Last November 79% of us said that Portugal would be next for an EU-bail out.
The only thing that surprises me is that they managed to drag it out for another four months before it actually happened.
Stormlight
3 hours ago
Thursday, 7 April 2011
And the audience said...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
14 comments:
So, do you reckon Spain is next or Belgium Mark?
We seem to have started the old game of "Spain will not require a bailout" chitchat... and having no government does not help Belgium.
Perhaps Rumpy Pumpy should do the job, he's becoming a laughing stock!
Sue, good question, that'll be next week's Fun Online Poll - Belgium, Spain, Italy or 'other'.
Sue
IMHO it will be Spain. Belgium is in anarchy and has been for almost a year. Belgium is doing rather well.
But the biggest clue will be which country's political parasites start stating publicly that they don't need a bail out.
According to the Slog Spain is too big a country to bail out. I certainly hope so as the Spanish could turn out to be the heroes of the century who took down the Euro and hopefully the EU.
From the anecdotal evidence i've heard, the cash economy & tax avoidance sector in Spain is booming so my money would be on Spain.
As you know, I live here and things are pretty dire. Most of the Brit businesses have gone, even those that were really successful. They've all packed up and gone home. They can't sell the properties they bought in the boom years for enough money to cover their mortgages. So they all stand there empty.
There are half finished building sites all over the place. Even behind me there are rows of shells waiting to be completed. Rents are low and it's a good time to buy if you have cash!
The corruption has been pretty bad, even in the town where I live, the major stands accused of accepting bribes. The Spanish can't help themselves, under the table business is a way of life.
Most jobs are off cards, so the government is not collecting taxes and the teenagers all sit in a field outside down snorting cocaine because there's nothing for them to do.
William.. another sign I think is that Zapatero is not standing for re-election. Saves the humiliation I suppose.
Spain certainly.
Just bought a new machine from a long standing supplier over there - the owner reckons his country is completely screwed and the black economy is rampant.
It's about the right time then for Spain to have an LVT.
It would prevent future bubbles, and be next to impossible to avoid.
It just needs the LVT => CD to be setup. Of course 99% of the C.D. would be taken up paying interest, but over time that may drop and focus minds on fiscal prudence.
Sue, thanks for input - that's what happens when a country taxes incomes too highly and a house price bubble bursts.
As AC1 says, LVT is the one tax which is easiest to collect, hardest to evade (but easiest to avoid) and has no detrimental effect on going out and earning money (if anything, it encourages it - how else are you going to pay the tax?).
Moreover, in the absence of their own currencies, LVT is the one method that Eurozone governments could use to control their economies. By setting the rate so they run a surplus, they can avoid having to take on loans from the IMF and so on. This can work with LVT (at the expense of the Citizens Dividend). But if you tried it with other taxes you would end up like Latvia, with huge income taxes and mass emigration.
D, Latvian income tax isn't too bad (25% or something) the killer is the 'national insurance' of 33%.
So 58% in total then. Legally there is a difference between income tax, payroll tax and NI but economically we all know that they are pretty much the same thing for the median citizen.
Bring on Spain.
Spain is in a different league from Greece, Ireland and Portugal. The amount of money required for any "bail-out" is simply too large. A more likely outcome is default.
Post a Comment