22 Signs That The Collapsing Spanish Economy Is Heading Into A Great Depression
By Michael Snyder, on April 29th, 2012
What happens when debt-fueled false prosperity disappears? Just look at Spain. The 4th largest economy in the eurozone was riding high during the boom years, but now the Spanish economy is collapsing with no end in sight. When a debt bubble gets interrupted, the consequences can be rather chaotic. Just like we saw in Greece, austerity is causing the economy to slow down in Spain. But when the economy slows down, tax revenues fall and that makes it even more difficult to meet budget targets. So even more austerity measures are needed to keep debt under control and the cycle just keeps going. Unfortunately, even with all of the recently implemented austerity measures the Spanish government is still not even close to a balanced budget. Meanwhile, the housing market in Spain is crashing and unemployment is already above 24 percent. The Spanish banking system is a giant, unregulated mess that is on the verge of a massive implosion, and the Spanish stock market has been decliningrapidly. The Spanish government is going to need a massive bailout and so will the entire Spanish banking system. But that is going to be a huge problem, because the Spanish economy is almost 5 times as large as the Greek economy. When the Spanish financial system collapses, the entire globe is going to feel the pain and there will be no easy solution. So just how bad are things in Spain at this point? The following are 22 signs that the collapsing Spanish economy is heading into a great depression…. #1 The unemployment rate in Spain has reached – a new all-time record high. Back in April 2007, the unemployment rate in Spain was only 7.9 percent. #2 The unemployment rate in Spain than the U.S. unemployment rate was during any point during the Great Depression of the 1930s. #3 According to CNBC, some analysts are projecting that the unemployment rate in Spain is going to go . #4 The unemployment rate for those under the age of 25 in Spain is now a whopping . #5 There are more than47 million people living in Spain today. Only of them have jobs. #6 Retail sales in Spain have declined . #7 The Bank of Spain that Spain has already entered another recession. #8 Last week, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services slashed Spain’s credit rating . #9 The yield on 10-year Spanish bonds . That is considered to be very dangerous territory. #10 Two of Spain’s biggest banks that they are going to stop increasing their holdings of Spanish government debt. #11 Of all the loans held by Spanish banks, are considered to be “bad loans”. #12 The total value of all bad loans in Spain is equivalent to of Spanish GDP. #13 Of all real estate assets held by Spanish banks, of them are considered to be “troubled” by the Spanish government. #14 That total amount of money loaned out by Spanish banks is equivalent to of Spanish GDP. #15 Home prices in Spain fell last year, and the number of property repossessions in Spain rose during 2011. #16 Spanish housing prices are now down 25 percent fromthe peak of the housing market and Citibank’s Willem Buiter expects the eventual decline . #17 It is being projected the the economy of Spain will shrink this year, although there are some analysts that feel that projection is way too optimistic. #18 The Spanish government has announced a ban on all cash transactions . #19 One key Spanish stock index has already fallen so far this year. #20 The Spanish government recently admitted that its 2011 budget deficit was than originally projected and that it probably will not meet its budget targets for 2012 either. #21 Spain’s debt to GDP ratio is projected to rise during 2012. #22 Worldwide exposure to Spanish debt is estimated to be . Spain is going down the exact same road that Greece went down. Greece is already suffering through a great depression and now Spain is joining them. The following is from a …. “In Spain today, a cycle similar to Greece is starting to develop,” said HSBC chief economist Stephen King. “The recession is so deepthat when you take one step forward on austerity, it takes you two steps back.” In Spain right now there is a lot of fear and panic about the economy. In many areas, it seems like absolutely nobody is hiring right now. The following is from a recent …. “The situation is very bad. There’s no work,” said Enrique Sebastian, a 48-year-old unemployed surgery room assistant as he left one of Madrid’s unemployment offices. “The only future I see is one with wages of €400 ($530) a month for eight-hour days. And that’s if you can find it.” But Spain is just at the beginning of a downward spiral. Just wait until they have been through a few years of economic depression. Once that happens, millions of people begin to lose all hope. A recent discussed the epidemic of suicides that is happening in Greece right now…. On Monday, a 38-year-old geology lecturer hanged himself from a lamp post in Athens and on the same day a 35-year-old priest jumped to his death off his balcony in northern Greece.On Wednesday, a 23-year-old student shot himself in the head. In a country that has had one of the lowest suicide rates in the world, a surge in the number of suicides in the wake of an economic crisis has shocked and gripped the Mediterranean nation – and its media – before a May 6 election. And you know what? The nightmares that we are seeing unfold in Spain and Greece right now are just a preview of what is coming to most of the rest of the world. The next wave of the will soon envelop the United States, Japan and the rest of Europe. When it strikes, the pain will be immense. But it won’t be the end – it will only be just the beginning. The global financial system is starting to crumble. You better get ready.
April 29th, 2012 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Category: