Search This Blog

August 6, 2011

Italy Surrendered!

Quite a show, 1 week of bear markets and attack of speculators to the Italian bonds have been enough for Italy to surrender, give up sovereignty and sell the country to the best bidder.
After all that was to be expected when a Prime Minister with the credibility and authority of a pimp is running the 7th world economy like a feudal manor.
So what is the deal? ECB will start buying Italian bonds in exchange for a full emergency austerity package (diplomatically called structural reforms) which in a first draft should include the following:

Reach a positive balance in 2013
Include in the Italian Constitution the compulsory provision for a balanced budget
reform of the labour market (aka fire everyone who is not strongly connected to a politician and condemn an entire generation to underemployment at best)
privatize EVERYTHING! (aka Fire sale of EVERYTHING THEY CAN SELL)

The only positive note is that finally Berlusconi stopped telling jokes, he started finally his speech with a serious note and this should give us an idea how serious the situation is even considering that only yesterday he was spitting jokes on the markets and dismissing the importance of the events.
It seems now the markets have the devoted attention of the Prime Minister and if the discussion only yesterday was in regards to MPs pilgrimages to Holy Land and extended holidays after a prompt telling off from both EU and USA our lap dogs have finally turned serious and are even staying in Rome during the summer to work on the prompt execution of their new masters' orders.
Of course it is very easy to convince a Prime Minister who is charged with countless crimes ranging from bribery to child prostitution and whose first goal is to stay in power to skip jail time.
Italy and Spain have officially entered the death spiral. They will start tax to death to enforce the ECB diktats and in 1-2 years will face the same situation of Greece with eroded tax base while loss of productivity will plunge them in a deeper depression and social upheaval.
The scariest part is that Italy is already now facing a serious social emergency; in order to reach a balanced budget the amount of cuts required will unleash a destruction of the country's social cohesion. We are facing a possible social explosion  when the fabric of public jobs-for-life will disintegrate and a lot more young people will be pushed in the hopelessness territory.

No comments: