Monday, September 24, 2012

In Spain, Austerity and Hunger - Slide Show - NYTimes.com

Macroeconomic policy choices can make a real difference:

In Spain, Austerity and Hunger - Slide Show - NYTimes.com

4 comments:

  1. This powerpoint is extremely upsetting. While living 6 months in this beautiful country, I was able to see a lot of what it is capable of offering and to this is what is happening to the people is simply unbelievable. The economy has definitely taken a toll on everything and everyone; people are losing their jobs, homes and now even their food. These policy choices need to change for the better; if this continues more people will close down and lose what they have. It is unbelievable how a prosperous country can become so fragile. Spain needs to more forward.

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  2. I, like Abby, also studied abroad in Spain and feel sorry when I see how bad things are. When I was in Spain I saw first hand the peaceful protests made by young people in the city center in Madrid. There were thousands of people all in one small area, they camped out, started their own library, and would walk around the crowded plaza chanting about the government needing to be reformed. Another thing that I saw while in Spain that was unlike anything I had seen in my life was the shanty towns along the freeway when leaving the city. They extended for miles and were composed mostly of old cardboard boxes. This is an example of one of the shanty towns being demolished near Madrid (I didn't take this picture but it was similar to what I saw, but I do find it strange that there is a washing machine...) Here is the link
    http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/3/6/1331041119100/Madrid-Spain-A-woman-reac-005.jpg

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  3. While I was studying abroad in Germany, one of my best friends there was from Spain, her name was Magda. She was from Barcelona, inner city, and lived with her family. She always asked me about America, and hopes someday she will live there, she loves Spain but the economy was doing so poorly. She told me about all of the strikes against the government, and how dangerous it is to walk the streets now. I just spoke with her last week, her and her family lost their home; they are now living on the streets. I haven't talked to her since, I don't know if she still has a computer or anything to communicate with me. It broke my heart, that she lost everything, and this powerpoint just ripped me apart.

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  4. I too found this power point to be very moving. One thing that really shocked me was the fact that laws were passed to put locks on trash bins to stop people from searching for food in them. Those people are obviously down to their last resort, it almost seems like they are really kicking these people when they are down, rather than trying to build them back up.

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