As I said during my live-blogging endeavor during the first presidential debates last Wednesday, Romney’s remarks about Spain were unfortunate and incorrect. Here is what was said:
“I don’t want to go down the path of Spain,” Romney said Wednesday night during the first presidential debate. He argued that government spending under Obama has reached 42 percent of the U.S. economy, a figure comparable with America’s NATO ally. “I want to go down the path of growth that puts Americans to work.”
One has to be quite ignorant of what is actually going on in Spain to attribute the country’s economic problems to high governmental spending:
But Spain’s level of government spending is actually low by European standards, and significantly less than Germany and Scandinavian countries with far healthier economic prospects. Spain’s woes were chiefly caused by the collapse of a property bubble that had fueled more than a decade of booming economic growth.
And more on this from another source:
That country has in fact imposed numerous measures of austerity in the recent past and do not blame their current recession on overspending. As the Washington Post said Sunday “the collapse of a property bubble that had fueled more than a decade of booming economic growth” in Spain is the culprit for their current woes. Spain’s government in fact spends less than other European countries with healthy economies like Germany.
Of course, the people of Spain are unhappy about Romney’s remarks:
“What I see is ignorance of what is reality, but especially of the potential of the Spanish economy,” said Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria.
Maria Dolores Cospedal, leader of Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s Popular Party, noted that “Spain is not on fire from all sides like some on the outside have suggested.” Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia Margallo called it “very unfortunate that other countries should be put up as examples” when the facts are skewed.
I was quite shocked during the debate to hear Spain offered as some sort of an example of an economy suffering from high levels of governmental spending. In my course on the culture of contemporary Spain, I will be giving a lecture on the Spanish economy tomorrow. I normally hope that my students are politically engaged and exhort them to vote and watch the debates (without, of course, ever suggesting which party or candidate they should favor). Now, however, I hope they haven’t watched this debate because they would have ended with a completely skewed understanding of Spain as some sort of an ultra-socialist country where governmental programs are ruining the economy.
As you all understand, I have personal reasons to care deeply about Spain and any incorrect and hurtful remarks about this great and beautiful country bother me intensely.
Clarissa's Blog 
Clarissa, your students are lucky to have an engaged and diligent teacher in you!
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Clarissa:
Before you address your students about Spain I recommend that you take a look at the following link: http://www.heritage.org/index/country/spain This outlines the ranking of Spain in terms of the Index of Economic freedom. Spain scored overall 69.1 (out of 100) in the latest ranking, making its economy 36th freeest in the 2012 index and 17th out of 43 countries in Europe. Its ranking fell from ‘mostly free’ the year before to ‘moderately free’. The principal reason for this fall was expansive public spending. Government spending indeed is in excess of 40 per cent of gross domestic product. So Governor Romney was telling the truth on that issue. On government spending Spain scored only 37.1 per cent (out of 100). This indeed was what pulled down its ranking.
I understand your love of Spain, but you would perform no service either to Spain or to your students to make remarks that are out of line with reality. Always check the facts before making public statements is a lesson that I have learned over the years. If your students quote you and your remarks are incorrect they may well suffer through no fault of their own.
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Your source is heritage.org. The heritage foundation is an extremely conservative think tank. The public expending cuts in Spain in the last 5 years have been and keep being tremendous. Public expending in moderation is, in some cases, necessary to keep employment under control. Governor Romney was not telling the truth, sorry.
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So what is the percentage of government spending to gross domestic product in Spain? If it is in excess of 40 per cent , then it is way higher than in the US under Obama (24 per cent). Are you claiming that The Heritage Foundation is lying also? It is a highly respected think tank with no special interest in Spain.
If Spain is doing so well why does it confront a serious bond problem that is roiling the euro-zone?
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I have been studying Spain for a long time, and I can assure you that the current economic crisis in Spain is not related to government spending. Post hoc ergo propter hoc does not work in this case.
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The major ratings agencies simply do not agree with your evaluation. In June 2012, Spain’s ten-year government bond issues confronted interest rates of 7 per cent. That is 5.4 per cent over the German 10-year bond (which is 1.6 per cent).
In October 2011, Moody’s Rating cut Spain’s sovereign debt rating by 2 notches to A1 from Aa2 with a negative outlook. In October 2011, Standard and Poor’s and Fitch Ratings downgraded Spain’s sovereign debt to the same level. On June 14, 2012, Moody’s further downgraded Spain’s sovereign debt to Baa3, one notch above junk.None of these agencies have it in for Spain.
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“In October 2011, Moody’s Rating cut Spain’s sovereign debt rating by 2 notches to A1 from Aa2 with a negative outlook. In October 2011, Standard and Poor’s and Fitch Ratings downgraded Spain’s sovereign debt to the same level. On June 14, 2012, Moody’s further downgraded Spain’s sovereign debt to Baa3, one notch above junk.None of these agencies have it in for Spain.”
– This is true but Spain’s economy has been sinking for over 10 years now. The global economic crisis of the 2008-9 precipitated the downfall that was already well under way. As the linked article says, other Western European countries have much higher levels of governmental spending yet their economy is fine.
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