Who's Fiddling Here
dated 2010-05-10 | posted in columns | topic Economy | permanent link
And the Band Played On
If Nero fiddled while Rome burned, the Portuguese are not far behind. In the USA, where I spent the past two weeks, CNN blared the news about Greece and continually asked “Who’s next?” I cowered as commentators talked about Portugal, “a tiny country that can’t handle its debt.” Other journalists lumped Portugal with Spain. (Many Americans don’t know that Portugal is a separate country.) The two, broadc ...
Sign of the Times
dated 2009-04-28 | posted in columns | topic Economy | permanent link
You don’t have to be extra astute to decipher the words scrawled on shop windows all over town. Familiar ones say: Remodelação; Fechado para obras; Fechado; Vende; and Trespasse-se . But are we really to believe them? Let’s take the first: Remodelação. How naive I was to believe my favourite shoe shop that they were really remodelling. With so few customers why remodel? And that’s just the point. Management seems to prefer the disguise ...