Yeah but don't get too excited about it: it comes at an absurd debt cost. We are not defaulted only because the EU cannot afford a country of 60 million people to fail. But this mean that other countries have our balls in their pockets, ready to squeeze when we do stuff they don't like.
What upsets me the most about the current situation is people just don’t seem to understand how much better the US did than equivalent economies in navigating that and Covid and now we’re speed running undoing that.
Yup. Massive betrayal by legacy media chasing attention with doom-and-gloom stories, when the reality was that Biden made our economic recovery* the envy of the world.
* an economic recovery whose benefits were very unequally distributed
I like how the policy paying Italians to do energy efficient home renovations has been wildly criticized by everyone but seems to have worked out very well (though it increased debt to 136% so idk, lol)
literal vulgar Keynesian policy of paying people to dig holes, with a bit of Italian construction & banking corruption on top, and GDP still grows. Gotta love stimulus baybee.
This article is so furious in its tone and like, idk, home efficiency improvements are very important right now and their misery index and GDP growth rate are good now.
It was a giant cash and grift grab in practice. It wildly distorted the market. When the guy selling you the roofing knows the government is giving you 110% the new price is automatically double, you still save 10%. It also led to a serious house flipping boom. It was not without flaws.
Totally agree.
Anglophone commentators for some reason *love* to lecture Italy specifically on fiscal policy and politics generally.
The Economist has been sniping at Italian leaders for 30 years!
It's just something they do to feel better about themselves, imo.
My point exactly
Democrat -style "investment" in a bunch of useless paper pushers with no expectations of a return as opposed to infrastructural investments that reduce fossil fuel use immediately and cumulatively https://bsky.app/profile/glaucomflecken.bsky.social/post/3lof6u2h36227
Except it didn't. There are 14.5 million buildings in Italy. Only 425k of those (2.8%) have been renovated using the "superbonus" money. It did nothing for the environment or the economy, and made an already scary debt even more unsustainable. It's been a disaster.
tbh even then a lot of the slowdown in the 90's was a result of working hours decreasing a lot. There's a notable slowdown in the late 90's, but things only start looking bleak post-GFC.
Austerity, as mandated by Germany's (since abandoned) fiscal conservatism around debt was a catastrophe for the EU. The same Germany whose financial sector fuelled unsustainable debt in the first place pre-recession across the bloc. https://youtube.com/watch?v=lhcXtzwCFRI
No. Musk's reported paper wealth is similar to one year of Italy's GDP ($400b) but that's comparing stock and flow. If a country really were for sale, perhaps its price would be maybe 10-50 times one year's GDP.
This explains a lot actually about the political environment in Italy, but also in much of Europe today.
If Merkel and Schauble hadn’t been so stubborn on aid post 2008, much of the support for today’s authoritarian resurgence might have been blunted.
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BRAVO for Italy! 👏👏👏
* an economic recovery whose benefits were very unequally distributed
I suspect that’s part of why legacy media hated it. The editors felt that the help was getting uppity with better wages.
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/why-italys-superbonus-blew-hole-state-accounts-2024-04-09/
Anglophone commentators for some reason *love* to lecture Italy specifically on fiscal policy and politics generally.
The Economist has been sniping at Italian leaders for 30 years!
It's just something they do to feel better about themselves, imo.
Democrat -style "investment" in a bunch of useless paper pushers with no expectations of a return as opposed to infrastructural investments that reduce fossil fuel use immediately and cumulatively
https://bsky.app/profile/glaucomflecken.bsky.social/post/3lof6u2h36227
https://www.istat.it/it/files/2015/12/C18.pdf
https://pagellapolitica.it/articoli/dati-costo-superbonus
Eurostat says that 2005-2023 average yearly growth % for Italy is 0.2% (compared to 1.2% for Germany, 1.0% for France and Spain and 1.9% for the US)
Absolutely insane how Italy has been THAT stagnant
(Trump gets his wish to have a big-boy worldwide effect)
https://youtube.com/watch?v=lhcXtzwCFRI
P&TY
If Merkel and Schauble hadn’t been so stubborn on aid post 2008, much of the support for today’s authoritarian resurgence might have been blunted.
Western Civilization is saved.