by Reverse Engineer, Doomstead Diner
Discuss this Vidcast at the Frostbite Falls Newz Table Inside the Diner.
Well, we had another couple of weeks of Collapse Drama with Brexit, with the totally predictable result that once again, the can has been kicked down the road, this time until Halloween, October 31st, 2019. Personally, if they want to go with a Horror Film Theme, they should have picked Friday the 13th, which next falls in September. I’d really like to see Jason Voorhees set loose in the House of Lords and the European Parliament. Maybe that would motivate the surviving Pols to actually get something DONE?
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Now that we have achieved another Can Kick, all newz of Brexit will disappear from the FSoA MSM until October. What will we DO without this Horror Show hitting the front page of Google Newz every Day? No worries, SOMEBODY in Eurotrashland is bound to pick up the slack, a leading candidate for this is the Italians. According to Don Quijones on Wolfstreet, their banks are on the ropes…AGAIN!
Italy already boasts the largest public debt pile in Europe in nominal terms, clocking in at €2.14 trillion, as well as the second largest in relative terms after Greece’s twice bailed out economy. Rome just forecast that public debt would hit a new record high of 132.6% of GDP this year. That record is unlikely to last very long given Italy’s stagnating economy and the government’s determination to cut taxes, reduce the retirement age and introduce a citizens’ basic income.
The biggest problem with Italy’s economy is that many of its problems are chronic and deep seated. Many of them date back to the adoption of the euro, in 2000, or in the case of Rome’s massive addiction to public debt, to the 1980s. As the OECD points out, real GDP in Italy is still well below its pre-crisis peak. Italy is also the only OECD country where incomes (as measured by GDP per capita) are no higher than in 2000. By contrast, in France, Spain, the UK and Germany they have risen during the same period by 13%, 17%, 21% and 23 respectively.
The IMF now envisages Italy’s public debt ratio ratcheting up to 134.4% of GDP in 2020 to 138.5% in 2024. As the debt increases, so too will the interest payments on the debt. That is unsustainable, especially with much of that debt scheduled to fall due in the next few years. In 2019 alone, Italy has an eye-watering €250 billion of bond redemptions to fund, which is roughly the equivalent of all Eurozone bond maturities this year.
Below is this week’s Collapse Morning Wake-Up Call. I am joined again this week by Jason Heppenstall of 22 Billion Energy Slaves.
In case you want to multi-task and listen while sitting in traffic on the way to work in your cubicle or digging post holes for your fencing on the Doomstead or kneeling by the throne and Praying to the Porcelain God), here is an MP3 audio podcast:
It never ceases to amaze me how all the major problems in Europe that hit the newz seem to occur sequentially. You never get 2 of these Mega-Crises hitting simultaneously. It’s like TBTB can’t Multi-Task, they can only focus on one thing at a time. How come the crises cooperate with them though and never come in bunches? Is there some kind of planning here going on in the shadows? Great fodder there for Conspiracy Theorizing!
Anyhow, hope you enjoy this installment of the Brexit Clown Show, since it is likely to be the last you’ll hear about it here in the FSoA until the Goblins come out in the Walmart costume aisle in October. The Brits however are likely to be further inundated with a daily dose of crap they are already completely fed up with. It’s kind of like getting the same Tweet from Trumpovetsky over and over again for 2 years.
Tangentially, we also discussed the situation with Julian Assange and the possible extradition to the FSoA, or maybe to Sweden if they dredge up the rape charges again. On the scale of places I would want to be extradited to though, Sweden definitely gets the nod as first choice over the FSoA.
We’ll move on here on the Diner next week to the practical subject of setting yourself up for resiliency when SHTF Day arrives on the shores of the FSoA, Canada and the rest of the English Speaking countries that tend to dominate the Diner in readership. After that, who knows? The Collapse Landscape changes on a Daily basis these days.
For your historical reference, here is an entertaining video summary:
Published on The Doomstead Diner 14 April 2019.
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