he unveiled a number of measures to grow italy. they will boost investments in public work and offer incentives for research and developments. italy is about $2.5 trillion in debt. the pm wants to balance the budget by 2013. he called on other european country's to follow italy's lead. >> translator: the problems that the markets have today are primarily problems of european nature and, therefore, a common solution needs to be found, one that is unified and firm. a solution could not have even have begun to begin in europe. if italy, the third largest economy within europe, had not got its public accounts under control. >> earlier this month italy's parliament approved an austerity budget of $39 billion. andrew? >>> and, charles, certainly the highest profile casualty of the year's eurozone debt debacle was the former prime minister, silvio about your la skoen any. this one was just too much. just like the premiere's of portugal, ireland, greece, and spain he lost his leadership. matthew watched the battle to bring berlusconi down.

if it continues to be that way, then italy has a problem and the years and has a problem. so it was a damper for the euro initially, at least, and also for equities. in the end, the stock market clearly up because of good news from the u.s. economy, especially home sells there looking up, a very important factor. still, looking into the new year when further auctions come, traders will continue to be on the pessimistic side based on today's results. >> most european markets were higher today, but investors are still uneasy about risky assets. the blue-chip dax closed up by 1.3%. the euro stoxx 50 gained more than 1.5%. the dow jones industrials still in positive territory, up by 1%. the euro hit a low today, dropping well below the $1.29 mark. currently, trading for $1.2945. pilots at a gone on a 24-hour strike. the union is demonstrating against their plans to set up a discount carrier for european flights, and pilots feared the salaries will be too low. iberia to cancel over a third of all flights on thursday. leaving thousands stranded. >> some 10,000 passengers were fo

he is wanted in italy for crimes including murder, extortion, and money laundering. extradition proceedings are under way. an weu -- eu deadline to implement new rules on selling telecommunications data is to be implemented today, but some believe the new rules fly in the face of privacy regulations. proponents say even limited data retention can fight crime and terrorism. >> angela merkel's conservatives are in favor of storing telecommunication records, but her junior coalition partner strictly opposed data retention. now, brussels may step in to make germany comply with the 2006 eu directive. it requires telecommunications data to be stored for at least six months. germany's free democratic justice minister says data storage should be restricted to criminal investigations. >> the federal justice ministry has always pointed out how difficult it would be to credibly enforce the directive before it has been revised and that the german government intends to constructively contribute to its restriction. >> internet activists who see the directive as to invasive -- too

books on the monster case are big sellers in italy. and giuttari thought he had compelling evidence that a satanic cult was behind the monster killings like that oddly shaped stone found at one of the murder scenes. >> translator: a uniquely shaped rock was found, in the form of a truncated pyramid, to which the experts on satanism granted importance. >> florence was intrigued. mario spezi was amused. >> i called some friends of mine, and in an afternoon i found seven. >> seven of these. >> yes, it's a common object. >> and what was this strangely carved stone? >> an antique tuscan doorstop. you can find them in antique stores all over tuscany. >> the foundation of the satanic cult theory was a doorstop. spezi soon published his findings in the newspaper. >> and he ridiculed giuttari. ridiculed him. >> it was a classic spat between two writers, except that one of the writers was also a cop. >> the police arrived at spezi's apartment 6:00 in the morning, turned the place upside down. then behind spezi's door, they found the doorstop. la

that italy is really needing to renew now if there is a problem with that that we knew will italy side that will immediately impact the french banks because the major frame friends banks four hundred billion euros outstanding italy and so the whole euro's story at this moment is full with this kind of stories where one thing is linked to the other and where you can have a lot of crisis situations leading to many other prices situations in other sectors or in other countries and this is a virgin see of course has to do with these but it is certainly not only due to greece and i know you covered the the specific financial aspects of your going to whole of the eurozone but if we may hear the e.u. is taking a very disciplinary an approach with the new regulations proposed to pull power and control into the hands of officials in brussels there are some would interpret that as eroding national sovereignty of the basic democratic processes where will the line be drawn or will it just be erased altogether well the question is how biting really be i mean by that you can agree amongst each other

