Here is my postcard! There is a number of things in play with the Euro crisis and periodic coverage.
First thing is the UK media. They are very fickle and tend to pick up on news stories that are flavour of the moment. Some stories that should be covered get very little perhaps because the country doesn't speak English and therefore is considered to be of little interest. The horrendous floods in Japan are a good example 30 inches of rain in 72 hours makes the British "downpours" look like spots of rain but barely got coverage. Why? London Olympics security scandal more "newsworthy" and easier to cover from London offices?.
Second reason is that there are periodically prompts to bring back the Euro Crisis into the news. It hasn't ever gone away. One example of a prompt is the monthly useless meetings the euro leaders have at the end of each month. Another is the rates the money market make countries pay for their regular borrowings to feed their debt habits. Recently Spain has had to pay 7% whereas Germany is only paying say 2%. A reflection on the lenders confidence in repayment ability. These bond auctions happen periodically and quite rightly are a prompt to news rooms to bring the crisis back into prominence.
Here in Spain, I can tell you it hasn't gone away. Our(Conservative) Pm was elected on NO ELECTION Manifesto except he would lower taxes. This month in order to get EU money to bail out Spanish banks which like other banks around the globe lent recklessly during the boom years(Spain had one of the biggest construction booms anywhere on the globe), the PM has had to go along with Brussels conditions which include:
VAT increase from 18% to 21%
Yet more cuts in public spending
Yet more cuts in public pay
Removal of unemployment benefit if they suspect you of working on the black (in the past they had to prove it)
These total 65 billion euros which is a lot compared with the cuts other countries have seen.
Subsidies of 300 million euros a year to Spanish coal mines are to be slashed to 100 million effectively puitting the jobs of 30,000 miners on the line. When the mines close, Spain will be able to buy coal cheaply from outside the EU and with the money saved pay ex miners dole (for a while then their families are expected to support unemployed folk here) The miners understandably have marched on Madrid. Understandably the police laid into them and other grubby do gooders who were protesting about the lack of jobs (unemployment is 24%)and the fact that the voted in government lied and has raised taxes despite its only election pledge.
Certainly the Spanish people are very interested in it. Raising VAt is seen as a tax on the poor. The top brass of Spanish companies like Uk ones, have been busy awarding themselves record pay increases despite presiding in the most over failing companies.
I think the euro crisis should interest everyone. In my view it is an economic train crash happening in front of our very eyes. Without Europe consuming the global markets will go back into recession yet folk living in the likes of Spain, Italy and Greece haven't got spare cash to flash around like they used to five years ago. They won't have either unless they leave the Euro. Germany doesn't want that unless they can leave second!
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Topic: Euro Crisis ?? (Read 3010 times)