Italy Announces Austerity Plan 2.0 As Local Protests Spread, Turn Violent
After Berlusconi was scolded by everyone, but most importantly by backstop solvency provider ECB, for his bull in a China shop maneuver of the first, now defunct, Italian Austerity plan, here are the details from the next, soon to be gutted "Austerity", which readers may be forgiven, if they take it with just a grain of salt. According to Bloomberg, the details are as follows:
- Plan to to include higher retirement age for women from 2014
- To add 3% tax on income over 500k euros
- Italy to approve constitutional law for budget balance Sept
- To increase VAT from 20% to 21%.
Will anyone take this latest attempt to appease the ECB seriously? Of course not.
In the meantime, Italy, as predicted - remember Piazza Navona strikecam and all that, and especially its workers, are not happy as protests proceed to engulf the country:
Protesters in Italy scuffled with police, burned flags and threw eggs and smoke bombs at banks on Tuesday in what they said could be a taste of escalating public disorder as public spending cuts bring pain to families.
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is scrambling to enact deep cuts to prevent a Greek-style financial collapse. Protesters said this could lead to unrest like that seen on the streets of other austerity-hit European countries.
Tens of thousands of striking workers, students and pensioners joined marches in cities from Palermo to Turin, voicing opposition to the proposed 45.5 billion euro austerity package and discontent with Berlusconi's government.
"This is the first step of a crucial autumn, it is the chance our generation has to fight back," said 33-year-old Enrico Sitta at a march in Rome.
Protests in Italy have not reached the scale of mass demonstrations in Spain by groups known as the "indignados," or mass rallies at Syntagma Square in Athens that sparked violent clashes. But some in Rome expect popular anger to intensify if pressure on struggling households continues.
Italy's biggest union CGIL called Tuesday's strike against the austerity plan presented last month by Berlusconi's government, aimed at balancing the budget by 2013.
Many protesters voiced personal reasons for anger.
Italian workers, who already earn some of the lowest salaries in western Europe, have seen wages stagnate while consumer prices shoot up and are furious at having to shoulder further burdens in the government's austerity plan.
Italy has already introduced delays to retirement and freezes on state salaries as part of previous austerity measures. A plan in the latest package would withhold the retirement funds of public sector employees for two years after leaving their jobs.
Industrial worker Claudio Bargilli, 47, called the proposed cuts "a social massacre."
"The government is presenting cuts upon cuts, and we can't make it to the end of the month," he said, adding that he and his colleagues were already close to the poverty line, surviving on an income of 1,000 euros a month.
We give Berlusconi's government at most 3 months. Countdown starts now.
(9 votes)
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The VAT tax, being essentially regressive and punative, is a major blunder. That point just added inordinate amount of fuel to what was already raging fire IMNSHO.
Taxes Are Horrendous In Europe ...
And its getting worse.
While the Elites live in the lap of luxury...
This AUSTERITY SHIT didn't work in Greece (disaster),
why would it work in any other EU State ???
Stupid fecks...
"Bunga bunga, baby !"
http://www.theindiadaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Berlusconi.jpg
That would make a great ZH avatar for somebody, alas I am obliged to keep my black liva bird (swan).
Shut up and eat your fucking cake, before I call out the riot police and water cannons. We will have austerity, and you will like it.
IT'S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN
DA DA DA DA!
http://azizonomics.com/2011/08/22/eurocide/
Riot police ? Water cannons ? "Escalating public disorder" in Italy? Are you sure ?
Do you really still believe the Reuters and all that mainstream news agencies ?
Do you really believe that Gaddafi bombed peaceful demonstrators making 10'000 casualties with cluster bombs as the BBC and Al Jazeera reported ? Do you really believe that this was the reason for the UN resolution and then war in Libya ?
If so, you well deserve Reuters and the like.
No Italian news agency written in Italian dares writing of "escalating public disorder" because anyone who was there today in Italy would immediately ridiculate it.
Sorry.
By reporting from Reuters what is going down the drain is the credibility not of the Italian BTPs but of zerohedge and of Tyler Durden. Ridiculous, it is the only word !!!
In terms of public order what you had today in Italy was a minority strike with peaceful demonstrations. More precisely, minority meansa a tiny fraction of the Italian workers.
I don't know about Italy, but I believe the BBC reports on the UK riots because I live here. There were definitely riots. My ex girlfriend lives in London and I am just north of Manchester - definitely, definitely riots.
Maybe they are over-stating the Italy problem, but the UK problem was real.
