Sheldon Adelson's dream to build Europe's first Las Vegas-style resort in Spain would certainly bring much needed relief to an economy lurching into another recession and struggling with sky-high unemployment.
To say that Spain needs his money would be an understatement.
Spain erupts into violence yesterday,
will the EU never learn it is over?
Adelson and officials with his company, Las Vegas Sands Corp., will decide by the summer which city to build in if they reach a deal with Spanish authorities. Madrid and Barcelona are both vying to woo Adelson and the $22 billion he wants to invest in "Eurovegas" -- six casinos, 12 hotels featuring 36,000 rooms, a convention center, three golf courses, shopping centers, bars and restaurants. The two sites being eyed in Madrid each cover an area equivalent to 1,000 football fields.
But the millions that would rain down come with strings attached: Adelson wants Spanish laws bent so that gamblers can smoke in the casinos and new zoning regulations allowing him to send buildings soaring above the skyline. And not everyone is thrilled about the idea of Spain hosting a European Sin City that could attract prostitution and organized crime -- and add gambling addiction to the woes of already desperate Spaniards.
One irony of the grandiose project is that Spain's onetime roaring economy fell apart with the collapse of a massive property bubble.
Adelson started looking at Spain as a possible European gambling magnet in 2007, but years of negotiations with Socialists who ruled then went nowhere. The Socialists lost power last year as voters vented frustration over the dismal economy. Now the more business-friendly Popular Party is in charge, and this, along with the downturn, means authorities are probably more amenable to Adelson.
Spain like Italy and Greece before it could be the next country to succumb to the Eurozone contagion and have it's democratically elected government placed under the administration of an appointed banker, a sure sign that a nation IS bankrupt.
Adding to Spain's woes are the unions who are organising protests to protect workers pay and conditions and prevent the austerity cuts which are under way. The problem is that the prime minister has no place to go, he is able to choose where the cuts fall, but he cannot prevent the cuts from occurring. He is under the threat of surrendering the sovereignty of Spain, just as Greece and Italy have done.
The unions of course are solely trying to protect the workers who are on the sort of over-paid, over-protected, under worked contracts that we in Jersey assume are the norm. But it is those very working conditions which would have to be altered to fit the plans of Sheldon Adelson. The level of regulation in Spain is phenomenal, even to employ members of your own family for as little as two hours per week the bureaucracy is overwhelming.
So with Jersey style government excess making it unfavourable from inward investment, pressure to cut spending from the European Union and unions out of touch with reality who will not act in the best interests of the nation as a whole but would seek to ensure that their members maintain their unfair advantage over honest, working folk, the situation there seems to represent the future of Jersey.
your attack on unions is laughable darius, they are seeking to protect the "honest working folk " who without union protection would be at the mercy of the depraved financiers who brought about this scam, and who got clean away with it. thats the trouble nowadays with predatory capitalism, do you think they have workers conditions at heart , no. profit above everything and NO exceptions for people or the environment. "honest working folk"are not as stupid as you think they are. they will side with the movement that gave us the weekend, holidays, and protection from the kind of people who would seek to send our kids back up chimneys instead of school.
ReplyDeleteI disagree Tom, companies like Rowntree's and Cadbury's from the Industrial revolution times, were very concerned with the conditions and quality of life of their workers and still made profit. One might even lay the success of those companies as a result of their treatment of their workers.
ReplyDeleteIn the grand scheme of things the unions generally only serve to ensure that senior civil servants get large pay rises... as they get the same percentage as the manual workers. 2% of £365,000 is a lot more than 2% of £20,000.
I have never said that the Union Movement did not have its place in the 19th century... but this is the 21st Century and unions are as much a part of the establishment as any other institution.
sorry darius i just cant buy the "benevolent" corporation hogwash, tow the line or they will ship your job to africa/china/etc the union movement along with the rising voices of occupy and various arab countries are gathering momentum and i feel the tipping point is nigh, one thing the politicos always seem to overlook is the fact that you can only push people so far. the gap between the rich and poor is bigger now than anytime in history, the internet will be instrumental in the change thats coming, the quickest way to politicise people is to rob them of hope.
ReplyDeleteI have done a series of three posts which will come out over the next three days...
ReplyDeleteWe are not actually that far apart but you are just not radical enough!
The very notions of 'employment', 'corporations' and indeed 'money' need to be done away with. Money, and more specifically debt, is the fundamental means of social control.
Debt requires you to seek 'employment'. Employment if not selling yourself into slavery, IS leasing yourself out as a slave.
I personally have put into practise this exact philosophy and I hope over the next three days I will explain it fully and in a manner which is readily understood.