XPost: soc.culture.catalan, alt.usage.spanish, soc.culture.occitan
XPost: soc.culture.mexican, soc.culture.europe, soc.culture.italian
From: patanegra@netnitco.net
"Bern" wrote in message
news:1144691395.469242.71260@u72g2000cwu.googlegroups.com...
>Now the big issue seems to be if I appear to be tolerant but I'm really
>not, and blah blah blah... "The Catalans are this, the Catalans are
>that" (and, of course, because I am a Catalan I am supposed to be a
>certain way)... It's amazing how simplistic some people can be. That's
>so 8-year-oldish. Sorry, for a moment I thought this was a serious
>discussion. What was I thinking??!!
Of course, you didn't address the main issues.
Do you want my addressing THE main issue? Allright, let me address it.
The main issue is MOOLAH. A famous porveb says: A fool and his moolah are
soon parted.
If you don't want to be a fool, don't spread your green in Catalonia
Catalonia isn't the brightest option in the Mediterranean for the time
being; costs are high, government is less than predictable. The regional
government isn't exactly the ideal for international investors: a shaky
coalition of anachronic socialists -indulging in a fair amount of
nationalist populism-, ex-communists and radical ethnonationalists, very
hostile to business and harboring a particularly obnoxious brand of
anti-Spanish bigotry.
Right now the outlook for investors in Catalonia is quite negative: an
increasing number of mainly manufacturing companies are opting out of the
region towards the new members of the European Union in the East, a trend
that is being accelerated by the thuggish anti-business rhetoric of some of
the people in government, trying to scare companies into not moving out.
Lastly I would like to convey a realistic idea about about Maragall and his
Tripartito cronies,
whose negative weight for the economy has been exposed by some scared
ecconomic analysts. First of all, Maragall can impose anything he wants
on the man that the WSJ dubbed "The Accidental President" (a.k.a "Bamby")
who surely lacks an educated perception of foreign relations and isn't
exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer of the European Union leaders.
Bamby's inane policies are resisted in other areas of the Spain run by the
opposition but in Catalonia this team of imbeciles reign supreme. A cruel
saying goes: "There is nothing worse than an idiot with initiative". Saddly
enough, Bamby has already demonstrated initiative in the international
political arena and social engineering, and in both fields he has left some
glowing traces that, I'm sure, will defy the passage of time (I won't forget
his recipe to end terrorism though genre equality). But in economics, I am
afraid to say, he is still to show the full extent of his stupidity. Let's
hope that the beneficial effects of the de-centralized Spanish political
system will preserve Spain from too much damage during Mr. Bean look-alike's
time in office. I don't know if anyone has reckoned the fact that the only
one electoral promise that Mr. Bean has scrupulously fulfilled was to
withdraw the Spanish troops from Iraq a lot faster than decorum advised.
Well, you can't make a silk purse out of sow's ear. He was supposed (before
the attacks, that is) to lose the election, so nobody in the Socialist Party
really cared to come up with a normally witted and competent candidate.
Another matter, and a very grave one, is the pending menace of an implosion
in the very fragile Catalonian maufacturing sector, overtly exposed to
competition from Asia and Eastern Europe. Catalonia had until recently all
the Spanish market by the balls, as the result of decades of autarchic
protectionism of Catalonian industry, but this is changing now at a very
high rate. Spanish consumers are reluctant to buy Catalonian goods and
services because they realize that the taxes from the purchase of these
products ( the IVA) will end up exclusively in Catalonia, now a foreign
"nation", while competitors from Asia and Estern Europe will have their
headquarters registered in the rest of Spain will contribute to the
commonwealth with the money from taxes. For the "patriotic" Spaniard it
makes more sense to buy from a Chinese company registered in Madrid than
buying from a Catalonian one.
Where, then, should you invest your dough?
Madrid is the answer. Madrid is from all points of view a very good
prospect for investment, probably the best in the short run throughout Spain
and definitely in the long run. It is the eighth largest city in Europe -ca
3 M inhabitants in the city itself and around 4,3 M in the conurbation- and
is a major financial and economic center, well equipped with advanced
services. Madrid is the federal capital of Spain, but it has its own
autonomous regional government, with the same prerogatives of the other
regions (I fact, the Madrid region's population is heavily concentrated in
the capital's conurbation, the rest being scattered in a few dozens of small
villages). In the last 20 years or so, the Spanish capital has become a
global city and of the major business places in Europe. It is superbly
communicated with Latin America; in fact, it is the only serious contender
with Miami for being the main hub for companies who have a multinational
operation in Latin America. On the one hand, Madrid has a crucially
important pool of talented qualified workforce from throughout Latin
America, on the other, actual costs for conducting business are among the
lowest in Europe. The regional government is efficient, consistent and
reliable, without the hystrionic faux gauchisme of the Tripartito Catalan
assholes, and business friendly and quite competent.
Now I have addressed the main issues, my friend.
GURRIATEMBERG
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
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