Hard hitting global and local news
La Stampa reports 450,000 Businesses Shut Down in Italy in Three Years . In just three years, from 2010 to 2012, about 450,000 companies closed with a loss of over 300,000 jobs, while the Italians caught up in terms of wear [usurious loans] increased to 600,000.
This month Italy seeks trials over credit downgrades Italian prosecutors have requested that five employees of Standard & Poor’s and two from Fitch be put on trial for alleged market manipulation connected to their downgrades of Italy’s credit rating. The prosecutors contend the accused violated EU rules by releasing the downgrades when European markets were open and by not alerting the Italian government 12 hours before the decisions, dating back to earlier this year and last year, were made public.
Lebanon Bombing is Impetus for West’s Planned Sunni-Shi’ia War Repost: Saad Hariri Aides Western Syria Destabilization from Lebanon.
Very complex and sometimes contradictory laws High level of corruption within public administration and politics Article 18, a section of the Workers Statute makes layoffs for economic reasons very, very difficult and it is applicable to companies that have 15 or more employees. This is a major reason why Italian companies have so few employees. The other one is that Italian company are mainly family run
Bloomberg reports Bundesbank Widens Euro Rift With Criticism of ECB Bond Plan . Germany’s Bundesbank stepped up its criticism of the European Central Bank’s plan to embark on potentially “unlimited†government bond purchases, widening a rift over how to tackle the sovereign debt crisis.“The Bundesbank holds to the opinion that government bond purchases by the Eurosystem are to be seen critically and entail significant stability risks,†the Frankfurt-based central bank said in its monthly report today. The new program “could be unlimited†and decisions about potentially far greater sharing of solvency risks should be taken by governments or parliaments, not by central banks, it said
More here: Is Italy Following the Footsteps of Greece? Does Italy or Germany Exit the Eurozone First?
Der Spiegel has published an inane article about Europe’s 10 Most Dangerous Politicians . Top 10 List Markus Söder , Bavarian Finance Minister: The politician from the Christian Social Union, the conservative sister party to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, is known for his tub-thumping rhetoric and has stepped up a gear in the euro crisis with vitriolic comments about Greece
Bloomberg reports Monti Calls for More Crisis-Fighting Urgency in ECB Standoff Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Monti warned of a potential breakup of Europe without greater urgency in efforts to lower government borrowing costs, as a standoff over European Central Bank help for Italy and Spain hardened. Monti, in an interview with Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine published yesterday, said that disagreements within the 17- nation euro area are detracting from the policy response to the debt crisis and undermining the future of the European Union. Spain and Italy, whose surging borrowing costs have shunted them to the heart of the turmoil in the euro area, are resisting pressure from ECB President Mario Draghi to formally request aid in return for strict conditions before the central bank will buy their bonds
Link: Eurozone Retail Sales Sink 9th Month; 17th Month of Contraction in Italy; Margins Collapse in France; Germany Barely Above…