Spanish protest against austerity, grim economy

Thousands of demonstrators assemble after a protest at Puerta del Sol plaza in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, May 13, 2012. Spaniards angered by increasingly grim economic prospects and unemployment hitting one out of every four citizens protested in droves Saturday in the nation's largest cities, marking the one-year anniversary of a spontaneous movement that inspired similar anti-authority demonstrations across the planet. / AP Photo/Alberto Di Lolli

(AP) MADRID - Spaniards angered by increasingly grim economic prospects and unemployment hitting one out of every four citizens protested in droves Saturday in the nation's largest cities, marking the one-year anniversary of a spontaneous movement that inspired similar anti-authority demonstrations across the planet.

The country's Interior Ministry said 72,000 people marched against the government's tough austerity measures in Madrid, Barcelona and six other large cities — but protesters claimed the turnout was much higher.

The epicenter of the protest was in the capital of Madrid, where at least 30,000 people flooded into the central Puerta del Sol plaza in the evening, vowing to stay put for three days.

Authorities warned they wouldn't allow anyone to camp out overnight as protesters did last year but the demonstrators stayed put after a midnight deadline to leave and more than 2,000 riot police on duty made no immediate effort to force them out.

"I'm here to defend the rights that we're losing and for the young people who have it so tough," said 57-year-old middle school teacher Roberto Alonso. "They're better educated than ever. But they don't have work. They don't have anything. They're behind and they'll stay that way."

At least 22,000 people demonstrated in Barcelona, Spain's second largest city. Marches were also held in Bilbao, Malaga and Seville, and sympathizers from other countries held protests across Europe.

The protests began May 15 last year and drew hundreds of thousands of people calling themselves the Indignant Movement. The demonstrations spread across Spain and Europe as anti-austerity sentiment grew.

Spain is in dire economic straits, prompting fears it may need a bailout similar to those requested by Greece, Ireland and Portugal. It is in recession, and unemployment stands at almost 25 percent — the highest among the 17 countries using the euro. One in two Spaniards under the age of 25 are out of work.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's conservative government has enacted deep spending cuts to reduce the national debt, but many people blame those measures for deepening families' financial plight.

Javier Colilla, a 27-year old university student, said he showed up to protest in Madrid because Spain's economic situation seems like it will spiral into chaos.

"We've had this crisis for four years, but it feels like it's just starting," the fine arts major said.

Colilla lives with his parents, sees zero prospect of getting a menial job after graduation and thinks he may never be able to buy an apartment.

"Right now I'm thinking my best option will be to go to Germany where I can wash dishes, make a little money and learn German," he said. "The prospects of getting a job in Spain are practically inexistent."

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[nonpolitico]

In the 1930s, the USA was in Depression, and people suffered.
Adolf Hitler and tha War, made the USA the richest country in the world and the main manufacturer of the world economy.
That kinda faded in the 1960s and 70s, but US still is top dog, and the beacon the rest of the worls aspire to.
When this recession ends, problem is, will it end for the average American Joe and Jill??? US Business has been busy selling off to China with little thought to the future. The old Guys and Gals in charge of finances today will not be around long enough to see the USA re-emerge to its dominant position, but the young who inherit it will speak a different USA than todays!
Me? I NEVER bet against the USA, (whoever is President), because all the progress, ideas and civilising influence in the world this past 70yrs, has come from the USof A!!! Don`t ever forget that, for NO OTHER NATION has done as much good to the world simce 1776. Believe it!!

[fedup12]

I know that the people that create jobs want a cheap labor force.

And labor wants a fair living wage.

There is a happy medium here and we need to find it.

You tip the scales one way too far and you get an unhappy populace. Which is what you see today.

[rightbehind]

They need to start planting their victory gardens now.

[Nikos_Retsos]

The high peaks and the bottom lows in the U.S. and Europe show the defective genes of free capitalism - JP Morgan Chase style- where billion are lost in the blink of the eye. Europe's borrow and spend recklessly has come to a halt, as the recession has made unable for countries to pay back their loans. Greece is the worst case, but I expect Italy, Spain, and Portugal to go through some painful restructuring as well.

I do, however, believe that restructuring will be just a bandage. I feel the whole Europe must adopt the Scandinavian socialist system. Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland are not going through the pain that Europe and the U.S. do, because their socialist systems are rock solid! That is why they don't go through the typical highs and lows periods of euphoria and then recession and depreciation cycles. The fine point? Scandinavian governments are controlled by the people, not by Wall Street type conglomerates and military and industrial complexes!

President Dwight Eisenhower admitted it on his speech to the U.S. congress in 1956, and warned that change was needed. But nothing has happened. The U.S. and Europe, therefore, stay in the roll-coaster of mammoth commercial, industrial, and defense conglomerates, while the Scandinavians live in the sunshine of real democracies built straight from Aristotle's designs in which the people rule - not the rich magnates and the speculators! Nikos Retsos, retired professor

[hypnotoad72]

Even Ayn Rand scorned the wealthy:

http://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/middle_class.html

Ironic...

