Summary

The economic crisis is here. Spain is growing less and in a far worse manner than four years ago. In spite of the avalanche of negative figures (sharp fall in economic growth, abrupt rise in unemployment, rampant inflation, unsustainable foreign deficit, closure of thousands of companies, mounting default rates, tumbling confidence, rising mortgages), Zapatero and his economic ministers, Solbes and Sebastián, refuse to talk of a crisis and describe those who simply give things their proper name as “antipatriotic”. By denying that there is a crisis, they are failing to adopt the economic measures that Spain urgently needs. The Bank of Spain itself considers that the principal measure of Zapatero’s so-called “shock plan” is sterile. This crisis could have been avoided. Prestigious economists have been predicting that it would occur since at least 2006 by warning of the harmful effects of the economic policies of Zapatero, Solbes and Sebastián: excessive rise in public expenditure, tax increases, additional governmental intervention in companies (e.g. the Endesa takeover bid), politicisation and loss of credibility of the regulating bodies, absence of structural economic reforms. The majority of independent analysts are predicting a drastic reduction of economic activity and a striking rise in unemployment. With their mixture of arrogance and irresponsibility, Zapatero, Solbes and Sebastián are inexorably dragging the Spanish economy back to the times of massive unemployment and the resulting torment for millions of Spanish families.