Not pennies

I don't remember who wrote it or where I read it. It must have been in the early eighties, when the Balearic Islands were experiencing euphoric growth in tourism and urban development. But even today, the phrase with which that critical columnist ended his text echoes in my mind: "We will be so poor that we will only have money".

At that time, those words seemed like a provocation. The Balearic Islands boasted the highest per capita income in Europe, and any warning against growth was labeled as defeatism. Who could argue with a model that generated wealth?

Over time, we have seen that this warning was not an exaggeration. In fact, it was optimistic. Because today we can no longer even boast of money. Relative income has fallen, residents' purchasing power has collapsed, housing has become a luxury, water is becoming a scarce resource, the territory is more fragile than ever, and quality of life is worsening. Prosperity has gradually turned into a permanent feeling of expulsion. And yet, the wheel keeps turning.

Hardly anyone dares to deny the overcrowding anymore. Even those who trivialized it for years now admit that we have gone too far. But recognizing the problem is one thing, and accepting that we must give up continuing to grow and that we must shrink is quite another. I often think that the real problem is not just the economic model, but the mental model.

Years ago, during a meeting of businessmen who were planning to develop an area of the Marina de Llucmajor, faced with the reservations the project aroused, one of them uttered a phrase that summarizes an entire way of understanding these islands. He more or less said that there were people who didn't want anything to be done, who didn't want growth. "I don't understand them, we have always lived well here like this. We will continue and live well. And the last one to close the door." And he probably felt quite pleased, and the others laughed at his quip. In fact, it is an extraordinary phrase because it condenses an entire philosophy. It doesn't matter what will be left afterward. It doesn't matter if the territory degrades, if coexistence deteriorates, or if residents can no longer afford to live in their own homes. The only objective is to prolong the business a little longer. After that, whatever will be, will be.

This is exactly the same logic behind reports like the one advanced by ARA Balears: that Emaya facilitates hotels in Palma paying a tariff for water up to nine times lower than that of a domestic consumer. This is not an anecdote, it is a declaration of priorities. When even a scarce resource is organized to feed the tourist machinery before the general interest, it means that the system is designed so that the wheel never stops.

That old columnist warned that we would end up so poor that we would only have money. Today the risk is even greater: continuing to sacrifice everything for money that, increasingly, is not even ours.