taxpayer would be put at risk for those loans to italy and spain. if italy and spain go to the imf for exposure of u.s. taxpayers those countries could be enormous. considering that the imf's combined commitment to italy and spain could exceed $1 trillion what we are talking about is u.s. taxpayers could get risk to $200 billion. in assessing potential risk to the u.s. taxpayer from the imf to european periphery one has to consider that the risk of unraveling of the euro is a distinct possibility. word that unraveling to occur in another manner it could have a devastating impact on the european periphery and public finance considering that i am of loans could reach levels that would be an president lee hy relationships to the taxpayer. that those countries would have to repay those loans. judging by the 2008/2009 experience with currency swaps the federal reserve swap lines could reach -- in the event european crisis were to intensify. how one must propose the risk to the u.s. taxpayer from the federal reserve swap would be circumscribed by the fact

said that they're out of it and italy cash strapped italy is part of it so does this kind of show that maybe this euro zone solution is coming apart at the seams. well that's been going a part of the same as ever since they launched a new keep going around doing something that i call ring around the rosie here where they keep proposing the same solutions over and over and over and here's where the i.m.f. and we had the best we had various bailout agreements now we've got this very cosy agreement that imposes austerity the problem is these austerity movements are going to make matters worse look at the unemployment rate in spain twenty two point eight percent you've got an unemployment rate in greece of eighteen point three percent we've got unemployment rate high and rising in italy and we're going to impose austerity measures you know we need work rule changes we need structural changes within the e.u. the tariff policies the agricultural policies the tax policies everything is horrendous but the solution is to turn everything into your own of the zone which is a socialist state with

and here's what's coming up tonight on the big picture the streets of italy may soon be filled with protesters as the telling government announces a new wave of austerity measures that is bringing in literally bringing lawmakers to tears and meet the new dream team donald trump a new gingrich are teaming up to show you why gingrich is child labor plan is a great idea and the total war continues on capitol hill over extending the payroll tax cut that will expire at the end of the month. everyone in the one percent supports the republicans agenda of protecting the interests of the super rich at the expense of the ninety nine percent. you know this it looks like civil unrest and economic destruction are about to be exported from greece to italy the new banks to run government formed in the wake of silvio berlusconi's resignation has approved a new austerity package that will raise the retirement age of all italians and let the inflation destroy their pensions the austerity measures also target government spending and dissolve several several other government programs the spending cuts are so pain

obviously it's a mutual it's a win win situation it's a pure commerce and i think italy in the way you found itself right now. may be offering guess brome a better rate. the global economy is confronted by a series of risks as it approaches two thousand and twelve in some cases such as eurozone debt a critical failure could result in a severe recession russia has had a relatively successful two thousand and eleven producing a balanced budget at historically low inflation looking ahead to next year banks yourself less of all that predicts that the economy will gain momentum in the absence of external shocks. we project will prices of one hundred fifteen dollars per barrel and this is something that in our view will support growth significantly so for two thousand and twelve we project four point six percent g.d.p. growth at the same time we think that apart from the will price factor there will be also the growth in fixed investment that will be the main driver of economic growth this growth in fixed investment will be boosted by the development of infrastructure including through the i

drawing up five hundred seventeen billion pound package to see italy spain and the euro within moments i see this tweet from b.b.c. business remember the radio london of our modern financial era i.m.f. did not i italy loaned discussions right so you have to really do you could what's being broadcast from the centers of the financial war obviously the u.k. is now home growing down into the trenches ready for warfare with the continent of europe and this new global financial war and you've got the same thing going on and come. incidentally europe and you've got the same thing going on around the world so you have to decode these messages so in this particular instance it was just a straight denial of a coded message but the underlying subtext is that there needs to be a blitzkrieg of cash coming quickly or there is a dunkirk in our immediate future well i think what it is is that they send messages out like this. but the people who need to know the financial terrorists know to read those articles and look for what is really going to happen so the b.b.c. article for example international

now in europe is to keep countries like greece and portugal and ireland and possibly even spain and italy to trapped inside an economic prison stripped of their democracy i mean literally the governments of greece and italy were removed by these bully boys in brussels the bigger threat is they stay inside this thing and they die a slow economic death and they finish up with unemployment figures that are so high that there is even a risk that europe returns to extremism and maybe even fascism so let's get the bad news out of the way let's have the break and you know what a few months of the world see very it will seem very much rosier nigel farage than all of these cross talk show is taking on the organizations whose decisions trigger roller coaster rides on the markets peter pan and he gets a rating the rating agencies and that's coming up a little later today here on r.t. . one of the issues one of the problems with trying to make the ratings better through issuing having fines or having a system of penalties is that people like richard just say well we should just get rid of ratings alt

