Europe – Italy

Which Country Is Europe’s Biggest Narco State?

by Don Quijones •  • Comments Off on Which Country Is Europe’s Biggest Narco State?

By Don Quijones: Revelations of a dirty, big business in Europe, and of the role banks play to make it possible. In fact, during the financial crisis, European banks “were as good as saved by the global drug trade.”

The Mind-Game Of “Fixing” Europe’s Big Zombie Banks

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on The Mind-Game Of “Fixing” Europe’s Big Zombie Banks

Danièle Nouy, chair of the ECB’s newfangled bank regulator that doesn’t exist yet, had a term for it: “do whatever has to be done” so that the banking sector “is seen as sound and safe and transparent.” Is seen as…. Smoke and mirrors.

ECB’s Draghi: Knowing Too Much About Our Big Banks Could Set Off A Panic

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on ECB’s Draghi: Knowing Too Much About Our Big Banks Could Set Off A Panic

European regulators are desperate. The only thing known about the holes in bank balance sheets stuffed with decomposing assets is that they’re deep. No one knows how deep. No one is allowed to know – not until Eurocrats decide who will pay for bailing out these banks. How do we know? ECB President Mario Draghi said that.

(Broke) Italy “Would Love To” But Can’t Pay Its Bills This Year

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on (Broke) Italy “Would Love To” But Can’t Pay Its Bills This Year

In most countries, it would be an act of mind-bending chutzpah, or perhaps a display of political insanity, but in Italy it barely made ripples: for a government official, a minister no less, to declare that the country cannot pay its long overdue bills, and not for a month or two, but for the rest of this year! Due to “technical” problems.