It's not surprising; look who selected him.
"In dictating Italy’s new national agenda, .... under pressure to quickly reassure financial markets.... full powers to begin drafting his agenda.... a government of bankers, diplomats, and business executives.... can beat the crisis if its citizenry can pull together.... government would work to restore market confidence... regain the confidence of foreign investors.... win back the trust of markets.... measures to help fight the debt crisis might include deductions from bank accounts’’
Meaning they are LITERALLY going to STEAL YOUR MONEY so banksters can GET PAID!!
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck....
"Monti cobbling together coalition to lead Italy, enact austere laws; Resists push for earlier election" November 15, 2011|By Colleen Barry, Associated Press
"Italy’s new leader set to unveil Cabinet; Will also outline economic plan" November 16, 2011|By Colleen Barry and Nicole Winfield, Associated Press
ROME - Prime Minister-designate Mario Monti, a respected economist and former European commissioner, is under pressure to quickly reassure financial markets that Italy will avoid a default that could tear apart the 17 countries that use the euro currency and push the global economy back into recession. The European Union and the European Central Bank have outlined measures Italy must take - many of them changes blocked in the past by special interests....
Banks are not special interests(?).
Yesterday, after rounds of meetings, Monti garnered support from the center-left Democratic Party, former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s People of Freedom party, and the Confindustria, a powerful business lobby.
“We strongly support the birth of this government because for us it is the last chance to regain credibility,’’ Confindustria leader Emma Marcegaglia said....
You can't regain credibility; once it's gone, it's gone forever.
Newspapers, of all industries, should know that.
--more--"
"Italy’s new government has no politicians; Monti fills posts with bankers, diplomats, CEOs" November 17, 2011|By Colleen Barry and Frances D’Emilio, Associated Press
ROME - Italy’s new prime minister, Mario Monti, formed a government of bankers, diplomats, and business executives yesterday, saying the absence of politicians in his Cabinet will spare political parties the “embarrassment’’ of taking the tough decisions needed to steer the country from financial disaster....
Hopes for his new administration won Italy some respite in financial markets yesterday, but the relief didn’t last long. By afternoon, the yield or interest rate on 10-year Italian bonds was back dangerously near 7 percent - the threshold that eventually forced Greece, Ireland, and Portugal to seek bailouts.
Same banks that are worried, etc, etc.
Up until summer, Italy had mostly avoided the European debt turmoil despite having a jaw-dropping debt of $2.6 trillion....
But after Berlusconi’s frequent delays and backtracking on austerity measures, the markets lost faith that his government could fix Italy’s economic issues.
Oh, NOW WE SEE WHY he was USHERED OUT!
All the other scandals and conduct did not matter, but WHEN WORLD MONEY TALKS.... !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Restoring confidence is crucial because, as the third-largest economy in the eurozone, Italy is too big for Europe to rescue. A debt default by Italy could break up the eurozone, a catastrophic event for the global economy.
And a good thing for the rest of us all.
Italy’s economy is hampered by high wage costs, low productivity, fat government payrolls, excessive taxes, choking bureaucracy, and low numbers of college graduates. But Monti says Italy can beat the crisis if its polarized citizenry can pull together....
And open up those wallets to banks that crashed the world economy as they profited.
German Chancellor Angel Merkel, who was critical of Berlusconi’s efforts, sent her congratulations. Spokesman Steffen Seibert expressed her hope that Monti’s government would carry out reforms “so that Italy can win back the trust of markets.’’
Um, excuse me, but WHERE are the CONSIDERATIONS of the ITALIAN PEOPLE in the DEMOCRACY, 'eh?
I was told that is WHO the GOVERNMENTS work for in a DEMOCRACY -- NOT MARKETS!!!!!!!!!!!
--more--"
"Italy’s new prime minister proposes ambitious growth plan; Warns of ‘serious emergency’ at home, in Europe" November 18, 2011|By Elisabetta Povoledo and Rachel Donadio, New York Times
ROME - Mario Monti, Italy’s newly chosen prime minister, said Italians could expect to make sacrifices in the months ahead but pledged that those sacrifices would be fair and evenly spread.
Says the banker's puppet.
Such measures would involve changes to the labor market and welfare benefits and to Italy’s lopsided pension and fiscal systems.
Meaning YOU WILL SACRIFICE so BANKS can be FAT, Italians!!!
It's the SAME S*** in EVERY COUNTRY!
The PEOPLE MUST SACRIFICE so the INTERNATIONAL BANKING SYSTEM can be FED TAX LOOT!
