The Current Discussion: Will the current financial crisis discredit free-market policies in your country? Is socialism an echo of the past or a preview of the future?

As a matter of fact, most of the fault lies with the government and not the market. The government is guilty of not protecting the market from the trickery of buyers who lacked funds, from mortgage brokers, from the banks, and from financial institutions that used shady credit instruments to transfer fraudulent sales to other entities.

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The Current Discussion: American newspapers are in dire financial straits. How are newspapers faring where you are? Are you concerned about the future of journalism in America or in your own country? What does that future look like?

In Spain, the conventional press has two formidable enemies: the daily tabloids that are handed out, free, almost everywhere, and the Internet. Therefore, most of the printed dailies lose money or have seen their revenues drop.

It seems like only a matter of time before newspapers disappear or take refuge in the Internet -- those that survive, that is. Today, the most widely read Spanish-language newspaper is the digital version of El Mundo; its parent print edition continues to lose large sums of money.

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