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Post by mouse on Feb 7, 2010 16:52:42 GMT
and this from 2008.....
Is The Spanish Economy About To Fall Off A Cliff?
Sets of gloomy statistics are beginning to make the crisis within the Spanish economy a little clearer although the picture developing isn't good news.
Described by the Finance minister Pedro Solbes as "the most complex crisis we've ever seen".
A combination of oil prices, the credit crunch and a sharp slowdown in exports to North America and within the Euro-zone.
The Spanish stock-market has fallen 27% since the start of June.
The Spanish government revised downwards growth forecast of 1.6 per cent for this year and only 1 per cent for 2009, down from 3.8 per cent in 2007. Unemployment will be 10.4 per cent this year and 12.5 per cent in 2009, up from 8.3 per cent in 2007.
More than 98% of home loans in Spain are priced off Euribor, the interbank interest ratethis rate has risen almost 1.5% since August" to a record high of 5.4%.
Some Spaniards are reported to be spending nearly half their incomes on mortgage costs. House sales fell 7% in the year to April, while mortgage lending plunged 14%.
But with home values tumbling – down by 20% on last year by the second quarter of 2008 it's not just the Spaniards, but the thousands of foreigners who have bought into Spain who are feeling the pain.
Last week Martinsa-Fadesa, one of the country's largest housebuilders, was forced to file for protection from its creditors (it owes €5.1bn but can't meet the interest payments). The five largest publicly-traded property companies are sitting on combined debts of around €30bn, and Martinsa-Fadesa's fall could create a domino effect through the sector, and then the economy.
Some 750,000 properties are for sale with few buyers. Prices are expected to continue falling until the excess in the market it bought up. (2010-11?)
Inflation has risen to 5%. Car sales fell 30% in May. Vodophone reported a first reversal in growth in Spain.
With many analysts thinking the Euro is overvalued by as much as 30% against the US Dollar, pressure on the currency from mounting bad debt and fears emerging over weaker eurozone countries' credit risks.(Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain)
The Spanish economy may be about to fall off a cliff.
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Post by randomvioce on Feb 7, 2010 18:15:48 GMT
and this from 2008..... Is The Spanish Economy About To Fall Off A Cliff? Spain is still in a far better position than it was thirty years ago though. The only reason it can fall is beceause it has a distance to fall. Before it joined the EU, it was at the bottom of that cliff.
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Post by mouse on Feb 7, 2010 18:20:10 GMT
and this from 2008..... Is The Spanish Economy About To Fall Off A Cliff? Spain is still in a far better position than it was thirty years ago though. The only reason it can fall is beceause it has a distance to fall. Before it joined the EU, it was at the bottom of that cliff. but this time it hasnt a building boom to help it out..and if tourism continues to dip...and so on....here hoping for better days
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Post by randomvioce on Feb 7, 2010 18:45:21 GMT
but this time it hasnt a building boom to help it out..and if tourism continues to dip...and so on....here hoping for better days Iceland is not in either the EU or the Eurozone, but they are on the edge of collaspe too. www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/05/iceland.creditcrunchIceland is on the brink of collapse. Inflation and interest rates are raging upwards. The krona, Iceland's currency, is in freefall and is rated just above those of Zimbabwe and Turkmenistan. One of the country's three independent banks has been nationalised, another is asking customers for money, and the discredited government and officials from the central bank have been huddled behind closed doors for three days with still no sign of a plan. International banks won't send any more money and supplies of foreign currency are running out.
People talk about whether a new emergency unity government is needed and if the EU would fast-track the country to membership. On Friday the queues at the banks were huge, as people moved savings into the most secure accounts. Yesterday people were buying up supplies of olive oil and pasta after a supermarket spokesman announced on Friday night that they had no means of paying the foreign currency advances needed to import more foodstuffsSo, Spain's problems are not made in the EU, but Iceland's only hope is to get into the Eurozone or it will be wiped off the face of the Earth.
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Post by Ben Lomond on Feb 8, 2010 19:09:54 GMT
Iceland's only hope is the IMF. NOT Euroland. Unless you think that the EU should be willing to bail out ANY non member state which is in financial difficulty? And while Spains problems were not made in the EU, those problems have been compounded by the straitjacket that is the Euro, which prevents devaluation, or interest rate manoeuvres. You do have such a simplistic take on things, don't you?
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Post by fretslider on Feb 8, 2010 19:12:51 GMT
Iceland's only hope is the IMF. NOT Euroland. Unless you think that the EU should be willing to bail out ANY non member state which is in financial difficulty? And while Spains problems were not made in the EU, those problems have been compounded by the straitjacket that is the Euro, which prevents devaluation, or interest rate manoeuvres. You do have such a simplistic take on things, don't you? I don't think we can burden ourselves with Iceland right now, Ben.
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Post by randomvioce on Feb 8, 2010 19:34:57 GMT
Unless you think that the EU should be willing to bail out ANY non member state which is in financial difficulty Whether or not the EU would accept Iceland or not is not the point*, I said it was their only real hope. The IMF will leave them high and dry, irrespective of what 'reforms' they can and will impose. As for Spain, any hope they have will only arise if they remain part of a stable currency. To devalue at a time when they need foregn currency would on the face of it seem like madness. They need the Euro more than ever. *I doubt they could be fast tracked into the EU, but where th
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Post by DAS (formerly BushAdmirer) on Feb 9, 2010 0:25:30 GMT
Perhaps Iceland and Spain should try to hire George W Bush as a consultant to get them straightened out.
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Post by iamjumbo on Feb 9, 2010 14:17:28 GMT
Perhaps Iceland and Spain should try to hire George W Bush as a consultant to get them straightened out. just as he caused the biggest economic collapse in the u.s. since 1929? with friends like that, you don't need enemies
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Post by fretslider on Feb 9, 2010 22:29:17 GMT
Perhaps Iceland and Spain should try to hire George W Bush as a consultant to get them straightened out. I don't think that's such a good idea. An internal SEC document suggests George W. Bush violated federal securities law at least 4 times in the late 1980s and early 1990s in selling Harken stock while serving as a director of Harken. This is essentially the same kind of activity that Martha Stewart went to prison for. I think George knew the president
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Post by clemiethedog on Feb 10, 2010 12:45:19 GMT
Perhaps Iceland and Spain should try to hire George W Bush as a consultant to get them straightened out. I don't think that's such a good idea. An internal SEC document suggests George W. Bush violated federal securities law at least 4 times in the late 1980s and early 1990s in selling Harken stock while serving as a director of Harken. This is essentially the same kind of activity that Martha Stewart went to prison for. I think George knew the president Let's just say that pappy made sure that the agents assigned to the case wen't too over zealous.
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Post by Big Lin on Feb 10, 2010 14:25:06 GMT
The sooner we get rid of these multinational institutions like the IMF, the World Bank, GATT, NAFTA and the EU the better!
They are parasites who live by exploiting the people of the world and provide NOTHING of any value in return.
They have destroyed economy after economy over the years.
I'd arrest the lot of them and string up by a rope from the nearest lamp-post for their crimes against humanity!
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Post by mouse on Feb 10, 2010 23:02:52 GMT
let me know when you have the rope lin....and i know a fair few others who will happily lend some muscle
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