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Italy's New Government Approval Rating Plummets From 43% To 34% In Three Weeks, Protests Return
It was less than a month ago that the new Italian government of the pseudo-technocrat Letta, of Bilderberg 2012 and Aspen Institute fame, was voted in by a majority of the PD and the PDL parties (the latter agreeing so Berlusconi would get an extension of his much needed political immunity from assorted prison sentences). It may not last too long. As Reuters reports, it took just 20 days for Letta's approval rating to plunge by 25%, dropping from 43% at the start of the month to 34%, according to an SWG institute poll. It would appear the Italian people (unlike their Japanese peers who at least according to government-controlled media data could not be happier with PM Abe, supposedly because of the bubblelicious 50% rise in the Nikkei225 year to date, even though under 20% are actually invested in the stock market making one wonder just how credible polling, and all other data in Japan actually is) don't have Mrs. Watanabe's childish fascination wth soaring stock bubbles, sexy bonds, mini skirts and 2% inflation bras, and instead demand real economic results. Which also means the protests are once again back.
Thousands of people protested in Rome on Saturday against austerity policies and high unemployment, urging new Prime Minister Enrico Letta to focus on creating jobs to help pull the country out of recession.
"We hope that this government will finally start listening to us because we are losing our patience," said Enzo Bernardis, who joined the sea of protesters waving red flags and calling for more workers' rights and better contracts.
Less than a month in power, Letta is trying to hold together an uneasy coalition between his center-left Democratic party and the center-right People of Freedom, led by former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.
Confidence in the government, cobbled together after inconclusive elections, is already falling, with one poll on Friday by the SWG institute showing its approval rating had dropped to 34 percent from 43 percent at the start of the month.
"We can't wait anymore" and "We need money to live" were among slogans on banners held up by the crowds.
Letta promised to make jobs his top priority when he came to power in April after two months of political deadlock. But several protesters complained he was not sticking to his vow, focusing instead on a property tax reform outlined this week.
The people's chief demand: end that perpetual scapegoat for everything that is wrong in Europe, "austerity" (the same austerity that was never actually implemented but since it distracted from politicians' gross incompetence, it was a handy propaganda tool). The problem, as all those who are even remotely familiar with finance know is that in a Keynesian world, it is all about credit creation - the same credit creation which can no longer take place in Europe for the various reason explained before.
Union leaders said he needed to shift away from the austerity agenda pursued by former Prime Minister Mario Monti, who introduced a range of spending cuts, tax hikes and pension reform to shore up strained public finances.
"We need to start over with more investment. If we don't restart with public and private investments, there will no new jobs," said Maurizio Landini, secretary-general of the left-wing metalworkers union Fiom.
Italy is stuck in its longest recession since quarterly records began in 1970, and jobless rates are close to record highs, with youth unemployment at around 38 percent.
Other protesters were pessimistic that Letta's fragile government would be able to take effective action.
Of course to get "investments", one needs funding, and the problem is that virtually all sovereign bond issuance - for now driven by the BOJ's monetization-facilitated carry trade impulse - is going to indirectly prop up the local insolvent banking system, not to fund public spending. That too will become clear in due course, but for now there is hope.
However, even the hope is running out, leading to the people's, accurate, conclusion:
"This government will last a very short time," said demonstrator Marco Silvani. What we need is a new leftist party that fights for the rights of the people," he said.
Or, in other words, the same left party "solution" that France got and that has managed to crush the local economy to a double-dip recession in just one year.
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What do you suppose Hitler, Stalin and Mao's approval ratings were? Not the official government ones of 100%, mind you. I mean the real ones. So, what do approval ratings really do? Is the centrally planned collectivist socialist welfare state going to end because of approval ratings?
Hitler / NAZI party achieved 43.91% of the free Democratic vote in 1933. In 1936, they got 98.80%, but you can consider that one to be non-Democratic. However, during the wartime regime, there were certainly anti-NAZI plots both within the military and protest from the general populace, but not mass revolt.
Before the war? Popular.
Your lack of history will make you easy prey for predators out there, just as a warning.
People LOVED Hitler in 36.
Just read the various books on the period, especially Shirer's.
They may have not had a choice.
Of course they had a bloody choice! They just liked smoke being blown up their butts!
