education and work, far away from their families. That removes a major support system.

Now both parents usually need to work, which creates additional costs: larger housing near jobs, childcare, kindergarten, transportation, often even a second car. These are not just luxury consumerist indulgences but practical requirements of modern urban life.

> Materially, we're the wealthiest we've ever been in human history.

But wealth being higher on average does not mean family formation became easier for the middle class. Housing costs in major cities relative to income are a huge factor, especially for people who are not poor enough to qualify for assistance and not rich enough to comfortably absorb the costs.

Poland's economic woes were caused by Germany. It was not able to regrow its economy due to its Cold War government.

"Europe was an unfortunate spot, due to a war which started in Europe"

That is arguable. Some Asians say the war started in the Far East with Japanese attacks on China and the USSR which occurred before 1939, let alone 1941.

"I never see Europeans complain about Swiss neutrality. The US should take the Swiss approach."

Switzerland is not a militaristic power, but an economic one. It is not expansionist. It is currently the host country of the World Economic Forum though, and the WEF's legacy is controversial to say the least.

"Lord knows Europe wouldn't help the US rebuild if we suffered a devastating war. There was no European Marshall Plan after the US Civil War."

The US Civil War had nothing like the scale of WW2. The tank battle at Kursk alone dwarves the US Civil War. Large parts of the USA were unaffected by the civil war and both sides had the same language and a similar culture.

"That's what we do about poverty in Africa and South America. We don't regard that as our problem. Europe should not be our problem either."

North America and Europe have interfered heavily in both Africa and South America. Not just militarily but economically, propping up and training various dictators. The USA just bailed out Millei in Argentina and intervened in Venezuela.

Europe is a lot friendlier to the USA than most parts of the world and is a major part of its trade. Elsewhere it becomes more complicated.

"the notion that Poland should be grateful to Europe is rather farcical."

Poland has always been in Europe, and so was Germany. The USSR was partly in Europe as well. Maybe you mean the European Union? In which case, it may be a temporary fix, because as Poland becomes wealthier, the cheapness of labour no longer applies.

"The European war started in Europe."

It was never purely a European conflict. Several major

"Sure--and Sweden, Spain, Portugal, etc. were not heavily affected in Europe."

Spain stayed out of the main conflict because it had just been in a war in which the USSR, Germany and Italy were all involved. Gernika/Guernica was famously bombed from the air by the Germans. Franco may not have even won without external help. Like Japanese aggression before 1939, it can be argued that the Spanish Civil War was the beginnings of WW2.

Portugal's shipping was at heavy risk, especially to and from the Azores and Madeira. Macau ended up under informal occupation by Japan, with "advisors" installed there. Portugal was in no position to take on Japan.

Sweden was in no position to negotiate and traded with Germany, Finland and Nazi-occupied Denmark & Norway. It was effectively a satellite state.

"Based on a quick glance at Wikipedia this appears to be false."

You shouldn't have to look at Wikipedia. Kursk was the biggest tank battle in history with thousands of units taking part. That should be common knowledge. It dwarves anything in the US civil war.

"When it comes to authoritarians, I notice the US always does the wrong thing. If we cooperate with authoritarians, we are "propping them up". If we help resist them, we are "destabilizing". If we sit by and do nothing, we are "complicit". Whatever the US does, there is always a term you can use to explain why the US is the villain, without having to learn any details of the situation. It's a sealed system of knowledge akin to a religion."

It was put succinctly by one American, if I can mind rightly... Someone was told that some dictator was a bastard, and the reply was "But he's our bastard." Something like that. Al Haig made similar statements. Kissinger asked about East Timor said something like, "that was an island, you should see what I can do with continents". Again quoting from memory.

I think the "our bastard" mentality applies to Saudi Arabia and the Ukraine, which is an utterly corrupt country but in which there have been concerted attempts to orientate it away from Russia, even to the point of adopting the western date of Christmas. (I wouldn't be entirely surprised if Zelensky tries to advocate for the Roman alphabet in future as well.)

The USA has helped create some positive changes across the world, but often does so with an iron fist and an end to help itself. This is my main worry with Cuba... It may throw off its Communist dictatorship, but just end up a corrupt US satellite as it was under Batista.

PIS party works to ruin it, republican style.