Italy

[BeBMan]

1. Elections: "Yay for the populists!" (both left/right which then wanted to form a coalition)

2. The Pres: "I don't like it! Let's bring in some other guy for interim gov and call new elections." *(activates fancy veto powas)*

3. New Elections: "Yay for the populists???"

Oh yeah, and so Eurodoom might be a thing again ...

Just saying.

[Broken_Erika]

Allow this to repeat a few times and poof! Silvio Berlusconi ends up as PM again.....Bunga Bunga!

[Proteus_MST]

Pizza

[BeBMan]

... and Pasta. Best stuff evar

[Lorizael]

Itexit?

[pchang]

Italy invented TGIF. Every Friday, they would say "The Government is Falling".

[Dinner]

Honestly, leaving the Euro is the best thing Italy can do for itself since it is obviously unwilling to become competitive any other way.

[Abominable]

the cab drivers around the castle are good!

[Abominable]

I am talking naples

[BeBMan]

Itexit?

No idea really, but it's not ruled out. The now-not-in-power coalition sent mixed signals on that. The FT article linked below sez they didn't campaign on it, but then there were also news earlier that this point was in an earlier program paper (or something) of said now-not-in-power coalition, which then was quickly dropped.

Honestly, leaving the Euro is the best thing Italy can do for itself since it is obviously unwilling to become competitive any other way.

FT sez:

...there is no conceivable scenario in which leaving the European single currency would be in Italy’s national interests or in the interests of the ordinary Italian families those parties seek to represent. This is not an ideological or political point, but a pragmatic one

Italy is running a very healthy surplus on the current account of its balance of payments of about 3 per cent of gross domestic product and an even larger trade surplus. Its exports, chiefly thanks to manufacturers based in northern Italy where the League dominates, are growing lustily. There is no competitiveness problem. Devaluation is of no economic relevance.

full: https://www.ft.com/content/899c873a-...1-cc0534df682c

[Proteus_MST]

I remember that before the Euro, when Italy still had the Lira, they had one of the highest inflations in the Eurozone (maybe even the single highest)

[Bereta_Eder]

I like italy german papers say italians are lazy they say **** nazis

[Dinner]

FT claims everything is fine yet their economy is currently doing the best in a good long while and it is only doing...1% to 1.2% per year? If that is the "boom times" then what do "normal" or even "bad" times look like? I'd say they have major structural and competitiveness issues.

[Wezil]

I cannot even begin to imagine how unproductive I would be if I lived in Italy.

Ciao baby!

[pchang]

Over 1% growth when your population is growing older and shrinking is not too bad.