Secret service staves off Spanish insolvency

In February, Spanish secret service agents fanned out across the financial centres of the world to seek out the speculators that were conspiring to undermine confidence in the Spanish economy. Conclusive evidence of the conspiracy proved elusive, but they didn’t return empty-handed.

The extensive infiltration of the offices and homes of traders, brokers and opinion writers led to a significant haul of change found down the backs of sofas. Speaking in Madrid, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero praised the intelligence service for their ingenuity, calculating that the operation had netted enough to keep the country out of the hands of the IMF for at least another two days and print up “Change We Can Cash In” posters wide enough to include his full name.