Some data about the black economy in Spain

Black economy, also called underground economy or shadow economy, is the usually untraceable, and hence untaxable, business dealings. It includes both legal business activities which evade taxes and illegal business activities which are underground. And precisely, as these business activities are not recorded, they cannot be quantified, so the Ministry of the Economy, the Ministry of the Treasury and the Tax Agency can have no official figures. However, many universities, banks, State agencies, economic or social studies institutes and even EU commissions release their estimates about tax evasion and tax avoidance.
In July 2008, just before the onset of Spanish property bubble and the current financial crises, the trade union GESTHA, made up of workers of the Treasury Department, drew a very revealing report about the back economy in Spain, with data from all the above-mentioned sources. And here you have two outstanding figures from this report:
First, in 2004, out of the 4,017 people with assets over 10 million euros, only 727 paid the corresponding taxes. Therefore, 82% (3,290 fortunes) did not declare their wealth. However, it does not mean that black economy applies to wealthy people only, because it is a universal fraud, including millionaires who have their money in tax havens, as well as nobodies who work in black or cook their books to evade or avoid taxes.
Secondly, black economy is estimated to stand for 20%-25% of the Spanish GDP. According to the Ministry of Labour in 2004, the black economy represents 20%, whereas in 2005 the Spanish Credit Institution (ICO) estimated that it represents 25%. And in between, in 2002, a study of the European Commission estimated that it stands for 22% (only topped by Greece, with 30%) and very far from the Netherlands (2%) or Austria (1.5%). According to this study, the Spanish black market stands for 241,465 million euros. To put figures in context: it is 2,500 times more than the cuts expected in education in the region of Extremadura.
Can you image what we could do if all this money was declared and taxed, representing 20-25% of the Spanish GDP?


Sources:
About tax evasion: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_noncompliance
GESTHA, the trade union of the Treasury Department:
http://gestha.es/?seccion=actualidad&num=176
GESTHA’s estimates about the Spanish black economy:
http://www.gestha.es/archivos/informacion/monograficos/gestha_ucm/2008/ponencia-el-escorial-julio2008.pdf
Cuts in education in Extremadura:
http://www.hoy.es/20120423/local/plataforma-educacion-publica-estima-201204231252.html

    
     
     

Rhinos in death throes

Thanks to the Spanish King (who we hope is the last representative of the Spanish monarchy) and his accident while hunting elephants, thousands of people have become aware of the poor prospects for this huge mammal, which is included in the IUCN red list of threatened species. Many organizations try hard to save this species and make their fight visible, but thanks to the Spanish King’s accident, now we know that there are between 470,000 and 690,000 African elephants in the world.
However, elephants are not the only threatened large mammal: most apes and large felines are endangered too and they are likely to become extinct in some decades. At present, there are only 3,000 tigers in the wild and 20,000 in captivity, and only 7,000 Sumatran orangutans (this species lives in the tropical rainforest, which is endangered too). 
Today, we are going to talk about another endangered mammal which will soon die out unless we do something: rhinoceros. They appeared more than 30 million years ago but today there are only five living species: two native to Africa and three to southern Asia.
The white rhino is the second largest land mammal after the elephant. There are 20,160 white rhinos left in the wild and, despite being so few, it is the most abundant subspecies of rhinos in the world. In 1885 there were only 20 white rhinos, so now there is a serious consanguinity problem.
The black rhino has two horns on the skull. It is actually grey, like the white rhino. Then, if both of them are grey, why are they called white and black respectively? Because Dutch settlers gave the former the name "wijde" (meaning wide) because it is larger, but it was mistranslated into English as white. And then the latter was called black to make some difference. There are only 4,880 black rhinos left, so it is critically endangered.
The Indian rhino is a protected species in northern India and Nepal because there are only 2,700 specimens. In the year 1515, some adventurers took a specimen of Indian rhino to Europe as a gift to the Pope, who was planning to arrange a fight between this animal and an elephant (it seems that European aristocratic families have always been fond of killing large mammals). However, after stopping by in Lisbon, the ship carrying the animal gift sank by the Italian shores and the Pope could not have his show. The painter Albrecht Dürer made a well-known woodcut of this animal, based on sketches and descriptions. If you take a closer look at it and you compare it with an actual Indian rhino, you’ll realise that Dürer added a small horn on its back, and you may wonder why he did so. Well, by that time European readers had in mind Pliny’s Natural History, in which the Roman scientist describes a two-horned rhino, and Pliny could not be wrong, so Dürer added a second horn. However, the Roman writer only heard about the African species, which do have two horns… 
The Sumatran rhino has been largely hunted by poachers and there are only about 250 specimens left. It is the most ancient species of living rhino and it is the living image of its ancestors.
The Javan rhino lives in this Indonesian island and only 30 remain. There used to be some in Vietnam too, but poachers killed the last one in 2010. Currently, it is the rarest and most endangered large mammal in the world.
If you add up all the specimens of the five rhino species, the total amount comes to 28,000, which is not a hopeful figure. And it is even less hopeful if we take into account that this animal rarely reproduces in captivity and it is subject to poaching because of its horns, which are sent to China and Vietnam to become an allegedly-miraculous ointment. It all comes from a stupid story of a Vietnamese high-ranking official who used rhino horn to cure his cancer, increasing several times over its demand: in 2011 a ton of rhino horn was imported to Vietnam. Needless to say, rhino horns are not a cure, but having faith in a treatment (especially if it is very expensive and difficult to get) can improve the patient’s condition. And meanwhile, in the South-African Republic, every 18 hours a rhino is killed…
And a final figure to better understand the problem of rhino poaching: since 2006, 22 poachers have been shot dead and 200 have been arrested. But poaching is still going on because 3.5 kg of white rhino horn can be sold for 270,000 euros in the black market.

