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Spain's banks, government co-dependent on debt
The Spanish government and Spanish banks are perilously co-dependent. The financial strength of one hinges on the other, and right now both are struggling for survival. The Spanish economy, the fourth-largest among the 17 countries that use the euro, is suffering from the aftershocks of a real estate bust that has devastated banks and families. Unemployment is nearly 25 percent and the economy is forecast to shrink 1.7 percent in 2012. At the request of the Spanish government, euro countries offered up to €100 billion ($125 billion) in rescue loans for Spanish banks on June 9. Spain made the formal petition for the ... (full story)