The EU is quite a chapter on its own, with its powers very diverse from one area to the other. There is a lot of talk about "more Europe" but the healthier states seem to want quid pro quo, while the nations in crisis want the quid but hate the quo. The German-Greek conflict shows it in stark contrast.
We already discussed the issues of debt and there are some ways to handle it over the long term, from the haircut to inflation. Currently the spread makes it harder for nations like Italy to handle debt with the conventional means which increases the still remote likelyhood on unconventional ones.
To be honest I was rather shocked by the news in this article.
It is the old story, the economy is bad and people are cutting back which makes the situation even worse. Keep in mind that Italy has little private but high public debt which makes, or would make, a stimulation of the economy difficult. Spain has also a debt problem but with high private and (formerly) low public debt. With more talk now about crescita/growth but never ending flow of "austerity", with cuts here and there and new taxes planned or confirmed combined with a bad job market it is absolutely no surprise that many people have become careful.I FINANZIAMENTI - Succede la stessa cosa anche per altri settori come l'arredamento, l'elettronica, gli elettrodomestici, per cui i finanziamenti sono diminuiti sia nel 2011 (-5,8%) che nel primo trimestre 2012 (-11%). «In un contesto caratterizzato dalla perdurante incertezza derivante dalla crisi economica e finanziaria ancora irrisolta e da un clima di fiducia che resta su valori minimi - si legge nel rapporto dell'Osservatorio - le famiglie italiane hanno limitato i consumi e si sono dimostrate molto prudenti nell'accensione di nuovi finanziamenti. In particolare i consumi di beni durevoli, per l'acquisto dei quali più frequentemente si ricorre ad un finanziamento, hanno registrato una netta contrazione, mostrando una flessione in linea con quella rilevata per i flussi di credito al consumo».
The mutui for houses are most likely hit that hard because it is such a big investment and painful new taxes concerning housing.
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