>> FOLLOWING THIS WEEKEND'S GENERAL ELECTION, SPAIN FACES A
LEVEL OF POLITICAL INSTABILITY IT HAS NOT HAD FROM THE HISTORY
OF DEMOCRACY IN SPAIN.
WE HAVE THE ELECTION RESULTS FOR YOU,
THIS IS FROM YESTERDAY.
IF WE COULD BRING UP THE FIRST CHART,
YOU WILL SEE THE NUMBER OF SEATS WON.
I ALSO WANT TO ADD THE
CHANGE IN THE SEATS FROM THE LAST ELECTION, WHICH BY THE WAY
WAS 4 1/2 YEARS AGO, WHICH IS THE LONGEST TIMESPAN BETWEEN
ELECTIONS SINCE SPAIN TRANSITIONED TO DEMOCRACY.
YOU
SEE THE FORMERLY LARGEST PARTY, STILL THE LARGEST PARTY, THE
POPULAR PARTY, A CONSERVATIVE PARTY, WINNING 123 SEATS, OR 29%
OF THE VOTE.
THAT IS A DROP OF 64 SEATS SINCE THE LAST
ELECTION, WE LOOK AT THEM LOSING ABOUT ONE THIRD OF THEIR SEATS.
THE SOCIALISTS, WHICH ARE NOT SURPRISINGLY THE SOCIAL
DEMOCRATIC PARTY, THE FEDERALIST PARTY, ARE DOWN 20 SEATS, A
SIGNIFICANT CHUNK FROM 4 1/2 YEARS AGO.
THE PODEMOS PARTY, A
SOCIALIST PARTY, WITH 69 SEATS AND 21% OF THE VOTE, THERE IS A HUGE
SHIFT IN THE NUMBER OF SEATS BETWEEN THE SOCIALISTS AND THEM,
THEY ARE UP 68 SEATS SINCE LAST TIME, A JUMP FOR THEM, WAY TO
GO.
AND THE CIUDADANOS PARTY, I DON'T SPEAK SPANISH, THAT SHOULD
BE CLEAR, 40 SEATS, 14% OF THE VOTE.
THAT IS THE FIRST ELECTION
THEY HAVE TAKEN PART IN.
THE TWO LEADING PARTIES LOST A
SIGNIFICANT NUMBER OF SEATS FROM FOUR YEARS AGO, AND FORMERLY
VERY SMALL PARTIES ARE REGIONAL PARTIES WHICH HAD NEVER COMPETED
ON THE NATIONAL STAGE FOR PARLIAMENT SUCKING UP THOSE
SEATS AND GETTING THEM THEMSELVES.
WHAT IS INTERESTING,
THERE IS --
>> SO YOU HAD WHAT IS FOR A
PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM A TWO PARTY
SYSTEM UP UNTIL THE SELECTION.
NOT TO THE SAME EXTENT THAT
AMERICA IS A TWO-PARTY SYSTEM, BUT OBVIOUSLY IT IS A DIFFERENT
WAY OF ORGANIZING GOVERNMENT.
BUT NOW IT IS ABOUT 50%, AND THE
SOCIALIST PARTY HAS MADE IT CLEAR THAT THEY WILL NOT
COMBINED FORCES WITH PP TO FORM A RULING MAJORITY, WE NOW HAVE
POLITICAL INSTABILITY AND WHAT SOME ARE CALLING, INCLUDING THE
LEADER OF PODEMOS --
>> HE IS SAYING IT IS DEAD.
>>THIS IS HUGELY IMPORTANT FOR SPAIN, A SEACHANGE IN THEIR
POLITICS AND THEIR ELECTIONS.
VERY IMPORTANT FOR EUROPE
BECAUSE PODEMOS IS ANTI-AUSTERITY, AND IF THE
SOCIALISTS AND PODEMOS COULD PUT TOGETHER A GOVERNMENT THEY WOULD
ALSO HEAD IN AN ANTI-AUSTERITY DIRECTION, AND HENCE BE CLOSER
TO GREECE'S POSITION.
THEN WE WOULD HAVE TO SEE HOW GERMANY
AND SOME OF THE NORTHERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES REACT.
