Poor Us - Full Documentary

Why Poverty?

Human Rights

Marta Gallardo's Group Conclusion

The conclusions are that nowadays democracy is not real for many reasons, including the fact that they don't pay attention to citizens. There is a lot of corruption and the population does not know exactly what is happening in the country, they only know what the politicians want to tell. In Spain there is a monarchy and a king, but the politicians are who govern, he only represents the country. The world is governed by money, that's all worries politicians, and they mainly forget important factors like education and health, they have cut helps to these factors instead of to others this benefits them. In summary they only want to benefit them, money, money and money, forgetting human rights and citizens. In Spain there are many jobless people and people that they’re scammed by banks (like Bankia), there is a big economical crisis with a difficult solution and because of this in our country there are autonomous communities who want to be independent.

Group summary of all the topics

Group summary of all the topics.

- Is democracy in crisis? - Juanma

We all have a point in common that democracy is in crisis and that’s because of money. There’s no ‘’famous’’ party in Spain that can be the alternative, because they’ve shown that they’re not looking for the good of citizens, they’re looking for the good of their pockets. We all think that the system will collapse because the governments do nothing about the situation in Spain and citizens don’t feel represented by their governments. The ‘’equality’’ is not so ‘’equal’’ because now the ‘’political class’’ has appeared, and that has made politicians to be in a bubble and they don’t see what citizens see, also, they only look for the good of its ‘’political class’’. You can tell yourself how well is going the country if the leaders that are supposed to be honest, and the ones that give example, are almost all corrupted. You can’t have a government that is being chantaged everyday by an overall corrupted person, that even wants to receive 1 million € for an ‘’unfair dismissal’’ (That 1 million of € coming from the citizens) and that even has 22 million € in Switzerland. That points to a very critical situation. Another big issue of ‘’democracy’’ is that parties say whatever they need to just be in the power, and that’s not fair, because their ellectors aren’t being represented, only their political class is being represented. So all in all, democracy is in crisis, and all it’s just because of money.

- What’s going on in Spain? - Patricia

Nowadays Spain is suffering a crisis for four years.

This crisis came since the burst of the Spanish housing bubble. Spanish economy has headed downwards and it's getting worse

Something like that occurred in Greece but it was too small but Spain is the zone's fourth (after Germany, France and Italy) and that means that if Spain finally requires a bailout can cause a lot of damage all by itself.

Germany and other countries have been pressure to have a bailout but it can be the biggest blow to the euro yet and Spain is refusing due to the big changes and consequences.

After the general strike in Spain, people went out onto the streets to express their dissatisfaction with the new labor law of the government, we can't know how Spain reached this situation.

In these days, Spanish citizens are paying the debt into which we have incurred.

- Economical Crisis - Fernando

The economical crisis that Spain is suffering happens because during the 2000s Spain had a furious boom in housing construction and that made started a housing bubble. In 2002 the bubble burst doing the prices of the houses to be increased and the salaries didn´t increased.

So now the thing that happens is that now we are controlled by the richest European countries like Germany and United Kingdom.Now The Popular Party government is doing some extreme cuts in all areas except in his area that is the richest area of the country.

- Real Democracies now? - Cristina

There aren’t any real democracies now in Spain, this is because the human rights are been replaced by the money because of the governments, companies and banks. This is called materialist world.

This is a crisis of a leak of principles that affect to all the institutions of the state. So that if we want the crisis to end we have to start by giving back all those major principles that institutions and politicians have lost.

- Are our leaders independent?- Pedro

Nowadays nobody is independent because the money moves everything, and of course the politic. Everywhere you look around, the money leads it.

No politician can be independent because the most countries are capitalists and can’t ‘escape’ from money, but they don’t want to be split from money because it profits them.

Also the countries’ groups like the Euro Zone or the CIVETS

- Rescue of Spain - Belén

The decisions taken by the government in this period of instability, in which Spain is getting through, are really affecting normal people life but most of the people don’t realize it.

So, when politicians reach the power, most of them forget to work for the population, which is the reason why they are in the power. This is not a democracy.