[josephp5]

The protests in Spain are driven by the same cause as the Occupy Wall Street protests, the crisis in Greece, the French election of Socialist Hollande over Sarkozy, and other protests worldwide.

It is people determined to show that they will not tolerate a system where politicians sell their vote to the highest corporate bidder.

[hypnotoad72]

That does appear to be the case...

[hypnotoad72]

"buy an apartment"?

It's cheaper to rent one and less expensive to maintain...

[yesyesyesnono]

You obviously don't live in Spain.

[involved_indi]

Socialism & lifelong entitlement programs don't work. California is now in the beginning stages of finding that out.

[hypnotoad72]

Very true.

Here are some more welfare and redistribution of wealth programs you're in the dark about:

Do people know ALL the reasons for budget shortfalls, and lack of prosperity, and need for welfare, include
(a) jobs going offshore or being automated (meaning fewer people with jobs to tax, and it hurts our trade deficit as well since we're not making or servicing anything)
(b) SMBs failing due to large competition being allowed to destroy them with predatory tactics
(c) all the corporate subsidy (corporate welfare)
(d) corporate subsidy going to corporations THAT offshore


The class war, incidentally, started when the management demanded workers take pay cuts, train their own cheap H1B replacements, lost jobs due to illegals (who are also used to drive down wages...)

More information:

http://www.epi.org/publication/ib330-productivity-vs-compensation/
http://www.realitybase.org/journal/2009/3/10/the-american-dream-died-in-february-1973.html
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/28/where-the-productivity-went/
http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2010/01/vicious-cycle-stagnant-wages
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/04/opinion/04krugman.html?_r=4
http://www.ctj.org/html/layoffs.htm
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/opinion/01eggers.html
http://greatdivide.typepad.com/across_the_great_divide/2009/06/walmart-workers-on-welfare-lets-look-for-the-spin.html
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2011-09-13/census-household-income/50383882/1

http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Media/Slideshow/2012/04/04/Minimum-Wage-and-What-It-Buys-You-1950s-to-Now.aspx?index=1
http://www.hollandsentinel.com/opinions/x13292164/COLUMN-American-workers-got-what-they-deserved
http://underthemountainbunker.com/2011/03/31/senator-bernie-sanders-guide-to-corporate-freeloaders/
http://www.truth-out.org/top-us-corporations-outsourced-more-24-million-american-jobs-over-last-decade/1303196400
http://www.ctj.org/html/corp0402.htm
http://money.cnn.com/2008/12/19/news/companies/auto_crisis/index.htm
http://www.sociology.vt.edu/course/socprobs/corporatewelfare.html
http://popwatch.ew.com/2011/05/02/undercover-boss-season-finale/
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/career/supervisor-wants-employee-to-quit-part-time-job/2902
http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/case/hiring-illegal-immigrants.html
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=6283
http://ecosalon.com/squawk-our-tax-dollars-help-mcdonalds-hawk-chicken-in-europe/
http://drich13.newsvine.com/_news/2011/03/20/6307764-study-governor-walkers-budget-will-cut-21843-jobs-could-actually-hurt-state-economy
http://www.progress.org/cwfedex.htm
?http://www.infoworld.com/d/adventures-in-it/why-us-it-jobs-arent-coming-back-465?source=fssr
http://www.infoworld.com/d/the-industry-standard/beware-the-plot-increase-the-h-1b-visa-program-269
http://hubpages.com/hub/HowH1BVisaFRAUDiskillingAmerica?
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9133529/U.S._H_1B_workers_outnumber_unemployed_techies
http://www.ourfuture.org/corporate-welfare
http://mydd.com/story/2007/2/7/184312/5388
http://acsa.net/press/savearticlegates.htm
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2011/03/ronald-reagan-where-free-unions-and-collective-bargaining-are-forbidden-freedom-is-lost/
http://money.cnn.com/2009/08/28/news/economy/paycuts/index.htm
http://greatdivide.typepad.com/across_the_great_divide/2009/06/walmart-workers-on-welfare-lets-look-for-the-spin.html
http://www.larouchepub.com/other/2003/3045walmart_iowa.html
http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-to-grassley-were-still-using-h-1bs-no-moral-imperative-to-hire-americans-2009-3
http://www.google.com/search?q=americans+train+replacements+H1B
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJDhS4oUm0M
http://anti-union.blogspot.com/2008/11/greedy-american-union-auto-workers-and.html
http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2011/03/25/unpaid-jobs-the-new-normal/


http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/Rick_Santorum.htm#Corporations
http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/mitch_mcconnell.htm#Corporations
http://www.ontheissues.org/john_mccain.htm#Corporations
http://www.issues2000.org/senate/Judd_Gregg.htm#Corporations
http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/jim_demint.htm#Corporations
http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/Orrin_Hatch.htm#Corporations
http://www.ontheissues.org/Senate/Chuck_Grassley.htm#Corporations

"Voted NO on repealing tax subsidy for companies which move US jobs offshore. (Mar 2005)"


Offshore the jobs, pocket it as profit, then blame the workers.

Involved_indi, your ignorance is astoundingly bad.

[tepeterso]

They work just fine, the problems began with de-regulations and tax cuts that went to those hwo do not need it.