BBC reported about cluster bombs used by Gaddafi troops in Lybia (not in Italy !!) killing many people (before the UN resolution 1973). Gaddafi's son answer (that mainstream media never reported) was: we are neither criminals nor idiots. About the Gaddafi regime not being criminal iit s a different matter. About them not neing idiots, he had a very strong point: cluster bombs leave very clear signs that BBC wasn't able to show. The Gaddafi government brought the journalists to the place where according to BBC cluster bombs had been used and their signs simply weren't there.
As for Manchester and London I don't doubt that there were riots but, well, there in the UK people speak English. Blatant inaccuracy there wouldn't be possible.
There is a clear spin in the news about today's strike in Italy by Reuters.
The shame is not on Reuters (poor paid liars) but on zerohedge for falling into the trap of the information spin doctors.
Ah, Italy!
What wonderful memories!
I remember once a "Rally against Berlusconi" some years ago, they were news with footage of THREE FREAKING MILLIONS ITALIANS demonstrating in Rome against his Gov.
All the media were dead sure his time was over...
And the "Riots against Globalism" in Genua? Ah, those were violent young men...
My friend, whatever happens in Italy stays there, leave the truth to Murdoch's boys, they know how to spin and milk...
This shit has been going on for thousands of years. It has 1 of 3 possible outcomes. Dark age of oppression, failed civil war followed by a dark age of oppression, or successful revolution.
One other: Entropy.
That's about as far as the american people will take it. An ongoing adpatation to less and less has been going on in variouis precincts around the country for 30 years. It's just that those are invisible, on no one's radar. But a hundred million of the american citizenry have already made the adjustment to live on very very little. And no hope of that ever changing. As long as the SNAP cards work----and you can be sure the top 10% will see to it that they do, there will be no revolution successful or otherwise.
Dark age? Depends on your definition of 'dark'.
"As long as the SNAP cards work----and you can be sure the top 10% will see to it that they do...."
...for at least as long as it takes to release a cocktail of swine / avian / Spanish flu, antibiotic resistant E-Coli and the usual suspects of cholera, typhoid, scarlet fever, etc into the 'ghetto' populations.
Or let the sanitary systems collapse on their own through austerity-mandated lack of maintenance and let nature do the job for you. Can't get the blame then, if anyone starts poking their nose in.
The problem with biological stuff is that it's not all that controllable. I doubt that TPTB could really protect themselves from it: yeah, they might THINK that they can (fool themselves), which would be the scary part I guess (meaning that they might try it, thereby condeming ALL), but they cannot.
"Dark age? Depends on your definition of 'dark'."
Exactly! I hate all these trite labels.
I've been to parts of the world that many of us in the entitlement world (western world) would consider "dark."
I think that those looking to rule over us use such labels to scare us into Their arms. And it's Their paradigms that are NOT sustainable.
It's not so much "dark" as the contrast, and "white," being NOT sustainable, isn't as "white" as most would like to admit (and therefore "dark" isn't as "dark" as they'd like us to believe).
But a hundred million of the american citizenry have already made the adjustment to live on very very little.
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Nice successful comical attempt.
on very very little? What do you mean? Six? Five? Four? Three cars/flat screen TV set? Going out to eat six, five, four, three days in a week?
Etc...
Come on, US citizens have been consuming more and more for the last forty years. Consuming more and more is not live on very very little.
dark as in irrational or ideological or theological governance.
"Dark age of oppression, failed civil war followed by a dark age of oppression, or successful revolution."
Apples and wrenches... You're mixing a long-term state -dark age of oppression- with short-term events -civil war and successful revolution. The events are change boundaries.
Rise and fall, rise and fall. And "rise" and "fall" depends on your point of view, where you are in relation to the centers of power (which are really the only things that can exhibit a sizable/recordable? event).
Humans aren't necessarily in control of their destinies, not given global climate cycles: the next glacial period would wipe out any "dark age of oppression" or "successful revolution" (to mix apples and wrenches).
Making shit up as they go along.
Yes! Precisely!
withhold retirement funds 2 years after leaving job
LOL. Set the mandatory retirement age to 45. Then set the age to collect retirement benefits to 75. That should free up a lot of jobs and stop all those pesky retirement checks from going out. The bankers can keep getting their debt payments. The program should last about 6 months before the bankers find a way to lose all their new found projected loot.
Isla...I mean, Italian summer?
DaddyO
When will American citizens do something like this?
When the SNAP cards stop working.
funny DHS is more worried about terrorist threats, but if a cyber terrorist managed to kill the snap system...well Armageddon is only 3 meals away
DHS? Oh, the ones who 'lost' the backpack full of explosives in the Phoenix airport 'security drill' this weekend? 'DHS worried about terrorist threats'? I'd say theyre the ones planning it.
