Posted on 12/04/2011 5:16:22 PM PST by bruinbirdman
Italy's new technocrat government on Sunday night adopted an aggressive €30bn (£26bn) austerity package in a bid to stave off the crisis enveloping the country.
Prime minister Mario Monti’s coalition gave the green light to the package of tax hikes and pension reforms after bringing forward a cabinet meeting scheduled for today. “We have had to share the sacrifices, but we have made great efforts to share them fairly,” Mr Monti said.
The wide-ranging budget cuts are aimed at shoring up Italy’s strained finances and stemming the sovereign debt crisis that threatens to engulf the eurozone.
Mr Monti, who said he had renounced his own salary as part of the package, said the measures would be divided between €20bn of budget cuts and a further €10bn of measures to boost growth.
Vittorio Grilli, deputy economy minister, said the package should allow Italy to meet its target of a balanced budget by 2013 despite a forecast 0.4pc-0.5pc contraction in GDP next year and zero growth in 2013. In a mark of the severity of the cuts, welfare minister Elsa Fornero broke down in tears as she announced an end to inflation indexing on some pension bands, a move that will effectively see pensioners’ incomes cut. The minimum pension age will also rise in stages to 66 by 2018, while a new property tax was unveiled, forecast to raise €10bn to €12bn
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Proxy government for Berlin in action.
First, it isn’t enough.
Second, it is a show of faith to lure the USA into a bailout.
Third, from Zero Hedge:
Have The Fed and Treasury Run Out of Magic Bullets? American And Eurozone Saturated With Debt And Low Growth
http://confoundedinterest.wordpress.com
Yawn...
Must be Sunday Evening - yet another high-sounding, but ultimately meaningless pronouncement from somewhere in the EU trouble zone — which will be dutifully rewarded by a similarly meaningless 200 point bump in the Dow tomorrow...
Ride the predictable waves while you can.
Ride the predictable waves while you can.
Well at least the Euro’s are talking about austerity. Meanwhile back on Neverland Ranch, Obama wants Americans to step on the gas pedal. So are we stepping on the gas pedal to help bail out Europe ? If so, the American collapse will be quite spectacular.
Seems like Greece approved a lot of those austerity measures about a year ago ... wonder how those austerity measures are working out for them?
Thanks bruinbirdman.
You misspelled so I fixed it!
The Irish, Italian collapse will be quite spectacular.
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