That’s certainly the case here in Spain, where banks are being made whole, while the middle class is getting flayed and spayed.

But curiously, there’s something missing.

The depression-scale economic collapse here isn’t accompanied by the kind of complete unmooring of society one would expect. In short, the economy is depressed, but the people aren’t.

Angry? Certainly. Active? Yes. You can read it in the ubiquitous graffiti; you can hear it in the massive protests in major cities like Barcelona and Madrid. But look closely at the pictures of these protesters, and you’ll see not despair and defeat, but conviction, and even the occasional smile.