Turmoil drives Spain's rival parties together

The Greek disease in not merely Greek: Portugal and Spain, Ireland, and even the UK are suspected of being economically subject to troubles, if not calamity. Last week Spain's credit rating was cut one notch. As much of this is psychological, preventive action is important. An article in today's Journal adresses Spain: its two major political parties have joined in taking preventive action.

As wild fires in the financial markets licked at Spain's door, Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero huddled Wednesday with opposition leader Mariano Rajoy in an effort to stop the turmoil from further hitting the country.

Maybe we should send Mitch McConnell and Harry Reid to Madrid.

Messrs. Zapatero and Rajoy agreed Wednesday to push ailing savings banks into mergers with stronger peers by June 30. The agreement is important because many of Spain's unlisted savings banks are controlled by regional governments, which in turn are controlled by one of Spain's two main parties. But even this pact doesn't guarantee any bank mergers will happen.

So Spanish political parties own many of the nation's banks. What would US lefties say to that?