Spain is an impoverished country and they have given up solving it

Do you think that in Spain you have a standard of living equivalent to that of a developed country? I find it hard to believe. It is true that globally we are a developed country, but there are already countries that were not developed before and are beginning to overtake us on the right, even within the European context, such as Estonia or the Czech Republic.

Although it is true that due to the nature of our economy, it has been especially affected by the Covid19 crisis (which destroyed tourism, our main industry) and by the energy crisis in the European Union (where our main clients are). But despite that, yesWe are still stuck in an economic rut from which we refuse to get out.

We have not recovered from the economic crisis, but there are few people with a good standard of living

Leopoldo Abadía, the famous author of “the ninja crisis and other mysteries of the current economic crisis” once said that “Spain has a locomotive that always works, no matter what: tourism”. Well, in 2020 he showed that this was not true, and the economic damage was equivalent to what if we had gone to war. At the end of 2022 we had not yet recovered the GDP of the end of 2019.

In other words, we have not yet recovered from Covid when we are mired in what may be an energy and component crisis, caused by the post-pandemic restart of the economy and geopolitical tensions.

The Treasury data shows that there are few people with good income levels. Many Spaniards believe that they have a standard of living similar to that of the US, but the truth is that the Spanish worker is very far from having an income equivalent to that of his US counterpart.

In Spain as published The countryIf you earn more than 20,500 euros per year, you are in the rich half of the population. And if you exceed 44,000 euros you are in 10%. Yes, this is gross income, before taxes. According to publish the Tax Agency if in 2020 you earned more than 30,000 euros you were in the richest 25% of the country, if you earned more than 60,000 euros you were in the richest 4.2% of the country. By comparing the average salary in the US in 2020 was €52,107 per year.

That is, the average US worker in Spain he rubs shoulders with the Spaniards who are around the richest 5% in their country. According to Yahoo! Finance To reach the top 10% of the highest paid workers in the US, it was necessary to reach $173,000 in 2020. To reach the top 5%, you would have to earn $343,000. That is to say, In 2020, a worker in the bottom 5% in the US earned about six times more than a worker in the top 5% in Spain.

Many Spaniards can barely afford necessities that can be considered basic in other places

Inflation eats away at consumer savings. If many families managed to save a lot during the 2020 pandemic, the savings rate has dropped to 6% in 2022, according to a publication The newspaper. Inflation is eating away at the savings from the pandemic and we are likely to start to see restrictions on consumption.

Some time ago I commented that with the increases in energy prices, purchases in supermarkets and the Euribor of mortgages, it is quite likely that some families are beginning to see decreases in their quality of life, especially in terms of consumption of fresh products is concerned. But when we are here we start to have to tighten the belt.

According to a BC3 study, which for 10-14% of the Spanish population spending on transport is an excessive burden and for 2-4% of the population, some 500,000 households, the resources allocated to mobility place them in a context of severe vulnerability. There is talk of energy poverty, but being able to travel (to work, to the study center, to do the shopping) is a fundamental need for anyone.

While in Spain this week there is a discussion about whether to remove social assistance in energy for large families who earn more than 26,000 euros per year (as commented los media). The level is so low that we do not consider that a family (of three or more children) that earns 30,000 a year may need some support.

On the other hand, it seems that the government’s priorities are not to help them prosper, but to maintain the status quo for pensioners, even if it entails serious long-term economic problems. The fact that the biggest problem we have in Spain is unemployment and that it has given up trying to solve it, should give us an idea that there is little interest in fixing the situation on the part of our political and academic caste.

Growing again in Spain and beginning to end unemployment and improve the standard of living is something that is essential if we want to be able to continue enjoying infrastructure, education and health in the future (because pensions seem to be willing to do what we be in order to maintain them).

The economic situation and high unemployment should be what occupy the news and the parliamentary debate throughout the country at all hours, not small matters that hardly affect. There comes a time when you lose the desire to continue rowing in a boat in which the officers argue about the ivory tone of which they want to put silk sails.

Ask the readers, do you think Spain is a rich country? Do you think the political priorities are right?