As in the UK so it shall be in Spain...

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08 Apr 2012 11:48 PM by foxbat Star rating in Granada. 1112 posts Send private message

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In yet another copycat move Rajoy has announced major Health Service reforms in Spain...

http://elpais.com/elpais/2012/04/08/inenglish/1333904579_755819.html

When will these damn politicians learn that copying the cock-ups of other countries is NOT the way to go....

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19 Apr 2012 2:43 PM by foxbat Star rating in Granada. 1112 posts Send private message

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And here is the first of the changes to be announced...

http://elpais.com/elpais/2012/04/18/inenglish/1334773062_431794.html

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20 Apr 2012 2:00 PM by Orinoco Star rating in Castilla La Mancha. 141 posts Send private message

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Reading the comments in El Mundo this morning it struck me just how quickly sentiment has changed. 4 months ago after Rajoy's landslide, El Mundo readers were confident of change, they were genuinely hopeful, finally the problems of unemployment were going to be addressed and the nations finances returned to some sort of order. And yet yesterday I would estimate that 95% of the comments in the same right of centre publication were critical, in fact hostile to the PP.
 
In La Razon today The Savings Bank Foundation, FUNCAS (La Fundación de las Cajas de Ahorras) concludes that Spain wont achieve it's deficit reduction goals unless it makes further significant cuts in public spending, and substantially raises IVA and other taxes. It also estimates that unemployment will reach 26.3% in 2013.
 
The Bank of Spain revealed that nearly 1 in 10 loans have now been defaulted on, compared to less than 1 in 100 at the start of 2007, that's an absolutely astounding figure. And yet wherever I look I just see headlines like "Correos y Telegrafos to fire 2000" "CMN to close 100 offices" just how long can a country wobble along like this?
 
I honestly think people are rapidly approaching breaking point with the ruling class - A king professing he can't sleep for worrying about youth unemployment, then off on safari popping shots at elephants the following week, career politicians throwing billions at banks whilst introducing prescription charges for pensioners and increases of up to 50% in university fees. 
 
Thinking about it, the tax payer funds central government, autonomous congresos, regional diputaciones and local ayuntamientos - all filled with politicians, funcionarios, chauffered cars, meal allowances etc - I reckon at least 2 levels of political bureaucracy could be done away with overnight, saving billions and no-one would notice the slightest difference. At the same time there are 2 million unemployed whose paro has expired that get no income whatsoever. Pure lunacy.
 
I honestly can't see how the country can avoid descending into anarchy sooner or later. They're not talking about 6 months of harsh measures to get back on track and then it will all be roses, but a decade of misery for millions. A pledge from Rajoy that he wont cut pensions is worthless if IVA, utlity bills, prescriptions and fuel all cost more.




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20 Apr 2012 2:24 PM by foxbat Star rating in Granada. 1112 posts Send private message

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Said it before and I'll say it again...

Rajoy and the PP were elected as a knee jerk reaction to Zapateros PSOE handling of the financial crisis from 2007 onwards.

As it was in Britain... the only reason Cameron and the Tories got in was because the electorate saw right through the lies and chronic mishandling of the UK economy by Blair and Brown.

The current UK government is Tory dominated because Clegg (a closet Tory anyway) through in his hand with Cameron (not really surprising given that none of the people concerned have ever done a proper days work in their lives. They are career politicians and have absolutely no idea of what the world is really like...

Both in Spain and in the UK, no-one really wanted these vaqueros in power but as in all countries with a two party system the electorate had no option.

In regard to the Spanish population falling into anarchy... former  PM Jose Maria Aznar (from the safety of a university in Ecuador...) said of the 8 million people that supported the 15-M protest rallies across Spain... 'they are irrelevant, anarchists...and  not representative of the Spanish electorate..'

Conspiracy theories apart... I don't think that Rajoy has the remotest idea of whats actually going on here but is actually giving voice to proposals 'suggested' by Aznar...



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21 Apr 2012 6:33 AM by Abyss_Rover Star rating in Mallorca. 72 posts Send private message

Maybe there is some truth in a "change of views"



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21 Apr 2012 9:29 PM by foxbat Star rating in Granada. 1112 posts Send private message

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Dont these MEP's all love the sound of their own voices?

Talk for 15 minutes and say nothing....

Meanwhile in another copy cat move...

http://elpais.com/elpais/2012/04/19/inenglish/1334862588_905658.html

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22 Apr 2012 11:16 AM by Poppyseed Star rating. 897 posts Send private message

I think he said a lot, spoke the absolute truth and is a hero! He would get my vote every time, I wont rant on about the corrupt gravy train  fat cats in the EU as it sends my blood pressure off the scale but they were clearly visible in this video, stupid, useless career beaurocrats destroying Europe and living very well off it......grrr.............



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29 Apr 2012 8:53 PM by foxbat Star rating in Granada. 1112 posts Send private message

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http://elpais.com/elpais/2012/04/27/inenglish/1335547977_874685.html

Government will raise VAT in 2013 in bid to comply with deficit targets

The government hopes to raise some eight billion euros next year by raising “indirect taxes,” including the value-added tax (VAT), to help meet the country’s Herculean goal of bringing down the budget deficit from 8.5 percent of GDP to three percent in two years, Economy Minister Luis de Guindos said Friday.

