A tip: it wasn’t the governmental borrowing. Spain followed the Eurozone’s agreement on limiting the government borrowing better than many other European countries.
So what caused the crisis?
The numbers speak for themselves.
More on What Caused the Economic Crisis in Spain
Clarissa's Blog 
You are correct about Spain’s budget performance until 2008. However, since 2008 Spain has significantly exceeded the euro-zone’s 3 per cent budget deficit rule. In 2009, the budget deficit was 4.5 per cent of gdp; in 2010 it was 11.2 percent; in 2011 it was 9.3 percent; and in 2012 it is estimated to be 8.5 percent. These deficits occur at high levels of government expenditure, as Governor Romney indicated. Of course, Spain is not Greece. But surely it is not Finland or Holland on the other (good) side of the euro-zone scales.
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“You are correct about Spain’s budget performance until 2008. However, since 2008 Spain has significantly exceeded the euro-zone’s 3 per cent budget deficit rule.”
Well, of course Spain’s spending has gone up since 2008; almost every countries has, as stimulus against the economic crisis. To argue that stimulus spending in reaction to a crisis is the cause of this same crisis doesn’t make sense to me.
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The interesting thing with all these countries worldwide. Banks make bad loans, they make unbelievable amounts off these bad loans. When the loans go sour because of their bad decision making the governments bail them out. It doesnt take a rocket scientist to realize who foots the bill for their bad decision making. The unfortunate part is that it seems we need to be rocket scientists to realize there is a problem with this scenario. 😦
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The Causes of the Economic Crisis for non Economists
http://www.scribd.com/doc/201709399/The-Causes-of-the-Economic-Crisis-For-Non-Economists-A-Free-Market-Approach
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“And yet housing prices reached really high prices”
– Prices reached high prices? What does this even mean?
“Until the 70s the USA was exporting wealth to the rest of the world”
– Jesus, man, go to school or something. You are embarrassing yourself.
“Socialists believe that this is their revenge for the collapse of Communism in 1989”
– You need to consult a doctor as soon as possible. This is a text that was not written by a healthy person. Take care of yourself!
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English is not my first language Clarissa. If you learn another language you will see that it is harder than our first one. But thanks for the thing with the “prices”. I will correct it
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English is not my first language either, by the way.
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It is crap. But it is very likely that you will enjoy it. If English is not your first language you understand that when you write such a long document you can make mistakes. Don’t you think you exaggerate when you say the other opinion is not healthy?
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” Don’t you think you exaggerate when you say the other opinion is not healthy?”
– I didn’t say your opinion was unhealthy. But your fantasies about beliefs of “socialists” definitely are. If you are in the US, how many people who belong to the Socialist Party do you actually know?
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I am Greek. And Greece is a socialist country. And we have the worst socialists of Europe. The communist style. Full of propaganda. I am sure socialists in USA, Sweden etc are much better
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I know things are tough in your country. It is disgraceful what has been done to it. Stay strong! It’s a great country and I hope it gets better eventually.
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Nothing has been done to us. We have been very stupid and we did this to ourselves. And we should be grateful to other European countries for helping us.
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“Nothing has been done to us. We have been very stupid and we did this to ourselves. And we should be grateful to other European countries for helping us.”
– Are you joking? If so, then ha ha. If not, then oy oy. 🙂
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Allow me to know better than you what happened in my country. Do you know how much money we have received from the EU? Tons of money! Tons!! And I am not talking about loans. I am talking about transfers. In the past
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So do share your perspective. What caused the current collapse in Greece? The entrance to the EU? I will not argue with you on that.
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It is called socialism my dear. Socialism and corruption
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I thought you had actual insights, but all you have is empty verbiage. This isn’t a serious discussion.
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Don’t forget that I am Greek. And you aren’t. So maybe I know better
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“Don’t forget that I am Greek. And you aren’t. So maybe I know better”
– It is obvious that you don’t.
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Spain is different than Greece. They are both socialist countries (like France and Portugal) but we, the Greeks, are a joke. Your countries are more serious. A lot more serious
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“They are both socialist countries (like France and Portugal) but we, the Greeks, are a joke”
– Are you following the news at all? Do you know which party is in power in Spain (a hint: it isn’t the socialist party.)
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It isn’t the socialist party in Greece either. Actually there is a coalition but the prime minister is from the right. What I mean, is that these countries have been built on socialist basis for the last decades. Don’t judge by which government has the power on a given day. The mentality, the state, how socialist (equal) or how free is a country is something much deeper than that. At the States (US) the left is in power. For many years. But US is a relatively free country. Because that is the way it was built. And it takes more than a government for some things to change
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“What I mean, is that these countries have been built on socialist basis for the last decades. ”
– What does this mean?