probably fair to say with hindsight, italy may have done things differently including right back when the eurozone was conceived which jim boulden looks at a series of failures causing them to be divided. >> reporter: it's easy to visualize europe. just show a hoard of euro coins being minted, the simple of unity for the 17 countries that share one currency, why is the same currency tearing at the very fabric of the euro-zone. this skeptic has said the euro was a mistake. >> when the euro was set up, a lot of people said it's very good, you have a currency without a government. that's a plus point, not a minus point. but actually it's turned out to be a minus point but no one is in charge. >> reporter: the euro did come with its own central bank, based in frank frankfurt to placate a german citizenry given up their strong deutsche mark. but the euro meant monetary union, not fiscal union. each country retained their own tax policies, budgets, banks, finance ministers, et cetera. and each country sells bonds. greek bonds always gave a little back to investors allowing greece to happily

italy offered the one-year bills with a yield of 13 basis points lower than its last auction, however, ten-year bonds are still is real benchmark for sovereign borrowing costs here and the rate of italy's ten-year paper is it seems on the rise again. this is the yield on ten-year italian debt standing right now at just under 6.7%, a full percentage point higher than this time last week. i got a chance to sit down with the director general of italy's central bank to talk about those yields and the problems they present as this country struggles with its debt of nearly $2.5 trillion. >> how long can italy realistically finance itself on the open markets with the kind of rates we've seen on ten-year yields? >> well, this is a question that hides the impression that there is sort of a level of interest rates beyond which is country is shut off from the market. that is analytically wrong. i think in history italy has always been able to finance its debt at a level of interest rates which were much higher than the current one. >> but it had its own currency that it could devalue. >> yeah. b

obviously it's a mutual it's a win win situation it's a good commerce and i think the italy in the way you've found itself right now. may be offering guess brome a bit rates. let's look at the markets now european stock markets extended also on wednesday as they were drops below the q one dollar thirty level against the us dollar stocks were down months of the morning investors are disappointed over inaction by the time reserve on tuesday we also wait the german chancellor's address the lower house of parliament later today and the russian markets bounced back from earlier morning declines of all u.s. and european debt problems are still weighing on the markets let's have a look at some individual sham moves otherwise x. really bank is trading on the half a percent higher oil company tad nafta is gaining its net profit rose fifty percent in the first nine months of the year and financial group a case is to much is trading lower despite reports third quarter net profit growth seventy five percent to three hundred nineteen million dollars. the global economy is confronted by a series of

article for example international monetary fund denies italy loan talks now if you read deep into the article it says over the weekend the german newspaper developed reported that a subset of euro zone countries with the highest credit ratings including france and germany may seek to issue debt jointly however the plans were also denied by the german government on monday they say there are no plans for a aaa bond or elite bonds said the german finance ministry but the subtext or the coded messages we know that that's not the case but they do have a plan for an elite bond or you might call the master currency as a form of financial eugenics. from the germans is coming and they're communicating viz a viz the financial press so a lot of people don't understand what's happening in the markets or fight it's reaganomics because they don't understand that it's all heavily coded to communicate amongst the various financial terrorist centers or live london york tokyo exactly max you call it financial eugenics and this debt this so-called elite bomb the so-called triple a bond by france and ger

well italy had a currency christmas present its borrowing rates have plummeted in recent days allowing it to cheaply raise some much needed money service its debts but prime minister mario monti is not popping the same pain saying more is needed to be done to calm the markets and that means more cuts well let's discuss this further and whether or not it's good or bad news with your hand over who is the editor of two were belgians leading business magazines also wrote the end of the euro the uneasy future of the european union so tell us italy has managed to sell bonds at a rate lower than the one which forced bailouts in other countries does that put europe's fourth largest economy in the clear here no not at all the intention was to raise eight point five billion euros italy could raise something like seven billion which is not bad but any case below the target that was set and secondly the price the interest rate on those seven billion was seven percent now given the fact that italy has already a government equal to one hundred twenty five percent of g.d.p. and given the very poor gr

