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Anatole Kaletsky the British journalist and economist named Newspaper Commentator of the Year in the BBC’s What the Papers Say awards, and has twice received the British Press Award for Specialist Writer of the Year, has published an article on Reuters titled ‘The age of austerity is ending’ stating “Whisper it softly, but the age of government austerity is ending. It may seem an odd week to say this, what with the U.S. government preparing for indiscriminate budget cuts, a new fiscal crisis apparently brewing in Europe after the Italian election and David Cameron promising to “go further and faster in reducing the deficit” after the downgrade of Britain’s credit. But politics is sometimes a looking-glass world, in which things are the opposite of what they seem. …in Italy, Britain and the rest of Europe, this week’s events should help convince politicians and voters that efforts to reduce government borrowing, whether through public spending cuts or through tax hikes, are both politically suicidal and economically counterproductive. In Italy, and therefore the entire euro zone, this shift is now almost certain. After the clear majority voted for politicians explicitly campaigning against austerity and what they presented as German economic bullying, further budget cuts or labor reforms in Italy are now off the agenda, if only because they would be literally impossible to implement. If Angela Merkel demands further budget cuts, tax hikes or labor reforms as a condition for supporting Italy’s membership of the euro, a majority of voters have given an unequivocal clear answer: Basta, enough is enough. Most Italians would rather leave the euro than accept any further austerity – and if Italy left the euro, total breakup of the single currency would follow with an inevitability that might not apply if the country exiting were Greece, Portugal or even Spain. …Things may not look that way just yet, but the age of fiscal austerity should soon be over.”  Inspired by Anatole Kaletsky, Reuters ow.ly/iuA5T Image source Twitter ow.ly/iuz0F The age of austerity is ending (March 26 2013)

 

Anatole Kaletsky the British journalist and economist named Newspaper Commentator of the Year in the BBC’s What the Papers Say awards, and has twice received the British Press Award for Specialist Writer of the Year, has published an article on Reuters titled ‘The age of austerity is ending’ stating “Whisper it softly, but the age of government austerity is ending. It may seem an odd week to say this, what with the U.S. government preparing for indiscriminate budget cuts, a new fiscal crisis apparently brewing in Europe after the Italian election and David Cameron promising to “go further and faster in reducing the deficit” after the downgrade of Britain’s credit. But politics is sometimes a looking-glass world, in which things are the opposite of what they seem. …in Italy, Britain and the rest of Europe, this week’s events should help convince politicians and voters that efforts to reduce government borrowing, whether through public spending cuts or through tax hikes, are both politically suicidal and economically counterproductive. In Italy, and therefore the entire euro zone, this shift is now almost certain. After the clear majority voted for politicians explicitly campaigning against austerity and what they presented as German economic bullying, further budget cuts or labor reforms in Italy are now off the agenda, if only because they would be literally impossible to implement. If Angela Merkel demands further budget cuts, tax hikes or labor reforms as a condition for supporting Italy’s membership of the euro, a majority of voters have given an unequivocal clear answer: Basta, enough is enough. Most Italians would rather leave the euro than accept any further austerity – and if Italy left the euro, total breakup of the single currency would follow with an inevitability that might not apply if the country exiting were Greece, Portugal or even Spain. …Things may not look that way just yet, but the age of fiscal austerity should soon be over.”

 

Inspired by Anatole Kaletsky, Reuters ow.ly/iuA5T Image source Twitter ow.ly/iuz0F

Mario Monti the 69 year old Italian economist and current caretaker Prime Minister of Italy will run for the premiership as leader of a centrist alliance in the next Italian general election. In an article by Vito Laterza published on Aljazeera titled ‘Technocracy's new bet: Mario Monti runs for premiership’.Vito states “His entry into the political arena will provoke major re-alignments in strategies, programmes and personnel in the centre-right and centre-left coalitions. His ambitious agenda of reforms will strongly influence the policies of the next government. …The rationale of Monti's proposals is not so different from Cameron's austerity programme in the UK: free up the market, reduce the weight of government and let the economy adjust itself. But the prospects for the global economy, especially the eurozone, look grim. European economies will grow slowly, if at all, for many years to come. Italy has struggled with low growth rates for the last two decades. …There is also a major difference with Britain. Italian workers receive very low salaries compared to most of their European counterparts. Further liberalisation without a comparable rebalancing of social protection would effectively mean a low-cost economy driven by cheap labour, reduced quality and quantity of social services and rising socio-economic inequalities. For both these reasons, the continuation of the technocratic agenda by political means is unlikely to result in anything more than a face-lift. … keeping confidence in the Italian government artificially high and interest rates on Italian bonds low. But for how long? Monti is aware that his decision to enter frontline politics "carries many risks and a high probability of failure". If he does fail, how bad will the next collapse in international credibility hit Italy and its people?”  Inspired by Vito Laterza, Aljazeera ow.ly/gKkTU Image source Twitter ow.ly/gKlaQ Technocracy’s new bet runs for premiership (January 18 2013)