With the problem of the Rescue in Spain, politicians aren’t taking democracy to practise. They are taking almost all the decisions being influenced by Brussels EBC and by the chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel. All of those decisions will affect most of the Spanish population. There will be many problematic consequences such as cutting spends of the autonomous communities, copayments and cuts in health or more taxes and labor reforms.

Españistán

David's Group Opinion

IS DEMOCRACY IN CRISIS?

The democracy systems which make the government represent the opinion of the population, but nowadays they are not doing this.

Democracy is in crisis. Money can corrupt everything and parties say whatever they need to obtain votes and get the government. That makes the states not to work properly because they govern for the money and not for the people. So earlier or later, the democratic system will collapse, because people don´t feel represented by their governments.
The Europe union is pressuring Spain to apply the rescue but this means the privatization of many services. Taxes are raising, they are cutting health and education. So there are so many demonstrations and protests because a part of Spanish population won´t be able to pay their health if the government private that.

 

WHAT´S GOING ON IN SPAIN?

Since the burst of the Spanish housing bubble, Spanish economy has headed downwards and it´s getting worse and worse. Europe should be worried about what´s going on in Spain, because Spain is not Greece. The economy of Greece, for example, was too small and it was far from the zone of the fourth largest economies, but Spain is very near that zone and that means that if Spain finally requires a bailout it will drag all the nearby countries, because Spain is a major economy that is slowing down very time faster and faster. So we can deduce that the direction of the economy and the democracy in Spain is still very young.

 

REAL DEMOCRACIES NOW?

No, absolutely not. Because the economical voracity of the governments, companies, banks, etc… are making a materialist world in which the principles of the democracy were the human rights, now it is the money.

Because in addition this crisis apart from being an economical crisis is also a crisis of a leak of principles that affect to all the institutions of the state. So that if we want the crisis to be ended we have to start by giving back all those major principles to the institutions. One another thing to do is that the politicizes depend on the citizens and not do all they want only they allowed to do the best for the citizens and their rights.

 

ARE OUR LEADERS INDEPENDENT?

No they are submitted to the banks and the leaders of the other countries like Germany.

So we can deduce that those who rules the world are the banks, the money, the markets and the big companies.

The governments are puppets of the global markets because the ones who´s really ruling are the banks, big companies and all the other things that we mentioned before. So that confirms that the governments are governing for money and not for the people.

 

GROUP CONCLUSION

We think that Spain should have never abandoned the peseta because now if you compare the prices of the same things in Euros and what they were in pesetas, like in pesetas things were cheaper than in euros. The government made a mistake because when Spain went into the European Union they paid the salaries of the Spanish employers before the euros. Also we think that entering in the European Union meant a change because of which Spain which is in crisis obtains the help of the other countries of the European Union.

The opposition of the actual party, mainly led by the socialist party with the complaints of people and demonstrations and strikes are trying to stop the sudden budget cuts and new laws such as the new laws on education or health care that are being approved without previous debate in the parliament which implies that the government isn´t carrying out some of the articles in the constitution referred to the separation of powers and over all, the right of people´s political power and rights for which we´ve been fighting since XVIII century.

Esperanza's Group Opinion

Is democracy in crisis?

A political corruption also seems to allow civil society to be corrupted too.

Economical Crisis

The crisis that began in 2008 has been noted by many international experts as the "crisis of the developed countries", because its consequences are suffered mainly in the richer countries of the world.

Javi Alex's Group Opinion

Banks made irreparable error: Lured by easy money, mortgages granted to low-income families, and a variable rate and with very poor conditions in contract . Banks without any kind of Restrictions may have followed very dangerous giving credit for poor families

Spain has already had two bank bailouts one for 40 million euros but this proves that the bank could not pay the ransom later die and that would be a start back to Spain Spanish banks are the main causes of debt Spain the vast majority of the money they receive is not transferred to the productive economy, but the financial, the same that caused the global economic crisis. That is, the bailout will not serve to revive the real economy

Who is leading economic european community?
It is very simple. Look at the richest countries of europe (like Germany or United Kingdom), they control quitely all things of the other poorest countries like Spain. Why do these countries do that? It is another simple question to answer: they lead the poorest countries because we are a european community and the biggest countries can control the others to make them richer and richer at the expense of Spain, Portugal, Greece...