“Don’t judge by which government has the power on a given day. ”
– So no matter who is in power, you will call them socialists because you feel like doing so?
“The mentality, the state, how socialist (equal) or how free is a country is something much deeper than that.”
– Equal to whom? Free from what? It seems like free and equal are antonyms to you. And that’s weird.
“At the States (US) the left is in power. For many years.”
– The left of what? George W. Bush was an ultra-conservative. Obama is less conservative but still quite conservative.
“But US is a relatively free country.”
– Free from what?
“And it takes more than a government for some things to change”
– This sounds very mysterious. 🙂
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Every society has to decide what is more important. Equality or freedom. If you have not noticed they are moving to opposite direction. Maybe you have not thought about it. For people to be equal there must be someone ensuring equality. If you leave people free there will be inequality. There is a trade of. It does not have to be complete freedom (real capitalism) or complete equality (communism), but there is a trade off. You can choose 50% freedom and 50% equality.
Countries like US have considered freedom to be more important. Other countries consider equality as more important. This does cannot change from one day to the other
By the way I followed your advice and made some correction in my syntax. If you have time have a look.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/201709399/The-Causes-of-the-Economic-Crisis-For-Non-Economists-The-Austrian-School-Approach
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This is an argument of a small child. Im sure it is comforting to see the world in these simplistic terms but this is infantile comfort.
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Clarissa I would be very proud if it was my argument. It is not. It is the argument of great thinkers. Actually, once you think about it is very easy to realize that it is self evident. For us to be equal, there must be someone ensuring equality (government).
But great thinkers do not dispute about that. It is self evident. The issue if equality or freedom is better. Karl Popper who was in favor of freedom was saying that ” Enforcing equality leads to the inequality of non equals”. Others argue in favor of equality of course.
All these are not my ideas. I just happen to be in favor of freedom as you probably are in favor of equality. Maybe you haven’t realized that there is this trade off
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****this cannot change (not this does cannot change)
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“It is crap. But it is very likely that you will enjoy it.”
– You see how you keep fantasizing about people instead of asking them questions? Even I don’t know if I would like this film, so how can you know this about me?
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This one Clarissa will spoil your favorite documentary. Actually the only documentary you have seen in your life, “money as debt”
http://www.scribd.com/doc/200939701/The-fallacy-of-Money-as-Debt
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I haven’t seen that documentary. Do you recommend?
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********the issue is whether equality or freedom is better
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sorry. popper was saying “enforcing equlity leads to the inequality of non free people”. ie soviet union
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@ Iakovos: I’m not sure I understand why you are suggesting that freedom and equality exist in such opposition. For instance, in the United States slavery was legal in the 18th and 19th centuries. Slavery clearly enforced inequality and limited the freedom of African American slaves. Another example: women in the U.S. couldn’t vote until the 1920’s: again that was a system of inequality that limited the freedom of a certain population (i.e. women.) I think you are basing your entire political philosophy on a faulty assumption.
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Don’t get confused. A free market is a market where no one is forced to act against his own will. Feudalism, Communism, Royalty, Slavery or any regime that people are forced to act against their own will is not a free market. A free market is a market where government’s only role is to enforce everybody’s freedom. Of course such market never existed. I have written this. But if you read it you will have to excuse my english. Otherwise you will start asking me to go back to school again 😛
http://iakal.wordpress.com/2014/01/24/why-marx-was-wrong-2/
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“A free market is a market where no one is forced to act against his own will.”
– But you realize that it’s simply a figment of your imagination?
“Feudalism, Communism, Royalty, Slavery or any regime that people are forced to act against their own will is not a free market.”
– You are comparing apples and oranges. Economic systems cannot be compared with political regimes.
“A free market is a market where government’s only role is to enforce everybody’s freedom.”
– “Enforce freedom” is the funniest expression I’ve heard all week. 🙂 🙂
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Let me rephrase it then. ” where government’s only role is to prevent somebody to force someone else to act against his one will”.
What do you mean politics is different than economics? how can you have a free market in communism for instance?
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There is no point in continue the conversation. But think about freedom and equality. You will realize they move in opposite directions. What you give to one of them you take from the other. And you have to decide what mix of the two you want. Nice talking to you Clarissa
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Binaries are lethal to intelligent thinking. 🙂
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60-40, 70-30, 20-80, 50-50, 10-90, 100-0, you can pick any combination of freedom and equality. Unlimited possibilities
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And when you consider that there can be hundreds of other components besides these two. . . life becomes very confusing. 🙂
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