Zapatero might be a Socialist but he doesn't know much about economics: he's a lawyer by training.
In fact, looking at this list of measures it seems that they use the same kinds of tools that were deployed to deal with the slump in the construction industry and the popping of the property bubble: delayed tax collection, accelerated tax reimbursements, and in the current case tax cuts on everything except fuel, and ICO loans. Is Zapatero's economic team a one-trick pony, or is the Spanish state limited in its options?
Note the bit about the creation of a separate "professional diesel" fuel category (presumably for tax purposes). This is a key demand of the truckers which ZP is punting to the EU. I suspect Spain cannot introduce a new category with a different tax rate unilaterally without running afoul of the EU's rules on "illegal state support".
I'm a little unsure what you mean by some sort of publicly financed buy-out of redundant capital goods could be a relatively inexpensive way to do this. The rigs are likely to be a drug on the market just now: what can the State do with a bunch of new rigs?
There was a recent comment by kcurie on some sort of report on freight and rail transport in Spain...
The spanish comission of infraestructure gathered yesterday and we no know the plans for the spanish train network. given the high price oil one would guess it should be first page.. je jeejj keep dreaming. Still, this is why it is so important: oil price moves to food price inflation if food transport is made using roads.
what can the State do with a bunch of new rigs?
Give them to the Spanish Army? Sell them abroad? Compensate the owners for a portion of their losses? I have no idea who would be hurt most if an owner-operator walked away from his loan and sent the keys to the holder of the loan. If it were large corporations that needed bailing out I'm sure the solution would be much more obvious. I have no idea how many owner-operators might respond. In the US this would fly in the face of usual practice which is to cover the losses of the big boys, who don't really need it and where the aid won't really accomplish the objective--capacity reduction. It is, perhaps, a whimsical idea to try to help small businessmen through a painful transition. I just wondered if in Spain it might actually be possible and even helpful. As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
Nationalising an independent sector would be a neat trick. I'm not sure it's been attempted before. It's probably illegal too, but it's still a fun idea.
If you nationalise the whole industry, you would simply have to ensure that the domestic industry is not treated better than foreign (European) trucking companies. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
