Spanish unemployment rate hit record high

[hellheaven1987]

Spanish unemployment has hit a new record high, official figures have shown.

The number of unemployed people reached 5,639,500 at the end of March, with the unemployment rate hitting 24.4%, the national statistics agency said.

The figures came hours after rating agency Standard & Poor's downgraded Spanish sovereign debt.

Official figures due out on Monday are expected to confirm that Spain has fallen back into recession.

Earlier this week, the Bank of Spain said the economy contracted by 0.4% in first three months of this year, after shrinking by 0.3% in the final quarter of last year.

Other figures released on Friday showed that Spanish retail sales were down 3.7% in March from the same point a year ago, the 21st month in row sales have fallen.

Source

1 of every 4 Spanish has no job... Seriously, how does Spain come to this crappy state today? How can EU save this coming Spanish crisis now?

[Thorn777]

How come? Rural patriarchal country transforming to a modern condo/services economy, reliant on cash-flow and consumer and investor confidence. These indiverse western economies are the first to go down the hatch.

Well we can also blame Germany for not building Spain into another Germany, France or UK.

[Atlassmurf]

Why? Because Europe has been focusing the last few years on equity investment and the cash flow of the consumer to be based upon events that matter too little. Europe should get back to producing stuff, rather than all the fiddling with numbers that´s been going on for too long.

[flonky]

How can EU save this coming Spanish crisis now?

Unfair. Trick question! But seriously, if Spain goes down, even if we can bail it out effectively (which is already doubtful), then that could well push other countries like France/Italy over the edge. If that happens, the hits the fan and I'm off to Australia!

Edit: Damnit Atlassmurf! Your photo is too damn photogenic!

[cookiemonster]

yeah the news for the Eurozone is getting even worst, spain is going down the toilet,
France is about to elect an socialist candiate who isnt commited to deficit reduction and wants to rip up the Euro zone's fiscal compact which requires Euro zone members to commit to vague fiscal responsibility in cutting spending, despite the fact that France has the largest state in Europe,

[Claudius Gothicus]

Because none is forcing Germany to make the cash machine work... print and all the problems will be solved. Printing money in a depression doesn't generate inflation so, it's that easy.

[Drustan]

Printing money in a depression doesn't generate inflation so, it's that easy.

You're joking, right?

[Kanaric]

You're joking, right?

It doesn't if you have economic autonomy and you set the price of all goods and services.



Look at the US we print as much money as we want and we still have all the guns and awesomeness that we should have. Want a new Jet? Heres a newly printed $100 billion that didn't exist before. I think we need to come to the realization that money has value and only fear and speculation chances its worth so long as those objects are changing hands that is all that matters. Supply and demand doesn't apply to money if the people and the government don't want it to.

10 years ago when my car came to the US for the first time it was worth $26k. Today, same car, same features aside from more horsepower, it cost $25k new. We spend trillions more on wars in printed money, the purchasing power is near the same or exactly the same. If manufacturing was forced to be here we wouldn't have any issues. Printing money means literally nothing unless you are some small euro childstate absolutely and totally dependent on others like in the EU yet want to act like a nation with power and resources due to your delusions of grandeur.

[flonky]

It doesn't if you have economic autonomy and you set the price of all goods and services.

Controlling an economy like that never actually works.

I think we need to come to the realization that money has value and only fear and speculation chances its worth so long as those objects are changing hands that is all that matters.

Money has no value (other, of course, than the cost of printing it). It's relative 'worth' must be backed up by the wealth of the issuer etc.

Printing money means literally nothing unless you are some small euro childstate absolutely and totally dependent on others like in the EU yet want to act like a nation with power and resources due to your delusions of grandeur.

Look up the Wiemar Republic, printing money didn't do them very good .

[Principe Alessandro]

It doesn't if you have economic autonomy and you set the price of all goods and services.

Economic autonomy? Does exist such thing? And how you can set the price of goods and services unless you adopt communism?

Look at the US we print as much money as we want and we still have all the guns and awesomeness that we should have. Want a new Jet? Heres a newly printed $100 billion that didn't exist before. I think we need to come to the realization that money has value and only fear and speculation chances its worth so long as those objects are changing hands that is all that matters. Supply and demand doesn't apply to money if the people and the government don't want it to.

