Editorial: Show me the money!

AS the Bulletin reported yesterday, the rate of unemployment in the Balearics and Spain has fallen to its lowest since 1996 and 1998 respectively, but these figures by no means indicate that Spain is out of the woods of economic crisis and financial advisers warned yesterday that the Eurozone ended last year in poor condition with the large economies like France, Germany and Italy feeling the pain.
And we also have Greece on the brink of leaving the Eurozone, something the French consider is up to the Greeks to decide for themselves.
So, Spain has had a great year, out of recession and thousands of people are finding new jobs, short or part time albeit, we are told.
Why then, are the banks still refusing to open the credit tap?
Last year we were told that banks were in good shape and had been advised to start providing loans in order to help households and businesses - to get money moving again.
However, last year, banks in the Balearics signed off on loans worth 34,221 million euros, the lowest figure since 2005, some three years before the recession hit us. Now, politicians can, and will, say what they want, especially with elections looming,  but if the banks are still sitting on their money, the situation is quite clearly not as rosy as we are led to believe. If the Eurozone is still financially fragile, no wonder banks are sitting tight. Why do politicians think we are all fools?