EIGHTH LESSON
Academic Essay
Spain is one of the countries which is still suffering because of the financial crisis which hit the world after 2008. The situation in the country is very difficult at the moment, especially for the unemployment rate that is higher than 20%, as latest data report (2011). Miguel Vega Lorenzo, interviewed by “The Guardian”, and teacher at Barcelona University, explains how Spain has been hit by the crisis and what terrifies Spanish people above all. This country has grown a lot during the last years but now there’s the same unemployment rate of years and years ago, it’s terrible to come back to the 80s for those who saw the Iberian Peninsula growing more than German and
European
average for more than 15 long years. What must be considered is the unemployment rate just one year before the beginning of the crisis, about 8%, which created, with an unstoppable growth, four million unemployed.
Lots of experts debate the origin of this disaster, but what everybody agrees with Miguel is that Spain was in the middle of a bubble in 2007. This situation could be compared to the English one, but while the former was a property bubble (the construction industry was the main factor of Spanish 90s growth), the latter was linked to all those financial companies active in the United Kingdom. Another big problem for Iberian economy was the rigidity of the labor market. So many people still work in the public sector, and the differences between them and the others is enormous. The first can’t be hired while the second have no rights at all, especially with the spread of temporary work.
As New York Times reports, Spanish people begin to protest against the helps the Government is giving to banks and property firms, while small businesses struggle to survive the crisis. But what the government is really doing? Zapatero tried to modify the labor market, to give a new political line (as concerns fiscal, social and incomes policy thanks to cuts) but his political opponents blame him for the slowness of these measures. Moreover the main question today, supported by the English journalist Jill Treanor is: “Do you cut to bring your deficit down or do you cut to grow the economy and to stop the recession?”.
Even if Spain will never receive a European bailout, like Portugal, Greece and Ireland, everybody thinks the Spanish one will be a long way to recovery. If Zapatero is able to change one of the worst labor market of the world, to reform the “Las Cajas” industry and to continue cutting Spanish debts, the country will certainly achieve its goal. Anyhow the future is full of uncertainties; the Prime Minister has already announced he won’t run for 2012 election. Will Mr. Rubalcaba, PSOE new candidate, and his opponent (supported by PP), be able to offer a new austerity election programme?
References
What could/should I correct?
Spain is one of the countries which is still suffering because of the financial crisis which hit the world after 2008. The situation in the country is very difficult at the moment, especially for the unemployment rate that is higher than 20%, as latest data reports (2011). Miguel Vega Lorenzo, interviewed by “The Guardian”, a teacher at Barcelona University, explains how Spain has been hit by the crisis and what terrifies Spanish people the most. This country has grown a lot during the last years but now there’s the same unemployment rate of years and years ago, it’s terrible to go back to the 80s for those who saw the Iberian Peninsula growing more than German and European average for more than 15 long years. What must be considered is the unemployment rate just one year before the beginning of the crisis, about 8%, which created, unstoppably four million unemployed.
Many experts debate the origin of this disaster, but what everybody agrees with Miguel is that Spain was in the middle of a bubble in 2007. This situation could be compared to England, but while the former was a property bubble (the construction industry was the main factor of Spanish 90s growth), the latter was linked to all those financial companies active in the United Kingdom. Another big problem for the Iberian economy was the rigidity of the labor market. So many people still work in the public sector, and the differences between them and the others (those who work in the private one: engeneers, lawyers and so on) is enormous. The first can’t be hired while the second have no rights at all, especially with the spread of temporary work.
As New York Times reports, Spanish people begin to protest against the help the Government is giving to banks and property firms, while small businesses struggle to survive the crisis. But what is the government really doing? Zapatero tried to modify the labor market, to give a new political line concerning fiscal, social and incomes policy (thanks to the cuts) but his political opponents blame him for the slowness of these measures. Moreover the main question today, supported by the English journalist Jill Treanor is: “Do you cut to bring your deficit down or do you cut to grow the economy and to stop the recession?”.
Even if Spain will never receive a European bailout, like Portugal, Greece and Ireland, everybody thinks the Spanish one will be a long way to recovery. If Zapatero is able to change one of the worst labor market of the world, to reform the “Las Cajas” industry and to continue cutting Spanish debts, the country will certainly achieve its goal. Anyhow the future is full of uncertainties; the Prime Minister has already announced he won’t run for 2012 election. Will Mr. Rubalcaba, PSOE (Partido Socialista Obrero Espanol) new candidate, and his opponent (supported by PP, Partido Popular), be able to offer a new austerity election programme?
References