Sources:

1. The African elephant (Loxodonta africana) included in the IUCN red list of threatened species: http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/12392/0
2. African elephant population: http://www.worldwildlife.org/species/finder/africanelephants/africanelephant.html
3. The tiger (Panthera tigris): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger
4. The Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumatran_orangutan
5. The white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum): http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/4185/0
6. The black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis): http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/6557/0
7. The Indian rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis): http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/19496/0
8. Dürer’s sketch: http://imgs.soufun.com/news/2006_10/31/1162271922390.jpeg
9. The Sumatran rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis): http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/6553/0
10. The Javan rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sondaicus): http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/19495/0
11. Every 18 hours, another Rhino is killed in South Africa: http://www.rhinos-irf.org/
12. You will find extensive information about rhino poaching in the National Geographic issue of May 2012: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/03/rhino-wars/gwin-text

     
     
     
    

The Mohawk Valley formula or a plan for strikebreaking

During the first decades of the 20th century, many large corporations decided to hire a gang of thugs armed with truncheons to bludgeon strikers and demonstrators. There used to be some shooting too, and many trade unionists died, either in the middle of a demonstration or in a dark alley. In Barcelona, this practice became common during the 20s –the so-called pistolerismo (from Spanish pistolero, gunman). But it was a global phenomenon to be found in most industrialised countries.
Obviously, it is quite an effective way to break demonstrations and strikes, but it is not a long-term solution. First, some trade unions and anarchist associations (like the Spanish CNT) decided to hire their own gang of thugs, who even succeeded in shooting dead the Spanish Prime Minister Eduardo Dato in 1921 and some Spanish regional authorities. Secondly, strikebreaking gangs increased people’s unrest and it was made clear that they were acting in collusion with police forces and the government, so strikers had even more arguments to go on with their demonstrations, and those who were as yet undecided quickly took sides.
Then, someone had the greatest idea: it was in 1937, during the “Little Steel” strike in Johnstown, west Pennsylvania. Instead of attacking demonstrators with truncheons and guns, their leaders were attacked with speeches and papers, so that the rest of workers would not take their side. This was a way to end up with strikes and demonstrations and be seen as the good guys. It was later known as the Mohawk Valley formula. The reasoning behind is quite simple. “We” (businessman, bankers, unemployed, workers and housewives) are interested in making factories work so that there are job posts, no riots and everything can work out well. “They” (trade unionists) just want problems and riots because they live out of it. Therefore, “we” have to defend “our” interests and be united so that we do not succumb to “their” provocations. Strikers are subversive, violent, antidemocratic and rioting and “we” (the good guys) should try to stop them. In order words: a bank executive and a cleaning maid have the same interests, so they should fight together against anti-systemic movements.
It may seem clumsy and too easy, but if you repeat this same message all over again from different sources (mass media, political parties, schools…) it ends up working well. Really well! To the point that today it is the most widely used formula to break strikes and demonstrations, or at least to prevent that most citizens take part in them, so that those who fight for labour rights and social rights become a minority --the “anti-systemic groups”.
It is very interesting to take a look at newspaper headers and statements by some politicians or employer’s organizations before and after a strike. For instance, the days before the Spanish general strike of 29 March 2012 we collected some press clippings with Mohawk Valley-like statements... and we found hundreds of them. If you wish, just take a look at any newspaper library. You’ll find articles about syndicalists’ wealth, about the fact that they do not get a day deducted from their balance, or even arguments against strikes because of the financial loss (which should be assumed by workers, of course). As Noam Chomsky says, after discussing the Mohawk Valley formula, "Propaganda is to a democracy what the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state".

