My own belief is that while tax levels are fair and equitable and people can see for what their taxes are used - excellent roads, schools, hospitals and other infrastructure - they will pay fairly happily.
But raising taxes and at the same time - for example - turning off all heating in schools during one of the coldest Februaries ever recorded in Catalunia is not the way to win support for austerity measures.
People here are not stupid and know something has to be done, but they have to see correct and proportionate measures taken.
What raising taxes will do is encourage people not to pay taxes.
How ? Well what many businesses do is to declare a proportion of their income to keep the tax man happy, and then do a certain amount of work "on the black" for trusted customers*. But with rising tax levels less income is going to be declared for tax purposes. And don't expect the tax inspector to hunt these cases down with any great enthusiasm, because he too is being affected by higher levels of taxation and less infrastructure provided and he is also completely dissatisfied with the way things are going, and hence will have far more sympathy for working folk trying somehow to make ends meet.
* Not just in Spain of course, I paid many a contractor in cash for work carried out on my house in Germany.
Rather surprised to read that the Dutch expect to have a deficit problem this year.
From The Guardian
Quote:
The treaty could yet run into trouble, however, since it has still to be ratified. The Irish have announced a referendum on the treaty while Francois Hollande, the French socialist tipped to become president in May, is threatening to re-open it. And the Dutch, grappling with a sudden budget crisis, are increasingly unhappy with the straitjacket limiting budget deficits to 3% of GDP. The country is forecast to run a deficit of 4.5% this year.
Even for politicians, this does seem mad. First off why sign this when you know it will be broken and secondly do they think this kind of behaviour is going to instill confidence anywhere ?
I think I've mentioned this before, just want to make sure.
The welfare state and general socialism ultimately do not work as has been proven time and time again, without exception, when taken to conclusion.
While we all would like something for nothing, someone has to pick up the tab and eventually they tire of it and either quit or move elsewhere.
This truth is the answer to Greece and Spain and the other PIIGS', the EU's and the US' and UK's fiscal,financial and cultural problem.
Unfortunately the masses, reduced to dependence, conditioned to expect something for nothing, continue to vote in those who provide it. Anyone with any sense at all knows how it's going to end, though we don't know when.
That's why people buy gold, shotguns, and a couple of acres to grow potatoes.
Rather surprised to read that the Dutch expect to have a deficit problem this year.
Well now. Can't breach confidentiality but I will say this. Due to the nature of my work I'm not surprised to get calls and mails from individuals formerly employed by governments in one of the PIIGS who are worried about remuneration payments they receive.
What did surprise me was that two days ago I received such a call from someone resident in the Benelux lands. My first reaction was to think "what has this person got to worry about ?"
As an overall view into German political mentality and taking control and gaining power by any means possible, I've been reading Robert Gerwarth's book ' Hitlers Hangman' about the technocratic murderer Reinhard Heydrich. Never one to get his hands dirty. On page 234 it tells of a meeting in 1941, of the Vienna based organisation, Sidorst-Europa-Gesellschaft founded by the Nazi Gaulieter von Schirach, which engaged in research to' forciblly integrate the South east European countries in to the German power bloc'
Seems as if Frau Merkel has plans in that direction, only took 67 years to revive the ideals of people like Hitler Himmler and Heydrich, to dominate Europe. It appears something's never change, alter the facade and mask but one day it will slip and reveal the true identity. It looks as if old plans policies and ideals are being dusted off.
As, Clauswitz said ' war is politics by other means' maybe we are seeing the reverse of politics instead of war.
airpig, for most of my working career - and now as a pensioner - I've been an elected representative for my colleagues and can honestly say I have always tried to put their wants and needs first. But I look at the EU and shake my head.
NOBODY speaks up for the millions of citizens of the EU.
All Sarkozy and Merkel are doing is putting their own countries first and even more importantly looking towards getting themselves re-elected in the next set of national elections, at whatever cost to the PIIGS.
All Sarkozy and Merkel are doing is putting their own countries first and even more importantly looking towards getting themselves re-elected in the next set of national elections, at whatever cost to the PIIGS.
I would like to make a slight adjustment to that OFSO, the *cost* and repercussions to the electorate in the countries is huge, with the effects not even fully exposed as yet; so my slight adjustment would be:
All Sarkozy and Merkel are doing is putting their own Ideologies first and even more importantly looking towards getting themselves re-elected in the next set of national elections, at whatever cost to the PIIGS or the electorate in their own member states.
Actually, I disagree with OSFO's statement regarding the "cost to the PIIGS".
Merkel and Sarkozy, along with other "leaders" in the EU are doing their utmost to preserve the "European Dream" at the expense of EVERYONE in the EU and, to an extent, EVERYONE in countries which give more money to the IMF than they receive. Under normal circumstances, the PIIGS would have been left to rot so the economies of Germany, France, Netherlands, Belgium, etc, would not be harmed so much by the failures of the PIIGS but, instead, these failures are being propped up to somehow "save" the European Project at the expense of every country and every citizen in the EU.
Ultimately, the PIIGS will suffer. But so will all of us in countries which are in the Eurozone, and outside it, as more money is poured into the bottomless pit called the "rescue fund" when the PIIGS should have been allowed to default and face the consequences instead of us all suffering the long, slow, death of their economies and the drain on our finances that entails.
