The posts above are extremely embarassing, full of lies and and sometimes only showing one side of the coin. If one tells that the national identity of Catalunya could be only traced to the XIXth century, obviously is not versed in history...well, that was clear since the begining reading such an amount of strange things. Note that we don't read anything about the Catalan language in all of this, and the guy pretends Catalunya is the same as other regions. We speak Catalan and Castillian in perfect harmony despite the fact our original language is Catalan, so if someone tries to make believe things are not like this, it's simply totally biased.
Catalunya has no privileges, rather the opposite. It is contributing to the rest of communities a lot more than the average does, and the Spanish state does not follow their own laws. They are not paying the money required in the Catalan law (with the aproval of Spain), and they are not complying their budget in Catalunya concerning infrastructures since a very long time. Morover, with all the money they should give to Catalunya (and they don't), we still have to ask for money under conditions...a shame. This, of course, does not include taxes: 50% of it goes to the rest of Spain, being Catalunya one of the most important regions, and really apreciated for destination during holidays of people from all over the world.
Madrid is the community having most of the privileges, and if it became more productive than Catalunya it's only due to the fact that they recived more money for infrastructure, and because the Spanish state authorised more direct flights to Madrid and not to Barcelona. What they achieved with this, is that it became easier for business to settle in Madrid, clear as day. Despite of this, Catalunya still has its own place in the world, and it's the most important region concerning outputs: near 55% of its production goes to the rest of the world, that is a lot more higher than Madrid or other regions, and it's definetely a strong point to go on once we become independent.
We (Catalans) are doing our job, and for more they lie, shout, or cry, doesn't matter, if the vast majority of us wants to become independent, we'll have it for sure. Time to accept it