We keep reading horror stories from the southern European countries about how badly they are affected by the economic crisis. Factories are closing, civil servants are made redundant, the provision of medical services suffers, people emigrate, everything is going downhill.
The state of Spanish infrastructure offers a particularly strong example. This is what hiking trails in Spain look like:
Allegedly this is Germany’s fault, although nobody has been able to convincingly explain the connection. To me, it rather seems like debt-financed houses of cards are collapsing, as they were prone to do one day. Even if Portugal, Spain and Greece have less money than before, it is still up to them to decide whether to spend that money on hiking trails or on submarines, on hospitals or on the Royal court.
The Happy Hermit 
Pingback: Wie schlecht ist Spaniens Infrastruktur? | Der reisende Reporter
Whow, is this what happened to all the EU infrastructure funds ? It looks as if they mixed the wrong concrete. But with some alpine hiking equipment and and a bottle of red wine before the traverse, it is probably a fun experience.
Michael
Is this you?! Wow – you are brave to be hiking along this crumbling path. Spain’s economy is supposed to be in recovery, but there is still massive underfunding of key public services. How bad are Spain’s hospitals? So bad, that Spain may be about to create a global public health crisis Read this Economist article to find out: http://www.economist.com/blogs/charlemagne/2013/12/health-care-spain
Oh no, this is not me!
Never ever would I go on something like this. Just watching the photos (or the videos of “Caminito del Rey” that people put on YouTube) makes me scared.
I agree that there is underfunding in some areas, but it’s weird that the military or the space program or other fancy stuff almost never have to suffer any cuts. I am not generally against austerity (although I also think that the term austerity cannot really be applied as long as states still spend more than they take in, creating new debts every year), but it’s the time to set your priorities right.
Haha, glad you commented about this, I was wondering if it was you :-)
;)
http://www.diariosur.es/interior/201503/03/personas-reservado-visita-caminito-20150303141543.html