I don't dispute the accuracy of your numbers. Spain's household borrowing was unwise/irresponsible, no question about it. No good comes from a housing bubble l

I don't dispute the accuracy of your numbers. Spain's household borrowing was unwise/irresponsible, no question about it. No good comes from a housing bubble like that. Of course, this housing bubble was funded by foreign banks. When people see an opportunity to live in a big house for cheap they just sign on the dotted line. That's human nature for ya. Household debt in the Netherlands also way too high, although it's unclear whether it will become a disaster in any meaningful sense. Stagnant GDP caused by austerity. No surprise there. I specifically mentioned the Netherlands because they're portrayed as a responsible country, in contrast to GIPS countries. Spain's labor costs also increased by 50% during the boom (http://i.imgur.com/pdHgmf4.png http://i.imgur.com/pdHgmf4.png), so gov't spending had to go way up just to provide the same services. Besides, spending a lot of money for a couple of years is no big deal when the country doesn't have a big national debt, and Spain didn't. Doesn't mean Spain's fiscal policy was beyond reproach, of course. Ideally speaking a government should have anti-cyclical fiscal policy. Bubbles followed by recessions happen all the time in Western Europe and the US, but the consequences are usually pretty manageable. When it comes to Spain the government was no more irresponsible, but because of the Euro they got pulled into a crushing depression. If you want to argue that every modern government is irresponsible, fine. But if you want to demonstrate that Spain was fiscally irresponsible compared to the rest of Europe or the US you're going to need better stats.