Mario Monti the 69 year old Italian economist and current caretaker Prime Minister of Italy will run for the premiership as leader of a centrist alliance in the next Italian general election. In an article by Vito Laterza published on Aljazeera titled ‘Technocracy’s new bet: Mario Monti runs for premiership’.Vito states “His entry into the political arena will provoke major re-alignments in strategies, programmes and personnel in the centre-right and centre-left coalitions. His ambitious agenda of reforms will strongly influence the policies of the next government. …The rationale of Monti’s proposals is not so different from Cameron’s austerity programme in the UK: free up the market, reduce the weight of government and let the economy adjust itself. But the prospects for the global economy, especially the eurozone, look grim. European economies will grow slowly, if at all, for many years to come. Italy has struggled with low growth rates for the last two decades. …There is also a major difference with Britain. Italian workers receive very low salaries compared to most of their European counterparts. Further liberalisation without a comparable rebalancing of social protection would effectively mean a low-cost economy driven by cheap labour, reduced quality and quantity of social services and rising socio-economic inequalities. For both these reasons, the continuation of the technocratic agenda by political means is unlikely to result in anything more than a face-lift. … keeping confidence in the Italian government artificially high and interest rates on Italian bonds low. But for how long? Monti is aware that his decision to enter frontline politics “carries many risks and a high probability of failure”. If he does fail, how bad will the next collapse in international credibility hit Italy and its people?”

 

Inspired by Vito Laterza, Aljazeera ow.ly/gKkTU Image source Twitter ow.ly/gKlaQ

Antonio Manfredi an Italian artist, curator and director of a Naples museum, the Casoria Contemporary Art Museum has set fire to a painting valued at €10,000 to protest the under-funding of arts in Italy. Before cameras, he set fire to a painting by French artist Séverine Bourguignon watching the spectacle via Skype. In an interview with John Hooper of the Guardian, Manfredi stated “There’s no money for upkeep. We were flooded recently. And there are tons of garbage mounting up outside. …This is a war. This is a revolution, an art war to prevent the destruction of culture, and in a revolution, there are winners and losers. …There are about 1,000 works, so this could go on for years, I tell you, it’s not nice setting light to works of art. It’s terrible. Each one has its own story. …You can’t …ask for money from companies in the area that are in the grip of the Camorra, some pay [the mobsters] protection money. Others are actually controlled by them. … in this area, if you don’t have backing from the authorities, you’re in serious danger. My fear is that they’ll let me go ahead and burn the lot.”

 

Inspired by John Hooper http://ow.ly/awOgA image source http://ow.ly/awOz3

Bernardo De Bernardinis the deputy technical head of Italy's Civil Protection official has been caught up in uniquely unusually trial that is scheduled for September of this year resulting from his comments in the week leading up an earthquake that struck the city of L'Aquila killing 309 people. After meeting with a group of six Italian seismologists to assess the risk related to increases in seismic activity in the area, De Bernardinis held a press conference where he overly optimistically informed the city occupants they were not in danger. The public prosecutor of L'Aquila has now pressed manslaughter charges against all the participants in the meeting for falsely reassuring the public, describing the group’s risk assessment "superficial and generic", resulting in "incomplete, imprecise and contradictory public information". Inspired by Adrian Chen ow.ly/5aNSg image source laquilanuova ow.ly/5aO3S No danger…the situation looks favorable (June 10 2011)

Bernardo De Bernardinis the deputy technical head of Italy’s Civil Protection official has been caught up in uniquely unusually trial that is scheduled for September of this year resulting from his comments in the week leading up an earthquake that struck the city of L’Aquila killing 309 people. After meeting with a group of six Italian seismologists to assess the risk related to increases in seismic activity in the area, De Bernardinis held a press conference where he overly optimistically informed the city occupants they were not in danger. The public prosecutor of L’Aquila has now pressed manslaughter charges against all the participants in the meeting for falsely reassuring the public, describing the group’s risk assessment “superficial and generic”, resulting in “incomplete, imprecise and contradictory public information”.

 

Inspired by Adrian Chen ow.ly/5aNSg image source laquilanuova ow.ly/5aO3S

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