On some creepy similarities

By Johnny D. Symon

For the first time in one and a half years, Spain's Zapatero met with Conservative leader Mariano Rajoy at Moncloa Palace last Wednesday. Basically the meeting was a waste of time as Zappo still doggedly refuses to implement strong labor reform, and seriously deal with his momentous Federal debt, yet even as they spoke together, the Spanish Ibex fell further still. An 11% drop in 4 days is serious cause for concern, yet, undaunted, Zapatonto refuses to acknowledge Spain's predicament.

"It is dangerous to be right
when the government is wrong"
— Voltaire

Shortly after the meet, Mariano Rajoy told the press that time was up, 2 years had passed with the Conservatives demanding action, and still sense and Zapatero remain estranged bedmates. Okay, I made that statement up myself to hammer down the point of Mariano's address. Basically he was saying that no meeting point or agreement on the most fundamental of problems facing the Spanish economy is forthcoming.

Nonetheless, King Juan Carlos said it again yesterday. He feebly called for "Unity"! When truth be known, action is what's required, unity is redundant. Strong action, unified or not, should be the order of the day, and Juan Carlos, as mentioned last week, has that very power yet he cares not to use it. His reticence leaves just one other option; a new Conservative government. After all, Aznar pulled Spain around when it had been devastated by a previous PSOE regime, therefore only the Conservatives can pull the next economic recovery out of the hat, for you see, there's "unity" and there's "unified purpose," both terms happen to be opposites in Spain's case, for when a nation gets a dose of disunity from its leadership, disaster is its only portion. A new leadership therefore, with unified purpose and a positive goal, is what's required. Nothing more, nothing less.

In my opinion, and sad to say, for I once had deep respect for King Juan Carlos, he alone is responsible for Spain's deepening crisis, for only he has the ability to dissolve parliament and call an early election. It's a sad state of affairs, because an early election would raise the hopes and aspirations of investors and marketeers enough to reinvest in Spain. Why? Because all major opinion polls project a Conservative win if an election were held today, and with the Spanish Conservative Party's glowing track record under Aznar, the financial world would feel more than confident to reinvest in Spain. And make no mistake, Spain, with a host of topnotch businesses and manufacturers, is well worth investing in, but only if Zapatero is thrown out, otherwise its pearls before swine.

Cries are ringing out declaring Spain the next Greece. Europa Sur believe that Spain is about to receive the same help afforded Greece, it's that bad. In my opinion though, Spain is much worse than Greece, for Greece is historically and notoriously unstable. Furthermore, its natural resources, industrial base, and workforce, pale into insignificance before that of Spain's. For a nation that thrived through 8 years of an Aznar government, to then experience complete disaster in just five and a half years under Zapatero, clearly points the finger of blame on Spain's present lunatic Left government. And that's exactly where the problem lies. Without a change of government, Spain will fall into total anarchy by the year's end.

Zapatero wishes himself to be known as a Progressive politician, yet progress and Zappo do not mix. Most folks get fooled by Zappo through believing the rhetoric behind the lie of Progressive Spanish Socialism, only when one ascertains the truth that Zapatero is practicing neo-communism can we begin to unravel and understand Spain's present cataclysmic condition.

When the European Central Bank announced yesterday that they would not be raising interest rates, so remaining at 1%, several market analysts breathed a sigh of relief on TV, all saying that had interest risen, Spain would have found itself in an even more untenable situation. It's a view I share with them, though I would however make a point that none of them made, which concerns Zapatero's decision to raise IVA in a few short weeks to 18%, a whopping 2% rise on just about everything imaginable. From buyers to transporters, manufacturers to transporters, to point of sale, and finally to bear down on the pocketbooks of Joe and Josephine Public. And that's my point;

If a European rise in the cost of borrowing presents Spain with a deeper dilemma, is not a sure-fire rise in IVA (a tax equivalent of the UK's VAT; Value Added Tax,) going to materialize in like manner?

Well, yet again, we need only permit history to be our witness. High tax nations always crumble, whereas low tax nations enjoy wealth and stability.

