Nothing to be afraid of

During the long reign of the Socialist Party in Spain, public-funded education has taught nothing more than the wonders of the Government and its pure and fair intentions. Private initiative and self-improvement were, and are, seen as “selfish”. That is wrong. No bureaucratic elite can match a free society’s will to improve. Bureaucrats want us to see them as a necessity, as the thin line between safety and chaos . If only Spaniards were bold enough to put that to the test, they would find out that there is nothing to be afraid of.

Goverment’s idea of freedom (from http://aym.juntaex.es/home)

(Spanish) Nada que temer

Bring on the crisis

Governments usually fall when the economy deteriorates. In Spain, it does not really matter. The main opposition party campaigned hard against the government before last March’s poll in economic terms but they lost anyway. Spain’s inflation stands at 4.7pc, house prices have fallen 15pc since September and unemployment will hit 10pc in just few months’ time (Daily Telegraph, May 30 2008) The current-account deficit is the worst in the developed world. But Spaniards are not fans of liberalization and reforms are not on the way. They might not care about economics but they are sure to feel the effects of the crisis very soon.

Too much building… (from www.sevillahousing.com/)

(Spanish) Que venga la crisis

Responsibilities

There can be no freedom without responsibility. Fat people in Britain tend to blame full-fat milk and chocolate for their condition; anxious liberals blame cheap alcohol for England’s massive binge-drinking problem. It is not that they actually buy these products and consume them voluntarily. It is not that they used their bank’s overdraft to purchase a 42″ flat TV because they wanted but because the bank offered overdraft in the first place. It is way too easy to blame others for one’s faults.

Next to the biscuit’s aisle (from From http://www.diabetes-diabetic-diet.com/)

(Spanish) Responsabilidades

It is expensive… because it is expensive

The World is not running out of oil. Recent findings will make Canada and Brazil as large producers as Saudi Arabia, and they are likely to run their business much better than the bureaucratic leviathans of Venezuela and Russia’s public-owned companies. Oil is expensive because some speculators believe it will get even more expensive soon thanks to other speculators. The balance of demand and output is not worse than when oil was purchased at $20 a barrel and prices will drop, even if they reach $300 first, as Yahoo! shares peaked at $250.06 in January 2000, not because the company was sound, but because everybody else was buying it shares.

From http://www.stuff.co.nz

(Spanish) Es caro… por que es caro

Too good to win

Britain realised last Saturday something that the rest of Europe had known for decades: Eurovision is not about music but politics. British believe in fairness and their last position in last Saturday’s stravaganza sparked a row as they believed their song was good enough to win, which is actually true. The European Union and Russia are not keen on free voting and transparency so nobody expects Eurovision to be fair. Instead of laughing at it, like the very successful Spanish participant did, they decided to go for the prize. One expects a bit more wisdom from across the Channel.

Spanish contender Rodolfo Chiquilicuatre in action

(Spanish) Demasiado bueno para ganar

Believing is not enough

Britain is full of public government campaigns, not only to remind us of our duty to pay taxes, but also to eat five fruits a day, reduce our drinking, drive safely, moderate the consumption of sunflower oil etc. Britain is not only the most watched country by number of CCTV cameras, but it is also a country which government pretend to know how to rule our lives better than ourselves. Gordon Brown, the unelected Primer Minister, might believe in individual initiative and responsibility as Britain’s engine, but bullying people is not the way to put his ideal into practice.

The 2007 NHS anti-smoking campaign. 774 complains were delivered to the Advertising Standards Authority (BBC News, 30 April 2008)

(Spanish) Creer no es suficiente

Liberty to fight for

It is too easy to turn to governments in search of security. In Britain, new DNA databases and ID cards promise to save us all. They say there cannot be freedom without security. Governments wish to trade their responsibility to our security for something that does not belong to them: freedom belongs to individuals, not to a distant bureaucratic elite. If the Free World is to win its struggle against extremism and oppression, it will need something to fight for.

(Spanish) Libertad por la que luchar

Balancing budgets

Personal debt in Britain surpassed the country’s GDP in 2007, totalling £1,423 bn (Credit Action, 1st May 2008), an average household debt of £9,216 ($18,277) excluding mortgages. Low interest rates are usually blamed but applying for a loan and a credit card is not mandatory. It is easy to blame the Bank of England and modern finance but they just offer tools that need to be used wisely. British have been living beyond their means for too long, counting on an ever-lasting housing bubble to back their debt and purchase goods that they could not afford. The country’s public finances are in shambles and the Britons demand a balanced budged to the government. They could start by balancing their own personal finances.

From http://sidereus.org

(Spanish) Cuadrando presupuestos

The global cooling of global warming

Climate Change, rebranded from Global Warming as it turned out to be no warming after all, peaked in popularity in 2007 when Al Gore secured the Nobel prize. Back then, housing markets in the US, Britain, Spain and Ireland reached a decade-long high. With low unemployment and interest rates and inflation under control, Climate Change was the main topic in every conversation and news bulletin. Now, after the US-led end of the bonanza, those who predicted the apocalypse are too busy worrying about their mortgages. Their priorities suddlenly look clear.

From www.detnews.com

(Spanish) El enfriamiento del calentamiento global

Silence for oil

It might not be easy because Russia’s control of Europe’s main oil and gas supplies but it would be the right thing to do. It is certainly harder than dealing with Zimbabwe, which regime has rightly received strong verbal attacks from the European Union for its lack of respect for Human Rights. It is interesting, and sad, to see how European Union’s verbal strength dilutes in oil and some of its members have signed bilateral agreements with the Kremlin to guarantee their own energy supply. The silence of many of its members regarding oil-powered Russia’s worrying record on liberties says much more about Europe’s commitment to freedom than its attacks to third-world Zimbabwe.

Mr Putin and Mr Medvedev, from www.minnpost.com/

(Spanish) Silencio por petroleo