in greece where we've seen unity governments for italy and one nine hundred ninety three to go back a little bit for example this guy carlos champion we could bring him up he was a former central banker he added. a unity government during oddly enough a crisis in the euro where the lira had come under speculative attack and there were questions about whether italy would be able to conform to the master street and eventually adopt the euro now this you could compare to what's going on in greece today where papademos also a former central banker has been charged with leading the unity government to prevent that country or from falling out of the euro in this case now and the current italian government i just want to point out not a single member of the cabinet has been elected they are all technocrats including a former chairman of nato a former ambassador to the us now they have been voted into place by democratically elected parliamentarian's but not directly by the people and in both cases they have been charged with a rescue in their countries from financial ruin under the premise

italy is undergoing a further round of belt tightening as its lower house of parliament is about to vote for more austerity measures. and leader of the u.k. independence party says the hands of eurozone struggle is a tide while they are trapped within the block. don't forget that politicians will always defend the status quo they will always tell you that if what we have now doesn't continue to exist the sky will fall they'll be famine pestilence the devil all be a complete disaster we've seen this before many times over the years the reality is . but the breakdown of the euro in the short would be tough because many many european banks would go bust and probably have to be nationalized but as we've seen with iceland who back in two thousand and eight let some of their banks go bust accepted the situation three years on they going back to growth i think the biggest threat we face now in europe is to keep countries like greece and portugal and ireland and possibly even spain and italy to trapped inside an economic prison stripped of their democracy i mean literally the governments of gree

the difference is that greece was small, italy is big. europeans are in the territory of not so much too big to fail as too big to bail. i struggle to see how that will solve the problem they have created for themselves. my book is about the crisis of western civilization. the cradles of western civilization. tavis: how does this issue get addressed in greece or italy? >> given is very unlikely that the germans are going to agree to write a check big enough to a bailout an economy as large as italy, the only solution now open to the europeans is for the european central bank to follow the example of the federal reserve and print money pretty aggressively. that means the ec be has to break all its promises in the past and start buying government bonds from the greeks, italians. it has done some of this already and i kind of subterranean away. i think the head of the e c b is going have to get serious and get out there with his printing press because i don't see any other way of avoiding a complete break out of the single currency. i argue

italy, like greece, spain, and portugal, is in serious financial difficulty. during the boom years of the 198 he's, the government here spent too much money and now it has to pay that money back. and for students of the local college, that means jobs here are hard to come by. the school's head teacher says the future looks bleak. >> i'm not worried only for my students, i'm worried for the whole new generation. i'm a father, too, so i'm very worried. >> but travel south to italy's more rural areas, and the problem is much worse. this is pomp pay in the shadow of mount vesuvius. unemployment here has always been high, but over the last few years, that has jumped, and particularly among young people, between ages 16 and 24. the rate of unemployment is now the highest in italy, and now stands at 42%. but here, instead of protesting about the problems, they're making music. they say it gives them a voice. >> i think the economic crisis in italy is really huge, but we have a weapon against the economic crisis. it's the music. >> sometimes i do small jobs to get a b

and as the eurozone crisis brings laughter and tears we see first new austerity measures in italy causing the labor minister to literally break down. kiddy said. meanwhile u.s. vice president joe biden a rise in greece and cracks jokes about bringing bailout cash with him today as well merkel and sarkozy are pushing a plan for tighter fiscal union and some believe this is it this is the week that will decide the fate of the eurozone culminating with a summit on friday so we ask where does this leave the citizens and also democracy in the process also could the federal reserve along with european central banks provide the international monetary fund with the money to bail out the eurozone that's what a german newspaper is reporting will get into it further and after m.f. global's bankruptcy and john corazon suspected misuse of client cash u.s. regulators have approved a rule to put tighter limits on how brokerage firms use customer money but can we expect this to rein in the war zone for signs of the world when this is who the vice president says he and the president call love for policy a

could this be italy's next prime minister? how single women in btain are beating the -- the violent crackdown on protesters in syria has shocked the world. at 5000 people have been killed. turkey, a neighbor a one-time allies has lost patience. the turkish prime minister has called on president assad to resign, saying that he has turned into a leader that feeds on his people's blood. >> this defer be later may soon be used to save the lives of syrian protesters. the apartment is a base for a syrian exiles preparing their necks smuggling expeditions. the rugged terrain combined with poor, fofoggy weather provides ideal conditions for smugglers. even under clear skies, the 800 mile -- 800 kilometer border is extremely difficult. the two men stopped on the border. city. they fled their country six months ago, shortly after the protests began. there are thousands more syrian refugees like them in turkey. >> for a year, we provided friends in syria with satellite receivers said that they can have entered that access. we also bring