Touche
Holy shit - they're gonna blow up PHOENIX ?!!
I was under the impression that CHICAGO would get the next false flag attack.
.
.
.
Oh, well ... there they go again - MANUFACTURING MY OPINION !!
You may expect the SWAT Team momentarily.
SNAP cards or the power grid. If we were to have a catastrophic failure of a major region power grid, that could rile up the natives in that area. Watching the domesticated animals of the inner city (people, not pets) tear each other apart because the power has been off for a week on CNN could have some interesting side effects.
Ivy League graduates receive SNAP cards. << Click on this to read the full story.
BHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA <breathe> AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH !!!!
Complacent, fat-and-happy, couch-potato, no work ethic, apathetic, lazy Joe Sixpack American?
Get me the beer and Cheetos. The games about to start. And make me a sammich, Bitchez.
BHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA.
Im certainly not counting on the idiot women or feminized 'men' around me this morning chattering obsessively about their vicarious football party tonite to do anything ever.
Me either. But, that will be a true blessing, as if and when they do act, they will not be acting in your best interest.
Think of it like helping a drowning man. He will use anything to stay afloat, including you.
Same thing about the sleepers. If they are shocked out of their slumber, they will immediately look to the ants of around them and convince themselves that they are owed something from those ants.
So, just keep quiet and sing them the old nursery rhyme:
"Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep little sheepy."
pods
they will immediately look to the ants of around them and convince themselves that they are owed something from those ants.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Yep, right, US citizens are going to try to squeeze even more any person on planet Earth who they feel to be ants to them. And that's a lot.
So exactly how are US citizens squeezing the rest of the world?
pods
You said it. Stupid Americans paying far, far more attention to their fantasy football league and Real Housewives, instead of the Eurozone implosion.
Every day, we slide further. And every day, I care less and less whether other Americans are prepared. I don't feel proud saying it, but I swear Americans are fucking clueless.
Amen bro. And I hate to admit it or even think it. But I do, it's hard to help it. When people won't take any initiative whatsoever to improve not just the country or their neighbor but themselves and their families, it's hard to be sympathetic.
"When will American citizens do something like this?"
Answer: NEVER
you tube statistics:
Akon (I just had sex): 122,826,772 hits
How Federal Reserve Bank works: 48,281 hits
This is the reality: the people in the streets don't give a S###
I don't know the latest numbers, but I generally recall they are 1.5 trillion euro/francs in the hole, and that's just the government debt, not the banks. Can anyone comment whether this is enough to pull them from a death spiral? It sure doesn't sound like it, not even close.
and que the riots in 3..2..1
Ah everyone everywhere wants everything but nobody wants to pay for it. We had the ability in 2008 to survive the coming upheaveal with a social benefits safety net but we chose instead to bail out the banks and the wall street titans who made bad bets. Now we must live with our ridiculousness for allowing that to happen and start embracing the poverty. Until people understand that the bank bailouts of the past 3 years are ultimately responsible for their coming living conditions then nothing will change.
Right! We've fixed nothing since 2008, even though 85% said 'dont bail out the banks' the bought and paid for 'representatives' decided to hand over the blank check book to the tantrum-throwing bankers and here we are today 50X worse off.
They are Greece, game over but the elephant in the room is Spain...
Mamma Mia! Here we go again........
I'll bet they wish they had a cheap like this place to buy gold coins right now. Anyone know of anyplace cheaper than TexMetals? In my research, they seem to even be cheaper than Tulving for new coins, which is an accomplishment
Meanwhile americans sit idle...the chatter around me this morning is all about the NFL kickoff and chicken wings, chips and dips, and beer. Sleep on, 'more broke than anyone' america.
Perhaps this is why!
Damn, bubba.
Are you STILL pumping your worthless and lame water article ??
Jeezus H. you're persistent.
Oh, well ... for the rest of you - skip this stupid article by the Indian spammer.
You'll thank me for it.
.
.
.
Just doing my part to stop the MANUFACTURING of OPINIONS !!
As I've been saying for years: Gay marriage and football are all the people care about as a general rule.
Italy has to have oil.
And they'll pay for it.
Brent spread just hit $27(!!).
yeah, any reasoning to why? WTI went down $2 while Brent went up $2. Of course the IBSM data halved the WTI loss in one second, but the selling started up again once the headline was revealed to be a inflation scam.
WTI is a price control. That is all. West Texas is a vast gas (natural gas that is) dome now.
publicly funded pensions can only end in disaster. Allowing them in the first place was the mistake and doomed us all from the start.
