Is Italy next......?

[XDCX]

While I'm no expert I've been reading the headlines concerning the problems Greece is having with their national debt and now Italy is in the spotlight. The Dow Jones is down almost 350 points as I type this post and the problems in Italy are the primary reason for the drop.

Reports indicate interest rates on Italy's 10 year bonds exceeds 7% making it virtually impossible for the country to service their debt without reforms.

The questions at this point seems to be how far will Germany go to protect the Euro and is Italy too big to fail?

[jayhawk]

it seems as though the germans dont want to bail anyone out, and who can blame them? italy seems to already have failed, but can the world economy allow this to happen? our country seems to be well on its way to similar doom, and our people , as witnessed by the ohio vote last night would seem to be clueless.

[XDCX]

it seems as though the germans dont want to bail anyone out, and who can blame them? italy seems to already have failed, but can the world economy allow this to happen? our country seems to be well on its way to similar doom, and our people , as witnessed by the ohio vote last night would seem to be clueless.

I haven't kept up on the elections in Ohio but I agree with your assessment of our country's current path. The size of the U.S. National debt and the rate at which it is growing is sobering. Add to that the underfunding of Social Security and many pension funds and one has to question when our day of reckoning will come?

Concerning Italy, I read that their $2.7 Trillion of debt represents 120% of their Gross Domestic Product - that's an insane level of debt.

[possum]

USA had better sit up and take some notice. Social programs are great, IF you can pay the bill. We are going right down the Euro path.

[Txflyer]

As one of my customers (in his late 80's) put it "We've got too many people riding on the apple cart, and not enough people pulling it. Won't be too long before the wheels fall off."

Couldn't agree more.

[57years]

Just an FYI on OHIO, the Anti-Public Union Issue repeal movement was driven by a $30 million campaign from NEA and Public service unions. At first, I thought the strength of the pro-Union vote was an indicator of OHIO in the next national election. I doubt it now, as the other statewide issue (OPT OUT OF Obamacare) passed by a huge margin. The union members had no dog in this fight as their companies have been exempted by the administration, YET the membership joined the rest of the electorate to pull out of national health care. This sure looks like OHIO goes Republican, and our current Chief Executive goes to farming in Illinois.

On the Euro thing, CNBC had a slideshow yesterday of the world's biggest "external" debtor Nations. http://www.cnbc.com/id/30308959/. Enternal debt is "owed outside the nation" and a harbinger of evil things yet to come. I don't know what they would call it in Europe, but they need a "TEA PARTY." Unfortunately, everybody seems to be on the gravy train, and getting everybody to shoot their own foot, doesn't seem to be a viable solution. At least in the US we still have a group of PAYERS who seem to be willing to fight.

[XDCX]

Just an FYI on OHIO, the Anti-Public Union Issue repeal movement was driven by a $30 million campaign from NEA and Public service unions. At first, I thought the strength of the pro-Union vote was an indicator of OHIO in the next national election. I doubt it now, as the other statewide issue (OPT OUT OF Obamacare) passed by a huge margin. The union members had no dog in this fight as their companies have been exempted by the administration, YET the membership joined the rest of the electorate to pull out of national health care. This sure looks like OHIO goes Republican, and our current Chief Executive goes to farming in Illinois.

Thanks for the update - when Jayhawk first made his comment about the election results in Ohio I hadn't been keeping up with the news.

Now that I've had a chance to do some reading I'm less concerned that the election outcome in Ohio is reflective of public opinion - it simply reflects the massive spending by the NEA and the other unions.

Maybe I'm an optimist but I see a day in the near future when there are so many states pushing for union reforms that the NEA and the other public unions will not have the resources to fight. It would be similar to a country that has a great military but gets defeated because they have too many battle fronts and too many opponents.