You
might think that those managing the white elephant of a hugely
expensive airport used by absolutely no one would be careful with their money. If so, you'd be very wrong. For, down in Valencia, the (heavily
indebted) regional government has handed over €660,000 to the local Castellón football team in a sponsorship deal that beggars belief.
One
of Spain's worst anti-entrepreneur aspects has long been the obligation on
the part of anyone self-employed to pay at least €280 social security tax a month,
regardless of sales and profits. This has finally been reduced to €53 a month, albeit for only
the first 6 months. As a result, numbers of people registering as an
autonomo have shot up. Let's hope they're all successful.
Going
in the other direction have been cigarette sales. There's been a 47%
drop in ten years, with factors including anti-smoking laws, tax
increases and Crisis-created lower purchasing power. Then, of course,
there's the alleged smuggling from Gibraltar. Not to mention the
contraband trade into Galicia's estuaries and coves. Personally, I
see anything that reduces smoking as a good thing and I've noticed
that few Spanish men seem to smoke these days. Sadly, this can't be
said for Spanish women. Especially the younger ones.
Here's
a jotting from one of my visitors, a self-designated rotter.
Finally
. . . HT to Lenox of Business Over Tapas for this citation, a
video on Madrid life.
Incidentally,
the Spanish for 'weekend' (fin de semana) is translated
for the subtitles as 'from Thursday through Saturday'. Which surely
tells you something. If only that Sunday is a day of recovery from 3 nights on the
tiles.
No comments:
Post a Comment