6 ms·

When I first heard about this story, I thought that "poor countries like Spain" was the funniest thing I'd heard all week. (If you think Spain's poor, I hope yo

When I first heard about this story, I thought that "poor countries like Spain" was the funniest thing I'd heard all week. (If you think Spain's poor, I hope you never witness the heartbreaking poverty of Taiwan and South Korea, its rough peers by GDP-per-capita.) But I can certainly see how it was a lot less funny in Spain itself...

darpa_escapee 9y ago
> "poor countries like Spain" was the funniest thing I'd heard all week. I take it you aren't familiar with the term PIGS[1]. "Poor countries like Spain" is a common sentiment in Europe. > PIGS or PIIGS or PIIGGS is an acronym used in economics and finance. The PIGS acronym originally refers, often derogatorily, to the economies of the Southern European countries of Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain.[1][2][3][4][5] During the European debt crisis, the term was also increasingly used to refer to the economies of Portugal, Ireland, Greece, and Spain, four EU member states that were unable to refinance their government debt or to bail out over-indebted banks on their own during the crisis [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PIGS_(economics) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PIGS_(economics)
- clock_tower 9y ago
  Do you seriously think that anyone on this website doesn't know the term PIGS? Do you think that I wasn't alive four years ago? And the PIGS weren't the poorest countries in Europe; they were the most over-leveraged. Spain is much better-off than Bulgaria and Romania -- and certainly much better-off than a genuinely poor country.
  - darpa_escapee 9y ago
    > Do you seriously think that anyone on this website doesn't know the term PIGS? Do you think that I wasn't alive four years ago? If you'd like to explain why you took offense to my comment, please do. I'd like to foster discussion where people do not take personal offense to my words on a message board when I didn't mean to offend anyone. I'd legitimately appreciate any feedback you have. > And the PIGS weren't the poorest countries in Europe; I'm not talking about objective reality, but about popular public perception.
  - yjftsjthsd-h 9y ago
    > Do you seriously think that anyone on this website doesn't know the term PIGS? N≥1; I couldn't have said what it was.

darpa_escapee 9y ago

> "poor countries like Spain" was the funniest thing I'd heard all week. I take it you aren't familiar with the term PIGS[1]. "Poor countries like Spain" is a common sentiment in Europe. > PIGS or PIIGS or PIIGGS is an acronym used in economics and finance. The PIGS acronym originally refers, often derogatorily, to the economies of the Southern European countries of Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain.[1][2][3][4][5] During the European debt crisis, the term was also increasingly used to refer to the economies of Portugal, Ireland, Greece, and Spain, four EU member states that were unable to refinance their government debt or to bail out over-indebted banks on their own during the crisis [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PIGS_(economics) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PIGS_(economics)

clock_tower 9y ago
Do you seriously think that anyone on this website doesn't know the term PIGS? Do you think that I wasn't alive four years ago? And the PIGS weren't the poorest countries in Europe; they were the most over-leveraged. Spain is much better-off than Bulgaria and Romania -- and certainly much better-off than a genuinely poor country.
- darpa_escapee 9y ago
  > Do you seriously think that anyone on this website doesn't know the term PIGS? Do you think that I wasn't alive four years ago? If you'd like to explain why you took offense to my comment, please do. I'd like to foster discussion where people do not take personal offense to my words on a message board when I didn't mean to offend anyone. I'd legitimately appreciate any feedback you have. > And the PIGS weren't the poorest countries in Europe; I'm not talking about objective reality, but about popular public perception.
- yjftsjthsd-h 9y ago
  > Do you seriously think that anyone on this website doesn't know the term PIGS? N≥1; I couldn't have said what it was.