Now twice as organic

The organic (ecológico) market in Plaça de Pep Ventura now also happens on the second Saturday morning of each month (in addition to the last Saturday). The prices are great and you get to buy directly from the farmers/producers.

There's also two good fruit stores nearby. One is near the end of Carrer de Castillejos (which sells delicious "mangas", which are like mangoes but more delicious) and the other on Carrer de Santa Anna.


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Sports-linked investment products

I've been looking around for term deposit rates after realizing that Spanish mutual funds were a recipe for US tax code disaster.

I encountered a very peculiar kind of deposit... the sports-linked term deposit. For example, Banesto offers a 1 year deposit that pays 3%. Unless Spain wins the World Cup, in which case you get 4%.

Asking around the office, it seemed like everyone had some kind of sports-linked bank account... one guy was getting a bonus every time his favorite player scored, another got better interest if Sevilla got a certain number of points... the possibilities seemed limitless.

Update:

This blog makes a funny point that by refusing to take out insurance against Spain winning, the Banesto is actually betting that Spain will lose. Current odds put Spain at 20% chance, so if Banesto doesn't buy insurance, it is betting that the actual chance is lower. Of course, Banesto spins it that they are being loyal by not betting against Spain. This isn't really true, since in order to hedge its bets, Banesto would need to bet for Spain, not against it.

Salt and immigration

An interesting article in El Pais about the situation in the Girona suburb named Salt.

Salt was built back in the 70s to house migrant workers from the south of Spain during an economic boom in Catalunya. Eventually the workers became respectable citizens and moved to richer neighborhoods, leaving behind a vacuum that was filled by immigrants from Morocco, Senegal, Gambia, Pakisan and South America. Now the place is rife with crime, drugs, kids that don't go to school, etc. (I have to say, looking at the place with Google Street View, it doesn't look nearly as bad as the article says... I see a couple black people loitering around the "Productes Llatins" store)


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This kind of stuff happens all around the developed world and no one has really been able to deal with it well.

I think part of the problem is that European countries tend to throw up all kinds of barriers to keep immigrants from participating in civil society and then wonder why they don't integrate. In Germany, for example, Turks can now finally get citizenship, but are forced to give up Turkish citizenship in the process. Since this jeopardizes their ability to travel to meet their friends and relatives, they naturally refuse. The Germans think the Turks are disloyal, but the Turks just think they are being practical.

Arbitrary searches and harassment by the authorities doesn't help either. For example, at the Sant Cugat train station the other day, the police were stopping anyone that looked like they were from South America and demanding their papers. Some unlucky people probably got deported.

Will immigrants come to the police to report a crime in their community? Will the immigrant community prosper if criminals elements in the community are given free rein to victimize its members? Probably not.

Yes, Americans have no clue what neutral gear is

With all the stories of Toyotas accelerating out of control in the US, the question that always comes to my mind is "Why don't they put the car in neutral?"

I finally have the answer. This person thought that his car would flip over if he switched into neutral.

On the other hand, I wouldn't want to be in a rental car and try to figure this one out while my car is going out of control:



The whole thing reminds me of the mess around Audi back in the 80s when people were turn them on with the accelerator floored (instead of the brake) and flying out of their garage.

The joys of US taxes

The US is one of the few countries in the world that taxes all citizens and permanent residents no matter where they live in the world. Since we still have our green cards and want to be on best behavior, this means we need to file.

I learned yesterday that under no circumstances you should own non-US mutual funds if you have to file taxes as a resident. Even a simple money market fund can get you in serious trouble.

Take this scenario:

You put your life savings into a Euro money market fund that gives you around 2% interest per year. Great, so you just declare your 2% interest as income and you're done, right?

Wrong! You have just bought a PFIC (Passive Foreign Investment Company) and ruined your life. (I prefer to call them PFUCKs).

First, if you don't mention the PFUCK on your tax return, nothing much happens until you sell it. At that point, all hell breaks loose. Not only do you have to pay 4% per year penalty interest, you also have to value your shares in US Dollars (both at the start and end dates whatever the exchange rates were), and any currency difference is treated as regular income (and you don't get to count anything if its a loss).

There is also the option to mention the PFUCK on your tax return and do Mark-To-Market accounting, but currency movements can really screw you over, especially this year, when the Euro peaked around Dec 31st. The third option, known as QEF doesn't generally work in Europe since no funds will give you the accounting information necessary.

On the other hand, if you just stick to certificates of deposit, you get your steady interest payments, can apply Spanish taxes against your US taxes, and live stress free.

Second snow day... and it's over

The people are not pleased with the governments handling of Snow Day 2010. If this was the US, the news would have some fancy graphic and lots of on-the-scene reporters looking chilly.

According to an online El Pais poll, 90% of the people disapproved of the government's handling of the situation. Personally, I think they handled things pretty well given the completely crazy situation. Perhaps the commuters should have looked at the weather forcast and used a bit of common sense before heading off into the blizzard.

Looks like by tonight the scarves, sleds and snow suits can go back into the garage... what a pity.

Snow day in Sant Cugat

One day after telling our visitors that it never ever snows in Sant Cugat, I was proven wrong. Last year we had a tiny bit of snow up in Arrabassada, but this year there's a couple inches.

The kids are super excited about their first snow day from school.

We're off to build some snowmen and throw snowballs....

I wonder if Sant Cugat even has one snow plow.