10 years ago when my car came to the US for the first time it was worth $26k. Today, same car, same features aside from more horsepower, it cost $25k new. We spend trillions more on wars in printed money, the purchasing power is near the same or exactly the same. If manufacturing was forced to be here we wouldn't have any issues. Printing money means literally nothing unless you are some small euro childstate absolutely and totally dependent on others like in the EU yet want to act like a nation with power and resources due to your delusions of grandeur.

I'm not sure what you're trying to say but if you know enough the manufacturing industry you should know that the same product in 10 years becomes cheaper because the productivity increases dramatically for better manufacturing processes, if the car is cheaper only for 1k $ then we can safely assume that in fact you have a inflationary problem. In reality you should look at the prices of commodities like gas or gold which aren't tied to the productivity factor to have a real measure of the value of the currency.

The aggressive US monetary policy in reality is something new so you don't know yet how effective really is, in Italy we have experienced this for a long time and while it in the short-medium time can effectively relieve your economy in the long time cannot fix the structural problems.

The problem of the monetary policies is that they give you the illusion that the problem is gone but yet is here.

[Claudius Gothicus]

You're joking, right?

Also, see Bernanke's ''printing like boss'' policy in the FED during the last 3 years: almost a 0% interest rate and 2% inflation on an annual scale.

[Thorn777]

Which really works for the US with all the extras it has. Spains unemployment numbers always where high, and it wont solve a thing on their economy.

Thats when you start to need more and you get a real problem. A bit is in the making though. Germany had some mercy etc. But its more to prop up PIGS banks to make the next month.

[Claudius Gothicus]

Which really works for the US with all the extras it has. Spains unemployment numbers always where high, and it wont solve a thing on their economy.

Thats when you start to need more and you get a real problem. A bit is in the making though. Germany had some mercy etc. But its more to prop up PIGS banks to make the next month.

Well: if we see the numbers the USA has been going through an 8% to 8.5% unemployment rate for at least the last 8 or 9 months now.

It decreased, and mostly due to Bernanke's ''pump it again'' policy in regards to money. The other face of the problem, fiscal responsibility to pay the debt and finance the federal state, was blocked by the chaotic struggle in the House between ''keep the tax cuts'' vs ''crush the tax cuts'' crowds.

So for ideological reasons, and the mechanisms of a Federal Republic, the USA unemployment and GDP growth problems are going to have a ''slow solution''... which I hope speeds up once Obama gets reelected.

Europe on the other hand seems determined on solving it's recessions through cuts, cuts and more cuts. If we imagine that the economies of European countries are like ''living systems'', like ''organisms'' then the European Central Bank solution seems to be something along the lines of ''stopping a flu epidemic by not breathing''. I just hope that on the political aspect(and the solution to economic problems are always to be found on political will) the Social-Democrats of Europe regain ground, kick the Liberal-Conservatives out of government and proclaim a more ''monetary flexible'' policy while keeping the strict fiscal reforms that can direct future governments to be more responsible with their expenses and budgets.

[Condottiere 40K]

That's why the Iberians worked in other countries, until cheap credit created a housing bubble.

[Thorn777]

Problem in your analyzes starts when thinking of Europe as a country where there is one of set problems, and when thinking different currencies, the euro and $ getting similar treatment once inflating away.

[alhoon]

The problem for EU as someone else in this thread said is... can they cough up enough money to keep Spain afloat if it goes under? We (Greece) were the small fish in the pond. With Spanish industry faltering, huge unemployment and a population that won't sit idle to see efforts of a lifetime evaporate, EU will need hundreds of Billions to keep Spain up.
A painful of the banks bond swap would also mean hundreds of Billions lost for several banks and countries and the question is... can the banks stay afloat with a "Spanish haircut"? Or they will start falling one after the other triggering a pan-European crisis?

[flonky]

Spanish industry

Que?

can the banks stay afloat with a "Spanish haircut"? Or they will start falling one after the other triggering a pan-European crisis?

Do you by chance read the Economist? This weeks cartoon has an analogy of debt being hair...

[alhoon]

Hey, they have industry over there. They make cars, they have multinationals that Argentina kicks out, they had refineries that are closing etc.

[flonky]

Yeah. yeah. Spain makes stuff. It's the labour laws that are the real issue with regards to Spanish industry. Businesses are scared to hire new employees as they can't easily get rid of them if need be. A hangover from the aftermath of Franco.

[Sarissofoi]

Too many cheap credits too many paper money too much cheap money.