Aurora Ex Machina,
It took hitler two tries before he had any governing majority,
I'm well aware of the history; I also know he got his big break kicking the shit out of the Communists with the SA in tow, and a large part of his funding was tied to Big Business dislike/fear of said Communists. Might want to look to USA corporations for their investment portfolios at the time.
Your point?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7feldyduyg
hitler was able to hypnotize the masses...
I actually know my history very well including the myth that Hitler was popularly elected. That is one to watch out for. My point that perhaps you miss is that while popularity polls are nice, they really don't mean much.
myth? what myth? -1
Maybe he refers to the fact that it was a coalition of several parties which made him chancellor. The votes of the NSDAP alone would not have been sufficient. He needed "Stahlhelm", "DNVP" and "Zentrum" to get a majority.
I actually know my history very well including the myth that Hitler was popularly elected. That is one to watch out for. My point that perhaps you miss is that while popularity polls are nice, they really don't mean much.
The US Congress approval rating is 14% and we keep electing these fools with a 90% retention rate.
I logged in just to vote you up.
The 2012 US House reelection rate was 91% (358/393). The 2012 Senate reelection rate was also 91% (21/23). That's a bit lower than things have been trending since the Reagan administration, but since 1951, the average rate of US Congressional reelection has been high: averaging above 80%.
Since 1974, public approval of Congress only briefly surged above 50% for a six year span from 1998 to 2004. Usually it hovers between 20% and 40%. Yes, Congress now has between 14% and 16%, but even going back to the higher, historical data, Congressional approval ratings seem not to be correlated to reelection ratings in the least.
On the other hand, Gallup reports that voters show much higher (46%-66%) approval ratings for their district's representative. There's a disconnect between "blame Congress for failure" and "blame my Congressman for failure," and that reluctance to blame an individual (or blame the hometown player?) keeps Congress stagnant.
Yes, that is hilarious about the USA 'representative government' or 'democracy'.
The sheeple so perfectly well managed
Quite seriously, the Communist Party Congresses in China turn over their members and leadership, more than does the United States Congress ...
There is something more honest about the Chinese oligarchy and their 'Standing Committee of the Politburo' ... the people you see actually do run China, and not a 'shadow government' behind the scenes like in America
You bring up a good point indirectly. How many people voting in Italy and disapproving the current situation actually want more of the stuff that got them there? I'd bet on a majority.
I agree.
Today's voter doesn't deserve nothing but misery, and their "representatives" deliver.
86% of the people hate their CongressCritter... But 90% hate the other potential CongressCritter more.
Stop being a chumptocracy full of establishment gobemouches, think for yourselves and DO NOT vote for any establishment promoted candidate.
They are all financed by banksters - and the hand that gives is GREATER than the hand that takes.
Now if only people in Germany would be so wise...as to not support their own government... not for having free stuff but to be a bunch of corrupt traitors...
"We can't wait anymore" and "We need money to live" were among slogans on banners held up by the "free shit" army.
I love that term, the "free shit army". Who recruited that army? I suspect it will be the Frankenstein monster that turns on it's maker.
Hey tweedle dumb and dumber, when the "Free Shit Army" gets large enough they start coming after ur SHIT. You fuckerz r to stupid to get it and you think u gotta enough guns and ammo. But how long lolololo
It is a funny term
Gorilla, don't be so damned stupid. I am not supporting the "free shit army". Do you think a guy with the name "FreedomGuy" would support any form of collectivism or statism? I understand very well the danger and I write and speak about it in other places. I am also fairly well prepared. Rub the sleep out of your eyes and read a bit better. Maybe don't lead with an insult when you don't even understand the point.
No dude. When the Free Shit Army gets angry, they do what they always do. Burn down their own houses, neigbourhoods and local businesses and then sit in the ashes and blame everyone else.
T'was ever thus. They need free shit becasue they are stupid and usless. So stupid in fact, they vote for the very politicans that enslave them on "welfare".
They are so pathetic they can't even feed themselves or their families, yet you think they will turn in to super soldiers? hahahaha. wake the fuck up.
Yes, protest austerity and joblessness, the government will certainly help you in your quest of "from rags to riches". Come on, you are human beings, start wrecking shit and threatening people, whining doesn't do any good. I blame TV and antidepressants, people are too mellow to accomplish anything.
Rioting for prosperity. Yup, that will work.
Are there, actually, any adults at all over there?
