The Shopping Basket Meme in Spain: 2013, 2019, and Now

The viral image that portrays Spanish inflation in one picture

The shopping basket meme in Spain, comparing prices from 2013, 2019, and the present day, has become one of the most shared viral pieces of content on Spanish social media. This simple visual comparison powerfully illustrates how inflation has eroded the purchasing power of Spaniards in just over a decade.

The image typically shows three baskets with similar basic products (bread, milk, eggs, fruit, vegetables, meat) with their respective total prices in each of these periods. The contrast is striking: what cost 50-60 euros in 2013 cost 65-75 euros in 2019, and now can exceed 90-110 euros depending on the specific products.

The Real Cause: Expansionary Monetary and Fiscal Policies

The Big Lie: Inflation as a Natural Phenomenon

For years, politicians and mainstream economists have presented inflation as an inevitable external phenomenon: global crises, distant wars, disruptions in supply chains. However, the reality is simpler and more uncomfortable: inflation is primarily a monetary phenomenon caused by the artificial expansion of the money supply.

When governments and central banks print money massively without backing it in real production, the inevitable result is the loss of value of each monetary unit. What we see in the shopping basket is not that food “rises in price,” but that money loses its purchasing power due to excessive issuance.

The Role of the European Central Bank

Since 2013, the ECB has implemented unprecedented monetary policies:

Quantitative Easing (QE) – Massive Printing of Euros:

• 2015-2018: Asset purchase program of €2.6 trillion
• 2020-2022: Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP) of €1.85 trillion
• Total: More than €4.5 trillion created out of thin air

Negative or Zero Interest Rates:

• From 2016 to 2022, the ECB’s interest rate was at 0% or negative
• This incentivized massive borrowing and penalized saving
• Central banks penalized those who He was saving money.

  The result: a massive amount of euros in circulation chasing the same amount of goods and services. The math is simple: more money + same production = higher prices.

  The result: a massive amount of euros in circulation chasing the same amount of goods and services.

  Uncontrolled Public Debt

  Spain has increased its public debt alarmingly:

  • 2013: Public debt of 977 billion euros (95.5% of GDP)
  • 2019: 1.17 trillion euros (98.2% of GDP)
  • 2024: Approximately 1.6 trillion euros (110% of GDP)

  This growing debt means:

  • More artificial money injected into the economy
  • Greater future inflationary pressure
  • Less savings capacity for citizens (via taxes)
  • Mortgaging the future of the next generations

  And what has this massive debt been spent on? Not in productive infrastructure or investment that generates returns, but in:

  Current spending and growing bureaucracy
  Subsidies and patronage-based aid
  Administrative duplication
  Political cronyism and unnecessary agencies

  COVID management: the accelerator of the inflationary crisis
  Lockdowns: massive economic destruction
  The government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-2021 was one of the biggest economic blunders in recent history:

  Forced closure of economic activity:

  Millions of workers unable to produce
  Businesses closed by decree for months
  Artificially disrupted supply chains
  Production loss that will never be recovered recovered

Result: Fewer goods available on the market. Supply fell drastically.

Stimulus measures: printing money while destroying production

Simultaneously, governments decided to “compensate” with money created out of thin air:

• Temporary layoffs paid with public debt
• Direct aid to businesses and the self-employed
• Massive subsidies
• Transfers without productive backing

The perfect formula for inflation: Destroying production (fewer goods) + printing money (more euros) = Soaring prices.

It wasn’t the pandemic that caused the inflation; it was the government’s response policies. Countries or regions with fewer restrictions experienced lower subsequent inflation.

Endless Aid: Perpetuating the Crisis

Instead of allowing the economy to recover naturally, governments continued:

• Unnecessary Extensions of Temporary Layoff Schemes
• Increasing Minimum Living Income and Subsidies
• Aid that Disincentivizes Work
• Unprecedented Record Public Spending

All this “free” money has to come from somewhere: printing money, borrowing, or more taxes. All three options impoverish the working population.

