Juan Roig, besides being one of the richest people in this country, has visionary qualities. The profit and loss account of Mercadona, which is booming, is a testament to his commercial instinct.
Read more Lack of inspections weakens the state law against food waste
But, unlike Coca-Cola, there is no secret in his business: few entrepreneurs (and no political party) have understood the decline of the middle class as he has. The one that has historically served to pacify and stabilize societies. The one of moderation, well-being, modernity, consumption, and the El Corte Inglés card.
The one that is now going downhill.
Much has been theorized about this issue. Journalist Esteban Hernández has written a book explaining how the deterioration process of the middle class has reached more disadvantaged layers. These begin to see that their children no longer have such a secure future while uncertainty settles in about what is to come.
It is enough to compare, with an average salary, how many square meters could be bought in a Spanish city yesterday and how many today. I personally bought an apartment in Barcelona in 1998 and paid about 1,600 euros per square meter – then, in pesetas –. Today, a wild market imposes 6,600 euros for that same square meter. And all this with a job more devalued since 2008 and a higher tax pressure that suffocates us.
I have always thought that if the middle class still retains its name, it is largely because there are more and more civil servants in this country.
Nothing better than a supermarket to describe the decline of the middle class in Spain
When people can no longer make long-term plans, they take refuge in everyday things, because the future ceases to represent a reliable territory. An interesting perspective, the one addressed by Esteban Hernández. The issue is not that we can no longer afford as much, but that we have stopped imagining that we could afford more.
We will leave it for next month.
Better to buy it on sale.
Going on vacation making the biggest effort of the year. Otherwise, to the grandparents’ house.
Read more Waste Law: a decalogue of unfulfilled promises
If you are invited to a wedding, it throws off your entire quarter.
This car will last a little longer.
Going out for a wine without sitting down to dinner. The restaurant, only for special occasions.
Not grabbing coffee and a croissant on the way to the office because at the end of the month it’s 100 euros more.
Parents pay part of the rent for their 30-year-old child, even though he has a job.
Two salaries, one home, studies, and stable jobs, but little margin for scares or unforeseen events.
…
Renunciation becomes a lifestyle. And the middle class dies when it now calls luxury what it used to call normality.
Juan Roig saw the tsunami coming. First, he made the store brand reign in the supermarket. Later, he installed a fast food bar, you know, for the handy midday tupperware of those who haven’t had time to bring leftovers from dinner to the office. Then he added sushi and an aisle of organic products for those special days. And the last blow – gastronomic considerations aside – has been to place long high tables, microwaves, and paper and plastic cups and cutlery to eat the portion and drink you have bought.
Read more Apocalyptic alarm in AI
More than half of Spain fits into a Mercadona. Well yes: Roig, a visionary.
Also read