This is a ME world, not WE... Learning from our leaders.
Per Pew, 93% of households in the US have lost net worth since 2009. The other 7% made up for it.
The US has guns, but those 93% just don't use them.
Nothing will change until the 7% start stopping bullets. That's just the way it is.
Nothing will change until the 7% start stopping bullets.
With their bodies right?
Italy...
It is incredible that a raving yet brilliant lunatic as Beppe Grillo managed to be the most voted party in italy, yet the new coalition does not have one of his members within it.
Italians by nature are unfurtunately vary uninvolev in the well being of their community, they only care about their own small garden, and if they can screw someone over to better their garden they pride themselfes about it.
Once the book value of saving and houses of the italians are brough to zero the revolution will start, not one minute before not one minute after.
Luckly it is a beautiful country, if not it would be the asswhole of the galaxy.
I suppose I can thank two italians for the arrows
you missed a couple of details - Grillo does not want to partecipate to coalitions, for example
I love Italian people, they hated fighting in WW11, but I think they will now fight hard for their families and friends. I watch in anticipation.
Italy on average had a new government every year or so since WW II.
Italy has a history of City-States going back a thousand years as well. Napoleon obliterated this concept in France...and Germany even today seems to have had "Berlin, surround by a series of military encampments." granted extraordinary military encampments...but certainly with "Greater Germanicus" at its core. Greater Britain, Sweden, Switzerland...none of them had the State in and of itself as its raison d 'ete. the USA sure feels like it wants the State as its "core value" going on well over a decade now"...clearly the popularity of that is at a record low...and going lower. Italy is the only "country" that i can readily recognize as a place there really isn't into all this fascist and communist bullshit. it might not look pretty on the big screen...but hey, when is "money first" a sight to behold?
Tell me next time this asshole is in Aspen :)
hmmm... not thinking they mean Aspen, CO.... Dumb and Dumber comes to mind....
Let the 'Obunga Zombies' eat each other first. Lot's of gold and silver in those 'Obunga Phones' to barter with.
But, but, but... It was so yellow on the map!
Those Italians must be buying that cheap Chinese Hopium which fades quickly. They should source the good stuff we manufacture here in the USA. It stays in your system for years.
Gerald Celente for President of Rome.
Here's the problem Italian protesters - there is no fucking money. They want jobs and benefits, presumably from the government, but there is no money to pay for any of that. As the article said, France is an excellent example. The leftist led by Hollande was swept into office but the policies of the left reduce employment rather than increase it.
' there is no money to pay for jobs ' what's that all about? who wants benefits? ok maybe a few % of the 90% want the FREE €50/70 per week but a JOB, feeling worthwhile, is the desired objective/goal!
The banks and corps who own the cowardly greedy smug lazy asses of the politicians have colluded to ship the jobs to bangladesh/india etc ( we see first hand the crumbling buildings& conditions & loss of lives recently ).
Let us not listen to media/bankster sympathisers who divide Real People who would wish to earn a living the proper way.
If i hear shit like Communism, Socialism, Red Unions i will Scream. Wake Up it's the tired old rhetoric defending a minority who would sell their towns, cities for money/power. Not greatly articulate and i could do better but this simple shit is a start.
Couple facts about Italy. 1) northern Italy is wealthy, like really wealthy. Germany/Bavaria Switzerland type wealthy. Old old money, great innovative SMEs based mainly family run industry that contract to Fiat, Ferrari, all of the design shops in Milan (flos, qlt). Highly innovative and technical region.
2) while Germany has has 3 defaults in the last 100 years, and the good ol' US of A defaulted most recently in 1972, Italy, since its founding in 1868 or so has never defaulted. So while the Europeans pile on Italy and joke about their government, the fact is they have been a much better soverign in their history. Part of this has been the understanding of the need to occasionally devalue the lira against the D-mark to both increase the relative competitiveness of their industry (Italy traditionally had sweetheart deals to natural resources in Africa/Libya and could get away with devaluation) while also making southern Italy with its lower productivity a cheaper tourist destination. With the euro, Italy screws up both. Grillo and yes, silvio maximus bunga bunga both get this, as do many Italians. Italy may be the first eu country to tell Brussels to go to hell and bring back their own currency. They loose way too much by being on it, and the common Italian, the majority of whom run small family businesses, gets it too.