Without austerity we crumble, with austerity we burn. Either way we're F'd.
pensions were set up fine. the problem is the asshole politicians who raid the funds' reserves.
Anything based on YOY compounded gains is a failure.
pods
I know a school teacher from Mass. that retired at 52. He's 62 now and has been collecting $6000 a month for the last 10 years from his pension. I know he paid in for 25 years but holy shit that's a lot of money! Those Massholes are going to have to shell out for the next 20 years (at least, the pricks in damn good health) and that's only one retiree. Good luck with that!
I'd like to take a couple days off from work & do the revolution in the streets bitches thingy...
Dow Jones down 300!!! Here we go people, I hope you're ready!
Sadly, no. Could have used another six months of prepping and buying PM. Since you asked.
Seriously, you still have time. Bernake has yet to announce Q.E. 3. And it is coming -- the Swiss just gave him all the cover he needs. I would still be getting PMs at this point. I am.
Oh don't worry that just means that insider buying will once again reach epic bullshit proportions. Remember the market has already priced in a worse than recession scenario with Netflix trading around $200.
The talking heads are already salivating at the prospects of Dow QE 15k. There will be no recession...... in stock prices.
And 'very oversold conditions' as well...whatever the hell thats supposed to mean.
Funny how stocks seem to never be 'overbought'.
And the 'positive economic data'
There will be no recession...... in stock prices.
I wouldn't bet on it. The shit is going to hit the fan (probably after another rally, but it's on the radar) and there won't be a damn thing the Fed or the ECB can do about it. At least, that's how I'm going to play it.
ECB va fungool!
does anyone take zerohedge or any of it's syndicate website seriously anymore .. fck off
totally lost the ZIOplot
Stick your head in your gaschamber, Nazi.
Look at that dax. They are bound and determined to rip Europe apart trying to save it. What a bunch of idiots.
Well at least some high-end Italian escorts will now be more affordable, with the Euro crashing and the dollar soaring.
LOL....
LOL....with Viagra at $20 a pop, it would be a wash for you Robo, dont bother just stick to the L.A. skanks.
maybe Libya should enforce a no-fly-zone over Italy, you know as a way to 'protect the rebels'
Here's what I seriously don't get..
The entire world has been living beyond its means for years, both the government and private citizens. Cuts need to be made. Are these anti-austerity protestors arguing that no cuts should be made, or are they arguing that government policies and bankster salad tossing are making the cuts worse than they should be?
I'm guessing that they don't like the cuts to their professions while bankers get bailed out repeatedly.
The latter...unshared sacrifice is not appreciated by people who actually work for a living.
Ok, thanks. I was really wondering what the tone of these protests are. I would love to see it in the US.
There are unfortunately a lot of COINTELPRO fake protest organizations around, but here's my take on how to make it happen, regardless:
http://betterinfos.com/WhatToDo.html
does this mean then that BANKERS can take cuts, too ? after all, what's good for the citizen is good for the banker ......... why is it austerity for the people & no losses for bond holders ?
Crude oil finally getting the beat down. At least we'll be able to drive our Hummers for another couple of years with gas at comfortably low prices.
Finally? Where have you been?
Only MomoFader could say gas at national avg $3.50 is 'comfortably low prices'....then again it only takes half a gallon to fill his Vespa.
Uh no. Gas has done DICK as far as dropping in price compared to crude. We should be somewhere around $2.80 a gallon at current crude prices yet here we are still hovering in the mid to high $3 range instead. Wonder why that is...
It's sold in dollars?
You will note what was on the table on Aug 12, removed on Aug 29th, and has not yet returned...
Ravioli +23 ;-)
Damnit, I wonder when Germany will wake up.
There are already protests in Berlin about this. But only in small and insignifcant numbers so far. It has not gained much media attention. We will see.
I am only sure about one thing - sentiment is very angry judging by the recent comments (it definitely changed during these past 12 months) in newspapers and people are finally beginning to organize protest. If this thing falls apart I think we will see riots in Germany. This is somewhat unusual to a society that has a love for order. Strikes are not that common in Germany - unlike Greece, Spain, France or Italy. And Germans have become apathetic in the past two decades (since the end of the GDR). But I am sure the mood will turn aggressive at one point.
They might ask themselves: Is it okay to use the slogan: "WIR SIND DAS VOLK" - a popular slogan used in the protests against the communist GDR regime. It is used again and you can hear it on the streets of Berlin.
This is somewhat unusual to a society that has a love for order.
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If Germans love order, how does it come that the word for war is of german root in latin languages, in polish too etc and to mean originally turmoil, disorder?
CALL FOR BANKSTER AUSTERITY!