Good news for those living in Spain

[Pesky Wesky]

Good news for those living in Spain!!

British families are worse off than some of their fellow Europeans when it comes to the cost of fuel, quality of healthcare, life expectancy, education, retirement age, working hours and holiday entitlement.

According to The uSwitch.com Quality of Life Index .

WARNING - It does also say (in a fuller report, not here)
This year’s index does not reveal the full impact of the recession – this can be expected to show next year

Spain Is The Best Place to Live In Europe!*-*RTN Costa Blancas Free Newspaper - Round Town News

[Caz.I]

Originally Posted by Pesky Wesky

Good news for those living in Spain!!

British families are worse off than some of their fellow Europeans when it comes to the cost of fuel, quality of healthcare, life expectancy, education, retirement age, working hours and holiday entitlement.

According to The uSwitch.com Quality of Life Index .

WARNING - It does also say (in a fuller report, not here)
This year’s index does not reveal the full impact of the recession – this can be expected to show next year

Spain Is The Best Place to Live In Europe!*-*RTN Costa Blancas Free Newspaper - Round Town News

Hi Pesky,
I am just being half-glass-empty pessimistic or is this not just bad news for them, rather than good news for us? Plus, its the last sentence in this post that kind of worries me and seems to outweigh the good in the survey! Not to mention that your post is Numbered 666!
Caz.

[Tallulah]

666 posts?!? What a great opportunity to use this smilie then ... mwhahahahaaaa! (we know you're really an ... ).


I had to have a giggle at the "Scourge of the Phantom Diner" article...had my suspicions it could have been Steve Hall, until they provided a description...and of course the lack of getaway vehicle (the camper van!!).

Anyway........


Spain has long since been a place where wealth is difficult to generate than the UK or other European countries, but in balance, generating wealth in the UK and coming to Spain to spend it or enjoy one's retirement has long since been the favoured choice. It makes sense if you think about it. Imagine, having £300k and going off to live in India. I'm not suggesting Spain is like India, of course, but the cost of simply existing is less than the UK due to the economic models and particularly indirect taxation.

The fact that Spain was not long ago a bit like a South American country with people existing with very little money, has made it a popular target for those living close by - the bad news ... how long before Spain adopts all the economic models in the Northern countries and becomes less attractive to live in? Other than simply climate? Hopefully, for those who have external revenue a long way off! But the change as I'm sure most have noticed, has already started.

Tallulah.x

[Hombre]

It can't be that bad....we're all here !!!

[Tallulah]

Originally Posted by Hombre

It can't be that bad....we're all here !!!

Exactly Mr H!!

When my OH was a teen, he remembers driving back here on hols to visit his family. He was in a Ford Cortina Mk3, and you'd think he had a Bentley or something. Everyone thought his parents were wealthy!! Most people didn't have a car (had a donkey or a cow though!!) and those that did, had a clapped out Renault 4, 2CV, or if they were really well off...had a Fiat 127 which was seen as the sporty, speedy car around here! Mind you, those were the days of packed earth floors in houses, and the animals were inside - you slept in a room above for warmth! The roads other than the nationals, were more hardcore than tarmac. Poor lad.

As this was in the last 25 years or so, it's frightening when you consider how things have gotten since then. Bearing in mind that apart from all the good stuff (none of the above really anymore), there is also the reality that people then used to get on very nicely with smallholdings and a minimum amount of cash. Nowadays it's very different and I suspect in the next decade or so, cash will become king and smallholdings a thing of the past, as evident now with masses of land here that used to be cultivated and is now simply left and cleared up once a year, with all the inheritors working elsewhere. Oh well, hopefully the current model will remain where if you want to see someone specifically in the ayuntamiento, you have to go on a given day at a given time - unlike the UK where it's any day 9-5 and therefore indirect taxation will remain under the same logic as today - where we pay for what we get and once we realise it, we're quite happy to pay the lesser amount. Question of self adjustment, really.

I know where I'd rather be.

Tally.x

[Suenneil]

Hi

I agree in part with what Caz said - its perhaps bad news for those in the UK rather than good news for us here in Spain - and as always with this type of report its all relative isnt it ? ......... if you are here in Spain and only earning 1200 euros a month, or are out of work as many expats are at the moment .... then it doesnt really matter whats happening elsewhere in the World ... in your own World its rubbish !!!!!

I do think things are changing rapidly here in terms of taxation, costs etc and I do think this will impact greatly on any future reports in the coming years ... I do of course live in hope that those changes dont prevent me or anyone else from being able to choose to live here ...

Sue x

[Pesky Wesky]

Originally Posted by Caz.I

Hi Pesky,
I am just being half-glass-empty pessimistic or is this not just bad news for them, rather than good news for us? Plus, its the last sentence in this post that kind of worries me and seems to outweigh the good in the survey! Not to mention that your post is Numbered 666!
Caz.

