One Man's Meat is Another Man's Poison: Perspectives from Spain

News from Europe were mostly negative lately. So, an article titled “Spain’s Chinese thrive during rough time” caught my attention as I browsed through the New York Times. As I read through the article, I can’t agree more with the old saying that one man’s meat is another man’s poison (or rather its opposite).

With high unemployment rate and austerity measures at full swing, life in Spain is clearly not as rosy as the good old time. However, the Chinese immigrants appear to have adapted well to the situation. Many have started small businesses to cater to the needs of the masses even in times of crisis such as food and daily necessities including haircut services. Many have also imported goods from China that are priced much more competitively than say Made-in-Europe goods. While such goods may not have attracted the interest of consumers when times were good, it is doing just that now as Spaniards try to control their expenditure.

And as if to further illustrate the old saying, the strategies adopted by the Chinese immigrants seem to have made the Spaniards who have businesses worse off. As they venture into other industries with cutthroat prices, they are forcing more businesses to contemplate closing down.