I would say:
1-Political Corruption (worsens all the following) besides corrupting all areas of the country: judicial, administrative, ..., in the high levels. Fortunately the average spanish person is pretty honest in spite of this, else, this would be caos.
2- Housing:
The Big Problem. For the salary level, it's extraordinarily high the cost of rent or the price of a flat.
Politicians make bussiness with their partners in the building and state sector, Town Councils get money from land speculation that they throw away because they are very inefficient and have no control, and
statistics controlled by Government hide it: Not included in Prices statistics. Thus, if "inflation" is being these days a 2-4%, only by including this lacking data would take inflation to well over 7%. As inflation is used by labour Unions to claim for raises, salaries have been growing about 2,5 to 4,5% for many years while housing is growing over 10% each year, impoverishing population at an amazing speed.
There have been statistics in the media reflecting how our housing prices have rocketed, being close to the european average, while we earn about a 40%-50% of their salaries. Also, the percentage of effort one has to do to buy a small flat (almost the same to rent it) is well over 50% of a couple's combined salaries. And this, only because interest rates are earth low, else it would be much more!
3-False! Unemployment is not a real problem, in despite of statistics. 99% of the people have a work if they want to.
So, why are the statistics like that, and what's the real problem?
-Statistics: Because many people work under the table because they prefer to keep on having their miserable unemployment help to complement their miserable wages.
And because many times employers don't offer a contract: "Under the table or nothing".
-So, what we don't have is an unemployment crisis, we have an
income crisis, because people work but work for peanuts (because they have no other chance). This is a wonderful country (good climate, fun, ...) if you can skip misery! So the REAL problem is:
4- Rubbish-contracts or under the table hirings that make people
work for amounts that don't let them leave their parents', or have a family, much less buy a "cheap" flat. People DO work, but many times what they get is spent in transport, lodging and meals out (no time to go back home many times outside the city), ... Sometimes I wonder why they do (some don't, prefer study or try to improve their skills in some way while they wait for a job that is paid enough to cover the bills. Some study for years at their parents 12/14 hours a day to become a public servant (many times 30+ persons for a position, sometimes 300).
These people work mainly because they have faint hopes of improving in the long run in the firm or acquire experience for leaving to a better position, that don't use to come out. They work also because they don't want to be unemployed or an eternal student.
5-Cities are becoming unhabitable: It's true that Madrid has much less population and cars than, for example, New York, but the way it's organized and the bad design of the scarce infrastructures we have make driving a hell.
Plus, the bonus-malus insurance system is another corrupt system, because nobody acknowledges their fault in the frequent crashes or parking bumps because they would lose the discount in the fee. SO insurances charge you lots of money with small responsabilities. Only big accidents, where they can not run away, because if somebody hits your car, he leaves and if you see it he wont accept his responsability, people will not want to act as witnesses, and you are f*cked.
Underground and buses are always crowded, some lines (in Madrid specially 5) have frequent breakdowns, or delays, and are pretty slow.
Due to housing costs many people has to live outside the big cities (to save a little, almost as expensive as the other option), which is a real problem because of dayly hour's long traffic jams and deficient bus service.
And so on. Good for fun, bad for living.
6-Degradation of Public Services: PP has destroyed a Health system that even Ms. Clinton evaluated to export to the USA. Now, they multiplied the people they have to attend by hosting millions of inmigrants with the same installations. In Madrid, 4.000.000 people have received about 1.000.000 inmigrants in about 8 years, but no more doctors or hospitals. They "solve" this problem (apparently) by paying Government friends expensive private hospitals to take care of some of the work. Our money thrown away with their friends!
Or you can buy a private policy with their friend's insurance companies if you want to have proper asistance. Going backwards!
But the worst is for that poor people who can't pay this and go to the doctor and they give you (recent cases in the newspapers, and they are not exceptions by any means):
-One year for a gincologic revision if there is any problem.
-Six months or more for a revision on possible cancer cases (many times by then you're dead).
And so on
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Inflation (acording tostatistics) is not a problem. 4% is nothing. But the real one (7-10%) IS a real problem, specially because salaries are somehow indiciated with "statistical inflation".
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Independentism is not a problem. It's just a political option. It's only a problem (an ethical problem) for those who oppose to a people's will.
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Once again, the differences you refer, Pippo, are only the half-truths (the worse lies) that the media filter:
Madrid 104, Extremadura 51, OK, however, an equivalent flat in Extremadura is less than 50% the price in Madrid. The same applies to most things: foor, transportation, ... Doesn't apply only to country prices (like energy or phone cost) or international prices, and these are a samll percentage of the monthly expenses of a family.
Thus, a person living in Extremadura earning half that a madrileño earns is, however, richer. funny, no? Besides, if yo refer to the
AVERAGE EU income, then take into account that the income obtained in the richer regions of the country is scarcely above of the EU
average. If you went to Antibbes in France, don't you think there people get Paris' salaries. About the half?
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ETA and the Spanish Government. Both are to blame for the actual situation. 'nuff said.
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Droughts: They wouldn't be a real problem,
if water wasn't spilled freely. We have momre water than necessary, however, if we use natural water (not recycled water) for indutrial purposes or agriculture, if we want to convert Murcia and Valencia in the garden of Europe (one thing is that they are extremely good lands for fruits and vegetables, and other that hundreds of thousands of tons have to be trasferred to keep this garden alive, stealing it to other (by the way, underdeveloped by lack of government help, unlike M. and V.) and paying for this unafordable expenditure ALL the spanish, so that they can have water at a ridiculous price, muche less that a tenth of the regular price. Lets have those farms but only those that can live without these water subventions!
The same applies to Golf courses in Almeria and other regions, taht demand enormous amounts of water because... They are in deserts! Believe it or not. All the year water is poured in these desertic areas for tourists to have a golf course. D*mmit.
80%-90% of the water spent in the country is for agriculture and industry's unefficient production. I laugh at the Government's advices that citizens save water, and spend even more. Why they don't begin by themselves and their industrial tycoon and farmers voters first?
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