# "Valencia, a cruel reflection of Spain's economic woes"



## skip o (Aug 1, 2011)

Any thoughts on this Reuters article?
Valencia, a cruel reflection of Spain's economic woes | Reuters


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

I think it's wrong to imply that Valencia is symbolic of the whole of Spain. Other regions didn't behave as irresponsibly or suffer anything like the same levels of corruption as Valencia.


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## djfwells (Sep 28, 2009)

I agree with Alci, but then again I also live in Valencia and have seen the cuts in the education system.
I have also seen graffiti here that reads " Like Paella, nobody does corruption quite like Valenica "


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Alcalaina said:


> I think it's wrong to imply that Valencia is symbolic of the whole of Spain. Other regions didn't behave as irresponsibly or suffer anything like the same levels of corruption as Valencia.


I think there are good few regions that did, but the whole story is not public knowledge yet. I would say Mallorca, Marbella and Madrid's real debts are up there with Valencia. Madrid is said to be much better off than other regions, but if you see the spending that's gone on it just doesn't add up, so my personal conclusion is that someone's cooked the books somewhere.

However, the article only talks about Valencia, and doesn't give info about other regions, but IMO Valencia's problems do reflect a lot of what has gone wrong in Spain. There has been overspending on pharaonic projects (in Madrid expansion of the metro and Madrid Rio which have really bettered the city, but at huge expense and then the metro ligero which nobody uses) and scandals. In Valencia the scandals involved prostitutes. In Madrid the scandal was about spies...

Which ever way you look at it though, it's a disgrace which very few people will pay for, except of course the law abiding public


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## jimenato (Nov 21, 2009)

Alcalaina said:


> I think it's wrong to imply that Valencia is symbolic of the whole of Spain. Other regions didn't behave as irresponsibly or suffer anything like the same levels of corruption as Valencia.


How to compare? Irresponsible - our small pueblo 17,000,000 of debt, Estepona 330,000,000 of debt. Corruption - Marbella - 'nuff said.


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## littleredrooster (Aug 3, 2008)

skip o said:


> Any thoughts on this Reuters article?
> Valencia, a cruel reflection of Spain's economic woes | Reuters


Well basically they tell it like it is.
Valencia appeared to be the jewel in the crown when I moved into the region more than eight years ago, however the degree of corruption was an open secret and the overdue bursting of the property bubble combined with the worldwide recession brought all their chickens home to roost big time.

I don't see too much evidence of the crisis in my own outlying pueblo, other than building work has finally come to a standstill and many of the workers have disappeared, but to be fair to the local authorities and others responsible, virtually all the buiding work still under construction here at the start of the recession has been completed, so the place looks reasonably tidy and otherwise life appears to continue much as normal with few obvious signs of the rest of the regions problems.


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## VFR (Dec 23, 2009)

It seems unbelievable that these officials can steal so much (millions) for so long & then walk away scot free (from what I read) 
Yesterday it was in Marbella, today in Valencia, tomorrow somewhere else and again the amounts involved just seem incredible & these very officials no doubt have stood up and bemoaned the little person trying to scratch a living by not paying IVA etc.


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