In Spain, the economic newspaper Expansión front-paged the following story last week with the headline "ZP insinuates there'll be a swoop of the hosepipe to help the cajas".  

Zapatero reconoce que las cajas sufrirán más la crisis que los bancos - (14-05-09) Expansión.com		Zapatero admits that the Cajas will suffer the crisis more than the banks - (14-05-09) Expansión.com
El presidente del Gobierno asegura que su objetivo no es la reestructuración de la banca, sino «salvar todo aquello que podamos del sistema financiero».		The Prime Minister claims that his goal is not to restructure banking, but "to salvage everything we can of the financial system".
Si la semana pasada el Banco de España apuntaba que la crisis no afectará con la misma intensidad a todas las entidades bancarias, el presidente del Gobierno, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, fue ayer más preciso al apuntar a las cajas como las principales damnificadas del ajuste económico que vive España. «Es más fácil que sean cajas que bancos, se lo anticipo», subrayó durante su intervención en el debate sobre el estado de la Nación.		If last week it was the Bank of Spain that pointed out that the crisis will not affect all the banking institutions with the same intensity, the Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero was yesterday more precise when he pointed at the cajas as the main victims of the economic adjustment Spain is living. "It is easier that it will be cajas than banks, I can anticipate", he stressed during his intervention in the State of the Nation debate.
Menos preciso fue, sin embargo, respecto a la posible reestructuración del sector. El presidente lanzó un par de mensajes que da alas a la teoría de que el Ejecutivo prepara una manguerazo o inyección indiscrimada de dinero público a las entidades, sin condiciones a cambio, al estilo de las medidas puestas en marcha por Sarkozy en Francia. Destacó que su objetivo no es la reestructuración de la banca española, sino «salvar todo aquello que podamos del sector financiero si se ve afectado», garantizando la competitividad de las entidades españolas en el futuro.		He was, however, less precise regarding a possible restructuring of the sector. The president threw out a couple of messages which give wings to the theory that the Government is preparing a swoop of the hosepipe, an indiscriminate injection of public money into the entities, with no conditions, in the style of the measures set in motion by Sarkozy in France. He stressed that his goal is not the restructuring of Spanish banking, but "to salvage all that we can in the financial sector if it is affected", guaranteeing the future competitiveness of Spanish [credit] entities in the future.

Given that the cajas are quasi-public and intimately enmeshed with the political party system in Spain, it is maybe understandable that the government will rescue them. But it shouldn't be done. A few weeks ago Caja de Castilla-La Mancha was intervened by the banking regulator as any other insolvent institution should in the future, rather than being rescued with a swoop of the government's hosepipe.

The brainless should not be in banking. — Willem Buitler