... Catalonia, an example why separatism is bullshit ...

... in the 21st century.

There is no accounting for failure, businesses fail, politics fail, people fail, but when you fail to the tune of ...

... €48 billion (£ 37 billion)

,,, and there are only 7.5 million people it gets tricky !

A report by Iain Dey of the Sunday Times paints a very bleak picture :

WORLD markets are set for a rocky week after it emerged yesterday that a second Spanish region is on the brink of asking Madrid for help.  Catalonia, the region that includes Barcelona, is said to be days away from requesting an emergency loan. It is unable to pay the interest on € 48 billion (£ 37 billion) of debts, according to reports.
Markets tumbled on Friday after a rescue deal for Valencia — site of some of the worst excesses of Spain’s property boom — was unveiled.  An emergency loan of an undisclosed size will be made by the Spanish government via an €18 billion rescue fund set up two weeks ago to deal with struggling regions. Spanish reports claim that six other regions may need help.
Spanish shares suffered their biggest one-day drop in two years on the back of the news, falling 5.8%. Germany’s Dax dropped 1.8% and France’s Cac plunged by 2.1%. The FTSE 100 closed more than 1% down on Friday at 5,655.04. The interest rate on Spain’s 10-year bonds jumped to 7.28%, a level that most economists say is unsustainable.

News of the Valencia bailout came as eurozone ministers ratified a bailout worth up to €100 billion for Spanish banks. The final figure will be known only after a review of the loan books is completed by the auditors PWC, Deloitte, Ernst & Young and KPMG.

And the corruption that is politics ...

Sources close to the review claim that Spain’s central bank is pressuring the auditors to ensure that they produce nothing that could even hint at the possibility that Spain’s three main lenders will need capital. The government has insisted that Santander, BBVA and La Caixa are sound.

I wonder if similar words were used in Greece when they were preparing to join the Euro ....

Fortunately for the poor saps of Catalonia the Spanish people as a whole nation, all 47 million of them, will pool their resources, and go without during the hard times, to pay the exorbitant 7.28% interest rate and bail out the devolved administration, and there are another six other regions needing help, poor Spain .......

So when the separatist agenda talk the talk that small is best, think of Spain, we all share the incompetence that is politics, and when we have to share the legacy of incompetence, the more the merrier is a better clarion call, think of Catalonia.  To see the illusions of Grandier, look no further than the Welsh Assembly!