While Spaniards suffer with the sacrifices of government-imposed austerity, Spain’s top politicians have been pocketing envelopes of cash. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/16/world/europe/bookkeeper-at-center-of-spanish-graft-inquiry.html?ref=world  The scandal has shined an uncomfortable light on how the political parties operate and their  relationship with a corporate elite in an alliance that stifles competition throughout the economy to the detriment of the middle and lower classes. Party members had amassed wealth beyond official salaries, benefiting from a decade-long property boom and the largess of construction companies that provided cash, luxury watches and Caribbean vacations. The former party treasurer, had stashed away $29 million in Swiss bank accounts in the name of shell companies.