The
Spanish Banks: What an easy business this appears to be.
Governments are not going to allow you to fail nor do anything about
the truly obscene earnings of your top tier. And, when the dust
settles after any trouble, you can simply start introducing all sorts
of new or massively increased fees without telling anyone about them.
Such as double ATM fees on cash withdrawals, one for you and one for the
bank the money is being taken from. Or a charge for sending to someone
else the money you've paid into the bank over the counter - a
'correspondence' charge, in the days of electronic transfers.
Other
Easy Money: The valor catastral is the notional value of
you property used, for example, to calculate your IBI or your annual
'rates'/municipal taxes. For a long time these lagged behind the real
market value. But the slump of the last 8 years and the ability of
local councils to increase both the base number and the percentage
they apply to it have rather changed the situation in the last few
years. But the proximity of your property's value to that of the
market will depend on your local council. Pontevedra is has seen a 34% increase in recent years. Needless to say, this being
Spain, no one ever advises you of changes. You just see them in the
(small print) text of your bill. Which is obligatorily paid through
your bank account. Usually.
The
Socialist Workers' Party: This is a group to the (near/far?) left of
Labour's new leader, Jeremy Corbyn. As I know from my own experience,
if you attend an event they disfavour, the police will have to
protect you, as these people claw and spit at you. So, it's a tad
ironic that their favourite epithet for those whom they viscerally despise
is 'scum'.
Illegal-ish:
HT to Lenox of Business Over Tapas for the news that there's a
useful word in Spanish - alegal - which means 'neither legal nor illegal'. Like new houses which have some permits but not
all. The dictionary of the Royal Academy defines it as 'Neither
prohibited nor permitted. Such as alegal radio stations'. So,
there you have it. A useful nuance, I guess. Especially here.
Finally
. . . A Nice Cartoon: El
País's El Roto yesterday had the simple question: Can
anyone wake up the president? A reference to the almost catatonic
and seriousluy uninspiring Sr. Rajoy. Of Pontevedra.
Correction;
Reader Q10 has asked for the source of my claim that Saudi Arabia has
sacked the Spanish consortium building its high-speed train. I may,
indeed, have mis-read my scribbled note. They were certainly given a 'final warning' in September but it does look like they haven't yet been
given the boot. And may never be given it. Vamos a ver.
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