On September 19, 2015, the Italian Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi and the Minister of the Economy and Finance, Pier Carlo Padoan presented to the Italian cabinet (Consiglio dei Ministri) an updated fiscal (‘budget’) document – Nota di Aggiornamento del Documento di Economia e Finanza 2015 – which has received widespread attention in the media. The response to the update can be summarised in two statements: (a) the Italian government is abandoning austerity in the coming year and running an expansionary fiscal policy; and (b) the European Commission through the Ecofin (Committee of Finance Ministers) is showing admirable flexibility in allowing the Italian government to ‘relax’ their previous fiscal adjustment plan in order to safeguard economic growth. However, some commentators have challenged the notion that the September changes are indeed expansionary, pointing out that the fiscal deficit projected for 2016 might be higher than the earlier projections but is still smaller than the 2015 outcome. What should we make of all that? Well, neither assessment conveys what is actually happening.…Bill Mitchell – billy blog
Italian government is walking into the trap it set itself
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia
I'm not sure they are walking into their own trap, they haven't set a trap for the troika. This is a "look there's a squirrel" gambit.
ReplyDeleteI however, actually fell into my own trap when I was eight. My brother and I had cleverly camouflaged a hole on a nearby empty lot. When I went at dusk to inspect for victims, I couldn't find the trap. As I'm sure you can imagine, I stepped back for a better view and fell into the trap.
To compound my injuries, when I limped home, I was scolded by my brother for "deliberately falling into the trap to test it"..... Oh the injustice!