DOSE OF CAPITALISM BITTER AS PRICES SOAR IN POLAND.(Main)

Byline: Associated Press

Bus fares and gasoline doubled and electricity quadrupled in price Monday under a radical plan by the non-Communist government to transform Poland's centrally planned economy to capitalism.

Poles' fears of looming price increases were confirmed Monday, and Finance Minister Leszek Balcerowicz acknowledged hardships in coming months but stressed that the increases were needed to halt Poland's 900 percent inflation and end its economic decline.

"There are no solutions devoid of risk," the official news agency PAP quoted him as saying. "Above all, I would like to stress that despite the dangers and challenges, we stand before a …