Changing Spain?: When I
first came here, I was astonished at how accommodating restaurants
were towards last-minute changes in reservations. Say from 4 to 10 or 20 to 5. Or even towards cancellations. Recognising that Spaniards idolise spontaneity, the restaurants went along with this capriciousness, regardless
of the impact on income and profitability. But last week I read that
some of them are now demanding a deposit when a reservation is made.
But this will be small compensation, of course, if you provide a
dinner for 100 Romanians who all piss off after the dessert.
Here in Spain, everyone
who disagrees with you is 'a fascist', regardless of where they are
on the political spectrum. The Turkish government has gone further.
Anyone who upsets them is not only a fascist but also 'a Nazi'.
Especially the horrible Dutch. Mr Erdogan seems to have been taking lessons from Mr Trump.
Overall, Spain's
'digital performance' is good but, as we know, broadband prices are
the second highest in Europe. See here. What it is to have friends in government.
I noted the other day that the PP government is impervious to demands for a parliamentary commission into corruption, even when these come from its electoral partner. But, of course, the main opposition party - the left-of-centre PSOE - is equally uninterested in such a development. After all, Spain's most corrupt region - Andalucia - has been under their control since the end of Francoism in 1978. So, almost 40 years. And their track record in central government is equally blemished.
Which reminds me . . . How many relics of Franco has the (very)-right-of-centre PP party removed in the last 5 years? Yes, exactly. Not one.
An angry article in
yesterday's Voz de Galicia reminded us what we all know – that the
electricity companies here are all engaged in deceiving us. There's a
Google machine translation at the end of this post for those who
can't read it here in Spanish.
The Spanish government
last year reduced the level at which cash can be used for commercial
transactions but then – having stupidly done this just before Xmas
– rapidly backtracked when there was widespread protest. Don
Quijones here looks at this trend in a wider context.
A chap on the TV this
morning opined that craft and style in advertising are now superb.
Whereas creativity is at an all-time low. I fancy these slogans
provide some evidence that he's right:-
Feed their curiosity.
For cat food.
Born in the jungle,
raised in the city: For a 4x4 vehicle
Finally . . . This dog
won both the Gun Dog section and the Best in Show award at Cruft's
last week:-
Add caption |
It's said to be a gun
dog. Which is odd, because this is what I thought a gun dog of this breed looked
like:-
The only thing dafter
than the dogs at Crufts is, of course, the names they give the poor
mutts. The runner-up for the Best of Show prize was a miniature poodle
– that's a dog? - which goes under the name of Frankie Minarets
Best Kept Secret. The winner, by the way was Afterglow Miami Ink. You couldn't make it up. Oh, they did.
The article from the Voz de Galicia
The electric companies treat us like fools
We analyse the
deceptions to which the electrical companies submit to us without any scruples
Fools. That is what we
are. We come to this conclusion when we analyse the deceptions that
the unscrupulous power companies submit to us. Consider the latest move: Competition [the relevant government department] has sanctioned Endesa, Gas Natural Fenosa, Iberdrola
and Viesgo for deceiving customers and cutting them off without their
permission.
How can it be? Imagine that a rep of one of these
companies - or another one that works for them - comes to your house
and explains that there'll be reductions on your bill if this or that amount and that you will pay less. That gentleman who sits in front of you
is a rep and so,when someone does not want it he coaxes
you until you sign what he wants, which almost always coincides with
what will hurt you.
The electric market is a hoax. Beginning with
the assertion that prices in the free market are lower than those
regulated.
You have to be clear:-
1. Large electric
companies are electricity generators, distributors and marketers.
They create companies for each area in which they operate. So they
are everything. The market is cooked and also eaten.
2. There are two types
of market: regulated and free. The first one is cheaper. Why? In
both, the energy is bought at the daily auction. In the first there
is a margin stipulated by the Government, while in the free market each
company establishes its own and the types of contract. No company
will offer the customer a lower price than the regulated market. They
have no interest in selling oranges for four euros, when the regulated
price is five.
3. There are 26
million households that could be in the regulated market for having a
contracted amount of less than or equal to 10 kilowatts. However, there are only
12 million. And the rest? In the free market, to which they could move after
a pernicious phone call.
4. What rights do
consumers have in the free market? None. And in the regulated? Access
to the social bond, that in case of non-payment the cut off of supply is not
immediate and one avoids the court in the case of disagreements with the
company.
5. What is the social
bond and who is entitled to it? It is a tariff with a discount set by
the Government of 25% on the total price of the bill in the
regulated market. It benefits consumers with contracted power in
their first home of less than three kilowatts, pensioners with 60 or
more years and receive a minimum pension, large families, families
that have all members unemployed and those who have a social rate
before 1 July 2009.
6. Do you know how many consumers have a social
bond?: 2.4 million. Do you know how many of these correspond to
families with all their members unemployed? 74,000. Do you know how
many families there are with all their members unemployed? 1.3
million. Can you tell me where the difference is between the 1.3
million and the 74,000? They are in the free market, where they arrived,
logically, after being deceived.
One last warning: in the regulated maket, there is
a fixed price option. Don'tt take it. It is more expensive.
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