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But their not a superpower anymore so they can relax.

Even in the 19th century Spaniards realized that nothing was getting done due to red tape and laziness. There is a hilarious short story written by Mariano José de Larra in 1833, entitled Vuelva Ud. mañana. .

The author recounts a tale about a foreign visitor who comes to Madrid to settle an inheritance and invest money in Spain. He plans to spend 10 days conducting his business and 5 days sightseeing. After six months of frustrating"Come back tomorrow" and countless excuses from bureaucrats and "professionals", he has not been able to accomplish anything so he leaves the country in disgust.

When I lived there I tried to get a land line phone. This was the late 90s so cell phones were everywhere in Spain but still not so common in the USA as our networks still comparatively stunk. Holy smokes, it was months waiting. Months. For a phone. In an apartment where the wiring was all set, all they had to do was activate the line.

Before I moved there I read the tourist books about it and they all, every one, said "it's a stereotype that the spaniards take a siesta in the afternoon and everything stops. That may have been so in the past but now that's a thing of the past." Which was a lie. I lived in Andalucia and siesta was 100% practiced. Another symptom of "no rush for us".