Ok, let's get rid of post 666

Of course, of course Caz. I. It's just that I'd given the gloom and doom message yet again to another hopeful mover and I wanted to brighten things up a bit without being a total liar.So I found this article, but I knew that everyone would come down on me (quite rightly so) like a ton of bricks if I didn't put the small print about the crisis on.

What a great smilie opportunity this has been! Come on folks, get those smilies out!!

[Suenneil]

Originally Posted by Pesky Wesky

Ok, let's get rid of post 666

Of course, of course Caz. I. It's just that I'd given the gloom and doom message yet again to another hopeful mover and I wanted to brighten things up a bit without being a total liar.So I found this article, but I knew that everyone would come down on me (quite rightly so) like a ton of bricks if I didn't put the small print about the crisis on.

What a great smilie opportunity this has been! Come on folks, get those smilies out!!

Im always up for smiling Pesky!!! I bloody hate all the doom and gloom - it goes against my whole personality and reason for being!

oops couldnt post this at first cos Id apparently used too many smiley faces! lol

[Xose]

I think we can all relax. Spain will never follow the UK example - small town USA. Other than the NHS, and we'll see what happens there.

Hopefully Spain will follow France. Work ethic there is more of a social contract, as opposed to the UK where it is much more a commercial contract. Try getting a French man to work through lunch. Try the hire and fire ethic we have in the UK (I know what the law says about hiring in the next 6 months.... coblers - been there, done that... just change the title and you're sorted. As for the permanent contract theory - for the 1st year (used to be 2) you might as well be on a temporary contract because the rights you have are virtually zero. In France, once someone's permanent, it's a job and half to build up a case and get rid of them. Also, no temp/contract labour if the job is a proper post. Not allowed. The job's there, so hire someone.... it's ze law.

Spain.SA needs the minerals to realise that the direect to indirect employment in it's factory is a joke. The efficiency rating must be somewhere between 50% and 75%. It's effectiveness rating must be somewhere between 40% and 50%. If it was a factory it would have shut down years ago. The EU money is starting to dry up. It needs a new vision and a new GOAL. The goal, as we all know, is to make money - be it making computers or staples. The sooner Spain realises that, and stops taxing those who already earn the square root of bugger all, the sooner it stands a chance of joining the rest of the European contributing nations.

Champions league my arse. ZP needs to get a job - another job I mean.

So, I agree with Talli in that change is obvious and fast, and would add that the model followed will be the French Social employment contract and economic model. People will be first within the reality of commerce success being a must have (as opposed to more and more for the wealthy and more and more funccionarios and sod all for the workers) and we will all be happy as Larry.

Spain currently has a lead on renewable energy. The world (including Gordon yesterday) agree that this is the way to go.... or else. Let's hope they don't p!ss it away on 25 funcionarios to every wind/solar farm.

That's my theory

Xose

[Pesky Wesky]

Originally Posted by Xose

I think we can all relax. Spain will never follow the UK example - small town USA. Other than the NHS, and we'll see what happens there.

Hopefully Spain will follow France. Work ethic there is more of a social contract, as opposed to the UK where it is much more a commercial contract. Try getting a French man to work through lunch. Try the hire and fire ethic we have in the UK (I know what the law says about hiring in the next 6 months.... coblers - been there, done that... just change the title and you're sorted. As for the permanent contract theory - for the 1st year (used to be 2) you might as well be on a temporary contract because the rights you have are virtually zero. In France, once someone's permanent, it's a job and half to build up a case and get rid of them. Also, no temp/contract labour if the job is a proper post. Not allowed. The job's there, so hire someone.... it's ze law.

Spain.SA needs the minerals to realise that the direect to indirect employment in it's factory is a joke. The efficiency rating must be somewhere between 50% and 75%. It's effectiveness rating must be somewhere between 40% and 50%. If it was a factory it would have shut down years ago. The EU money is starting to dry up. It needs a new vision and a new GOAL. The goal, as we all know, is to make money - be it making computers or staples. The sooner Spain realises that, and stops taxing those who already earn the square root of bugger all, the sooner it stands a chance of joining the rest of the European contributing nations.

Champions league my arse. ZP needs to get a job - another job I mean.

So, I agree with Talli in that change is obvious and fast, and would add that the model followed will be the French Social employment contract and economic model. People will be first within the reality of commerce success being a must have (as opposed to more and more for the wealthy and more and more funccionarios and sod all for the workers) and we will all be happy as Larry.

Spain currently has a lead on renewable energy. The world (including Gordon yesterday) agree that this is the way to go.... or else. Let's hope they don't p!ss it away on 25 funcionarios to every wind/solar farm.

That's my theory

Xose

Very few smilies there xose - satisfactory, but could do better with a little more effort...

I don't like discussing politics on the forum, but as far as ZP is concerned all I will say is just look at the alternative.

Renewable energy is IMO the way to go and Spain could make this their trademark as much as the Swiss are renowned for cheese and chocolate. But there are some kind of restrictions at the moment on solar power farms. No more money to be invested in them at the moment or smth like that