Talking
of taxis . . . There's an awful lot of them around here. And every
company seems to be Asian-owned and manned. Like all taxi drivers,
they're prone to giving you their opinions. Which, coming from a
different perspective, can be quite interesting. If wrong. I got an
insight into the question of why so many cars on the road are taxis when
I overheard an Australian saying that, in contrast to back home in
Oz, the buses here are expensive, whereas the taxis are cheap. So if
there's two, three or four of you, it can be a no-brainer
There
are, of course, several reasons why the Spanish government can't
achieve either the deficit or growth levels demanded by
Brussels/Berlin. Off the top of my (non-economist) head, these
include:-
-
You can't just stop the vanity projects initiated during the (phoney)
boom years, either centrally (e.g. the AVE to Galicia) or regionally
(e.g. the vast City of Culture complex outside Santiago de
Compostela).
-
It's tough to get rid of the extra layers of bureaucracy that were
installed when people worried even less than usual about whether the
jobs were justified. There's nothing more successful at resisting
retrenchment than a bureaucracy. Witness the 7% growth in the EU
budget for this year.
-
You can talk all you like about merging the town halls of tiny
councils but it's a tad harder to achieve this in practice. It's not
just salaries at stake.
-
It's impossible to change the ridiculous Spanish working schedule
which means that many people don't start working until 9 or even 10,
then take a long lunch break and come back at 4.30 or 5 to work until
9 or even 10 at night. Everyone knows this is a low-productivity
pattern but no one seems interested in - never mind committed to -
changing it.
-
Madrid may shout at the (17!) regional governments and even issue
instructions - e.g. to lower debt levels - but it's another thing to
get them to respond, even if they're from the same party. And
impossible if they're not. Or if they're of a
secessionist stamp, like Cataluña or Pais Vasco. And
-
It's impossible to do anything about the black economy which is
estimated at 20-30% of the economy and which denies tax revenue to
the regional and central governments. In fact, the evidence is that
it's growing, as people do everything they can to reduce outgoings.
There
aren't many activities for which one can boast a hundred per cent
record. But I can lay claim to one of these. Every single time I put,
say, a glass of wine or a mug of coffee on the floor and say to
myself "You shouldn't do that; you're bound to step on it or
knock it over" I subsequently do. As I just have with a mug of
coffee. Good job my daughter has a wooden floor, otherwise I'd be in
serious trouble now.
Of
course, if she had a carpet . .
The
other thing I'm great at doing is fulfilling the threat that I will
decorate myself with 'dinner medals' whenever I take a dish of, say,
curry (or even porridge) into the lounge to watch the News or Family
Guy on TV. I managed it with some curry today and was a bit concerned
to see that, when I tried to wash yellow stains out of my shirt, they
turned purple.
Some
readers will know that I'm not Damien Hirst's biggest fan. So I was
pleased to read two perspicacious reviews of his latest exhibition,
in which art critics aimed such barbs as "The paintings are an
abomination." And - "Stop now. You have become a disgrace
to your generation." As if he was ever anything but an
untalented conman. Click here and here to enjoy more of these truly
critical opinions.
Finally
. . . I noticed this afternoon that the 12 year-old schoolgirls in
the supermarket were in full make-up. For some reason, the phrase
'scouse brow' leaped into my mind and, on getting home, I went on the
internet to find out what it was. I should first say that scouse
is the adjective for folk who live on Merseyside. Thought to be of
Scandinavian origin. Anyway, here's what I found - Scouse
brow
is
the monstrous make-up movement gripping D-lebrity land - the most
terrifying beauty trend to hit the high street since the 'vajazzle'.
Yes,
but what exactly is it? Well, here's a beginner's guide.
And here are some pix. Now you know.
Finally,
finally . . . . The euro and the EU: Here's a few paragraphs from an
article from an American commentator.
Some
two decades ago, when Europe’s leaders worked out the details of
their grand vision to connect the European Union with a single
currency, virtually every economist on this side of the Atlantic —
and most of those on the other — figured out that the euro would be
fatally flawed. What took economists some time to understand was that
Europe’s leaders didn’t much care what they thought
The
single currency served an overriding political objective. Like the
single market before, it was conceived primarily as glue to bind
Europe more closely together, tie Germany’s prosperity to that of
its neighbors and prevent a third world war from the Continent which
had brought us two. A few engineering flaws wouldn’t be allowed to
get in the way of such an important project.
A
little over a decade since the first euro bills hit the shops in
Madrid and Berlin, the euro’s design flaws have pushed much of the
European Union into a deep economic pit. And political imperative is
again being deployed as a major reason to stick to the common
currency.
Yet
for a project intended to draw Europe together, the euro did
surprisingly little to build solidarity. German voters endured a
recession two decades ago after bringing in their brethren from the
Soviet bloc. They now appear unwilling to spend a pfennig to help the
Greeks, Spaniards, Portuguese, Irish or Italians. Conceived as
a tool for integration, the euro could, instead, tear Europe apart.
Europe
would be in much better shape if the euro didn’t exist and each
member country had its own currency.
The
main problem is that while leaders eagerly embraced the monetary
bond, they rejected its necessary complement: a central budget that
would transfer money from successful regions to under-performing
ones.
Despite
its flaws, there is one powerful reason to stick to the euro that
even some of the most skeptical economists accept: the prospect of
breaking away from the euro is very scary. It’s difficult to
forecast how such a dissolution would unfold. There is, in fact, no
legal way to leave. And it would be searingly painful for many
countries.
Still,
the risks of unscrambling the monetary union omelette must be
evaluated alongside the risks of leaving it scrambled.
For
the sake of European unity, letting go of the euro may be the better
option.
Says it all, really. Click
here for the few paragraphs I haven't pasted above.
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