Money at home, talent abroad? No!

“The exodus of doctors and nurses has doubled due to budget cuts in healthcare”... “The emigration of professionals mirrors the increase in unemployment”…, according to articles in the press published on August 7^th.

So much personal effort gone to waste! So much talent thrown overboard!... for having to inevitably comply with the conditions imposed by the “markets”. Europe and the United Kingdom are the only ones left that are still subjected to the dictates of the “rescued globalizers”, who now impose their conditions with no recollection of the past, to the extent that they appoint governments and create unsustainable social hardships in countries such as ours.

The fluctuation of stock market prices, the urgent austerity measures that prompt generalized depression, recession and a radical drop in non-essential consumption… and what is really serious, a bleak future for us all.

The funds (or rather, “lines of credit!”) granted us with so many obligations attached, are used for the banking institutions whose conduct has been less than exemplary…. while the pressure to pay off debts and lower the deficit still remains.

The excesses committed by some Spaniards must undoubtedly be moderated and avoided in the future. But without affecting the fundamental pillars of the Nation: education, healthcare, knowledge. The one thing that must always be safeguarded is talent: doctors and healthcare personnel who have completed their training; scientists and professors; well-trained professionals… This and none other is the basis of our prosperity and, in consequence, what has cost us so dearly (in economic terms, too) must not be subject to budget cuts.

Offering this talent, this ripened fruit, to other, more experienced countries (that also often promote this immigration) is the worst operation in which a sovereign state can engage.

Don’t allow this. Correct this error. The European Union needs for two or three of its leaders to make an about face and to put their houses in order.

Observe the deceleration in Germany. And the urgent and humiliating regulation of the speculation tormenting BANKIA… And the debacle of work and employment, with no incentives or subsidies… and instead of lending a hand, the European Central Bank has joined the rating agencies and experts who are fanning the fires.

José María Ridao had no qualms about underscoring this in his August 8 article in “El País”: “Those economists who fanatically support austerity policies to combat the euro crisis while ignoring its devastating effects on unemployment and poverty betray their fellow men”.

Correct this error. Present a Plan that has been well prepared and agreed by consensus, which clearly sets forth how, how much and when the financial demands will be met, rejecting inadmissible deadlines or terms that are incompatible with growth. A Plan that also clearly indicates how and when those responsible for corruption and/or illicit practices will be severely judged… and what intangible aspects will be safeguarded to ensure social welfare and sustainable development.

Discuss. Consult. Rethink this. Implement measures democratically. You’ve already seen that the “legal arbitrariness” of an absolute majority in Parliament breeds more problems than it solves.

Think of the future. You are forcing many people to leave Spain, some of whom still believed in your promises to create jobs.

Money, yes; talent no? Correct this. Otherwise, protests may reach alarming limits than no one desires.

Correct this.

From Greenspan’s slight smile to a simple gesture from Draghi…

Do you remember the effect that a smile from the impenetrable Mr. Alan Greenspan used to have on Wallstreet? If he looked serious, stock prices fell. If he smiled, stocks rose in proportion to the breadth of his grin…  

As was to be expected, the result wasn’t at all good: the catastrophe of 2008.  

Now, in Europe, our stock market fluctuations and risk premiums depend on a simple word or gesture from Mr. Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank.   

The BCE “sells” to national banks at 1%, to later “buy” Spanish debt at a much higher interest rate. This is intolerable.   

We demand radical changes and we don’t want the European and Spanish economies to be managed by “gestures”, but rather with well-founded actions.   

We’ve had enough nonsense!  

This concerns a Nation, not only a political party

It is incomprehensible that in order to save a few hundred thousand euros, budget cuts are being made in R+D+i, subsidies for dependent persons, and the salaries of university professors... while transferring thousands of millions to the banks. What happened to the more than 300,000 million euros that banking institutions have consumed at the BCE’s “bar”? Where are the thousands of millions that are “missing” from so many banks and savings institutions? 

Reduce the deficit and provide incentives without increasing unemployment and producing irreversible stress in Spain’s social fabric. 

We need a project for the future to provide us with the strength to endure progressively difficult conditions. I like to repeat that the future has yet to be written. But to do so, to build a future of solidarity that protects all human beings, without exceptions, we need to know the truth, see transparency in the behavior of public officials, and be informed of the diagnoses and the reasons for the treatments prescribed. 

Without health, education and knowledge there can be no encouraging plans for the future. 

Without explanations, without prior consultation, without flexibility, without the capacity to reconsider... the social environment will become progressively strained. Production models must be changed so as not to repeat the conduct that has led to “bubbles”, speculation, delocalization and exaggerated investments in security. 

Automatization and robotization cut jobs and manpower requirements while, at the same time, increasing the possibility for employment within a new context created by the new information and communications technologies. 

A country’s stability largely depends on its ability to “reestablish the balance”, which is typical of the middle classes that are capable of acting with generosity toward those below them and with firmness toward those above. It would truly be detrimental to threaten such a relevant social function in order to prevent greater inequalities and evils. 

Don’t fall in the “European trap” of stubbornly reducing the deficit, while only taking into account risk premiums and the “markets”. For a long time Stiglitz and Krugman have been warning us that budget cuts alone will never stimulate growth. 

Yesterday I promised to offer a series of “ideas” for change (the majority of them are obvious):

-Progressively raise income taxes, particularly with respect to high net worth individuals. 

-Radical transformation of SICAV variable capital investment companies, rapidly implementing control mechanisms, granting them tax breaks only when warranted, and preventing their funds from migrating to European tax havens. 

-Generalized and proportional wealth taxes, monitoring all deposits in Spain and abroad. -Ban short-selling on stock markets. -Immediate rectification of the fiscal amnesty measures that are counterproductive, unethical, and discouraging to honest taxpayers. 

-Energetic action on the part of the tax authorities against tax fraud. 

-Tax on financial transactions. 

-Reactivation of activities within the scope of R+D+i, education and healthcare. 

The destiny of the citizens of this nation is at stake and –forgetting the lack of solidarity during our immediate past- must be the result of the concerted action of everyone to put the markets in their place, put an end to the monumental fraud that the European Union has allowed rather than promoting correct action on the part of the European Central Bank and a rapid fiscal federation, in order to invent the future that we all desire. 

Yes: This concerns the interests of a nation, not of a political party. 

An entire nation can face the present challenges, within the European framework. A political party alone, no matter how strong its majority, cannot.