Paul Krugman Has Given Up On Europe And Europe May Have Given Up On Social Democracy

Paul Krugman has lost confidence in the ability of European leaders to solve the problems in the eurozone.  He provides some examples, and an attempt at humor, to support his loss of confidence.  One of the comments to his article, from Madrid, suggests that imposed austerity in Spain is being used as the rationale for policies that primarily benefit the Spanish elite and its conservative government.  That may explain why the bad medicine of austerity during recession is so popular among European leaders.  It may be another example of the war between neoliberal ideology, which provides the rationale for austerity, and social democracy in Europe.  I'm not sure about the rest of Europe, but many in Spain have fond memories of the Franco regime.