We accept contention as a pet

PalmaIn a television commercial from a few years ago, the players of a board game accepted the absurdity of considering an octopus as a pet in order to continue the game. In the same way goes the game regarding containment in the Islands. The Government boasts about something it calls 'containment', while the number of tourists has not stopped breaking records. It remains to be seen if this year we will reach 20 million tourists.

Last year we already exceeded 19 million (the data is from Ibestat), a gift of 15.24 tourists per inhabitant. The game is even more interesting if we apply this rate to the State: it is as if last year about 750 million people had arrived in Spain. The sum of the populations of the United States (341.8 million), Brazil (212.8 million), and Mexico (131.9 million) is 686.5 million (the data is from the World Bank), 63.5 million below. And watch out, the official data speaks of tourists, not visitors. That is to say, one must add 2.5 million cruise passengers (figure from the Port Authority of the Balearic Islands) wandering through the streets of the Islands behind someone holding an umbrella up.

To know how to face this situation, I have recovered an interview I conducted with the Minister of Tourism, Jaume Bauzà, on June 3, 2024. We can look at that year with the nostalgia caused by receiving 'only' 18.7 million tourists. What times! Even so, Mr. Bauzà was already trying to present containment to us as a pet, even though at some moments he strayed from the rules of the interview game. “We must not pay attention to the number of tourists who come, but rather to the acceptance that the tourists have had within the society of the Islands,” he said with poise. And then he expressed a wish, with a laugh included: “I am from Montuïri, and I would love for someone who goes to Caló del Moro to come to Montuïri”. Perhaps it is only a matter of time before his wish comes true.

The containment rate: 0%

According to the dictionary, ‘containment’ is “the action of preventing something from going outside its limits, from crossing its boundary”. But the one who explained it best was the Professor of Economics at Pompeu Fabra University Guillem López Casasnovas: “A constant maintenance implies a 0% rate. One must avoid the euphemism of believing that growing less solves things”. He said this a year ago, and for a year now, the rulers of the Islands have been selling this euphemism as a victory.

“Last July, visitor growth slowed to 0.22%,” said the Minister of Labour, Public Function and Social Dialogue, Catalina Cabrer, during the plenary session on September 29th, while also assuring that the Government was reorienting the system “towards real sustainability and towards value,” as if they were piloting a Star Trek ship towards the Orion constellation. “We have data that already tells us there is a containment during the peak moment of August,” she added. Three days later, Ibestat calculated the increase in tourists for that month at 2.33%: 3,167,905 tourists (in August 2025 there were 3,095,772). In this case, containment doesn't even work as a pet.

Bauzà got angry with PSIB deputy Llorenç Pou, who questioned the reliability of President Marga Prohens’ word regarding containment. “The president does not betray her word, the president keeps her word, the president keeps her word,” said the minister. After accusing the PSIB of failing “neither in housing, nor in tourism, nor in culture, nor in mobility, nor in health, nor in infrastructure,” Bauzà went straight to the point: Ceuta, the hydrocarbons case, the Plus Ultra case, the Servinabar case, the jewels case, Ábalos, Koldo, Leyre, Cerdán, Zapatero... He was only missing Juan Guerra and Luis Roldán.

Maricarmen was not missing

The housing mobilization that fueled the spark of Maricarmen Abascal's eviction in Madrid has only served for the Spanish government's housing decrees to be in effect for a few days. But the rhetorical instrumentalization that the parties have made, are making, and will make of this lady will last much longer – fortunately, she will return to her home. In this way, Maricarmen did not miss the last session of the Balearic Parliament thanks to the PSIB spokesperson, Iago Negueruela, who accused Prohens of having little empathy for people like her. Negueruela also made a prediction about the president: "You will manage to expel more people from here than anyone in 40 years of democracy," the spokesperson shouted.

It is always a pity that parties miss opportunities for self-criticism, but it would be advisable for PSOE members to stop by the Puerta del Sol and read the banners that place them as co-responsible for the housing emergency in Spain. Who says that the PSOE and the PP have nothing in common?

Regarding investment funds, the archives are crucial and allow us to recover how, with Pedro Sánchez in the Spanish government, Sareb (the bad bank) ceded the management of 45% of a 25.285 million portfolio to Aliseda and Anticipa, two real estate managers of the American vulture fund Blackstone that were already accumulating complaints for real estate harassment and speculative operations at the time, as reported by media outlets like ElSalto. Was the other 55% saved? No, it ended up in the hands of Hipoges, of the vulture fund KKR. Meanwhile, rental prices continue to climb in the Balearic Islands, now with the PP in Government, 5.4% in August, according to the portal Fotocasa.