And countries facing depressions and rapidly weakening inflation typically face very low borrowing costs: investors purchase government bonds for want of profitable alternatives. This is what we see in the United Kingdom and the United States, where borrowing costs remain at all-time lows, despite both countries’ weak public finances and poor growth prospects.
此外，将现在与20世纪90年代末相比也是不正确的。彼时和此时的意大利和西班牙处于截然不同的经济周期阶段。20世纪90年代末，两国均在增长（西班牙还增长得相当快），而如今，它们面临着萧条和日益增加的通缩风险。