Spanish economy is actually nowadays suffering the heavy burden of dealing with a number of "white elephants" - the name for large, heavy investment projects, that have doubtful rentability and payback. Usually, they are large public projects, that are made to enhance the economy in depressed areas or times... and win votes!
RENFE - Spain's railway company - has recently had to supress the highspeed connections (TGV / AVE) between 3 regional towns - Toledo, Cuenca and Albacete. One of these was transporting an average of 9 persons per day - meaning the multimillion investment was a straigth-through disaster!
Another good example is the proliferation of international airports that popped up like mushrooms throughout Spain over the last years - around 30! Many of them stand in small towns, that are actually better served by the main airports around 2 hours away by car. They aren't being able to actually draw traffic (many of them only have 1 or 2 fights per week, and one of them is nowadays open almost like a museum for people to visit an airport from inside...), and are huge black holes of public investment - prompting very difficult budget situations at the regional governments level in Spain.
This is actually exerting a tremendous pressure over the countries sovereign debt rate. And is a good example of what "White Elephants" can di in the medium and long term.
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