Meanwhile in Italy

[GreenMirror]

It's Italy's debt pile that's the problem - 130% of GDP is a bit ouch.

Indeed. For that I like a modern day Marshall plan. Lets call it the Merkel plan. Some debt forgiveness. The debt won't be paid back anyway - inflated away maybe.

I expect this to happen just as Merkel leaves. Remember 1997 when Tories knew they were stuffed. So MPs voted for massive pay rises for themselves.

[Zigenare]

Have you got any further interesting biological theories? I thought it was quite, er, "radical" your idea that humans were composed of multiple species.

I think(try it, see what effect it has on your dull existence) you're confusing me with someone else.

On a serious note, Spain after Italy or will the EU give up on Greece?

[Jog On]

The markets are certainly having a good day - looks like all that EU contagion drama is back.

[sasguru]

I think(try it, see what effect it has on your dull existence) you're confusing me with someone else.

On a serious note, Spain after Italy or will the EU give up on Greece?

Spain's doing well. Debt under 100% of GDP and growth rate of 3% pa for the last 3 years.

https://www.ft.com/content/c53d85c6-...0-9c0ad2d7c5b5

Edit to linky text:

"Political uncertainty in the aftermath of Catalonia’s disputed independence referendum failed to derail Spain’s solid growth trajectory at the end of last year, with the economy expanding by a healthy 0.7 per cent in the final three months of 2017.

Although the figure represented a slight slowdown compared to the previous quarter, and the weakest quarterly growth rate of the year, it was in line with economist forecasts. On a year on year basis, the GDP growth rate was maintained at 3.1 per cent.

A 3.1 per cent expansion for the year as a whole marked Spain’s third successive year of above 3 per cent growth, as a wider upturn across the eurozone amplified the domestic recovery.

Earlier this month analysts at Barclays suggested Spain “could be making a transition from the periphery into the semi-core economies”, less than six years after the government was forced to request an EU bailout to rescue its financial sector. The premium investors demand to hold Spanish government debt has fallen to its lowest level since 2010, and the country has returned to the upper echelons of sovereign lenders with Fitch upgrading its credit rating to A-, its first A rating since the eurozone debt crisis.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2018. All rights reserved.
"

[original PM]

Quite the snowflake, aren't you?
WHy don't you follow the advice you gave to millenials on another post and simple "save up" so you can afford what you want?

I can afford it thanks - I would probably be classed as one of the 'rich' but I certainly do not agree with your arrogant bulltulip - that it is ok to keep poor people down - that somehow you are better than them, you utter ****.

And a lot of the millennials can also afford it - if they prioritised what to spend their money on.

But there are also a lot of hard working people who are continually being squeezed and many of them have no voice.

[sasguru]

I can afford it thanks - I would probably be classed as one of the 'rich' but I certainly do not agree with your arrogant bulltulip - that it is ok to keep poor people down - that somehow you are better than them, you utter ****.

And a lot of the millennials can also afford it - if they prioritised what to spend their money on.

But there are also a lot of hard working people who are continually being squeezed and many of them have no voice.

Those are your non sequiturs, not my words or logic.
It seems you're a bit confused.
Under capitalism, it's always been the way that the rich get richer.
The theory is that the poor are supposed to get the chance to get rich too.
But in practice that usually doesn't happen.
SO I'm describing the world as it is not as in some socialist utopia.
You seem to think that wealth should be taken from the rich and shared with the poor?
Then vote Corbyn, he believes that too.

[sasguru]

The markets are certainly having a good day - looks like all that EU contagion drama is back.

Interesting link.

From that I notice this quote:

"Here's what senior League lawmaker Giancarlo Giorgetti, a close advisor to party leader Matteo Salvini, had to say when asked by newspaper Corriere della Sera whether such a Plan B[i.e. leaving the Euro] had existed: "You must be joking. Among us, there were some people who were pushing. But the option never went into the contract" -- a reference to the populist government program."

and

"A Facebook post from Luigi Di Maio, leader of the Five Star Movement.
He says a government with the League party would have met leaders of other European countries to explain economic policy "which has never envisaged leaving the euro."


Looks like Italy's populist leaders aren't really stupid enough to leave the Euro whatever nonsense they feed their base.

[original PM]

Those are your non sequiturs, not my words or logic.
It seems you're a bit confused.
Under capitalism, it's always been the way that the rich get richer.
The theory is that the poor are supposed to get the chance to get rich too.
But in practice that usually doesn't happen.
SO I'm describing the world as it is not as in some socialist utopia.
You seem to think that wealth should be taken from the rich and shared with the poor?
Then vote Corbyn, he believes that too.

No I do not think wealth should be taken from the rich and given to the poor.

I am saying you should treat the poor with the same respect you treat your peers and not see them as some sort of scourge which exists solely to support your desires to make more money.

There is nothing wrong with capitalism there is a lot wrong with greed and exploitation.

[sasguru]

No I do not think wealth should be taken from the rich and given to the poor.

I am saying you should treat the poor with the same respect you treat your peers and not see them as some sort of scourge which exists solely to support your desires to make more money.

There is nothing wrong with capitalism there is a lot wrong with greed and exploitation.

The way I make my money has nothing to do with exploiting the poor.
There's a shortage of people with my skills.
Some of the poor could concievably re-train in those skills and get paid highly too.
Why don't they?
Why do you think getting rich is a zero-sum game?

[Old Greg]

The way I make my money has nothing to do with exploiting the poor.
There's a shortage of people with my skills.
Some of the poor could concievably re-train in those skills and get paid highly too.
Why don't they?
Why do you think getting rich is a zero-sum game?

Because every time he takes a biscuit without permission, his Mum deducts the value from his pocket money and bans him from Civ 5 for a week.