Figure those numbers

Unemployment figures have gone down over June and everybody is singing halelujah. They are supposed to go down because it's summertime and although tourist numbers are expected to be ten percent lower this year, that still leaves enough temporary job offers available. Because in Spain the government did not give all it's money to the banks but invested large part of it itself, it has managed to create close to 400,000 jobs in public services, resulting in a net increase of 30,000 jobs in this sector. That is a return of investment of eight percent on a five billion euros bill, not something that can be continued for very long, but at least the government does what it was elected for, act in the interest of the people and the people at the moment want jobs. All in all unemployment keeps touching twenty percent, but there's something interesting about this figure. In Spain they count the number of people that do not pay social security to estimate how many are excluded from this duty because they are without work or other taxable income. But these are official figures and they don't say anything about how jobless people are managing. It's like one of my students said: if you look around you, it's hard to believe twenty percent are without work. So there must be a lot of black work going on, a significant part of the Spanish economy is organized through networks that bureaucracy has no notion of.

Station to station

I was travelling underground and I was wondering why people bring these enormous super heavy books to read in public transport, the up to 1,000 pages historic, police or just general bullshit bestsellers that turn the pleasure of swinging a well-forged top manta bought designer bag over your shoulder into a public act of masochism, when it occurred to me that this is probably how the big publishers are preparing us for the €-book. I don't know if you have yet seen someone using a prototype, but compared to the good old light travelling pocket edition the electronic book is big and unbendable and apart from all its undeniable adventages apparently considered to be a step too far into unknown territory for the stubbornly conservative attitude we readers are thought to possess. So there comes the thick paper fat letter hard cover never ending emotional joyride that between trains pulls your arm from your shoulder like a spoiled kid screaming for ice-cream. Once we all are turned into monstruous bible carrying pilgrims doing penitence for who knows what, one magic day to relieve us from our burden the longed and prayed for €-book will arrive. Since the unification of experience has caused us to all read the same novel, all receive the same information, all think the same inadequate thoughts, I wonder when we choose €-books will we all download the same file to continue being influenced in the same way, or will the unknown and unheard of free spirits that spend their lives in vain to be recognized as a writer one day find new opportunities to sell us their strictly personal opinions? Every new invention brings this same old struggle between empire and anarchy. That is why we keep looking for inventions, to enjoy the spectacle, perhaps.

Boring

Some time ago El Pais wondered why being accused of corruption seems to work out well for right-wing politicians. Despite numerous scandals partido popular scored significantly better than pesówe in this month’s European elections; and what is more, they outclassed their rivals especially in constitutions where the mayor or even the governor is under fire, as is the case with Valencia’s party stronghold Francisco Camps. Apparently the strategy of victimizing the accused paid off well for them. In Spain’s effectually two party system the idea that an investigation into abuse of public money is a left-wing campaign strategy in concertation with the not so independent judicial institutions finds fertile soil. Partido popular is the party that serves to the wishes of the higher classes, but its electoral base are the working ones who are made to believe their natural representatives want to sell out on the grand heritage of a powerful nation state by allowing certain regions too much autonomy. Thus partido popular is the party of Spain’s empty heartland and the urban centres of Madrid and Valencia and of Galicia, homesoil of its leaders, while pesówe does well in Catalunya, Euskadi and the South where a long history of poverty and suppression won’t that easily be forgotten. For the time being and thanks time for that, the nation is run by pesówe, who operate a minority government with strategical support of smaller left-wing parties and Catalunya’s centrist nationalist party CU (as in Prince). Popular leaders have already threatened to ask parliament a vote of confidence, hoping to crash the cabinet and enforce new elections upon us. The upper middle class and those who pretend to belong there, not few of its leaders amongst them, keep telling us they have the answers to the current economical crisis. Sofar they haven’t told us what these answers are and nobody really wants to know. Most likely they surround putting the weight of the crisis on the shoulders of the weak by laying off workers and lowering wages to save their businesses at the cost of Spain’s vulnerable social fabric. Meanwhile the government maintains its policy of modernizing the country’s laws while turning a blind eye on the growing costs of the downturn. Especially industry and construction are hard hit and they drag down everything else with them. You sometimes get the feeling our leaders are hoping a new bonanza will magically occur before it‘s time to call the voters to the booth. But that won’t happen this time, it's game is over. The working classes are preparing themselves to take the hit once again for what the powers have bestowed on them. History is so boring.

Money O.D.

