Does Spain have any future?
I been living in Spain for 6 years, it is a wonderful country with so much to offer. Great wine, lots of good food and breath taking landscapes which changes as you drive up through the country. It is no wonder that people from different parts of the country feel so different, it’s like they are from different countries. Sadly they have never learned to live with their differences and at the same time work together building one strong and united country. The recent problems in Barcelona is proof of that, and in the Valencia region where we live you can feel the same tensions. In fact, in Valencia, a Spaniard from the northern parts of Spain, or even Madrid, is consider a foreigner just as I am, being from Norway. It is crazy.
The situation is so bad that Valencians schools now are forced to focus mainly on the Valencian language, which is different to Spanish. Some schools will hardly have Spanish language education. This mean that these kids when they eventually graduate are limited to Valencian universities. Lacking Spanish skills mean they cannot apply to a university in Madrid for example. And it’s not that they don’t speak Spanish, but they don’t have the right exams to qualify.
Moving to Spain have been an experience. I have learned so much. On the positive side I learned that life is 10 times better when you slow down a little bit and instead of 70 hour work week you go out end enjoy good food and wine with your friends, which in Spain you do a lot. I still put in 50 hours per week, too much, but that is how it is when you have passion for your ideas. I also learned that you don’t need the latest fashion or gadgets to survive, people just don’t care where we live (costal town, so more relaxed than a big city of course).
While the way of life is great in Spain, my negative list for Spain is getting longer as the years go by. I will not go into details on my personal stuff, renovating a house and starting a business in Spain was probably stupid, but it made sense at the time. The real challenge in Spain is that the country is on the verge of financial collapse, their social welfare system does not have the financing in place to cover ongoing cost, and forget about the future, the country can simply not cover its future cost. To try and raise some much needed funds they have started to target foreigners living in Spain, with high taxes and in some cases unfair taxes. The result is that anyone with assets stay clear of Spain, most instead settle down in Portugal which have a friendly tax system for foreigners. I am considering the same, and I am not even wealthy. I know for a fact that they money I pay in for my retirement I will never see again, they are being spent the moment I pay them.
While I worry about the future the average Spaniard don’t seem to worry at all. Their credit cards are back working which mean they can again have their daily stop at the local bar. Not that different from the rest of the world, most people in the western world seem to be living on credit. But I cannot help thinking that someone should tell them to save for a rainy day, which we will see sooner than later, the next financial crises are much closer than we think.
