Spain: voter offers his ballot for 100 euros, but the price of an Aurum ruins the deal
A Spanish voter puts a price on his ballot for the November 29 election: 100 euros. A sealed vote is null and a cold Aurum costs extra, according to the thread.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Selling my vote for 100 euros: the price doesn't even cover the purchase
One hundred euros. That is the starting price a Spanish voter puts on his ballot ahead of the November 29 election, promising that, in exchange, he will not vote for Podemos and the buyer will impose his own criteria. The proposal, launched as a joke offer, sums up an uncomfortable intuition: if the vote is given away for a small payment and a promise, someone has decided to try charging cash for it. The answer comes quickly. 100 quid won't even fill half a tank, says one participant, and the trade is lowered to a bag of Doritos and a 33-centilitre can of Aurum.
What exactly does 100 euros buy?
The first objection is technical, not sarracena: a sealed vote is a null vote. Whoever pays for it buys nothing, because the envelope ends up in the bin at the polling station. Even the greenest poll watcher knows that, one user argues. The second objection is market-based: parties don't buy individual votes, they buy whole bundles, cheaper and with no risk of nullification, according to the same comment. The private seller competes at a disadvantage against an industry that already has its own logistics.
The most optimistic calculation assumes the buyer pays for the symbolic gesture, not the result. The pessimistic scenario starts from the idea that nobody hands over a hundred euros for a ballot that doesn't count. Between the two, the offer hangs in the air.
The cold Aurum and other clauses of the contract
The negotiation drifts toward the domestic. A bag of Doritos and a 33-centilitre can of Aurum are offered. The buyer's only relevant question: whether it's cold. The answer comes with a smirk: the cold Aurum is charged separately, like everything else. Penny-pinching reaches all the way to the fridge.
Some argue the real joke isn't the price, but believing a vote changes anything. Four decades of voting the same way while holding your nose haven't changed the course of anything, and there they still are, according to that argument. Emotional abstention, they say, is the only product that never expires.
The rat Vespa nobody asked for
The conversation veers toward the second-hand vehicle. A request for a picture of a vintage rat Vespa —tube handlebars, low headlight, honest rust— degenerates into a debate about engine size and mileage. A Vespa is laughable; a Honda 250 with an open exhaust is properly scary, one forum user opines. The visual result arrives late and isn't a Vespa, but it's accepted with resignation: the only Vespa guarantee is the '82 one, and whoever kept it.
One hundred euros. That is the starting price a Spanish voter puts on his ballot ahead of the November 29 election, promising that, in exchange, he will not vote for Podemos and the buyer will impose his own criteria. The proposal, launched as a joke offer, sums up an uncomfortable intuition: if the vote is given away for a small payment and a promise, someone has decided to try charging cash for it. The answer comes quickly. 100 quid won't even fill half a tank, says one participant, and the trade is lowered to a bag of Doritos and a 33-centilitre can of Aurum.
What exactly does 100 euros buy?
The first objection is technical, not sarracena: a sealed vote is a null vote. Whoever pays for it buys nothing, because the envelope ends up in the bin at the polling station. Even the greenest poll watcher knows that, one user argues. The second objection is market-based: parties don't buy individual votes, they buy whole bundles, cheaper and with no risk of nullification, according to the same comment. The private seller competes at a disadvantage against an industry that already has its own logistics.
The most optimistic calculation assumes the buyer pays for the symbolic gesture, not the result. The pessimistic scenario starts from the idea that nobody hands over a hundred euros for a ballot that doesn't count. Between the two, the offer hangs in the air.
The cold Aurum and other clauses of the contract
The negotiation drifts toward the domestic. A bag of Doritos and a 33-centilitre can of Aurum are offered. The buyer's only relevant question: whether it's cold. The answer comes with a smirk: the cold Aurum is charged separately, like everything else. Penny-pinching reaches all the way to the fridge.
Some argue the real joke isn't the price, but believing a vote changes anything. Four decades of voting the same way while holding your nose haven't changed the course of anything, and there they still are, according to that argument. Emotional abstention, they say, is the only product that never expires.
The rat Vespa nobody asked for
The conversation veers toward the second-hand vehicle. A request for a picture of a vintage rat Vespa —tube handlebars, low headlight, honest rust— degenerates into a debate about engine size and mileage. A Vespa is laughable; a Honda 250 with an open exhaust is properly scary, one forum user opines. The visual result arrives late and isn't a Vespa, but it's accepted with resignation: the only Vespa guarantee is the '82 one, and whoever kept it.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (18 replies).
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