Although he tried to avoid mentioning VAT by name, De Guindos explained after the weekly Cabinet meeting that the measures are part of a complete “tax restructuring” aimed mostly at consumers. Taxes will also be raised on alcohol, tobacco and gasoline.

This from a government whose election manifesto stated NO increases in taxation....

It wont take much of an increase in taxation to bring fuel costs into line with UK prices, the price per litre here in Euros is virtually the same as the UK cost in sterling....

Utility costs here for electricity, gas, water, phone and internet are already the same as if not more than the UK.

Hypocritical....

quote from the article....The Popular Party (PP) government had insisted in the past that it would not raise VAT so as not to burden consumer spending. In fact, the PP was highly critical of the previous Socialist government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero for raising VAT from 16 percent to 18 percent in July 2010 to rake in an additional 6.5 billion euros.

But De Guindos said that families next year should be better prepared to spend more.

Really... how does that work then... less income, higher taxation, but consumers 'better placed to spend more?

One has only got to take a visit to Carrefour to see the immediate effects of this governments meddling... our local Carrefour Planet (bigger than a hypermarket); Saturday mornings the place used to be packed to the gills, I used to despair of having to visit  on a Saturday, long queues to get into the car parks, now it appears almost deserted; the book section, the electrics and electronics sections with hardly any customers

Quite where it all ends I don't know... but increasing VAT is not the way to go...

 

 

 


This message was last edited by foxbat on 29/04/2012.

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29 Apr 2012 10:20 PM by Orinoco Star rating in Castilla La Mancha. 141 posts Send private message

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There are four ways that this can go:

1) Spain voluntarily quits the Euro as part of an orderly exit; the price of a BMW or a Bosch washing machine will triple overnight, but that might kickstart Spanish industry to start producing affordable goods for the home market, in turn creating employment, exports will benefit. Tourists will return as they'll get value for money. Those with UK pensions could do quite nicely out of it.

2) Spain defaults on its sovereign debt, becomes isolated in Europe, its banks fold, general chaos ensues as cash points cease operating, looting and rioting follow as people become increasingly desperate. The army will take to the streets to try and restore order possibly followed by military dictatorship under the guise of  a" State Emergency".

3) Spain gets it head down and pays for the recklessness of 8 years of socialist spending. It bolsters its banks, it taxes everyone up to their eyeballs in a concerted effort to address the defecit. The 10 year debt it sells on the international bond markets is around 6%, unsustainable over any length of time. The money they generate selling bonds is what pays the wages of hospital staff / teachers / the army, the emergency services... it is required to roll over existing debt, to pay suppliers, social security. The only way to get funding in the markets at reasonable rates is for global investors to have faith in the Spanish banking system and the Spanish government's ability to cut spending. Of course no-one likes austerity, but the truth is that PSOE over 8 years pissed away every cent they could get their hands on and when the piggy bank was empty they bailed out early rather than face up to what they had done. It makes me sick after 8 years of those clueless clowns to see PSOE supporters now moaning about how the Royal Family and the Catholic Church are financed. 8 years not long enough to address those burning issues?

4) Final option; As a sovereign default approaches, the IMF, European Comission and ECB turn up in Madrid and make Rajoy an offer he can't refuse. Then you'll see what real austerity is when Barroso, Van Rompuy, and Lagarde are running the show. Proper swingeing cuts, privatisation of national companies, a serious cull in the public sector. I honestly think we'd see civil war.

To lay the blame for all these cuts at the feet of PP and Rajoy is ridiculous. Do you think they had any idea of the full state of the finances when they took office? Rajoy has had to man up and I'm sure he's well aware of what much of the public think but someone's got to do something. As Maggie once famously said "The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money" - that's precisely what's happened. I have no doubt Rajoy would rather be opening nice new airports and high speed rail lines but as we all know, those days are over and we have to start paying back the money. Personally I'd like to see the end of this town hall system, we're approx - 1000 people where I live and the town hall employs about 10 full time staff, it's absurd but it's the same all over the peninsular. There must be tens of thousands of funcionarios all over Spain that could be dispensed of and no-one would notice. I'd like to see high street banking nationalised and put an end to this parcelling up of junk debt and flogging it off as a AAA investments. High Street banks should look after our money, help us with big purchases at reasonable rates and pay savers a reasonable rate of interest, however they are frequently just cash cows for board members and shareholders and not working in the public interest at all. 

For now option 3 is the route we're going, how long it will last I just can't say, indeed sentiment is changing across Europe, the Dutch and the French aren't happy, the Germans don't like the idea of permanent fiscal transfers to the poorer south, the Euro could quite literally fold overnight. Stock up on some tinned goods, bottle water and dry pasta!

As the Chinese proverb goes "May you live in interesting times."

 





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11 May 2012 4:15 PM by normansands Star rating in Kent. 1281 posts Send private message

Dear All,

given that much of human nature requires self justification in all that it does

what happens when austerity is called for?

that human reaction is to move into overdrive with the self justification

the " public sector" will grow not shrink I fear.

perhaps we need a benign dictator?

Regards

Norman



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