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gib444 5 hours ago

In the UK infrastructure projects are about creating jobs and making their friends rich first, and providing some kind of useful infrastructure last (and also optional)

There is so much thievery of public funds it's just corruption disguised as incompetence and the public believe it every time

fer 4 hours ago | parent [-]

In Spain it is the same, the Metro de Madrid being an anomaly rather than the norm (for now).

Some flagrant cases:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciudad_Real_International_Airp...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castell%C3%B3n%E2%80%93Costa_A...

https://maps.app.goo.gl/8BRnx8eQFfihvHmv5

https://english.elpais.com/elpais/2019/05/17/inenglish/15580...

The 2008 crisis had a special flavor in Spain, cajas de ahorros (privately owned, but politically controlled banks) worked with politicians -surprise- to grant mortgages (i.e. lending someone else's money) to buyers of the housing constructions they themselves had their fingers in, at a time regular banks were already wary of the direction of the housing market. It wasn't uncommon people being told which bank to go to to obtain a mortgage that'd be usually refused.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savings_bank_(Spain)

miguelxt 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

To say they were "privately owned" doesn't sound right. Cajas de ahorros had no shareholders so profits were not distributed to any "private owner". Leaders and executives of the Cajas were appointed by a mix of local councils, unions, autonomous regions, and other non-private organizations. Juridically, they were "private organizations", but factually, they were just a form of state-owned company, as it was the municipalities and regions that made the important governing decisions.

flr03 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

At least Spain has something, UK has something to show for it the numbers are crazy.