Addressing what he called a fundamental cause of Italy’s low growth, he said the government would work to grant young people and women greater access to the workplace. “They are the two great wasted resources of the country,’’ he said.
Where are the JOBS? At least Mussolini had 'em working.
He said the government would work to restore market confidence in Italy in the short term and to invest in structural changes that would help in the longer term, including changes to what he called Italy’s “inequitable’’ pension system.
“We need to focus on three pillars: fiscal rigor, economic growth, and social fairness,’’ he said.
To spur growth, he said Italy must deregulate closed professional guilds as well as improve the efficiency of public sector services.
Monti also said that because citizens were being asked to sacrifice, cuts to the costs of elected officials as well as public administration would be “unavoidable.’’
He also indicated that to bring Italy more in line with European norms, his government would probably have to reintroduce a property tax on first homes, a tax that had been scrapped by Berlusconi’s government.
Oh, ANOTHER REASON Silvio was shown the door!
Monti also pledged to fight Italy’s vast underground economy, which he said was estimated to be worth a fifth of the annual gross domestic product.
--more--"
At least the elected representatives of your democracy are looking out for you:
"Italy’s Parliament backs new prime minister; Lower house vote gives Monti power to begin reforms" November 19, 2011|By Elisabetta Povoledo, New York Times
ROME - Prime Minister Mario Monti now has full powers to begin drafting his agenda, which includes passing emergency measures to regain the confidence of foreign investors, as well as broader structural changes to Italy’s labor market and pension system, while stepping up the effort to fight tax evasion and creating incentives for businesses to expand, including a revision of the tax system....
Meaning more tax loot going to the government and then to bankers and business.
Monti acknowledged to lawmakers yesterday that the financial crisis now unsettling world markets was in part due to “serious malfunction of financial institutions and the markets,’’ but he also said Italians were not without blame. “We should stop saying so easily that others are responsible,’’ he said.
Just proving that GLOBALIST BANKERS really are S*** SCUM!!
Yeah, it is NOT THE FAULT of the BANKS that WRECKED the WORLD ECONOMY -- and PROFITED -- with their MORTGAGE-BACKED SECURITIES FRAUD. It's YOUR FAULT, citizen of Italy.
At a press conference yesterday afternoon, the new prime minister said that his priority next week would be the “situation of the eurozone’’ and he would travel to Brussels and Strasbourg for talks first with Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, and Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, and on Thursday with President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany.
Not working in your interests, Italians.
Monti said he was certain that topics of discussion would include the European Central Bank and its role in the debt crisis, as well as the creation of bonds backed by all the euro zone countries, an idea he supported as an economist.
Yeah, the PEOPLE WHO CAUSED THIS CRISIS -- either ON PURPOSE or IDIOCY-- are the ones who are going to FIX IT?
“But before forming an idea, not as an economist but as finance minister and prime minister, it seems important to have the opportunity to have frank and in-depth talks with the leaders of France and Germany as well as the European authorities before definitively fixing my ideas,’’ he said.
In dictating Italy’s new national agenda, his objective, he said, was to obtain “the broadest consensus possible.’’
--more--"
Hungry for more?
"Beyond tourists’ eyes, Italy’s poor and jobless are growing concern" November 20, 2011|By Colleen Barry, Associated Press
ROME - They line up at soup kitchens by the thousands. Individual debt is rising, savings are eroding, and many young people have simply given up, staying home without studying or even looking for a job.
They are Italy’s invisible poor, unseen by tourists, ignored by the country’s politicians, and living in a reality that’s a far cry from former premier Silvio Berlusconi’s description of an affluent country where “the restaurants are full.’’
This is about the only time I recall seeing them in my paper.
*********************
This is the Italy facing Mario Monti, the economics professor tapped to form an interim technocratic government after Berlusconi was forced to resign last weekend. International markets and the European Community decided the 75-year-old media mogul lacked the political clout to enact needed changes to head off a debt crisis and get the economy moving.
Oh, THEY DECIDED! Not the PEOPLE of ITALY and their DEMOCRACY?
On Tuesday, Monti won support from Italy’s two largest parties, but the question remains whether politicians will back his expected painful measures at the risk of social peace.
On the one hand, Italy’s elite manufacturers are girding for an increase in luxury exports and some wealthy Italians are looking to move their money into real estate markets in New York, Miami, and Paris.
Money knows no boundaries -- unlike the prison you call a homeland.
On the other, the state statistics institute ISTAT says that 8 million Italians, about 14 percent of the population, are living in “relative poverty.’’
