Monday, September 29, 2008

Madrid Feels The Pinch

Just in case anyone gets the impression that I´ve thrown in the towel and gone into permanent exile, let me pick up on something that I didn´t find time to post on before I left Madrid. The chill winds of economic crisis are blowing hard across the meseta of central Spain and have now made it as far as the gates of the capital. The occupants of that fine palace overlooking Cibeles have done their calculations and realised that something has to give. What will it be? Maybe they´ll have to reduce the capacity of that glorious Olympic stadium for those games which have yet to be awarded to the city? No don´t worry, Madrid has an administration which knows where it priorities lie, so the axe has fallen instead on residences for the elderly, sports facilities for the barrios and nursery education. There are those who like to present Alberto Ruiz Gallardón as a social democrat who just somehow took a wrong turning when it came to choosing his political party. How wrong they are.

3 comments:

Tom said...

The way this is going, they'll be lucky to have any money to spend at all. Long live the Market, eh?

Troy said...

Gallardon as a Social Democrat...that is a perfect image for a wolf in sheep's clothing. We must remember that he was hand picked by none other than Fraga himself to be vetted to become a leader in his newly created PP that rebranded itself from its fascist ashes.

These people are hell bent on privatising everything they can before hopefully being thrown out of office once the people realize that all the hospitals have somehow become private and that Medical Insurance isn't so welcome an expense in times like these.

Graeme said...

It´s the salami slicer method, you privatise one slice at a time until one day everybody suddenly realises their public services are no longer as public as they used to be.