Democracy is suffering a global crisis, that hasn’t got an ending. This crisis is as incurable that it worries people. It doesn’t surprise, if we take into account, with Spanish examples, political corruption (PP Gürtel case, CiU Palau case, PSC Pretodiadel case) and social corruption (Puerto operation and Greyhound operation).
Of course, this crisis isn’t unique from Spain, affecting the entire West, for example Wikileaks case.

In Spain (mostly) politicians have made a very bad management. And they want to fix it based on cuts. As cut in health and education. Instead of in these sectors could make a more egalitarian distribution of the economy, and not focus on these two areas that are so important. A reduction in expenses could start by the luxuries of the political, like officials cars, stays in the best hotels or meals in the best restaurants. In addition consumerism is good for them, so they sell us a reality that’s is not true, but it exercise a big influence about us for we continue shopping and spending money on things that are not necessary.

My opinion is that the european community mustn’t be controlled by the richest countries; if we do that, Spain will be able to stop all things and start to recompose himself to a new and more democratic country.

Rescue of Spain - By Belen's group

It is true that people, if not satisfied with the performance of the ruling of a political party in his
term in office, can not return to choose them in the next election, but the problem is that the
decisions taken in that period can be very important and too problematic, having got elected
only
This creates a serious problem to society, and to us, to the citizens of a society like this, we are
holding this problem, almost without realizing it.
And if so, is it not paradoxical to say that the state we live in, where our representatives,
once seized political power, they prepare themselves to act just following their own interests,
regardless of the citizens’ opinion, and yet they call “democratic” system?, when democracy
itself is a system where the government of people, either directly, or through a representative.
For example, with the problem of the rescue of Spain, are the really making democracy?
The answer is NO. Because the political party that currently governs Spain, which holds the
absolute majority has chosen by itself the decision to approve this bailout.
Another problem is that even if we believe that Spain makes its decisions alone, we’re wrong,
because there are many external influences such as pressures from Brussels ECB and
Germany along with his Chancellor Angela Merkel to accept the Spanish government rescue
and adopt new legislation and cuts which will affect most of the Spanish population.
Bailout is a very difficult issue, governments have to count with the population support.
For example the account to help Spanish banks is 100.000 million € and the consequences
would be:
Cutting spends of the autonomous communities
Copayments and cuts in health
Reduction of public spending
Increase of retirement age
Labor reforms
Privatization
More taxes
Increases in electricity rates
Tolls (peajes)

Belen's group personal opinion | Opinión personal del grupo de Belén

My own conclusion from this essay is that democracy is not totally real.
It’s because politicians do not lead us, it is the money that which leads us.
In our society, it is all based on money, if you do not have money you are nothing.
I think that it’s due to globalization among countries.
It is true that democracy is not that bad, it allows people to have freedom and to have a good life
in countries like Spain, but nowadays to make a country richer, another one has to get poorer.
Through the film “Margin call” I was able to understand the cause of the crisis.
It was the bankers’ fault, because gave credits to people who could not pay hard their debts.
They promised people irreal things, and this was making little by little a big ball and the
consequence was that the bubble blew up and crisis turned up
The bankers knew that, but they only wanted more money without mind if they were cheating
people, the countries collapsed and many families are now homeless.

Gonzalo's group summary | Resumen del grupo de Gonzalo

What's going on Spain ?

Nowadays Spain is suffering a crisis for four years and we think that it's going to take longer for to recuperate been time, years and year.

Spanish citizens are paying the debt into which we have incured.

Spain, the zone’s fourth largest economy (after Germany, France and Italy), can do a lot of damage all by itself.

If Spain ultimately requires a bailout, would strain the resources available in the zone’s rescue fund and put pressure on the, which Germany and others have been reluctant to do. Such an event would also be the biggest blow to the future of the euro yet

After the general strike in Spain where 800,000 people (according to the Unions) or 80,000 people (according to the Police) went out onto the streets to express their dissatisfaction with the new labor law of the government, you cannot help but wonder how Spain of reached this situation.

 

 

Carlos, Andrea, Iván, Fernando and Maria D.'s summary | Resumen de Carlos, Andrea, Iván, Fernando y Maria D.

Are Spanish leaders really independent?