BUT
ALSO IT IS IMPORTANT I THINK IN A MACRO SENSE FOR THE WHOLE
WORLD, BECAUSE HERE IS YET ANOTHER COUNTRY THAT IS SAYING
YEAH, WE ARE TIRED OF THE ESTABLISHMENT.
IN SPAIN IT DOES
NOT GET ANY MORE ESTABLISHMENT THAN THE TWO LEADING PARTIES
THAT HAVE BEEN IN POWER FOR AS LONG AS THEY HAVE HAD DEMOCRACY,
AND FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER FOR THAT RULE TO BE CHANGED, THAT
REIGN TO BE CHANGED, TO HAVE CHALLENGERS UPSETTING THE
SYSTEM, IT IS COLLECTIVELY THE WORLD BEGINNING TO OVERTURN
THAT APPLECART OF THE ESTABLISHMENT.
>>IT IS UNRAVELING.
>> OBVIOUSLY WE HAVE BERNIE SANDERS DOING WELL HERE, BUT
ALSO ON THE RIGHT WING SIDE, WHO IS NOT ESTABLISHMENT?
DONALD
TRUMP.
HE'S A BILLIONAIRE BUT THE ESTABLISHMENT DOESN'T KNOW
WHAT TO DO WITH HIM.
YOU HAVE TWO BIG ANTIESTABLISHMENT FORCES
IN AMERICA DOING WELL IN POLITICS.
AND YOU HAVE CORBYN IN
THE U.K., AND YOU HAVE THE RIGHT WING SIDE IN A LOT OF EASTERN
EUROPEAN COUNTRIES.
YOU HAVE SOME RIGHT-WING CHALLENGES TO
THE ESTABLISHMENT, BUT EITHER WAY PEOPLE ARE SAYING WE HAVE
BEEN DOING THINGS THE SAME WAY FOR A LONG TIME AND WE ARE
BEGINNING TO REALIZE THAT SYSTEM WAS NOT REALLY RIGGED IN OUR
FAVOR, THAT SYSTEM WAS RIGGED IN THE FAVOR OF THE PEOPLE THAT ARE
IN THE ESTABLISHMENT AND ALREADY HAVE MONEY AND POWER.
OBVIOUSLY
I AM MORE LEFT OF CENTER, BUT IN EUROPE I WOULD PROBABLY BE FAR
MORE CENTRIST THAN I AM CONSIDERED HERE IN THE U.S.
>>THEY LAUGH AT THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY.
BUT WE HAVE THAT IN COMMON WITH THEM.
>>WE ARE WAY TO THE LEFT OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY HERE IN
AMERICA, BUT WE WOULD STILL BE PROBABLY TO THE RIGHT OF LEFTIST
PARTIES IN EUROPE.
>>ESPECIALLY WITH MY HAIRCUT.
>> SO IF THE ESTABLISHMENT IS BEING OVERTURNED, I'M HAPPY ABOUT
THAT.
LOOK, AGAIN, SOME RIGHT-WING PARTIES CAN RISE OUT
OF THAT, THEY COULD BE AWFULLY DANGEROUS.
NOT ALL CHANGE IS GREAT.
BUT THE SYSTEM NEEDS TO BE CHANGED, AND IF SPAIN IS
HEADING IN THAT DIRECTION AND IF THE BENEFACTOR IS AN
ANTI-AUSTERITY PARTY, EVEN BETTER.
>>THAT IS THE SCARY THING.
I WAS BLINDSIDED BY THE SPANISH
ELECTION RESULTS, IT HAD NOT BEEN ON MY GOOGLE CALENDAR, I AM
SORRY SPAIN, I WAS NOT TRACKING IT.
BUT WE SEE THERE WILL BE
THIS INSTABILITY SO WE ANALYZE IT, AND OUR NATURAL INCLINATION,
I BELIEVE I WAS SPEAKING FOR BOTH OF US, IS ARE THEY GOING
MORE LEFT OR RIGHT?