Zapatero mentioned a few months back, shortly after finally admitting there was a crisis, that he desired to inject Socialism into the world's Financial Markets. What an insane idea that is. But insanity and Zappo, unlike sense and Zappo, happen to be happy and familiar bedmates. His 2% rise in IVA will show up his presumed care for the poor for what it is, as ultimately the poorest of all are hardest hit when taxes rise. 2% more on a can of beans, a loaf of bread, a communion outfit, or school clothes, is a tragedy for Spain's poorest families. And make no mistake, there's a multitude of poor families out there, scraping to make ends meet.

Officially Spain's unemployed stands at a sorry 20.5%. This is a government statistic. In reality though the figure is much higher. They've already been caught out dressing half a million off the register. Worse still is the fact that more than 20% of Spain's salaried workforce are Federal Employees, making it the biggest Federal State in the world. Worse still is yet another fact that many unemployed no longer appear on the register because they're training to become Federal workers. The bottom line is that I place Spain's out of work figure to be closer to 6 million, and if I'm correct then the financial burden on business and taxpayers will become ever greater. Unfortunately the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, will come to light only when a Conservative government gets voted in, for that's what happened when Aznar entered.

A few years back in Germany I'd visit fruit and vegetable markets to find that the price of most everything was far higher than in Spain. Now it's the opposite way around. For under Zapatero, the price of fresh produce is 40% higher than in Germany. Strangely, much of that fresh produce is imported from Spain. Transportation costs must be taken into account, yet even that does not reflect at point of sale.

Socialism, Socialism, ah yes, Socialism. The term has always manifested itself, in any nation crazy enough to apply it, as all-out ruin, and the greatest destructive force to be unleashed on the poorest of society.

I believe José García Abad in his latest book entitled, El Maquiavelo de León (Cómo es realmente Zapatero), presented the best example of the authentic Zapatero I've seen to date. Machiavelli and Zapatero are one and the same. Being a yellow-bellied coward he avoids physical confrontation through, instead, pitching situations where other folks find themselves fighting it out with other parties on his behalf. Examples of this are too numerous to mention, but I sure do recommend Abad's book. Who knows, some who read it may well begin to see some creepy similarities between Machiavelli, Zapatero, and Barack Obama. For me it was loud and clear, and a fair warning for the future. They call for Unity yet division is always the end result; the loggerheads syndrome; divide and rule from a distance. That's where they're at. By no means an original concept though, the same thing applied 2000 years back and more,

"And if a kingdom be divided against itself,
that kingdom cannot stand."
— Mark 3:24

A strong nation, as with the Kingdom of Spain up unto March 11, 2004, can only stand unified and strong, division was Spain's key to destruction when Zapatero first entered office with a bang on March 14, 2004. Therefore, all assurances to the contrary needs must fall on deaf ears, as history is our greatest witness.

Yes indeed, I view Zapatonto and Barry White House as the Terrible Twins of cypher-politics, the Chicane and Disable of so-called Western democracy. As regards spiritual wisdom, they're simpletons, though far more deadly than a common stupid.

With David Cameron and the Conservatives forming a new British government, after 13 disastrous years of Marxism, I would normally be quite elated, but it's a hung parliament. I believe the last time this occurred was back in 1974. I don't like situations where a new government enters without a majority. In the case of David Cameron and the Conservatives, a British referendum on staying in the European Union could be difficult to pass in the House, for both the Labor Party and especially the Libewal Democwats, will strongly oppose it. For both of those entities, while professing to believe in democracy, stop short when they perceive that a democratic referendum may stop their Socialist World-building Dream in its tracks.

A hung parliament, in this case, reflects a general consensus throughout Britain, that whichever party's in power the result's always the same; Britain goes down, and they slip ever deeper into international obscurity. In other words, most Brits are past the point of caring anymore.

Maybe there is a glimmer of hope, however slight, that Britain's unfair electoral system will find its ride pimped into a shiny new proportional representation vehicle for the next general election, precisely because of a hung parliament. I reckon this is quite possible, for even although the Conservatives won, they have fewer seats than a defeated Labor Party. What an insane system that is. For me it's a reflection of archaic feudalism, of a time when only the elite few had a say in the affairs of that once great nation.

© Johnny D. Symon