is bailing out italy or its. not however there is another rumor going around should the fed save europe from disaster nobel economist myron scholes was the first that floated this idea over lunch at the right bank forum an august he said i wonder whether bernanke you might not say that we believe in a harmonized world but the europeans our friends and we know that the e.c.b. can't print money to buy bonds because the germans won't let them and since the e.c.b. will soon run out of money we will step in and start buying european government bonds for them it is something to think about he said so max tell us who myron scholz is oh of course he's he's a big nobel prize winner for the black shoals often pricing volatility formula he is to derivatives what einstein is to atomic weapons he created the old idea of splitting the dollar into two parts reward and risk and then trading a risk separately and then creating now seven hundred trillion in derivatives which is pure risk no equity by the way that number's up over

but also italy, too, right? in italy, berlusconi is out. he's been replaced by a guy seen widely as a technocrat whose only job is to get italy's economy back grows. so italy can get its debt under control. says after he has done his work on the economy he, even he says he will not try to stay in office. he will try run for re-election. he's there to fix the economy and he's gone. you want to know what the technocrat is doing with his singular focus on getting italy back on track to economic growth? they're doing huge infrastructure investments. everybody, even as everybody's talking about austerity for italy, austerity for italy, they're taking awful, painful economic medicine. italy just announced a 6.5 billion euro investment in the nation's infrastructure to stimulate the italian economy. highways, high speed rail and building retractable underwater barriers to protect venice from flooding. when you are in trouble, you build your way out. governments are not like families or like individuals. governments cannot wait until they're flush

he says his cabinet approved the plan. >> we have our neighbors of greece who show us all not only italy, what may have been if the country doesn't go solidly firmly consistently and permanently on a situation of public accounts. >> the prime minister says the measures were necessary to save italy and announced he would give up his salary as part of the effort and he is confident parliament would back the plan to help italy recover from financial crisis. >>> how can you be sure the gem you receive or give is not funding a war in africa. if your piece is certified by the kimberly process it is supposed to be conflict free but now that process is found into -- is in doubt. customers still cannot be sure the gems have not been used in the past to finance wars armed violence or other form >>> now "good morning maryland." >>> new developments after a virginia teenage found dead in baltimore in 2008. i am sherrie johnson. hear what police have to say about the case. >>> parents who -- preparing to take the oath of office stephanie rawlings-blake set to take place here at city hall. >>> he ran

italy, retirement age set to rise. the most important part of new prime minister mario monti's austerity package is increasing the age of retirement to 66 from 2018. trade unions say it is an attack on the social system. the government says the current system is unsustainable. the sales tax is also set to rise. but luxury tax is being introduced on expensive yachts. ♪ >> portugal, less funding for education. 10% less funding for education. the prime minister has announced cutbacks in health care and pensions, too. public-sector workers that earn more than 1000 euros a mother will have their 13th and 14th month's salaries cut. in protest, they carried a picture of the prime minister in a coffin through the nation's capital. public holidays will also be cut. ♪ >> higher taxes, less money for education, and job cuts. governments are no longer willing to rack up public debt like in previous years. >> spain is also one of the sick ones of europe. its economy is faltering and unemployment stands at over 20%. the newly el

we talked about 2% of gdp in italy. in 2012, again 2013, again in 2014, and as josh rosner was pointing out, they are having to do in the context where there is a credit crunch and where there is a deterioration in the environment. so it remains to be seen where countries like spain and italy can withstand many years of fiscal austerity, declining growth, rising unemployment, calls for more austerity, the social fabric generally doesn't hold up well to this. it's just a know, that early in the crisis we have seen five governments fall in the five affected countries. so i'm not sure that they can stick to this road of austerity and pretty poor economic outlook for a very long time, when would be perceived the reason they are doing this is to keep the banks in france and germany a float. >> can i make one quick point? to the government that fell was replaced by government that was more favorable to the austerity measures. >> we've talked a lot about, i just really have to of the questions. we've talked a lot about this in

italy when to raise $4 billion, but they have to pay euro-era highs in terms of the interest rates. investors are not pleased whatsoever about what came out of brussels. that is it for the business news. back to you. >> we are going to stay with economics. german chancellor angela merkel is new to make an address in an hour or so. she will outline the main points of the eurozone treaty. a senior figure from the free democrats has unexpectedly declined. the general secretary of the party. it may be linked -- we are joined by suzanne, the bureau chief in london for the german public broadcaster. we have been looking at the absence of countries like the uk. questions in germany about the deal itself. >> yes, it's a very interesting day for angela merkel in the parliament. that move this morning is quite crucial for her. contrary to the british situation, the liberals in germany are far more right wing. this person wanted to say that he was hinting at a euro skeptic group within his party. german chancellor angela merkel has to face some criticism about what she is doing in brussels wit

