Mark James Russell

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Category: Europe (Page 2 of 2)

Smells Like Freedom … Wait, No, That’s Burning Trash

March 29, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Today was the big general strike in Barcelona and across Spain. I swung by Passeig de Gracia in the heart of the city just after noon, when a few thousand people had gathered–enough to shut down the big road, but things were pretty sedate at the time. Mostly tourists taking pictures and protesters eating sandwiches, while the police nervously kept an eye on things.

(This boring pic is mine).

A bunch of protesters marched down Calle Balmes on the way to the main protest, setting off (large) firecrackers and trying to bully local businesses to shut down in solidarity of the strike. Some store owners argued, while others shut their gate until the protesters passed, then opened right up again. Stores owned and operated by immigrants all seemed to stay open–locals protesting for their privileges and entitlements, while new citizens work hard. Typical.

I guess things picked up later, because as I swung by a local market, I noticed a big cloud of something nasty drifting down Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes. Turns out protesters set a bunch of garbage bins on fire, in between spray painting bank walls and picking in windows. In my neighborhood, they just overturned a bunch of garbage cans, but nothing was lit on fire … but it was all still very charming.

 

(Those great pics are not mine. Taken from AP).

Not that I am a mindless austerity drone. Clearly cut-cut-cutting is not going to revive the Spanish economy, and can be pretty counter-productive. But leftists protesting for “democracy”, just months after losing an election to a right-wing government that is doing just what it said it would do? Ugh.

If only Portugal started working on nuclear weapons and saber rattling, it would feel like home.

Whither the Hammerman?

January 23, 2012 / / 0 Comments

What’s this, the Hammering Man? Does that mean Mark is back in Seoul?

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Alas, no. In fact, I was just in Basel, Switzerland, where they have their own Hammering Man — albeit smaller than Seoul’s version. Basel was quite lovely, though, a small Swiss city along the Rhine, with plenty of art galleries and other goodies. But $4.50 espressos? Yikes.

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Some random thoughts about my little trip:

– EuroAirport is pretty funky. Located right on the Swiss-France border, you constantly are walking back and forth between countries here. On one side, you pay in Swiss Francs, on the other, in euros.

– Yes, McDonald’s and Starbucks are a terrible form of cultural imperialism that America has inflicted upon the world. But judging by the incredible number of Donner Kebab restaurants and “Sushiland” discount sushi houses everywhere, it appears the world has gotten revenge.

– If you can handle a little chilly weather, tourism off-season in January is so much more relaxing than in summer and high season. Especially at tourism hot-spots like Strasbourg.

– No signs of any K-pop at the Virgin Megastore in Strasbourg. But there were a few Korean comic books (mixed in with the many, many Japanese comics).

They’ve Paved Over the Spanish Economy and Put Up a Parking Lot

November 23, 2011 / / 0 Comments

As usual, Edward Hugh has some of the most interesting and useful things to say about the current state of the euro crisis, in a long interview at his Spanish Economy blog. It’s long, but a pretty thorough overview of the problems facing Europe — perhaps most significantly, how and why there is such a contagion risk, even in healthier economies like France and Austria.

He ends the interview with some really interesting thoughts about the economic situation in Spain and Cataluña. Not only is the Catalan economic engine paying for much of the debt around Spain (Hugh says Cataluña has a fiscal surplus with the rest of Spain equal to about 8 percent of its GDP), but apparently if Cataluña were to declare independence, it would legally be free from all Spanish national debt. Basically, if it were independent, Cataluña’s economic situation would instantly be pretty strong and the rest of Spain would be instantly bankrupt. So far, this fact has not done much for Catalan independence, but one wonders if it will be a factor in the future.

Two Europes — Divide Deepening

November 13, 2011 / / 0 Comments

So, even as half of Europe is tanking economically — record unemployment, huge debt problems, interest rates spiraling — German is suffering from the lowest unemployment rate in 20 years. At a certain point, I think it is becoming increasingly apparent that the problems in Europe are not about “bad”, lazy, overspending countries threatening to bring down the EU and euro. Rather, the euro is fundamentally out of balance, and Germany has spent the last decade gaining from the inflated “currencies” of the PIIGS. As Paul Krugman recently graphed:

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I quite like the spirit of Edward Hugh’s post here, saying one possible solution to the euro problem would be to divide Europe basically in half, with one euro (call it Euro1) for Germany, Finland, Holland and Austria, and another euro (Euro2) for the rest — and France could go either way. That way, the countries that need devaluation would devalue all together, then get move on the rebuilding their economies, rather than try to endure the long, horrid process of internal devaluing.

Of course, that would be a very problematic and only temporary measure — but at least it would give Europe time to come to grips with the fact that if you want a monetary union, you also have to have a stronger fiscal union. It might also give the Germans time to get off their high horse and realize how much they have been benefiting for the past decade from the sweat of their neighbors.

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