Government Measures: Useless Cosmetics

The Farce of “Combating” Inflation They Created

Faced with social pressure due to rampant inflation, the Spanish government implemented measures presented as “solutions”:

Temporary Reduction of VAT on Basic Foodstuffs:

• A purely cosmetic and temporary measure
• It doesn’t address the root cause (excess money in circulation)
• It’s financed with more debt (more future inflation)
• Prices continued to rise anyway

Price Caps:

• They generate shortages (when the maximum price is below the real cost)
• They create black markets
• They discourage production
• Economic history shows that they never They work

Energy subsidies and gas price caps:

• Paid for with public debt (more future inflation)
• Distort market signals
• Incentivize excessive consumption
• The real cost is still there, it’s just hidden

Direct aid and bonuses:

• More money printed chasing the same goods
• Feed back the inflation they supposedly combat
• Political patronage disguised as social aid

The real objective: to hide their responsibility

These measures are not intended to solve inflation but rather:

• Create the illusion that the government is “doing something”
• Gain short-term political gain
• Blame Businessmen, farmers, or “speculators”

  Avoid admitting they caused the problem

  The real solution would be painful but effective: reduce public spending, stop printing money, and liberalize the economy. But this would require politicians to acknowledge their mistakes and relinquish power.

  Waste: While the cost of living rises, public money is squandered

  International aid while Spaniards suffer

  While millions of Spaniards struggle to make ends meet, the government has allocated billions to:

  Aid to Ukraine:

  • More than €1 billion in military and financial aid
  • Refugee reception with full subsidies
  • While Spanish pensioners and families struggle

  Inflated international cooperation:

  • Million-euro budgets for developing countries
  • Programs of dubious effectiveness
  • Priority over national needs

  International organizations:

  • Contributions to the EU, UN, WHO, and other organizations

    While basic services in Spain deteriorate

    This isn’t about being selfish, but about prioritizing: how can you justify sending money abroad when your own citizens can’t afford basic food items?

    Corruption: The Invisible Tax

    Besides officially recognized waste, there is hidden waste:

    Cases of ongoing corruption:

    • Commissions on public contracts
    • Non-proprietary hiring
    • Subsidies to crony companies
    • Nepotism and revolving doors

    The real cost:

    • It is estimated that corruption costs 40-60 billion euros annually in Spain
    • This is equivalent to 5-7% of GDP
    • Enough to eliminate the public deficit

    Every euro stolen or wasted is a euro that:

    • Is not invested productively
    • Is created through debt (future inflation)
    • Citizens pay for through taxes or loss of purchasing power

    Oversized political structures

    Spain maintains a bloated political structure:

    • 17 autonomous communities with duplicated governments
    • Provincial councils
    • Thousands of loss-making public companies
    • Unnecessary agencies and organizations
    • Thousands of political advisors
    • Official cars, bodyguards, and privileges

    All of this is paid for with debt or taxes, fueling inflation and reducing resources available for real production.

    The Myth of Immigration and Pensions

    One of the biggest lies constantly repeated is that “we need immigration to pay for pensions.” The reality of the numbers tells a very different story:

    The Real Cost of Unintegrated Immigration:

    Immigration has a net fiscal impact that is rarely analyzed honestly:

    • Skilled Immigration: Skilled workers who contribute more than they receive. This type of immigration can indeed be fiscally beneficial.
    • Unskilled Immigration: Low-skilled jobs, low wages, minimal tax contribution, but access to full public services.
    • Unemployed Immigration: 60% of immigrants, mostly from Africa, who have arrived in Spain are unemployed. Each unaccompanied minor costs us more than €30,000 per year. It has been reported that the monthly cost to the Generalitat of Catalonia exceeds €51,600 per year per unaccompanied minor. A huge economic burden for those who actually produce wealth.

      The untold numbers:

      A worker earning minimum wage or close to it (where a large part of the recent immigrant population is concentrated) contributes very little in taxes:

      Limited social security contributions
      Minimum or zero income tax
      Consumption subject to VAT (which we all pay the same)

      But they consume a full range of public services:

      Public healthcare (consultations, emergencies, hospitalizations)
      Education for children (approximate cost: €6,000/year per student)
      Social services
      Aid and subsidies
      Infrastructure and security

      The fiscal balance: Serious studies show that low-skilled immigration has a Negative fiscal balance. In other words, it costs more than it contributes.

