Barrapunto

I can tell you why your article is totally wrong, and I'm not a Prize Nobel.

"So the only alternative is wage cuts"

Germany is about the same size as Spain. Unemployment rate in Germany is about 7.5%, about THE LOWEST RATE IN THE PAST 16 YEARS (Spain's is about 11.5% and the European Union have forecasted it will be about 20%!! by the end of 2009). WAGES IN GERMANY ARE ABOUT TWICE THOSE IN SPAIN. PRICES ARE ALMOST THE SAME.

Spain is almost like Florida, yeah. But we have already more developed zones and more depressed ones. So what you say about Florida getting funds from Washington can apply to Extremadura or Andalusia getting funds from Madrid or Barcelona. It's the same, but only in a minor scale. You are saying your country is better prepared simply because it's bigger... but there are a big amount of examples of big countries with good economies and big ones with very bad ones, and examples of totally the opposite. So your reasons don't seem valid to me.

Average (or, better than the median, the mode, those are, the most common) wages in Spain are between 800 - 1000 euros/month. PAYING OF MORTGAGES OR RENTS REPRESENTS BETWEEN 50 AND 75% OF TOTAL WAGE. PRICES ARE ABOUT THE SAME THAT THOSE IN GERMANY (and don't forget there's no housing bubble there, so housing is significantly cheaper in Germany). DO YOU THINK WAGES CAN BE CUT DOWN EVEN MORE?? PEOPLE HAVE TO EAT AND DRESS; DO YOU REMEMBER THAT?

We have already a big mobility. In my last job there were folks who travelled 70 km everyday to get there. I don't see the point of how those ones travelling from Barcelona to Madrid to work and those ones from Bilbao to Barcelona will help to improve the recession. Can you explain me, please? Oh, and "The housing bust has, however, reduced mobility because people can't sell their houses"... yeah, we have that here, too. Plus paying a rent isn't cheaper than paying a mortgage here. Oh, and for your information... here, if you abandon your house, you are not debt free, as in Florida. The debt will accompain you for the rest of your life.

I can tell you more personal experiences, which apply to many here in Spain, since I'm fairly average. I lost my job about one month ago. I had the biggest salary in my life. It was about 1/3 lesser than my father's one. I'm 30, he's 62. He has worked in the same company for the last 40 years. I've had 4 or 5 different jobs in the past 5 years. He attended only primary school. I have a degree in computer science. He doesn't speak English. As I said, I think what I'm telling you is farly representative of what happens in Spain. I think that could help to prove that cutting wages and "increasing competitiveness" (whatever that mean) don't seem to improve the situation. My mother never had to work out from home; my father could pay his house in less than 5 years... 30 years ago.

I understand you have to serve the lobbies which gave you your prize. But please, don't treat us like dumb people.