Spain's leaders are not really independent, for example, they can cut away in health, in
education, etc. But the European leaders tells them the money they have to obtain to pay
the debts of the country, or if we should he rescued, the money that we would have to
return. Definitively, they are only independent to organize from where they are going to
obtain the money: cutting away in education or health or ...

Why did the crisis occurs?

The crisis happened because in countries like Spain, the urbanizable areas increased and
businessmen started to constructing a lot of houses. In that the businessmen saw a great
business, in what one reduced the workable rights, the businessmen will invest more
in personally and like that the unemployment would reduce more. The demand of the
houses increased the price of the houses increased, which caused that the price of the
ground was increasing since it was appraised depending on the potential benefits and
the price of the houses went off and in 2005 the bubble already was untied and Spain
was building more houses in one year than Germany, France and Italy together.
That produces that the banks reduce their demands for give credits to people with low
money. So with low money, you could have a good live.
In 2007 families, business and administration had amazing debts with banks and banks
had great debts with other identities finance companies.
In other words, our wealth creation wasn't bringing our growth, it was our growth wich
was bringing our wealth creation, but growth existed thanks to the debt.
When the crisis burst in 2008, the banks didn’t give credits, investor people didn't buy
debt, as nobody lent money, it produced a domino effect: the consumption reduced the
economy contract, the businessmen stated to dismiss in mass and families without work
were expeled from their houses for unpaid.
There is a video in Spanish that explain that with comedy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xWrbAmtZuGc#!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9KhyEjDMR0&feature=endscreen&NR=1

Why is Spain in crisis now?

It all started with a housing bubble. During the 2000s, thanks to low interest rates and
an influx of foreign capital, Spain had a furious boom in housing construction. In 2007,
the bubble finally burst. And Spain still isn’t anywhere close to recovering. Economists
have estimated that housing prices have fallen 26 percent, but that’s still only about half
of the total decline that will ultimately need to happen.

So that’s why Bankia’s in trouble?

Yes. During the housing bubble, it was Spain’s regional banks, or cajas, that threw the
most money at property developers. The entity that’s getting all the headlines now,
Bankia, was formed after a 2010 merger of seven cajas that were too weak to stand on
their own. But after receiving $5.6 billion in government aid earlier this month, Bankia
recently announced that it actually needed about $23.5 billion in aid. And the housing
bubble hasn’t even finished bursting yet.

What’s the problem with that?

Spain doesn’t have that sort of cash readily lying around. Investors are already nervous
about lending more money to Spain, whose deficits have spiked ever since its housing
market collapsed. And Spain’s economy is now in shambles. Before the crisis, one-
seventh of its workers were employed in the housing sector. Since the bubble popped,
unemployment has soared to 25 percent. The retail sector has collapsed. Even the
country’s once-bright export and auto sectors have started sinking in recent months.

How does Spain get its economy growing again without its banks?

That’s the problem. Spain can’t really grow if its banks aren’t lending to businesses.
And its banks aren’t lending to small and medium-sized businesses, because they’re
facing massive losses and shrinking balance sheets. Plus, plenty of Spanish depositors
are taking their euros out of Spanish banks and sending them to Germany because
they’re afraid that Spain might leave the euro. That’s made Spain’s bank problems even
worse.

Is there any other way Spain can save its banks?

The government also is trying to get creative in propping up Bankia.
So far, it’s unclear whether the European Central Bank is willing to go along with that
plan.
Basically, it’s still uncertain just how rickety Spain’s financial sector is. The Spanish
government has so far ordered the country’s banks to set aside around $115 billion in
capital, all told, to prepare for further losses in the property sector, but housing prices
are falling so steeply and the economy’s so terrible that it’s unclear whether that cushion
is big enough.

If Spain can’t patch up its banks, can’t it get aid from other European
countries? Isn’t that what happened in Ireland?

The alternative is for wealthier European countries — mainly France and Germany —
to bail out Spain with lots of money. That’s what they did for Portugal and Ireland. But
Spain is much, much bigger and much, much more expensive. To put this in context,
Ireland has received about $105 billion in aid, and its housing market has mostly
stabilized. And Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, for his part, has said he won’t
accept an international rescue.

Is democracy in crisis?