      The Problem of Non-Return: Unlike previous generations of immigrants who came to work and many returned to their countries, now:

      • They bring entire families (multiplying the cost)
      • Immediate access to social services
      • Permanent integration facilitated by lax policies
      • Family reunification that multiplies the impact

      Pensions: Doing the Real Math:

      For an immigrant to “pay pensions,” they would need to:

      • Work 35-40 years and contribute to social security
      • Earn an average or higher salary (not minimum wage)
      • Consume very few public services
      • Not bring dependents (family, children)

      The reality is that most:

      • Contribute to social security with low salaries
      • Consume services from day one 1
      • Bring or start a family (more dependents)
      • At 65, they too will receive a pension

      The result: They don’t solve the pension problem, they exacerbate it. Bringing in people to pay pensions when that population will also receive pensions is a demographic pyramid scheme.

      Immigration as a Political Strategy

      Beyond the economic aspect, there is a political dimension that is rarely discussed openly:

      Electoral Clientelism:

      • Accelerated Naturalization Policies
      • Right to Vote in Local Elections
      • Access to Aid Conditioned on Implicit Support
      • Creation of Dependence on the Welfare System

      The Strategy:

      1. Facilitate Mass Entry
      2. Provide Access to Aid and Services
      3. Create Economic Dependence on the State
      4. Obtain Electoral Support from a Grateful Population

      Newly arrived populations, with less integration and greater dependence on public aid, tend to vote for parties that promise more social spending. It’s a perfect cycle for certain political parties.

      The cost to Spaniards:

      • Overburdened public services (healthcare, education)
      • Driving down competition in wages (increased labor supply)
      • Upward pressure on rental housing
      • Social fragmentation due to lack of integration
      • Higher public spending = more taxes or more inflation

      The issue that cannot be debated:

      Any criticism of these policies is immediately labeled “xenophobia” or “racism,” shutting down the debate. This is deliberate: if there can be no debate, the policies cannot be changed.

      The reality is that this has nothing to do with ethnic or cultural origin, but with cold, hard numbers: fiscal sustainability, economic integration, and the consequences for citizens who were already here and see their purchasing power evaporate, in part, due to these policies.

      What the government doesn’t want you to understand

      Inflation is a hidden tax

      Inflation is not a natural disaster. It’s the most regressive tax there is:

      • It affects those with the least the most (the rich can protect themselves with assets)
      • It doesn’t require parliamentary approval
      • It’s invisible to most people
      • It allows the government to spend without apparent limit

      When you see the most expensive shopping basket, what you’re really seeing is:

      • The government stealing your purchasing power
      • The central bank’s printing license in action
      • The real cost of public waste
      • Your salary being silently expropriated

      Why prices should FALL, not rise

      In a healthy economy, with technological advances and productivity improvements, prices should fall over time, not rise:

      • Agriculture is More efficient every year

        Technology lowers production and distribution costs

        Logistical improvements reduce costs

        Competition puts downward pressure on prices

        Historically, during the gold standard (when money couldn’t be printed arbitrarily), prices tended to fall slowly as the quality of life improved. A worker could buy more each year with the same salary.

        Why doesn’t this happen anymore? Because artificial monetary expansion counteracts all productivity improvements. Instead of benefiting from technology through lower prices, the government appropriates that gain through inflation.

        International Comparison: The Political Factor

        Countries with Lower Inflation: Less Intervention

        When we compare European countries, we find patterns:

        Switzerland (2.9% peak inflation in 2022):

        • More conservative central bank
        • Lower relative public spending
        • Lower debt
        • Greater economic freedom

        Netherlands (lower inflation than Spain):

        • Less restrictive COVID management
        • Faster economic recovery
        • Less reliance on subsidies

        Spain (10% inflation in 2022):

        • Longer and stricter lockdowns
        • Massive public spending and Persistent inflation

          Greater indebtedness

          More price intervention (which generates perverse effects)

          The correlation is clear: greater government intervention leads to higher inflation.

