Football first

Spain is attempting to use football as a good sideshow to deflect people´s attention from the country´s severe economic woes. In fact many of the television advertisements on Spanish TV make this very clear indeed. “Support La Roja at Euro 2012 and forget your woes!” is the message from the Spanish government. I was rather amazed to see that the Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy had travelled to watch the match just 24 hours after Spain had secured a massive 100 billion euro bailout. Rajoy should have stayed in Spain, because his main priority should not be watching football but ensuring that the Spanish economy starts to recover. If the Prime Minister already attends the opening match what is going to happen if Spain get to the final? The whole Spanish cabinet will travel to see the game! The bank bailout is being hailed by some Spanish media as a major victory which should put the economy back on track. A word of warning; this money has to be repaid and effectively Spain has been bailed out. Now, I haven´t got a problem with Spain trying to distract people´s attention from the economic woes but they are not going to go away. The bank bailout should have been carried out four years ago. The Spanish government waited far too long. Any economist would have been able to tell you that once the property bubble burst, Spanish banks would have problems. Unfortunately four years could just be too late.