So, Merkel and Sarkozy doing things for their "own countries"? I think not, for our Masters in Brussels and their "dream" comes first..........
yep i think we all agree (well most of us) agree with that, frankly, it's frightening, the potential of what can happen, when, not if, the fertilizer hits the air conditioning.
Something will give, especially with the murmurings in various countries regarding ze orders about their finances and what they HAVE to do about it as well as the various referendums, parliamentary discussions, etc, that have to be held before the latest grandiose scam to "save the Euro" is approved.
Hell, even Di Rupo turned round and, effectively, gave two fingers to the latest EU report on Belgian finances so, if he is doing that, what are the rest thinking in private?
Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to find a way for Merkel, Sarkozy, the Eurocracy in Brussels, et al, to reconfigure the Euro project with minimal collateral damage, and no loss of face for having got it wrong.
Why would Merkel and Sarkozy "lose face"? It was their predecessors who put the whole thing in motion....
Those in a certain bunch of buildings in Brussels, however, those whose jobs are there because of "The Dream", those who suck on the teat of the European Gravy Train whilst calling the EU everything under the sun (are you listening, UKIP?), those who would actually have to find a real job (difficult, they ain't skilled enough to shovel shit or flip burgers) are the ones who are pulling the strings. After all, where do you thing Sarkozy will end up if/when the French say they have had enough of that poisonous little dwarf........
(Apologies for not being "diplomatic". I have a PYT going backwards because of her psych problems, along with my stresses because the company I work with losing money which comes down on my neck since "production" ain't good enough, and my usual pains and money issues. That means alcohol is being consumed, so I will be likely to be as tolerant as a socialist who is told that homosexuals do not need special treatment because they are something that the vast majority of the people don't give a shit about. Bear with me, normal service shall be resumed shortly)
Worst GW, reconfigure the EUSSR HQ, easy 150kt air burst nuclear weapon, followed by another three or four to make sure the b*stards are dead, then salt the ground and then quicklime over the area. Just to make certain the weapons have maximal effect. Any survivors a stake through the heart.
Then put up a memorial to collective stupidity. I think the one reputiedly proposed by a British officer after liberating a German concentration camp in 1945, when asked how he would memorialise the site. He replied ' he would build a memorial of skulls, when asked 'of the dead, no he replied ' but of those who caused this'
Eventually, the people will speak and the so called political elite in the EUSSR will be frightened, in particular the day they lose the trust of their bodyguards against the people. Look at the look on Sarkozy's face when confronted by the people he is supposed to represent.
DEATH TO THE EUSSR, FREEDOM TO THE PEOPLE OF THE UK.
The Spanish rebellion has begun, sooner and more dramatically than I expected.
As many readers will already have seen, Premier Mariano Rajoy has refused point blank to comply with the austerity demands of the European Commission and the European Council (hijacked by Merkozy). Taking what he called a "sovereign decision", he simply announced that he intends to ignore the EU deficit target of 4.4pc of GDP for this year, setting his own target of 5.8pc instead (down from 8.5pc in 2011).
In the twenty years or so that I have been following EU affairs closely, I cannot remember such a bold and open act of defiance by any state. Usually such matters are fudged. Countries stretch the line, but do not actually cross it. With condign symbolism, Mr Rajoy dropped his bombshell in Brussels after the EU summit, without first notifying the commission or fellow EU leaders. Indeed, he seemed to relish the fact that he was tearing up the rule book and disavowing the whole EU machinery of budgetary control.
He is surely right to seize the initiative. Spain’s economy will contract by 1.7pc this year under his modified plans and unemployment will reach 24pc (or 29pc under the 1990s method of counting). To compound this with manic fiscal tightening – and no offsetting devaluation – is intellectually indefensible.
There comes a point when a democracy can no longer sacrifice its citizens to please reactionary ideologues determined to impose 1930s scorched-earth policies. Ya basta.
What is striking is the wave of support for Mr Rajoy from the Spanish commentariat.
"Spain isn’t any old country that will allow itself to be humiliated by the German Chancellor."
"The behaviour of the European Commission towards Spain over recent days has been infamous and exceeds their treaty powers… these Eurocrats think they are the owners and masters of Spain."
"Spain and other nations in the EU are sick and tired of Chancellor Merkel’s meddling and Germany’s usurpation – with the help of Sarkozy’s France and their pretended "executive presidency" that does not in fact exist in EU treaties."
"Rajoy must not retreat one inch. The stakes are high and the country is in no mood to suffer humiliations from a Chancellor who is amassing all the savings of Europe and won’t listen to anybody, as if she were the absolute ruler of the Union. Merkel and the Commission should think hard before putting their hand into the sovereignty of this country – or any other – because it will be burned."
This then is the fermenting mood in the fiercely proud and ancient nation of Spain in Year III of depression, probably the worst depression the country has seen since the 1640s – or have I missed a worse one?
As for the "Fiscal Compact", it is rendered a dead letter by Spanish actions.
Gracias a Dios. If the text were enforced, the consequences would be ruinous. It enshrines Hooverism in EU law, and imposes contractionary policies without the consent of future parliaments – including any future Bundestag. Indeed, it probably violates the German constitution.
But it won’t be enforced in any meaningful sense because the political realities of the EU are already intruding, and will intrude further. A president François Hollande of France will rip it up.
