Italy going bust

[bibblebub]

Their debt rate is now 6.999%, marginally short of the 7% that is usually taken to mean that a bail-out is required. Promises to be a very frantic next few days.

Has macroeconomics ever been so exciting?

[bibblebub]

yay, now above 7%

[rowanwitch]

Quick everyone... buy some fiats

[bibblebub]

sales of Mamma Mia dvds could go through the roof

[yogi-bear]

I wonder if George Clooney will sell me his place at Lake Como.

[rowanwitch]

Drink more italian wines

[bibblebub]

blooming heck, the rate is now at 7.26%, it's rocketing

[bazwillrun]

Italy as things stand will need to borrow 300billion euros next year to stay afloat.

[jake-the-peg]

Should be OK as long as they frisk Berlusconi on his way out

[yogi-bear]

If they were to put all of Gino D'Acampo's wages from Britains ITV back into the Italian economy, that'll save 'em. :0)

[chelle7272]

I'd rather they took him back!

[craft1948]

Will there be some cheapo italian footballers for sale?

[Old_Geezer]

Just tell their banks to create some more money on their PC; add a few zeroes or something to their assets figure. That'll work.

[Hopkirk]

Just wait till they see the mess when Italy's books are scrutinised.

They shouldn't have let a crook be in charge for so long.

[New Judge]

Just when will this lunacy end?

Italy, it is said, needs to borrow €300 BILLION Euros to pay its bills next year. Interest on this sum (at the latest rate) will cost them €21 billion a year, or more than €400m a week. And what about the year after that?

It is no use politicians coming up with various ways to disguise this level of debt (which is all that the various “summit” meetings are doing). They need to examine why these debts are being accrued and part of that examination must include the suitability of the Euro as a single currency for seventeen nations. Four of those nations have already needed hefty bailouts by taxpayers from other countries, Italy looks set to be next in line and two of them have now been made politically unstable.

I read a very informative article yesterday which suggested that whilst the collapse of the Euro may cause immediate and quite considerable pain, in the longer term (five to ten years) the worldwide economy will benefit enormously.

Just when will the European Politburo wake up to this?

[emmie]

why is everyone surprised.

[bibblebub]

The only surprise was the speed with which the Italian debt rate was increasing this morning - that the reason for my OP. By midday it had gone up to about 7.5% and looked like it was going to end up significantly higher by the end of the day. As it was, it ended at 7.26%, the same as when I posted at 10:33.