World Affairs - Business & Finance, page 6.

If Greece is broke, can Spain be far behind? More than four times as big as Greece, Spain has received almost as much unwelcome attention from investors.

This month the Madrid stockmarket has tumbled and the risk premium on Spain’s bonds has risen. Aides to José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the Socialist prime minister, claim that Spain is the victim not just of a speculative attack but also of a plot led by “the Anglo-Saxon press” to destroy the euro.

To this piffle the best retort is: grow up. It is true that Spain is not Greece. Its public debt, relative to the size of the economy, is lower than that of Britain or the United States. It has not had to bail out its banks. And fears of financial contagion have made the markets unnaturally volatile.

But there are good reasons for investors to worry about Spain. It has the highest unemployment rate in Europe, at 19.5%; an economy still in recession, which will not grow appreciably until next year; and a fiscal deficit that jumped to 11.4% of GDP last year, as recession cut tax revenues and forced up spending on the unemployed. Without a faster return to growth, the public debt will quickly become unsustainable.

To make matters worse, Mr Zapatero looks out of his depth. He was a popular leader in the good times, during Spain’s long boom. But he failed to see the bust coming. When he belatedly recognised that the economy was in trouble, he misdiagnosed the problem as an imported recession that he could safely wait out.

Last night the Vancouver Olympics began with the opening ceremony which was quite spectacular. I watched the entire thing on tv, and though I wish I was there in person it was still very exciting to watch. After Beijing no one thought any other city would come close to that, but Vancouver did a very good job in their own form of presentation.

Vancouver introduced the athletes first, for in their eyes the cultural ceremony is for the athletes, welcoming them. Many bore a black armband in tribute to Nodar  Kumaritashvili who died in a tragic training run on the luge. The Georgia delegation still marched however in honor of their fallen comrade.

The digital effects of the cultural ceremony were quite spectacular. I have to say I was amazed when I first saw them, though it could be because I did not witness the entire Beijing ceremony. I have to say while using a lot less money Vancouver executed very well. It would have been great to be a part of it too. The journey of the ceremony took everyone across Canada and ended up in the cosmopolitan city Vancouver. It all seemed to go off perfectly until at the end a malfunction prevented a pillar from rising to support the cauldron. After a long pause, three of the four torchbearers lit the cauldron, and Wayne Gretzky headed to light the second one in the downtown area.