The Spanish have a reputation for enjoying life. My brother, who returned from Spain yesterday, was not prepared for how much the good times are rolling in Spain.  According to his anecdotal evidence, streets and public restrooms are constantly polished by numerous goverment employees, and six or eight policemen guard the public safety on every street corner of Madrid.   In rural areas, my brother looked in vain for the equivalent of the trailers occupied by low-income people in his home state of Vermont-Spanish housing seemed to be uniformly new and beautiful.   Dinner at eleven, followed by a visit to the bar is customary, and hundreds of bars and restaurants in Madrid overflow with revelers late into the night.  This nocturnal schedule makes it difficult to raise children, but the Spanish tend not to have many; the birthrate is the among the lowest in Europe, at 1.37 children per couple, freeing up disposable income-trading the joys of raising...(Read Full Post)