Monday 1 October 2012

Hunger in Spain.

As our betters only now start to speak their minds freely, Steven Pearlstein (The Washington Post columnist) wrote for them "A manifesto for the entitled" (h/t Mike Norman Economics)

Not bad for a first attempt, but he forgot some things: "I am entitled to immunity from prosecution for breaking the law and regulations, for defrauding other investors and the public and for bribing the regulators".

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No prize for those who guess that local free-marketeers will inevitably object that perhaps (perhaps!) that describes the US rich. "In Australia things are different."

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Sure they are. In Spain, too, things are different. While the Spanish people need to bin-dive (a new sport where you "dive" head-first into rubbish bins left outside supermarkets to retrieve whatever you find edible), the son-in-law of HM Juan Carlos I, Iñaki Urdangarín is being tried on charges of "defrauding the exchequer, falsifying documents, misappropriation of public funds and prevarication".

His father-in-law himself was in the news as well, last April. His Majesty, president of the Spanish branch of the World Wide Fund for Nature, broke his hip while on a hunting trip in Botswana:
"Shoots with Rann Safaris cost upwards of $8,700 (£5,500) a week, with an elephant costing a further $15,000 to kill. A day out with professional hunter Jeff Rann, pictured with the king, costs a further $2,000." (See here)
So, when our esteemed right-whingers start whingeing about the Spaniards being corrupt, lazy and used to living beyond their means, I am sure they will be talking about cases like these.


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