People pay more taxes in Catalonia, but public services fall short. Where's the catch?

Not a day goes by without current events giving us a reason to think deeply about the state of the country and arrive at some pessimistic provisional conclusions.

After commuter rail and farmers, today those who have explained how we are These are the teachers who have gone on strike to demand better working conditions and higher salaries.Since a strike that goes unnoticed isn't a strike at all, teachers have taken to blocking the Barcelona ring roads and other points on Catalan highways. Once again, mobility has suffered the most. It's a method of protest that holds little mystery: you inconvenience people, the morning news media amplifies the message, sounding the alarm for the government, creating a sense of urgency for a country that's not moving forward, as the leading opposition party, Junts, told acting Catalan President Albert Dalmau during the question period. Junts has supported the teachers' strike, calling it a "strike against the government." Dalmau wasted no time in reminding them of the numerous strikes teachers have staged under governments where the Education Ministry was controlled by Junts.

The teachers' demands are entirely logical: with a diverse student body, speaking different languages ​​and cultures, and with many children and teenagers with special needs, special resources are necessary if they want sending their children to school to have its true purpose, which is to make them competent and capable in life. And the same can be said, and even more so, of doctors, who study for ten years, hold our lives in their hands, and are paid far below their worth.

And this is where my daily thoughts about our country lead to a realization: in Catalonia, people who earn money pay more taxes than in other Spanish regions, while public services are severely compromised. Education, healthcare, transportation (we don't need to explain today's commuter rail or AP-7 traffic jams), and housing.

And speaking of housing, someone in the sector told me today that it's a topsy-turvy world: we have owners selling their apartments when they'd rather rent them out. Tenants buying for security. Buyers forced into the market prematurely because, if they could, they'd wait a few years to buy and rent in the meantime. Tenants occupying homes that don't meet their needs. Construction investment is disappearing when it's needed most. And they concluded: Do we want a system that generates defensive decisions instead of natural ones?

Sánchez is asked how it is that if the macroeconomic figures are so good, people's micro-economic situation isn't improving. And in Catalonia, we should be asking ourselves: why, despite our enormous tax effort and considerable wealth creation (approximately 20% of Spain's GDP), are our healthcare, education, transportation, and housing far below where they should be? The answer is clear: we don't have our resources. And that won't be fixed by another four billion.

Good morning.