Berlusconi to resign after parliament OKs reforms

[Viking]

At least the trains ran on time. Or did they?

Sadly, no. It was just PR.

[jimmy olsen]

This is...unexpected. But interesting. Wonder if Italy will get competent government from now on....or just Berlusconi 2.
My money is more on the latter.

He was rather competent wasn't he? I don't think he could have stayed on top so long if he wasn't.

You seriously aren't that naive are you?

He certainly was a competent politician.

[Razgovory]

It's easy when you control most of the media in the country.

[Drakken]

You are still talking about a PM in Italy which not so long ago had an history of cabinets falling every six months or so, French IIIrd Republic-style.

That he held out for so long despite scandals, attempted prosecutions, his proximity to neo-fascist movements, and a lack of proactive platform, I'm willing to consider he was a competent politician and power-broker.

[Razgovory]

Or simply a gangster.

[garbon]

Or simply a gangster.

Perhaps competent has a different definition in the seduction community.

[Viking]

Silvio's a pimp. A P.I.M.P. literally. And of course a crooked mafiosi as well.

[Sheilbh]

You are still talking about a PM in Italy which not so long ago had an history of cabinets falling every six months or so, French IIIrd Republic-style.

That he held out for so long despite scandals, attempted prosecutions, his proximity to neo-fascist movements, and a lack of proactive platform, I'm willing to consider he was a competent politician and power-broker.

Italian governments didn't fall though.  They were actually pretty stable.  I think the Christian Democrats with some partners were in power for almost the entire post-war period.  The factions within those parties would move their support around and there'd be musical chairs based on who could do enough to guarantee the support of most factions at any given point (Andreotti was, of course, particularly adept at this).  That system, I think, fell apart in the tagentopoli scandal that destroyed post-war Italian politics.  It was in that conflagration that Berlusconi emerged as a political figure.  I don't think his own methods of making a party and buying the support of the neo-fascists (weirdly their old leader is now a centre-right critic of Berlusconi and the rest were absorbed into Berlusconi's party) were much cleaner.

Having said all that there's no doubt he was an effective politician, he won elections and has survived a few hundred no-confidence votes.  That doesn't mean he's been a competent Prime Minister though.

Apparently Mario Monti was appointed a Senator for Life last night so it looks like he'll be Italy's technocratic saviour.

[Queequeg]

Has Italy ever considered some kind of financial incentive to have larger families?  I know Russia is doing something along these lines-albeit haphazardly and incompetently.  It will be interesting to see how dysfunctional Med countries deal with collapsing birth rates when they aren't as likely to draw talented immigrants.

[Martinus]

Has Italy ever considered some kind of financial incentive to have larger families?  I know Russia is doing something along these lines-albeit haphazardly and incompetently.  It will be interesting to see how dysfunctional Med countries deal with collapsing birth rates when they aren't as likely to draw talented immigrants.

God, what a tard you are.

[Razgovory]

Has Italy ever considered some kind of financial incentive to have larger families?  I know Russia is doing something along these lines-albeit haphazardly and incompetently.  It will be interesting to see how dysfunctional Med countries deal with collapsing birth rates when they aren't as likely to draw talented immigrants.

I think they gave away medals for women who had lots of children in the 30's.

[Sheilbh]

Berlosconi has been in charge since 2001 (and for a year or two in the late 90s). Italy stagnated between 2001 and 2007 while most of the west saw decent growth and it's fallen off a cliff faster than anoyone else. He's built up a huge debt and had done nothing about the sturctural problems in the Italian economy.

According to the Economist I think in the past decade only Haiti and Somalia have had slower growth than Italy.

[The Brain]

Has Italy ever considered some kind of financial incentive to have larger families?  I know Russia is doing something along these lines-albeit haphazardly and incompetently.  It will be interesting to see how dysfunctional Med countries deal with collapsing birth rates when they aren't as likely to draw talented immigrants.

You can get talented immigrants? What, Sweden shouldn't have picked hundreds of thousands of unskilled Muselmen?

[Razgovory]

Berlosconi has been in charge since 2001 (and for a year or two in the late 90s). Italy stagnated between 2001 and 2007 while most of the west saw decent growth and it's fallen off a cliff faster than anoyone else. He's built up a huge debt and had done nothing about the sturctural problems in the Italian economy.

According to the Economist I think in the past decade only Haiti and Somalia have had slower growth than Italy.

Wow. that's pretty bad.

[The Larch]

And it has happened. I can hardly believe it.

Italy crisis: Silvio Berlusconi resigns as PM

Silvio Berlusconi has resigned as prime minister of Italy, after dominating the country's politics for 17 years.
President Giorgio Napolitano accepted his offer and is likely to appoint technocrat Mario Monti his successor.