While tourists may not see the poor as they visit Tuscany’s rolling hills, Venice’s waterways, or the Amalfi coast’s picturesque villages, their numbers are increasing.
Many Italians have begun taking their money out of banks, fearing reports that measures to help fight the debt crisis might include deductions from bank accounts, as was done in the 1990s.
“They are putting it under the mattress, or even inside empty wine jugs in the cellars. We are a country of farmers,’’ said Elio Lannutti, president of the consumer protection group Adusbef.
I know there is some good advice in there for you, American.
A US service organization in Rome asked its members to spend their Thanksgiving holiday making food packages for the poor....
Hard-line leftists expect no improvement for Italy’s poor, even from the new government.
“The Monti government is born from a mandate of Confindustria [a powerful business lobby] and the banks,’’ said Marco Ferrando, leader of the tiny Communist Workers Party.
I rarely side with controlled-opposition Commies, but HE'S RIGHT!!!!
--more--"
And he hasn't been on the job a week and he's already failing?
"Italian debt sale regarded warily" November 26, 2011|By Colleen Barry, Associated Press
ROME - A week into his new job, Prime Minister Mario Monti is running out of time to reassure investors....
The nation’s borrowing rates skyrocketed yesterday after a grim series of bond auctions, with a new auction looming Tuesday. Another borrowing debacle could increase fears that Italy has entered a debt spiral that will drive it toward bankruptcy and the 17-nation eurozone into its most severe crisis yet.
These are the SAME BANKS that PUT THEM in the POSITION of having to BORROW MORE to pay into an endless cycle of debt -- and now they UPPED the INTEREST RATES when they KNOW you can't pay? The SAME BANKS that MAKE BILLIONS each QUARTER?
Seems like a DELIBERATE STRATEGY of WRECKING NATION-STATES and their SOCIAL PROGRAMS to ME!!
Monti’s government is battling to convince investors that it has an effective strategy....
How many times do I have to point out who he is working for?
“We still haven’t found a response that reassures investors,’’ said Jose Manuel Barroso, head of the European Commission. “As long as we’re unable to do that, we’ll have very serious problems.’’
How many times do I have to point out who they are working for?
Driving market fears is the knowledge that Italy is too big for Europe to bail out. Given the size of its debts - Italy must refinance about $265 billion by the end of April alone - the government is depending on investors for money. But if borrowing rates get too high that can cause a debt spiral that could bankrupt the country.
Yesterday’s auctions showed that investors see Italian debt as increasingly risky....
Other signs of Europe’s debt crisis also emerged. Standard & Poor’s lowered its long-term sovereign credit rating for Belgium....
The whole project is collapsing because of greedy bankers who sold s***.
--more--"
You know where the money is, right?
"Amid debt crisis, Italians tackle tax evasion" November 27, 2011|By Anthony Faiola, Washington Post
ROME - The focus on tax evasion, a crime Italy has made surprising inroads against in recent years, only to stir up deep-seated resentments, comes as this nation and other southern European countries including Greece and Spain are coming under international pressure to tackle a host of growth-draining societal norms.
How about focusing on bank looting instead?
In Italy, high evasion levels, for example, have dramatically forced up the tax rates for corporations and individuals who do pay their share, severely hurting competitiveness, constricting job creation, and contributing to years of low to negative growth.
Failure to fully address such problematic traditions has directly contributed to the debt crisis threatening the global economy. At the same time, it has widened the divide between nations like Italy and the other more modern, dynamic economies that share the euro, including Germany and the Netherlands....
Meaning Italy is a second-class citizen in the EU.
--more--"
Anything else happening in Italy?
"SEARCH MISSION -- Firefighters in Italy worked in the mud yesterday after a landslide at Scarcelli, a district of Saponara in the province of Messina, in Sicily. A village was destroyed by the landslide, which was caused by torrential rain. Three people were reported dead, according to local authorities (Boston Globe November 24 2011)."
Yeah, THOSE ARE the GUYS who are going to have their PENSIONS GUTTED!
Related:
"FLOODS RAVAGE ITALY'S COUNTRYSIDE -- Violent rains lashed Italy this week, killing at least nine people and leaving six others missing. The country's northwestern coastal region of Liguria and the central region of Tuscany were hit hard, with floods and mudslides in Monterosso (above) and other villages. Rescuers searched yesterday for survivors (Boston Globe October 28 2011)."
I guess that gives you a picture (literally) of what the Globe thinks is important in Italy.
