Re: How Worried Are You?
 

Without the money from the infrastructure budget building railway lines in places that never even considered having a road, then Spain may not have been able to move all that food so cheaply or quickly.

The problem with the EU is that it is really one giant Ponzi scheme - it has to grow to maintain the benefits to those who came in earlier whilst also having to support the newcomers who are all nett receivers of benefit.
And as to exporting their workforce to those countries with high wage levels and benefits that can also be exported to support the family back home, the cheap agricultural land isnt being used to feed its own people properly so they end up importing as well.

May I say your Regionalisation ideal is a goal but I think it will not succeed in today's market led environment, where we reward those who can shift €0.01 profit per item from one country to another just for the hell of it when it makes one country rich and another poor overnight. We have to take out the market traders who are only in it for their own profit, not for the profit of their clients nor for the good of mankind.

As to world wide resources - if the rich countries didnt act like spoilt brats and waste their own and others resources but only used what was necessary then the waste food alone would do alot to improve the quality of life for many who are still drinking water out of baked bean cans, having walked 10 miles to get it.

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Re: How Worried Are You?
 

It's not the EU that is a ponzi-scheme but the market-led liberal-capitalist economy that drives it and the rest of the world's economies

Its growth which is the problem. Economies cannot grow every year because the world's resources are finite

Re: How Worried Are You?
 

I think the possiblity of cheap workers was more likely the temptation.

Re: How Worried Are You?
 

obviously you are preaching to the converted,
if a company doesn't grow by a min of 10% pa then the market watchers knock their shares down 10%. same if they lose a contract, same if they only have enough work for the next 5 years, the list of reasons goes on.
No company, not even Microsoft or Coca-Cola, can maintain infinite growth.
But at the end of the day it is society that is prepared to accept the knocking back or jacking up of companies by using market traders who, as i said earlier are only interested in their own bottom line, Porsche or Roller. They serve no purpose in life and are just blood suckers.

is it small wonder the likes of Alan Sugar and Richard Branson got peed off with the markets and started taking their businesses back into private ownership.?
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Re: How Worried Are You?
 

are you suggesting that the EU is just an employment agency or just a crowd of gangmasters ??

:rofl:

Re: How Worried Are You?
 

One piece of good news today is that Spain has launched plans to cut back on local government, abolishing mancomunidades (a totally superfluous layer between the ayuntamientos and provinces), restricting mayors' salaries, cutting the number of local councillors, enforcing tighter control over expenses, and rationalising the management of smaller town halls by reducing duplication of functions.

It has the agreement of both the main parties so even though it will take years to put into place, it shouldn't get shelved if PP lose the next election. Once in place it will save billions of euros a year and hopefully lead to more accountable local government.

Menos sueldos, concejales y gabinetes: PP y PSOE pactan eliminar las 1.000 mancomunidades de municipios

Re: How Worried Are You?
 

Could this be a (very small) hopeful sign at last?http://www.diariosur.es/rc/20130103/...301030855.html


It's a drop in the ocean, of course, and could well be just a temporary blip, but it would be nice to think it could give the Spanish people some hope for the future at the start of 2013.

Re: How Worried Are You?
 

Things do seem to be going better, borrowing costs have dropped now the ECB are buying up their bonds. One commentator isn't impressed



El mismo cuento de siempre....estadística engañosa...los que han encontrado trabajo han sido para ocupar puestos eventuales para días o semanas en las fechas navideñas...la estadística real la conoceremos el mes de Febrero y esa será la triste y dura realidad en la que está inmersa nuestro país...6.000.000 de parados.

Re: How Worried Are You?
 

Gee ! !

only one commentator out of how many commentators and pundits and BE know it all's ! !

someone is doing something right
:cool:

Re: How Worried Are You?
 

There are buyers, but not for the silly prices that there asking. Its the same in the UK.
If I had a house that I wanted to sell, or "needed to sell" theres the big difference, I would drop untill It sold, and that might ean taking a hammering, but if needs must, so be it.

Re: How Worried Are You?
 

I'm looking to buy a flat overlooking the beach for around 50-70k euros at the moment in Asturias - to use at the weekend. That is a good price, and if I could rent it out for a few weeks a year, it would pay for itself

Re: How Worried Are You?
 

I am looking to buy a house with a pool, thats all legal, so if there is anybody out there that knows of, or who is needing to sell. Please contact me. Please dont all rush at once.

Re: How Worried Are You?
 

Update : 10 year bond yields %

Iceland 6.52
Romania 6.40
Spain 4.95
UK 2.09

Re: How Worried Are You?
 

What do you write off?
Just the banks debts, the government debt, personal debt or just indebted mortgage holders that took on more than they could afford?

Or everyone's debt?

Re: How Worried Are You?
 

does that mean we have to get some just in case ??

:fingerscrossed: