Why are we (Spanish) being pushed down with this new taxation?

I totally agree. It seems to me some people want to make us believe this theory: "You Spain/Greece/Iceland/Ireland/Portugal have lived beyond your incomes, you voted for high expenses and now, you are paying the consequences" , in this way, banks and bankers feel better, putting the blame on us, on certain countries.

Yesterday I watched a four-part documentary called "Meltdown" on youtube, and in the last part you clearly see how Iceland , which never before had been in financial troubles or engagements, had a very severe crisis and that every citizen in there owed 3.4 thousand dollars to pay off the debt, if I don´t recall the figure badly. The same applies to China, to my amazement , I was watching how many factories shut down, and the narrator said: "China was one of the first countries in noticing the tsunami from Wall Street" (not eaxctly that way, but sort of).

After that, it was a heartbreaking story about foreclosures in California, with people homeless living in camps, in the surroundings , in Sacramento, many camps, with whole families, then Dubai, then Spain, then Greece....so, do you think it is these countries´ fault? all at the same time? . That makes me think a lot and that is why I agree with Mutmekep.

 

The point, in my opinion is not that Sweden and Denmark have 25% of VAT, but that a weak economy may not bear a raise from 18 to 21%. I know that Sweden and Denmark are doing pretty well, though I have heard that even Holland, France, and Denmark are suffering a little bit, probably not so much as many others, but still struggling a little, so, according to your theory, Holland and Denmark did spend a lot too.

THE FACT IS THAT ICELAND, CHINA, SPAIN, CANADA, FRANCE, UK, IRELAND, GREECE, DUBAI, ITALY, USA, and so on and so forth, are struggling, and you still think all these countries have had high, reckless spending? ...By the way, this list is taken from the four-part documentary "Meltdown" in which it is said that there have been 1 million foreclousers , 1 million families homeless only in the USA!!. It talks too about companies shutting down in even Canada and France (unexpected for me) and China (unexpected for me too that China was struggling so hard due to this worldwide crisis)

What a coincidence that Iceland, Ireland, China, Dubai (housing bubble too, it appears in the documentary), Portugal, France (France has to collect 33.000 million Euros to pay its debts), Italy, Greece..... what a weird coincidence, all spending a lot lately, just when cheap money was so easy to get.

Why aren´t Denmark, Finland, Sweden, or Austria struggling is a mystery to me.

It seems to me that someone did things very wrong, and I would like to know who?. Do you think it is all those countries´fault? It could be so, I just want to get deeper and deeper to know the thruth.

Then, the tax payer, the ordinary people, has to pay the mess, that, according to you was provoked by all thos countries speanding so much.

Then, the banks are bailed out by, unlike I was expecting, they (the banks) won´t lend money again to people and businesses so that they can start from scracth again, so that money can flow into real economy. Because, let´s not forget this very simple fact: without credit flowing, economy will die, countries´ economies will die, because the banks won´t lend money, and the people and factories will fire people, will shut down, more unemployment, more angry people, that is very dangerous.

From my view, the 1% was doing well with all the profits they had, but they failed to gamble too much and now, the 99% knows what is happening, because I don´t believe, really, that is not countries´ expenditures fault, at all.

 

I know what caused Spain's problems thanks, and the huge Spanish national debt is a big part of the problem. Spain simply cannot service its debts. But if Spain doesn't pay (and it can't) everyone else's taxpayers well into the future will need to cough up. That is both odious and immoral. Politicians and bankers should be stripped of their status, pay and generous perks for allowing the cheap credit bubble, and for allowing countries which were totally unsuited into the eurozone, but of course they won't be.

 

When a country outlives it's usefuleness the Powers that Be will move to collapse it via Economic, Faminie, and even Civil War.

It you feel your country is on the brink of 1 or all 3, then I suggest you think of moving out of that country.

Just don't come to America, because we are experiencing 2 of those, and the Civil unrest is coming.

 

I am sorry, but it is the people of those countries fault. They continued to vote for goverments which were wildly spending abover their means. The continued to take high benefits, they continued to allow a huge public sector to blow out and the took their money and kept their eyes shut. The data was there all the time for people to see. Economists were ringing alarm bells for a very long time, but nobody chose to listen. But you took the money and now it has to be paid for.

The issue is that this is only the begining. A lot of the bailouts do not clear the debt, it mearly pays the interest. The debt problem will still be there and have to be dealt with now or in the near future.

 

Ireland consistently balanced its books through the noughties until the crisis hit, the government did not wildly overspend, Amoung developed nations we were at the very bottom with regards to welfare spending as a proportion of GDP, and we had a government debt of 25% of GDP. Where was the government "wildly spending above its means"?

Me thinks you have been parroting too much uninformed BS.