Because Poland refuses the EU’s bullying to force nations to take economic migrants.
P.I.G.S. are still in massive trouble 10+ years after the meltdown. Negative rates on top of even more quantitative easing. Those 50 countries are in real economic trouble. That’s not a right wing talking point, that’s reality.
Ask the average native British/French/Italian/German how they feel about the integration of economic migrants. Wonder where the populist rise to power came from?
I know. I used to sell those European households bullets. But self defense law in Europe is absolutely fucked. See what happens to people who shoot intruders in their own home.
As one suspected rapist said, “it’s the economy stupid”. Polish economy is benefitting from more than one million Ukrainian labor migrants who speak a similar language so they don’t need illiterate Afghans.
If they didn’t have a pool of cheap, educated labor next door they’d be singing a different tune. GOP sweetheart Vladimir Putin is importing millions of migrants from Central Asian Muslim republics and embarking on a massive mosque building program for example, despite Steve Bannon’s delusion about “shared Judeo-Christian values”.
Again, someone has to do shitty jobs the locals refuse to do.
I didn’t say it generated it - but in the looneytarian telling of the story, all these things should have crippled the economy. That didn’t play out - and in fact, in some cases, government intervention has promoted commerce and investment.
Tourism. That’s nice. Still insolvent and illiquid. Right it your article:
"The Portuguese stock market, however, is narrow and illiquid – led by clutch domestic of corporates along with a raft of smaller players.
Many established Portuguese companies have been bought out by their larger Spanish counterparts over the years – such as Portugal Telecom which is majority owned by Spain’s Telefonica.
“Portugal is still a relative backwater from a corporate perspective,” Bailey said."
“Portugal’s budget deficit fell to 2% of GDP in 2016 but rose to 3% in 2017. The country’s overall debt to GDP ratio stands at 130% – behind only Greece and Italy.”
“Portugal grapples with the same challenges as the other southern European countries – income inequality and relatively high unemployment”
“Portugal is a double leveraged market,” Bailey continued. “Its prospects are decided by exogenous factors outside its control, when it’s looking good for European equities Portugal does very well – and the complete inverse when it’s the other way around.”
What will happen if I try negotiating how much I am willing to pay for gas at the gas station? Or how much I think I should pay for electricity? Or taxes?
Regulated by government: federal, state and local.
Regulated by government: Federal, state and local.
The government seizes your assets (recently some town seized a guy’s house for $8.41 in taxes owed). If you fail to vacate the premises, they use force.
Workers still alive reject paying union dues and joining unions any time that they’re given a choice (no de facto closed-shop arrangements). Even government workers and teachers in Wisconsin refused to pay dues and join up when compulsory unionism rules were changed. They must see no value in it.
This is why unions fight for card check legislation and try to unionize workplaces without secret ballots. They don’t have a value proposition that workers agree with, so they seek to compel.
Ok, but what are you comparing Portugal to? You have to compare it to relative benchmarks not absolute ones. Is Portugal worse off than many Western countries. Sure. But is extremely close to it’s historical maximum in terms of relative GDP ratios and purchasing power? You betcha.
This is their GDP growth rate in the last 50 years. Even under dictatorship, increasing integration first with EFTA and the EC and subsequently the EU provided Portugal with unprecedented levels of prosperity in historical terms.
Even with a massive crisis in 2008-10 and the hardships of the IMF program, Portugal is showing the best relative PPP and GDP ratios compared to other Western nations than even before.