EU finds time to tell restaurants how to serve olive oil
From January 1, 2014, eateries will be banned from serving oil to diners in small glass jugs or dipping bowls, and forced instead to use pre-sealed, non-refillable bottles that must be disposed of when empty.
http://mobilebeta.reuters.com/eu-finds-time-to-tell-restaurants-how-to-s...
Yeah. Huge scandal, everyone's talking about it. Shocked. Shocked I tell you that we're occasionally getting short changed on the table olive oil when dining out. Estimates are of dozens of euros worth of non branded olive oil having been consumed under the impression it was a particular brand... It's the food fraud of the year.
They don't own their own money, they can't do shit. All they're doing is demonstrating the reality of exactly who does hold all the real power and that democracy is largely a sham.
Bravo! What a profound statement.
True until the point Italy does bring back the lira.
I just wasted someone’s Google paid click to illustrate a distinct problem.
Save up to 40% with Italy Tours!
http://www.toursofitaly.com/?source=google
Doesn’t that remind you of picking thru a Wal-Mart bin? Smiley face Wal-Mart has a 40% discount sign to pick thru discontinued items.
Rollback those prices bitchez, Italy is the new cheap vacation ghetto now!
Forget it, Italy needs this kind of manifestazioni, they can have 50% youth unemployment and 30% normal, they don't care, it still go's ahead. Restaurants in Parioli are in Rome will be fully booked, it was nice weather in Rome, so: who cares?? Probably Mario D. in Frankfurt, but he is culo e camicia con Angela M. aus Berlin......and therefore, everything will move ahead "gallegiando" and "in geordneten Bahnen". Simply the best world in Europe we can thimk of. They are giving farwell to Beckham in Paris, I'd like to be there, restaurants are top.
Same for Spain, and Portugal. Life somehow goes on. How will this end. Most dont have a clue. The Euro however must be preserved. Banksters got to eat too.
Nothing new to see or hear! The banksta corp government lackies are prepared to spend decreasing tax payer dollars euros pounds yen on a war machine whilst throwing our youth on the scrapheap in the name of protecting our democratic rights and well being! Absolutely Incredulous! Do not dare speak out against this protection or you will be eliminated.Bloody Marvelous.
On witnessing a bunch of kids being Pepper Sprayed a few months back on a peaceful protest sit in by those big brave defenders of the LOR i realised that ordinary middleaged folks have seriously let them down Bigtime. Shameful and cowardly. After viewing this i guessed that they must have flipped channels to watch American Pop Idol.
What were they protesting about? Did they want more "free stuff" by having the government take it from me?
Italians in Italy are a lot smarter than the Italians who emigrated to the USA and pretty much stopped thinking hard about the world around them. Nixon Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz got into hot water when he said that in Italy, the people there talking about the Pope's stand on premarital sex and divorce said: "He who no playa the game no make a the rules." You now have tax dodgers in Europe with secret bank accounts in the tens and hundreds of millions of dollars preaching austerity to laid off workers. Once the governments in Italy, Spain and Greece start laying off cops, you should start seeing demonstrations without end. Trouble is, most of the liquid assets in these countries have been looted with the assistance of the bankster appointed technocrats who preach austerity as they funnel the ECB loans their countries received to their bankster friends.
I highly recommend to use Google to translate Professor Bagnai's posts:
http://goofynomics.blogspot.it/
He proved that getting out of EURO is the way to go. Lots of wonderful information in it. The awareness of this need is growing in Italy (and Spain).
All the rest is silly prejudices; no one in Italy had the opportunity to vote against/for the Euro; this is not Democracy.
This chap is VERY competent and he is travelling all over Italy to educate the "masses" (horrible term but sometimes true); education is what people need to bring their frustration to the "right tables" (in Bruxelles and Frankfurt).
Italy has "contributed" 46 B Euros to "save" other European States. Italians cannot afford it; we also cannot afford to pay 3.5 Million salaries (Public Administration) but that is another story.
As to Switzerland, Man Island, Channel Islands, Luxembourg, Monaco/Montecarlo, Liechtenstein, San Marino: if someone could investigate, they would find hundreds of thousands of tax dodgers with cyphered accounts ther from ALL countries in the world. No country is immune, sacred Germany included.
If we had a Federal Government, mahybe this shame would end. In reality we have a 4th Reich with a foreign currency we need to peg to.