Why it keeps getting harder to make ends meet in Spain

Relentless inflation: when the price of olive oil multiplies fivefold

The feeling of being fleeced every day has become part of everyday conversation. It's not just olive oil, which went from 1 euro to 5 in no time; it's housing, cars, leisure and even the champagne of mushrooms. Every time you look at a bill, your bank account seems to shrink. The official inflation figure shows a moderating rise, but the real perception is that prices for basic goods have soared far above the CPI published by Spain's statistics institute, the INE.

Price gouging as the norm

Some argue the rip-off isn't a one-off but structural. That the same happens with housing (apartments worth 100 million pesetas that cost 100,000 sixty years ago), with cars (40,000 euros for a plastic runabout) or with hotels (1,000 euros a night in a shabby establishment). The list is long and the common denominator is the same: the average citizen pays more and more for less and less quality. It's not a conspiracy theory, it's an empirical observation anyone can make on the first day of the month.

Scepticism as a response

Faced with this reality, part of the analysis retreats into general passivity: as long as consumers have the basics — heating, a full fridge — they barely complain. Others, however, level harsher accusations: that large corporate groups act as a network of silent complicity. There is no data to prove it, but there is a coincidence in experience: marginal pricing doesn't seem to be the result of chance. At this point, the debate is deadlocked between those who see runaway capitalism and those who see organised fraud.

With stagnant wages and ever-rising prices, more and more households are wondering whether the system is designed to make saving impossible. And for now, nobody has the answer. Or someone does, but it's not in anyone's interest to say.