It's in crysis because money corrupts everything and also the politicians, who promise things
that they don't do. They're lying and they do everything they can to make more and more
money. An example is the recent privatization of health.
The spanish actual government (PP) blames the government that had the power before them
(PSOE). They say that PSOE did very badly.

Education

A democratic party would enrich their own opinion and make a law be forever. It's a craze that in
Spain there are many educational laws in the E.S.O.
Spain spent less than other countries in education and after the crysis, there's less money.
Because of this, the future of Spain is going worse. Students aren't prepared as they were
before and there isn't so much money for paying the teachers like it used to be.

Conclusion

We have learned that the crisis of Spain started with a housing bubble. During the 2000s,
thanks to low interest rates and an influx of foreign capital, Spain had a furious boom in
housign construction. In 2007, the bubble finally burst. So that’s Bankia’s in trouble. The entity
that’s getting all the headlines now, Bankia, was formed after a 2010 merger of seven cajas
that were too weak to stand on their own. But after receiving $ 5.6 billion in goverment aid
earlier this month, Bankia recently announced that it actually needed about $ 23.5 billion in aid.
But Spain doesn’t have that sort of cash readily lying around. Investors are already nervous
about lending more money to Spain, whose deficits have spicked ever since its housing market
collapsed. And Spain’s economy is now in shambles. The problem is that Spain can’t really
grow if its banks aren’t lending for businesses. And its banks aren’t lending small and medium-
sized businesses, because they’re afraid massive losses and shrinking balance sheets. Plus,
plenty of Spain depositors are taking their euros out of Spainish banks and sending them to
Geramany because thet’re afraid thatSpain might leave the euro. That’s made Spain’s bank
problems even worse. The alternative is for wealthier European countries - mainly France and
Germany – to bail out spain with lots of money. That’s what they did for portugal and Ireland.
But Spain is much bigger and much more expensive. And Mariano Rajoy, for his part, has said
he won’t accept an international rescue.
We know that Spain has a great economical crisis, but the Spanish goverment isn’t doing well to
try finishing it.
We also know that decisions of Spain goverment are influenced by the goverment of countries
like Germany that have a great economy.
The proble with Catalonia isn’t good for our country and for Catalonia is bad too because of this,
Spain have more problems apart from the crisis.
Our group think that some things in Spain are bad, like that only PP and PSOE are the parties
to win elections. We think taht other political parties have to have the opportunity to win and to
propose more ideas and things to choose no only PP and PSOE.

Cristina & Maria M. group's summary of the situation in Spain | Resumen de la situación de España de Cristina & María M.

Is not it due the economic crisis in Spain?

This is not a specificic problem of Spain, but it is part of the capitalist crisis model that is affecting all countrys in the globalized world, more or less severely according to the economic strenght of each country. In Spain, the problem has worsened due to indecision and mismanagement by governments from the beginning of the crisis. The Popular Party government intends to set the basis of spanish debt do extreme cuts in all areas. Some of these cuts make sense, as the political caste has been enjoying banalities and has been involved in corruption since the transition, but most are being applied to the workers, who already are struggling to make ends months. The scenario is that a high section of the Spanish population is without work and those who do work, work increasingly more and charge less and must bear the entire burden of the exorbitant number of unemployed. The government does not seem to want to change the course, bit insists on its policy to cut costs on all sides. To this must be added the closure of hospitals and other public services staples, with their laid-off employees to save.

I find it shameful that the government protects the elite class. I understand why the PP does so (as was seen for months, when they were private funds in the country and Spain had to ask for a bailout to Europe), but I disagree, what it is seen in the setreets. This policy is unsustinable, and I doubt we will overcome this economic crisis which is creating more uneployement and less spending.

Our own opinion

We think that Spain is in a serious economic situation and therefore that we must get off it all, the rich should pay more and help those in need for equalitty above all. We also think these cuts will not help much because these savings are to pay money to be spent on the banks to help them pay interest on the public debt.

Welcome, Bienvenidos.

Welcome, Bienvenidos.

Welcome to Reality Of Spain, a blog that it's intended to give out opinions of what's happening in Spain by high school students.

Bienvenidos a Reality Of Spain, un blog el cual está hecho para expresar las opiniones de alumnos de la E.S.O. sobre qué está pasando en España.