The bailout and all the less often mentioned quantities that were pumped into the American economy and that according to sources sum up to something like five trillion dollars, have had the effect of an implosion. In stead of using this money to get back to business, as supposedly was the official government strategy, banks and companies have let themselves be overcome with greed. Money! they must have thought, beautiful fantastic all-important money, and so much of it! And so they decided to simply keep their share, perhaps raising the incidental turn-over related management bonus. After all, business is about making money, the more you can show of it the better you are doing. So if some buddy of yours inside the government decides to put taxpayers' money straight onto your account, then all your financial goals are miraculously accomplished and there really is no incentive for doing business anymore. Hell, you might loose the stuff again, given the state of the economy. Quietly sitting on top of your bailout share really is the best policy, every economist or market analist would agree. What actually happened last winter is that capitalism overdosed on its favourite drug and come summer we haven’t buried the corpse yet. Rather we pretend it's still breathing, with some government officials and other assorted magicians claiming they see improvements in the patient's condition. This is so ridiculous we'd better burst into laughter and look at the bright side: capitalism is dead and although the near future is looking bleak and dangerous, this is really the best thing that could have happened to us. Stay cool and stay put and keep your money in your pocket.

Disposable

The Chinese are coming to Barcelona. One by one they are taking over the shops. When I arrived here four years ago they already occupied the small todo a cien shops where everything used to cost one hundred pesetas, turned into miniature department stores for the wonderous plastic junk their country is producing. They have everything there, but the idea of having everything always scares me. Then they conquered the shoeshops to offer us the possibility of buying their amazingly unfashionable footwear and their more successful suitcases. Next came the bars, ever more of which are run by Chinese families. Enter a daytime bar and you probably will find a very Chinese looking young man struggling behind a coffee machine. Latest target are the fruit shops. Wherever a grocer’s can’t bear the burden of minimal profit any longer, a Chinese is stepping in to give it a go. Continuing business by lowering the standards of quality and price seems to be the preferred strategy, an old Chinese idea perhaps that appeals to households with growing problems to make ends meet. The Chinese do not seem to have a particular demanding vending style. Don’t expect any can I help yous, what are we looking fors or might I suggest our special offers. Whether you enter or not is up to you, they only act when you actually start buying. Going into a todo chino means browsing the rows in silence, giving yourself the sensation of fulfilling your plight as a consumer by purchasing crap for practically nothing which you know you are going to throw away soon, probably without even having used it. But that is just what shopping is all about, I guess, that you buy.

Mammon

Op de sprookjesachtige topontmoeting van afgelopen weekeinde in Washington was ook onze eigen José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero aanwezig. Daaraan was een zware lobby voorafgegaan. Spanje valt net buiten de G8 en hoort evenmin bij de G20. Hoewel er aanleiding is om Spanje een preferente behandeling te geven aangezien het land voor veel Latijns-Amerikaanse landen nog altijd de poort naar het Westen is en de VS sinds jaar en dag een warme belangstelling voor hun achtertuin aan de dag leggen, had gastheer George Bush overduidelijk geen trek om voor Zapatero een plekje aan tafel in te ruimen. Hier te lande werd er lustig op gespeculeerd dat de Spaanse terugtrekking uit Irak vier jaar geleden de voornaamste oorzaak van die onwil was. De pogingen van onze presidente del gobierno om toch aan het banket van Mammon te verschijnen werden ondertussen met medelijden en hoon becommentarieerd. Dat zou ons onder Aznar niet zijn gebeurd, merkte de Volkspartij niet ten onrechte op. Aznar was immers goede maatjes met George Bush. Om samen met W op de foto te mogen stuurde hij maar al te graag zijn leger de woestijn in. Gelukkig was er dan Nicolas Sarkozy om ZP voor gezichtsverlies te behoeden. Met Sarkozy zijn we dikke maatjes. Opeens vangt de Franse politie de ene etarra na de andere (gisteren nog topman Txeroki) en de kandidatuur van Barcelona als zetel voor de door Sarkozy geïnitieerde Unie van de Mediterrannee is door Frankrijk krachtig gesteund. En nu mocht Zapatero dan de momenteel door Frankrijk beheerde EU-zetel aan de borreltafel innemen. Dat de Nederlandse premier JP Balkenende opeens ook aanschoof was na alle inspanning en moeite trouwens een beetje een afknapper. Zo bijzonder waren we blijkbaar ook weer niet. Maar goed, het belangrijkst waren uiteraard niet de poppetjes als wel de schitterende beloften. Daar hebben me deze heren van wie sommigen elkaars bloed wel kunnen drinken niet minder dan unaniem tot een krachtige aanpak besloten die ons arme consumenten van de ondergang gaat redden. Het is te mooi om waar te zijn en dat is het dan ook niet. Wat is afgesproken is dat de rest van de wereld de Amerikaanse economie blijft steunen door via export naar het land van de onstilbare honger waardeloze dollars te blijven kopen. Dat daarmee heel de wereld mee de recessie in wordt gezogen nemen we maar voor lief. Het zal de heren regeringsleiders nauwelijks raken tenslotte. Wij burgers mogen het gelag betalen. Dat is geen nieuws. Wel nieuws is misschien dat niemand tegen was, zelfs Lula niet. Geen enkel volk kan zijn leiders nog vertrouwen. Gefeliciteerd maar weer.