Southern Europe ruined again

[scourge]

“We’re in a situation of total emergency, the worst crisis we have ever lived through” said ex-premier Felipe Gonzalez, the country’s elder statesman.

 The warning came as the yields on Spanish 10-year bonds spiked to 6.7pc, pushing the “risk premium” over German Bunds to a post-euro high of 540 basis points. The IBEX index of stocks in Madrid fell 2.6pc, the lowest since the dotcom bust in 2003.

 Chaos over the €23.5bn rescue of crippled lender Bankia has led to the abrupt resignation of central bank governor Miguel Ángel Fernández Ordóñez, who testified to the senate that he had been muzzled to avoid enflaming events as confidence in the country drains away.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/9301270/Spain-faces-total-emergency-as-fear-grips-markets.html

[§Transcix]

I guess the socialist European countries that are failing should have been more like the socialist European countries that aren't, then again hindsight's always 20/20.

[Dinaric Leather]

Why is this called southern Europe ruined again and not Spain ruined again? What does this have to do with southern Europe as a whole?

[Undermind]

Why is this called southern Europe ruined again and not Spain ruined again? What does this have to do with southern Europe as a whole?

Well, Greece and Italy aren't looking so fiscally hot either for one thing.

[Misk]

I guess the socialist European countries that are failing should have been more like the socialist European countries that aren't, then again hindsight's always 20/20.

Greece and Spain have been following a  Neoliberal modus operandi for the majority of the last 25-30 years. They can hardly be described as socialist.

[Stranger]

this is what happens when you try to create a rival to the united states, and force differing countries together under one umbrella.

germans are much different to spaniards, like the italians are different to the dutch, and the portuguese are different to the poles, etc, etc. it's not even about politics as much as it is about culture.

northern european countries are simply better at organization and living within their means. from an outsider's perspective, it just seems like the southern europeans are spoiled children who have no sense of money, while the northern europeans are the parents who are trying to keep their kids in-check.

europeans need to break up the e.u. or they need to remove the, "trouble' countries.

[scourge]

northern european countries are simply better at organization and living within their means. from an outsider's perspective, it just seems like the southern europeans are spoiled children who have no sense of money, while the northern europeans are the parents who are trying to keep their kids in-check.

The same thing is going on within the United States between its diverse population groups.

[Stranger]

northern european countries are simply better at organization and living within their means. from an outsider's perspective, it just seems like the southern europeans are spoiled children who have no sense of money, while the northern europeans are the parents who are trying to keep their kids in-check.

The same thing is going on within the United States between its diverse population groups.

that's a good point.

though it would be a lot harder to remove these people since they are spread throughout the country.

[scourge]

Now Spain, like much of the EU, faces the demographic consequences. The results have been transformative. In a half century Spain’s fertility rate has fallen more than 50% to 1.4 children per female, one of the lowest not only in Europe, but also the world and well below the 2.1 rate necessary simply to replace the current population. More recently the rate has dropped further at least 5 percent.

Essentially, Spain and other Mediterranean countries bought into northern Europe’s liberal values, and low birthrates, but did so without the economic wherewithal to pay for it. You can afford a Nordic welfare state, albeit increasingly precariously, if your companies and labor force are highly skilled or productive. But Spain, Italy, Greece and Portugal lack that kind of productive industry; much of the growth stemmed from real estate and tourism. Infrastructure development was underwritten by the EU, and the country has become increasingly dependent on foreign investors.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/joelkotkin/2012/05/30/whats-really-behind-europes-decline-its-the-birth-rates-stupid/

(Liberalism is strictly a luxury, not a necessity.)

[Roman Legion 666]

this is what happens when you try to create a rival to the united states, and force differing countries together under one umbrella.

germans are much different to spaniards, like the italians are different to the dutch, and the portuguese are different to the poles, etc, etc. it's not even about politics as much as it is about culture.

northern european countries are simply better at organization and living within their means. from an outsider's perspective, it just seems like the southern europeans are spoiled children who have no sense of money, while the northern europeans are the parents who are trying to keep their kids in-check.

europeans need to break up the e.u. or they need to remove the, "trouble' countries.

Oh man my friend, you have never been to my part of Southern Italy! There we live by the basics: no tv's no phones, and just plain good home cooked food. Add wine to that and you get the idea. If I was to say, it is the Northern Italian who live outside of their means, because they are the ones who used to a higher quality of life .

Just some view points....

[NHA]

The news is constantly crying about the EU going belly up but if you look at the dollar it has no purchasing power. Its 0.8:1 now and was like 0.7:1 a few months ago.

I wonder how much of a burden California is to the U.S. vs Spain:EU.

[scourge]

USD has lost about half of its purchasing power at the individual consumer level over the course of five years. For the same ninety nine cent bread sold in 2007 the price is now about two forty nine. Many commonplace consumables and staples are like that. Gasoline is another obvious one. None of this is all that historically alarming until we look at how long this decline has been sustained. Forty months or more of recession is not a typical recession. The real recession has been going on for about 11 years since the dot com bubble popped which tossed several hundred thousand middle class people into sustained unemployment or hourly retail. The fun times were then soon followed by the real estate crash.

[scourge]

In Spain, a country that just a few years ago was heralded as a shining example of real estate entrepreneurship, international tourism and a rising middle class, the situation is so bad that many are unable to meet the most basic necessities for life.

Social safety nets across the continent are visibly under stress and breaking down, so much so that unemployed Spaniards have begun raiding supermarkets in order to put food on the table. As recently as last month the people of Cadiz and Sevilla, which have a reported unemployment rate of 32%, joined together to loot local grocery stores of three tons of food - some of which was distributed to local food banks:

http://investmentwatchblog.com/breakdown-three-tons-of-food-looted-from-grocery-stores-in-spain-as-millions-struggle/

[lafindumonde]

I heard everyone in Spain takes a 3 hour lunch and several siestas throughout the day. I wonder how they make money anyway?

[username]

I heard everyone in Spain takes a 3 hour lunch and several siestas throughout the day. I wonder how they make money anyway?

Sounds great!

Economic regression strangles feminists oppertunity to be self absorbed brats.

We killed European production by "replacing" it with Asian imported crap -- where is the European steel industry today?

Lets hail the economic collaps as a great oppertunity to have a showdown with extremist feminism and leftism.

It's just the plain truth : Kazcynski was right, all these riches and technological toys are not healthy for society.