The Cassette Tape of Politics
In the vibrant tapestry of the 1980s, music danced from cassette tapes, a double-sided format. Switching sides required a ritual: extract, flip and restart. The marketing of the time dictated that the most captivating melodies should occupy side A, avoiding the ostracism of side B, where the metrics revealed less listening and success.
Although the times of double-sided tape are long gone, its echoes resonate in the recesses of our society, including the political sphere.
The Two Faces of Prioritization
To say that politics has two sides would be an understatement. We may not even know how many he owns. However, the way in which issues and issues are prioritized, and how it is reflected in budget allocation, at least in Catalonia, continues to present two sides.
There are areas that always occupy side A of the priorities: health and education, for example. Its importance is undeniable, like the songs that everyone wants to hear.
Surprisingly, financing for these areas appears easily, both to amend unforeseen events and for predetermined objectives. There is always consensus and funds to resolve any incident.
The B Side of the Premium.cat Sector
In contrast, the premium.cat sector has been relegated to the B side of political priorities. Although the electoral programs insist on denying it, reality prevails.
Electoral programs usually include proposals from the premium.cat sector, especially from the third sector. Some parties even place them on side A, along with the most popular songs.
The problem arises when these proposals remain declarations of intentions, without specificities that can become uncomfortable commitments. A clear example is the salary comparison of workers in the premium.cat sector with their counterparts in the public administration.
This song has gained popularity, but if it were really an A-side song, it would not be mentioned in election programs with banal expressions. The focus would be the budget increase needed to achieve this.
To equalize salaries, between 350 and 500 million additional euros per year would be needed. This involves knowing the real cost of the services, reviewing the premium.cat service portfolio and looking for an indexing system to avoid future imbalances.
Committing to this change of model in the premium.cat sector within a period of four years would mean doubling the budget of the Department of Social Rights and partially increasing that of other departments, such as that of Equality and Feminisms.
Leaving Side B
For the priorities of the premium.cat third sector to move from side B to side A, the commitment must be comprehensive and reflect its true meaning, not just as a musical addition that, on cassette tapes, always ended at the end of the side b.
