BERLUSCONI SAYS HE MAY WITHDRAW HIS CANDIDACY IF MONTI STEPS IN!!!

let's hope the Euro crash guys....it's the only way....

Business Insider‏@businessinsider

There's Been A Massive Shift In What Everyone's Saying About Italy [link to read.bi]

My friend as you can imagine, the situation isn't any better in my country either !

Unemployment is off the charts (although the gov won't admit it), more and more people struggle to even pay the rent and as for the children...our government instituted a program where children in the first grades receive one bun and a glass of milk when they arrive at school cos as many of them don't have anything to eat for breakfast at home !

I'm not trying to say the situation in Romania is worse than in Portugal cos I really don't know your exact economic state but trust me it's BAD, very bad here as well !

All the talk today is Italy, and how it's now at center of the Eurozone crisis again.

The stock market is off over 3%. Borrowing cots are jumping.

The culprit is the return of political chaos, thanks to Berlusconi's intent to run for PM, and Mario Monti's announcement of his (slightly) premature resignation once the budget is passed.

What's remarkable is how quickly a new conventional wisdom has solidified in Italy.

What everyone is saying is: Monti was always an unelected technocrat, who had no popular mandate to fix things. Furthermore, his austerity isn't working, and what Italy needs is growth.

We're seeing this all over the place.

"Politics have burst the Monti bubble," says the FT's Wolfgang Munchau:

...

Bill Blaine of Mint Partners writes almost the same thing, that Italy had existed in a suspension of disbelief.

No one should be particularly surprised at how quickly Italy has gone from a minor wobble mumble swerve to full-blown political crisis – we’ve been warning it was likely to happen almost since the Monti coup last year. Exactly what the next stage of the game isn’t clear or even that important – Monti’s decision to resign may yet be countered by pleading Italian politicians begging him to stay.

Instead Monti’s resignation demonstrates how vulnerable the cozy suspension of disbelief on Italy has been. Elections in March? No clear winner? Berlusconi second highest in polls?

The real problem was Monti’s technocracy was simply delaying the inevitable: that at some point ugly Italian politics would come back to the fore. Despite giving the appearance of dealing with the Italy’s crisis, Monti was unable to build a clear consensus that could have kept him in power to enact real change. The Italian political opportunist class has been circling like vultures waiting the moment to strike.

Nomura's Alistair Newton also warns investors of wishing that Monti might somehow retain power (he's supposedly weighing an attempt to run for his current office):

...

The old convention: Mario Monti is the reformer that Italy needs.

The new hotness: Mario Monti has been unable to deliver on growth, and how politics is roaring back to the fore.


Read more: [link to www.businessinsider.com]

Eu is falling appart!!!

zerohedge‏@zerohedge

Irish, Greek Workers Seen Suffering Most in 2013 Amid EU Slump [link to www.bloomberg.com] …

Indeed it is, before all this I had a job and I considered myself part of a very small middle class in my country...now I can barely make the rent each month and it seems to be getting worse by the day !

I really wonder how long it will be until it all falls apart completely !

I only support my self because my parents help us with 400euros per month...

zerohedge‏@zerohedge

Basel Liquidity Rule May Be Watered Down Amid Crisis [link to www.businessweek.com] … Before they are scrapped altogether

PIN PLEASE!!!

Herman Van Rompuy‏@euHvR

EU´s "secret weapon": an unrivalled way of binding our interests so tightly that war becomes materially impossible #eunobel

zerohedge‏@zerohedge

Italy’s Bersani Says Monti Should Not Run in Elections: Ansa

Berlusconi = end of the euro

You decide.

Berlusconi is an evil psyco-dwarf and a mafious.....

but Euro is an evil plan that is bringing EU states in the abyss

zerohedge‏@zerohedge

Big Mac sales have so far offset fears of an Italian coalition cabinet with Silvio as tiebreaker

I don´t see any real option for change, no sensible political program, none of the necessary reforms.

So, the only issue is: on with the euro or breakup of the euro?

we should return to all national coins

zerohedge‏@zerohedge

Is Streisand also buying the EURUSD?

zerohedge‏@zerohedge

Beglain central bank cuts 2013 GDP forecast to 0% from 1.4%

zerohedge‏@zerohedge

BELGIAN CENTRAL BANK SEES GOVERNMENT MISSING 2013 DEFICIT GOAL. At least Spain is well ahead of its deficit goal

Business Insider‏@businessinsider

Remember The Italian Crisis? [link to read.bi]

zerohedge‏@zerohedge

If Citadel buys enough ES on behalf of the FRBNY, the Monti succession will be without a hitch

Yes. I don´t know anyone who wants the euro. But there is no party proposing a breakup of the euro.

The lack of alternatives should raise disdain a lot more than Mr. B.