AND THE FEAR IS, TYPICALLY, HISTORICALLY IN
EUROPE WHEN YOU COMBINE ECONOMIC TROUBLES AND BEAR IN MIND THAT
SPAIN STILL HAS AN UNEMPLOYMENT RATE OF ABOUT 21% WHICH IS DOWN
FROM THE HIGH OF ABOUT 27%, BUT STILL HIGH, AND YOU HAVE TONS OF
CAUSE FOR CONCERN FOR XENOPHOBIA WITHIN THE REFUGEE CRISIS, SOME
COUNTRIES DEAL WITH THAT BETTER THAN OTHERS, YOU COMBINE THAT
XENOPHOBIA AND ECONOMIC TROUBLES AND HISTORICALLY THAT HAS NOT
ENDED UP IN A GOOD SITUATION FOR EUROPE.
SO WE WERE WORRIED ABOUT
THE RISE OF NATIONALISTIC PARTIES, WHICH IS HAPPENING IN
SOME COUNTRIES, BUT WHAT YOU SEE HERE IS BOTH THE ESTABLISHED
LEFTIST PARTY AND THE MORE RIGHT PARTY BOTH LOSING SUPPORT, AND
GOING TO THESE NEW PARTIES WHICH HAVE NOT BEEN IN POWER BEFORE ON
BOTH THE LEFT AND, DEPENDING ON THE NEW PARTY, SOME CALL IT
LEFT, SOME CALL IT RIGHT, TO US THEY ARE ALL CRAZY WIDE-EYED
LIBERALS, I'M SURE, BUT IT IS SIMPLY A MOVE AWAY FROM THE
CENTER AND THE ESTABLISHED SYSTEM.
LINDSEY GRAHAM WILL BE
SCARED AS HELL BY THESE RESULTS, THE SYSTEM IS UNRAVELING.
AND BY
THE WAY, THEY HAVE REGIONAL CONCERNS WE DON'T HAVE TO WORRY
ABOUT HERE.
THE ISSUE OF CATALAN INDEPENDENCE AND THE CONCERNS OF
THE BASQUE REGION ARE GOING TO BE IMPORTANT THERE, AND THOSE
POSITIONS DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN LEFT AND RIGHT, SO A DIFFERENT
SITUATION.
IT'S SIMILAR TO AMERICA WITH BERNIE SANDERS AND
DONALD TRUMP, PEOPLE ARE GOING MORE AGAINST THE ESTABLISHED
RULING AUTHORITIES AND LOOKING FOR AN ALTERNATIVE.
>>LET ME END ON SOME GOOFINESS.
THE LEADER OF PODEMOS, PABLO
IGLESIAS, HAS A PONYTAIL.
THE REASON I BRING THAT UP IS TO
HIGHLIGHT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN EUROPE AND THE U.S. THE U.S. IS
SO CONSERVATIVE THAT THE IDEA THAT ANYONE WITH A PONYTAIL
WOULD GET ANYWHERE NEAR 1% OF THE VOTE SEEMS STUNNING, LET
ALONE FOR THEM TO FINISH THIRD WITH 21% OF THE VOTE.
HE LOOKS
LIKE MY HIPPIE COUSIN, AND HE IS FAIRLY YOUNG.
IN AMERICA YOU
WOULD GO, A GUY WITH A PONYTAIL?
GO GET A JOB.
HE IS TRYING TO
GET A JOB, IT IS CALLED PRIME MINISTER.
>>THAT IS TRUE.
WE STILL HAVE NOT BROKEN THE PONYTAIL CEILING.
BUT IN OUR COUNTRY IF YOU HAVE A WEIRD MATTE OF DISGUSTING ORANGE
BACK HAIR THAT YOU COMB OVER YOUR HEAD, YOU CAN STILL BE
FIRST IN THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.
JUST DON'T BRAID IT.
>>FINALLY, I PROBABLY DON'T AGREE WITH THE RIGHT WING
LEADING PARTY IN SPAIN, BUT I DO ADMIRE THEIR MARKETING.
THEY
CALL THEMSELVES THE POPULAR PARTY.
AND HENCE, BECAME ONE.
THAT IS NICE AND SIMPLE.
POLITICS IS NOT A COMPETENT.
>>I CALLED MYSELF THE POPULAR KID IN HIGH SCHOOL, IT DID NOT STICK.
>>SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT.