article_snippet: (CNN)Europe is in the midst of a political and economic crisis that threatens to unravel decades of European integration and derail the world's recovery from the great recession.
article_snippet: To understand crisis, let's compare two countries.
article_snippet: If you believe Greece has caused crisis because of Greece fiscal irresponsibility, then you are safely in the mainstream opinion about the matter.
article_snippet: Like Greece, Spain's investment bubble burst when crisis hit and Spain's investment bubble had to seek a bailout (although a much smaller one) to prevent Spain's investment bubble domestic banks from collapsing.
article_snippet: The over-heating was largely caused, by the way, by the frenzied (and ultimately reckless) lending in both countries by German and other core European banks.
article_snippet: Read: 25 People to Blame for the Financial Crisis .
article_snippet: The over-heating of the Greek and Spanish economies led to inflation and investment bubbles.
article_snippet: As those bubbles burst, the banks neared collapse, and the banks rescue led ultimately to a sovereign debt crisis.
article_snippet: Contrary to popular opinion, this crisis cannot be explained away with a moral tale of Greek fiscal irresponsibility.