The future? Could Spain be the US when adults take charge?

[gatordowneast]

Doubt we get this bad (26 % unemployment) but since we have elected to avoid pain by kicking the can down the road, this is inevitable for the dependent class at some point. Those in with inflated government pensions, on welfare/foodstamps/housing vouchers/free cell phones/free day care, will be in for an adustment out of necessity.

"Battling to reduce a swollen deficit and avoid a bailout, the year-old conservative government has made major financial and labor reforms and applied severe austerity measures such as cutbacks in wages and spending as well as tax increases.

The austerity measures are aimed at lowering the deficit, but are hurting the economy in the short-term, while the reforms will only help growth in the longer-term. That means the economy will suffer more before it recovers."


http://news.yahoo.com/spains-unemplo...092338671.html

[corpgator]

No. Spain is a 3rd world country that was invited into a 1st world union, but never lost their 3rd world mentality.

[wgbgator]

I would like that 3 hour afternoon siesta, though.

[GatorAbe7]

1. It's too little, too late.

2. Unemployment among the young, 18-30 is almost 50% in Spain.

3. Southern Spain's, Portugal's, and Southern Italy's unemployment rates are traditionally 15-20% since WWII. A high number of people willingly have not worked over the course of several years in their lives. It's cultural, it's like a rite of passage. The reason people are noticing the +20% unemployment rate is because it's climbing out of control.

4. Can you imagine unemployment rates of 26% in the U.S! That dwarfs our rate of 8%.

[wgbgator]

Spain really hasnt had a viable economy since it was plundering gold from the Americas, its been downhill ever since.

[ChartsandGrafs]

Originally Posted by GatorAbe7

That dwarfs our rate of 8%.

You don't actually believe that ludicrous 8% number, do you?

Seriously?

[wgbgator]

Originally Posted by ChartsandGrafs

You don't actually believe that ludicrous 8% number, do you?

Seriously?

I sure the Spanish ChartsandGrafs is posting something similar about the 26% rate in Spain. In Spanish, of course. It really doesnt matter if you believe the rates are a totally "accurate" picture or not, just that they are comparable to one another.

[ChartsandGrafs]

Originally Posted by wgbgator

I sure the Spanish ChartsandGrafs is posting something similar about the 26% rate in Spain. In Spanish, of course. It really doesnt matter if you believe the rates are a totally "accurate" picture or not, just that they are comparable to one another.

How would we know whether or not the rates are comparable without accurate figures?

[wgbgator]

Originally Posted by ChartsandGrafs

How would we know whether or not the rates are comparable without accurate figures?

If they are measuring the same thing, with the same methodology to calculate the figures, then they are comparable. Whether they are completely "accurate" measure of unemployment is mostly irrelevant. You can still make a confident claim that unemployment is much greater in Spain than here.

[corpgator]

Every country flubs their unemployment numbers. I lived in Colombia for several years and the unemployment % hovered somewhere between 15 and 20, yet half of the people didn't work.

Spain is definitely similar.

[ChartsandGrafs]

Originally Posted by wgbgator

You can still make a confident claim that unemployment is much greater in Spain than here.

Not really. I wouldn't be confident in making such a claim, and I wouldn't be confident in the trustworthiness of anyone else making the claim.

Our government only counts the unemployed people it wants to count. Everybody else is "dropped out of the workforce" or forgotten.

[Dreamliner]

Are the US and Spain really that far apart in any case ?

[GatorAbe7]

Originally Posted by ChartsandGrafs

You don't actually believe that ludicrous 8% number, do you?

Seriously?

I don't. I know it doesn't account for the underemployed, people who've stopped looking for work, or people whose Unemployment Checks have expired. What is our unemployment rate including those categories?

[mastoidbone]

i fully know spain is a mess---but that number is a sham. MANY MANY spaniards work under the table....the claim they are unemployed and collect benefits---while at same time they are working for cash---waiters, manual labor, plumbers, handyman, day care etc etc.....MANY MANY people.

No way to know what real number is in spain---but it is lower then published number.

[mastoidbone]

nm

[Dreamliner]

Originally Posted by mastoidbone

i fully know spain is a mess---but that number is a sham. MANY MANY spaniards work under the table....the claim they are unemployed and collect benefits---while at same time they are working for cash---waiters, manual labor, plumbers, handyman, day care etc etc.....MANY MANY people.

No way to know what real number is in spain---but it is lower then published number.

I suspect that you're onto something. Obviously, Spain keeps clicking along. And notwithstanding frequent news stories regarding widespread unrest, I'm told that most Spaniards are actually reasonably happy.

And why wouldn't they be happy when they're *really* making money and also holding out hope that the government will pay them more money besides ?

[mastoidbone]

Same is true of Italy, greece, etc----how many people in southern italy claim to be unemployed while working for Camorra or 'Ndrangheta???
When mafia revenue is over 100 Billion a year---how many of them or reporting their job as thief, murderer, etc???they are all unemployed right?


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/17/wo...anted=all&_r=0

The happy news is that the size of the underground economy means that more Spaniards are working than it might seem, and that the official unemployment figure of 24.4 percent — the highest in Europe — may be overstated by as much as five to nine percentage points, economists say. That has given the Spanish government an important safety valve.