at the heart of the eurozone's troubles are countries like italy. its $1.9 trillion euro debt is considered too large to be bailed out like greece and ireland. the country's dire finances have prompted the new prime minister to announce deep austerity cuts, which he said were needed to save italy. but as his welfare minister tried to set out the details of the plan, she began to cry. little wonder it pained the minister to speak. the proposed measures include raising the retirement age and increasing the number of years of service to qualify for a full pension. the unions are deeply critical of the plan, but mr. monti hopes it will show his european counterparts that italy is serious about tackling its debt. for the two key decision makers in the eurozone, fiscal responsibility in southern europe will certainly be welcomed. they're also due to unveil a plan for closer political and economic ties between the 17 eurozone countries, as well as tougher rules for overborrowing. france and germany agree on the road ahead. they now hope to bring the rest o

this year saw portugal, greece, italy and spain struggle for financial survival. athens and lisbon received bailouts in 2011, but there's no quick fix. and while the arab spring toppled some middle eastern leaders, financial woes pushed several leaders out the door. gone from power, greece's george papandreou and italy's silvio berlusconi, two big political figures. 2011 also saw summit after summit after summit. and the world watched as finance chiefs burned the midnight oil at a final summit in early december in a last-ditch effort to save the euro. jim boulden takes us now through the rocky year that was for the euro zone. >> reporter: the euro was in safe hands surely. by the time the irish wept to t went to the polls in february, its bailout was secure. greece was promising reform, but then events conspired to undermine the best hopes. bond yields kept rising. fear was growing about whether portugal and spain might need a bailout. the japanese earthquake, nuclear safety and libya put the euro on the back burner at the euro zone leaders march summit. by july,

in italy to send over to the e.c.b. in exchange for more loans which they can leverage up is this banking or the kama sutra. like this there come a signature of italian banking positions. this is how they're basing their economy going forward. into slot b. you figure it out i actually make a prediction from your statement there max that silvio berlusconi who is now out of a job well you've just given him a job for two thousand and twelve to write the book the karma sutra of finance silvio's bunga bunga finance just look at the pictures they will throw up the never try this type of leverage or history hypothecation at home. ok well the biggest amount twelve billion euro is a state backed bonds was taken up by in tests of some powder which confirmed it had used them as collateral for the loans and said that these would help it complete prefunding for its wholesale medium and long term maturities so where do you see this three hypothecation going nowhere and how where do you go once you've jumped the shark this far well in

causing gazprom to switch to loyal italy but the emotional cost get more capital says this also makes better commercial sense. the come through just provide for the guest room wipes enjoy a certain. better development maybe some future discounts maybe some privileges. obviously it's a mutual it's a win win situation. and i think you to leave in the way you found itself right now. maybe offering guess brome a bit rates. european stocks fell sharply on wednesday and you were dropped below one dollar thirty cents markets were lower and worries over european sovereign debt crisis combined with lingering disappointment over policy inaction by the us federal reserve germany's dax dropped one point three percent for its measure along the main losers falling three and a half percent. and here in russia markets and lower as well the odds here as well one point two percent of the mines exposed nearly half a percent in the red let's have a look at some individual shareholders on the wires six on the downturn energy and banking stocks we lost over half a percent russia's second largest lender pla

but italy, for example, they will run a surplus this year. that means that absent the interest payment, it is actually in surplus. it has had a number of years in which the surplus was 4% or 5% of gdp. >> what is that attributable to? >> in the past decade or so, they have managed their deficits much better than they have historically, and certainly, far better than us. in the last decade, they have had deficits -- and these are not primary. these are actual deficits as we look at them. " they have had deficits lower than germany over the decade. lower than france. my point over the politics earlier, assuming that italy is insolvent, it assumes that their political system is so bad that they cannot figure way to pare a few points of gdp off of their deficit. >> you have to remember that in talking about the problems of europe, we're talking about the backdrop of the past three years having decent growth in the eurozone. and that is over. they're heading into recession. even the court will be suffering that. secondly, it is important remember