Sources:

1. Two texts by Noam Chomsky about Mohawk Valley formula:

• Chomsky on Democracy & Education: http://books.google.es/books?id=Y5Ouy4XoXPsC&pg=PA229&lpg=PA229&dq=Mohawk+Valley+formula&hl=ca#v=onepage&q=Mohawk%20Valley%20formula&f=false
• Propaganda and the public mind.  Interviews with Noam Chomsky: http://www.bookreview.com/$spindb.query.listreview2.booknew.4182

1. “Pistolerismo” in Barcelona: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pistolerismo
2. Eduardo Dato, Spanish Prime Minister assassinated by anarchists: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eduardo_Dato_e_Iradier

     
      
     
      

Space junk

On 4 October 1957, that is 55 years ago, Sputnik 1 was launched from Kazakhstan to become the first artificial satellite of human history. One month later, Sputnik 2 was launched, carrying a dog named Laika on board. In September, the US tried to emulate the Soviet Union with the satellite Vanguard TV3, but an accident frustrated this attempt to launch it into orbit. However, in January 1958, four months after the launching of Sputnik 1, the first US satellite was set into orbit: Explorer 1. That was the onset of the Space Race between both nations.
The Cold War and the militaristic paranoia had at least one good consequence: increase our knowledge of the cosmos by launching a net of satellites which is useful for our communications, weather forecasts and navigation. Satellites were also used to spy and other military purposes, but the outcome was not so bad: at least we got something positive from human foolishness and warfare.
Since then, our sky is full of satellites. According to the UCS (Union of Concerned Scientists), on 1 January 2012 there were 994 satellites working around our planet. These satellites belong to different countries, but the US has many of them (441), followed by Russia (101) and China (83). However, these figures do not include obsolete satellites that are still orbiting around our planet, or spare pieces drifting around. And together with many more objects orbiting around us pointlessly, to no purpose, it is the so-called orbital debris.
So now, after 50 years of the first case of space junk, it’s time to find a solution to this new type of pollution. Let’s get started with some figures.
According to the CNES, the French Spatial Agency, at least 34,000 objects larger than 10 cm have been observed through radars and telescopes, and 13,000 are monitored and inventoried. Additionally, there are some other 200,000 objects with a size from 1 to 10 cm, and 35 million objects with a size from 0.1 to 1 cm. Smaller objects are countless. Among these objects, we can find paint particles, rocket pieces or objects from spatial missions, like a glove lost by the astronaut Edward H. White or a photograph camera lost by the astronaut Michael Collins. Even if they are really small objects, they are drifting at high speed, so they can hit other satellites or spatial vehicles, or they can fall and hit someone on Earth. Being hit by a piece of falling space debris is against all odds because the space is huge, but you cannot dismiss this possibility. The French satellite CERISE, crashed against a piece of orbital debris in 1996, becoming the first object to crash in the space. Since then, other devices like the spatial telescope Hubble have been hit. And the first case of a person hit by a falling piece of space junk was Lottie Williams, who was lucky to survive to tell her story.
It may all seem nonsense. At least, that’s what we think today: the outer space is too large to be concerned by debris. But every year between 60 and 100 rockets and satellites are launched and there are more and more obsolete devices drifting, which can crash or break into pieces, resulting in more and more objects and pieces orbiting around us. Even the NASA has a project to study and control the expansion of our orbital debris.
At the beginning of the industrial revolution nobody cared for pollution because we thought that our planet was resourceful. Today we are aware that we have a problem with pollution and it may be too late to prevent the destruction of many ecosystems. Are we going to do the same with the outer space or will we realise on time and find a proper solution?

Sources:

1. Sputnik 1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_1
2. Sputnik 2: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_2
3. Vanguard TV3: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanguard_TV3
4. Explorer 1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Explorer_1
5. The number of artificial satellites orbiting around us: http://www.ucsusa.org/nuclear_weapons_and_global_security/space_weapons/technical_issues/ucs-satellite-database.html
6. The CNES, the French Spatial Agency: http://www.cnes.fr
7. CNES tally of orbital debris: http://debris-spatiaux.cnes.fr/english/index_eng.html
8. CERISE satellite: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerise_%28satellite%29
9. Lottie Williams’s case: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=98700&page=1#.T2do4dmse3E
10. NASA programme on orbital debris: http://www.orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa.gov/