SEVERAL MONTHS LATER than he should, but at least he eventually did:

Spain's once-booming economy is in worse shape than expected and could slip to zero growth, the finance minister says.

That's after sternly denying until a couple of months ago, himself as well as Zapatero and other cabinet members and Socialist politicians, that there was any problem with the economy whatsoever. Not only denying, but accusing whoever said that the economy isn't going well of being... anti-patriots, no less (yes, the same guys who say that one of Bush's worst, almost Fascist traits, is that he warps around the flag to shield from criticism).

Of course, coming from someone who thinks that to be optimistic "is something more than a rational act, it is a moral requirement, an act of decency and, if I may say so, elegance" it could very well be that they knew about the problems but thought that by ignoring them they would simply go away (or at least they'd buy some time and win March's election). That, or they didn't have a clue even as the signs were clear.

In other words: they lied or they're incompetent. Which I'm not sure what's worst.

The worst thing is how they're trying to spin the news, which is almost
an insult to the intelligence of the populace. In the interview in El
País yesterday (you can read in full in Spanish here), the one that AP/CNN makes reference to, Solber had this
gem as an answer:

Q. And promising full employment during this term wasn't a bit of a chimera?

A. Well, it was possibly an extrapolation: if in four years we were able to increase the employment rate substantially, why not having the ambition of going further? I always saw that promise as an ambition rather than as a technical analysis.

Words fail.

UPDATE. There you go:

The number of registered jobless in Spain hit a 10-year high in July as consumer confidence fell to a record low, prompting Spain's economy minister to say he could not rule out a recession.

New jobless claims normally fall in Spain during July but this year rose 36,492 to a total 2.43 million, with nearly two of every three layoffs from Spain's construction sector where house-building has collapsed after a decade-long boom.

The rise in unemployment to its highest level since April 1998 sent Spanish consumer confidence to a record low 46.3, heralding a sharp fall in household spending in the next few months, Spain's official credit institute reported.

In less than a year, Spain has gone from creating around a third of all new euro zone jobs to having the European Union's second highest level of unemployment after Slovakia.