Save the banks, screw the people

The news sites are full of headlines today to the effect that the pain in Spain is going to hurt for a good long time.

But at least this hundred billion euro bailout has saved the banks! At least for now.

That must come as a relief if you're one of that quarter of the Spanish population who is unemployed. Among young people it's about half.

Each one of them just took on another 20 thousand euros in debt to save the banks.

The usual experts will of course rally round and claim that there is no other choice.

There is.

Let the banks sink.

Oh, but that will destroy confidence in the banking system!

Well duh!

It's the bankers who have destroyed not only confidence but the banking system itself. It was well educated and well paid bankers who loaded their institutions with crap loans to speculative property developers. The end of the the property bubble was as predictable as the end of the tulip bubble or the dot com bubble.

It is neither just nor sensible to saddle the unemployed youth of Spain with more debt to bail out the banks. Those unemployed youth know that better than I do.

Occupy Madrid!