“Those wanting to prevent change are willing to do anything,” firebrand Beppe Grillo griped. “They are desperate. Four people, Napolitano, Bersani, Berlusconi, and Monti, met in a living room and decided….” They’d ganged up on him and restarted the corrupt political machinery he’d brought to a stop. The one that is strangling Italy’s economic core.
Europe – Italy
Italian Political Trouble Just Became EU Economic Trouble
by Chriss Street • • Comments Off on Italian Political Trouble Just Became EU Economic Trouble
Contributed by Chriss Street: Italians are electing their 63rd government in 68 years. Normally, Europeans chuckle about this. But Italian political trouble just became EU economic trouble as its debt was downgraded to BBB+ and a bank run seems to have begun. The realization that it’s too big to bail out is heating up the Eurozone debt crisis.
The Stunning Differences in European Costs of Labor: Or Why “Competitiveness” Is A Beggar-Thy-Neighbor Strategy
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on The Stunning Differences in European Costs of Labor: Or Why “Competitiveness” Is A Beggar-Thy-Neighbor Strategy
The ominous term “competiveness” is bandied about as the real issue, the one causing Eurozone countries to sink deeper into their fiasco. To address it, “structural reforms,” or austerity, have been invoked regardless of how much blood might stain the streets. And a core element of these structural reforms is bringing down the cost of labor.
A “Politically Explosive” Secret: Italians Are Over Twice As Wealthy As Germans
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on A “Politically Explosive” Secret: Italians Are Over Twice As Wealthy As Germans
The ECB and the national central banks of the Eurozone set out to collect “micro-level information” on household wealth. A massive bureaucratic undertaking. Surveys went out in 2010. Results are now ready. No one in Europe had ever done a survey on that scale before. And no one might ever do it again. Because, in the era of bailouts, the results are so explosive that the Bundesbank is keeping its report secret—and word has leaked out why.
The Eurozone Rift: It Would Be Wrong “To Give In To Panic”
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on The Eurozone Rift: It Would Be Wrong “To Give In To Panic”
Euros entered circulation on January 1, 2002. For six years, they grew on trees in southern Europe. But the bubble got pricked. Since then, the monetary union has been in crisis. Almost half of its existence! Until suddenly, its problems were solved. But now confidence in the monetary union is weaker than ever. With a hue of resignation in Germany.
Fear of Nuremberg Trials For Corrupt Italian Politicians
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Fear of Nuremberg Trials For Corrupt Italian Politicians
Former Italian senator Sergio De Gregorio confirmed: “The Cavaliere paid me,” he said about the €3 million he’d received in 2006 from Silvio Berlusconi. “Of course I took the money.” Frustrated with this daily display of corruption, 8.7 million angry Italians voted for Beppe Grillo’s 5-Star movement. While it wasn’t enough to govern, it was enough to give the political establishment conniptions—and show that anger and frustration finally count.
The Utter Fragility Of The Eurozone: Even Democracy Is A Threat
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on The Utter Fragility Of The Eurozone: Even Democracy Is A Threat
“I’m appalled that two clowns have won,” said the man who’d try to knock German Chancellor Merkel off her perch this year. He was referring to former comedian Beppe Grillo and former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. One of them is “a professional clown who doesn’t mind being called that,” he explained; the other is “a clown with special testosterone boost.”
What Ferrari’s Glorious Results Tell Us About The World
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on What Ferrari’s Glorious Results Tell Us About The World
The announcement couldn’t have been more glorious in crisis-struck Italy: Ferrari booked records sales and profits in 2012. Dazzling in every aspect. Not a single cloud darkened the horizon. Except in Italy where sales collapsed. And in the rest of the world, where central-bank printer ink stained the records.
The Putrid Smell Suddenly Emanating From European Banks
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on The Putrid Smell Suddenly Emanating From European Banks
The “Pauperization of Europe”
by Wolf Richter • • 7 Comments
It started on Monday. “Poverty is returning to Europe,” said Jan Zijderveld, head of Unilever’s European operations. The third largest consumer products company in the world was adjusting its commercial strategy to this new reality, he said, by redeploying to Europe what worked in poor countries of the developing world. Other stars of the industry affirmed it. “The logic of pauperization,” L’Oréal CEO Jean-Paul Agon called it.