EconoMonitor

Italian Minister Breaks Down in Tears Over Austerity Budget

Italy’s government has come forward with an aggressive 30 billion euro austerity package to prevent the country’s bankruptcy and pave the way for the fiscal integration that German Chancellor Angela Merkel is pushing as the key to solving the European debt crisis. In the video below, Elsa Fornero, the Italian welfare minister, broke down in explaining the provisions to increase the pension age to 66. The package also increases taxes on housing, luxury items and via a 23 percent VAT, a measure Ireland is also taking. Approval is expected before Christmas.

Source: Italian minister in tears over austerity plans – video – Guardian

This post originally appeared at Credit Writedowns and is posted with permission.

8 Responses to “Italian Minister Breaks Down in Tears Over Austerity Budget”

GilliganOhareDecember 6th, 2011 at 9:55 am

More taxes?? Why not cut existing pensions in half or have them pay more for healthcare? Funny how they still protect their voter base and hurt the taxpayers who usually don't support socialists. Unbelievable that people would let them get away with this.

johnny99December 6th, 2011 at 10:19 am

Crying about raising the retirement age to 66, which is the same age as in Germany, which has been paying Italy’s bills? I’m starting to think socialism is a mental disorder

PompeyDecember 6th, 2011 at 11:55 am

…..socialism is the crulest most dangerous socioeconomic system ever devised…..it leaves death, economic mahem, and social unrest every where it is tried…..socialism is hell on earth!

Most Read | Featured | Popular

Blogger Spotlight

Ed Dolan Ed Dolan's Econ Blog

Edwin G. Dolan is an economist and educator with a Ph.D. from Yale University. Early in his career, he was a member of the economics faculty at Dartmouth College, the University of Chicago, and George Mason University. From 1990 to 2001, he taught in Moscow, Russia, where he and his wife founded the American Institute of Business and Economics (AIBEc), an independent, not-for-profit MBA program. Since 2001, he has taught at several universities in Europe, including Central European University in Budapest, the University of Economics in Prague, and the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, where he has an ongoing annual visiting appointment. During breaks in his teaching career, he worked in Washington, D.C. as an economist for the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice and as a regulatory analyst for the Interstate Commerce Commission, and later served a stint in Almaty as an adviser to the National Bank of Kazakhstan. When not lecturing abroad, he makes his home in San Juan Islands, Washington.

Economics Blog Aggregator

Our favorite economics blogs aggregated.