          The Myth of “External Causes”

          Debunking the Official Narrative

          The government and affiliated media constantly blame inflation on:

          “The war in Ukraine”:

          • Inflation was already soaring in 2021, before the war
          • The war mainly affected energy and grain, not all products
          • Countries not dependent on Russian gas also experienced inflation

          “Global supply chains”:

          • Disrupted mainly by government lockdowns
          • Recovered in 2022, but inflation continued
          • Does not explain inflation in local services

          “Corporate greed”:

          • Did companies suddenly become Greedy in 2020?

          If they could raise prices arbitrarily, why didn’t they do it before?

          Competition limits margins, unless there is excess cash available.

          The inconvenient truth: These factors may have had marginal effects, but the root cause was the massive creation of money without productive backing.

          How to Protect Yourself from Silent Expropriation

          Strategies to Preserve Purchasing Power

          Since you can’t control government policies, you can protect yourself by:

          Real Assets:

          • Real Estate (although it has its own tax issues)
          • Commodities or Precious Metals
          • Shares of Productive Companies
          • Anything other than depreciating paper money

          Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies:

          • Mathematically Limited Supply
          • Not Controllable by Governments
          • Protection Against Monetary Inflation
          • High Risk but High Protection Against Devaluation

          Investment in Your Human Capital:

          • Income-generating Skills in Any context
          • Training that increases your productivity
          • Entrepreneurship and economic independence

          Selective relocation:

          • Geographic diversification of assets
          • Consideration of jurisdictions with lower tax burdens
          • Protection against confiscation

          Reduce dependence on the system

          The more you depend on fiat money and the traditional banking system, the more vulnerable you are:

          • Minimum cash needed in banks
          • Diversified assets
          • Practical skills (producing food, repairing things)
          • Direct exchange networks

          The future: more of the same?

          Why the situation will worsen

          Unfortunately, all political incentives point to more inflation:

          Massive public debt:

          • €1.6 trillion that must be repaid
          • The only “easy” way is inflation (monetizing the debt)
          • Politicians will prefer inflation to painful cuts

          Unsustainable pensions:

          • Payment system collapsing demographically
          • Promises impossible to keep without massive inflation
          • More pressure to print money

          Increasing social spending:

          • More and more people dependent on subsidies
          • Electoral pressure to maintain and increase aid
          • Financing only possible via debt/inflation

          2030 Agenda and climate policies:

          • Require trillions in investment
          • Without a realistic financing plan
          • Will result in more debt and inflation

          The vicious cycle

          1. Government spends more than it takes in
          2. Financing the deficit with debt
          3. Bank The central bank buys debt (prints money)

             Inflation reduces purchasing power

             Citizens demand government “aid”

             Government spends more? Back to square one

             This cycle only ends with a severe monetary crisis or a radical change in policies.

             The solution no one wants to hear

             The real solution would require:

             • Drastic reduction of public spending
             • Elimination of unnecessary agencies
             • Privatization of loss-making public companies
             • Economic liberalization
             • End of distorting subsidies
             • Real fiscal responsibility
             • Complete independence of the central bank from politics

             But this implies:

             • Short-term pain
             • Loss of political privileges
             • Acknowledgment of past mistakes
             • Reduction of government power

             That’s why it won’t happen voluntarily. Only a crisis will force it.

             Conclusion: The Meme as Evidence of a Failed System

             The shopping basket meme is not just a viral curiosity. It is visual evidence of the biggest theft currently underway: the expropriation of workers’ purchasing power through currency devaluation.

             When you see those three images (2013, 2019, now), don’t think “food prices have gone up.” Think “the government has destroyed the value of my money.” Every euro you earn is worth less and less because euros are printed without any productive backing to finance political waste.

             The current system is unsustainable. The question is not if it will collapse, but when and how. Meanwhile:

             • Protect your wealth
             • Educate others about the real causes of inflation
             • Demand fiscal responsibility
             • Don’t believe the propaganda that blames “external factors”
             • Prepare for a future where fiat money will be worth less and less

             The cost of living will continue to rise as long as governments have the ability to print money without limit. It’s mathematical. It’s inevitable. And it’s completely avoidable if there were a will to do so.

             But for anything to change, we must first understand who is truly responsible. And this meme, without saying a word about politics, shows us clearly.

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