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Harvard Professor Alberto Alesina said:
"This government has raised taxes too much. It would be much, much better to lower spending."
How that will help when stimulus is needed he didn't explain. Economic deterioration is increasing. Q I results show 0.8% contraction after slipping 0.7% in Q IV, 2011.
Italy is Europe's third biggest economy after Germany and France.
It's in serious trouble. It's problems are severe. Its sovereign debt burden is huge. It's currently at around 120% of GDP and rising. It's about two trillion euros. When economic growth is needed, it's declining.
Its industrial production dropped for nearly two years. It's about one-fourth lower than when 2008 crisis conditions erupted.
Unemployment is growing. It approaches 10%. For youths it exceeds 30%. Business confidence is down. Consumer confidence is at record lows.
According to Bloomberg , Spain and Italy "appealed to European policy makers to step up their response to the financial crisis after a 100 billion euro ($125 billion) lifeline for Spanish banks failed to calm markets."Societe Generale chief European economist James Nixon calls Italy the "next domino" to fall. "The southern European economies are effectively in free-fall and market appetite for southern European debt is rapidly drying up. I can't see anything to turn that dynamic around," he said.
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