THIS JUST IN: Tea Party hobbits infiltrate Italian Congress, push radical agenda!!

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi confirmed his nation would be moving toward a balanced-budget amendment on Friday, after rampant speculation that the European Central Bank would intervene in bond markets and purchase Italian and Spanish debt in exchange for structural reforms.

Speaking at a press conference, Berlusconi, flanked by his embattled Finance Minister Giulio Termonti, announced he had reached an agreement with European leaders to accelerate reforms. These measures, to be announced in Congress by Minister Tremonti, include speeding austerity plans by a year in order to balance the budget by 2013.

Also, according to Trade the News, Berlusconi announced Italy would be moving toward a balance budget amendment, much like the one many Republican policymakers argued for in the U.S. Berlusconi, who presumably has been in talks with France’s Nicolas Sarkozy and Germany’s Angela Merkel, also agreed to hold an early G7 Finance Minister’s conference, with heads of state possibly in attendance.

Speaking after his boss, Tremonti outlined part of the plan. Labor reform is critical, he explained, and austerity measures will be moved forward one year, so that the focus of the plan will be during 2012 and 2013 rather than from 2013 to 2014. Tremonti, who confirmed he had been in talks with Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner in recent days, noted they were just accelerating austerity, as opposed to bringing new plans to the table. (Read Report: ECB Ready To Buy Italian, Spanish Bonds).

Italy has been under heavy fire recently, with stock markets tanking and bond yields spiking. The MIB benchmark equity index has fallen for at least five consecutive days, marking a 2.69% decline on Friday. Banks have been particularly punished by investors, including big names such as Intesa San Paolo, Banco Popolare, UniCredit, and large insurer Fondiaria Sai. (Read Italian Bank Stocks Plummet As $360K In A Shoe Box Threatens FinMin Tremonti).

Bond yields have skyrocketed, with Italy now being forced to pay higher rates than Spain. Yields on benchmark 10-year bonds hit 6.12%, practically forcing Italy out of the international capital markets. Default protection on Italian sovereigns, as measured by CDS contracts, actually fell marginally, down 0.6% to 388 basis points.

blogs.forbes.com...

if i remember lord of the rings right and i do

it was a hobbit who saved the world

what do some people have agianst "little people"

not a very poltically correct title there.

I'd rather be a Hobbit than an Orc.

reply to post by SirMike


same here. and i'd also rather be a tea bagger rather than a tea bag-ee. and I want to know whats so wrong with the tea party. could you please elaborate? everybody on tv says "omg those tea party people are screwing things up and hijacking congress..blah..blah blah..blah blahh."

guess what they are exploiting and using the very powers a democracy gives to it's citizens. that is the power to be heard and fight for what you believe. it just so happens that is what these brave men and women are doing!

and fyi the reason they are considered radical is because nowadays there are more people asleep at the wheel (SHEEPLE) than there are people who are aware and intelligent. (majority wins, though it doesn't mean it's right)

so i guess people who want freedom, who want to defend the constitution, who want less government, less hand outs and entitlements, and they want the americans to become dependent on themselves..they are some pretty darn radical people eh?

double post i am sorry. i got a little carried away when clicking

I do not like Berlusconi and I do not trust him or this development within Italian politics.

It's a flanking manouvre to squeeze the Italian people, bleed them dry, and impose "austerity." That will be the end of Italy as a distinct culture and everyone will be eating genetically modified soy crisps and shopping at China Plasti-Corp,

Even so, the man does have a certain...showmanship, perhaps....

"Italy is now a great country to invest in... today we have fewer communists and those who are still there deny having been one. Another reason to invest in Italy is that we have beautiful secretaries... superb girls."
- 2003, addressing the New York Stock Exchange

“Look for a wealthy boyfriend. This suggestion is not unrealistic.”
- 2010, offering advice for women seeking financial stability at a political rally

“I am very proud of my ability to be a host, a rather rare, perhaps unique host,” he told reporters after a meeting with European leaders in Brussels. “I am a playful person, full of life. I love life, I love women.”

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/cbfef0eee731.jpg[/atsimg]

reply to post by RKWWWW


How does the European Central Bank moving to intervene have anything remotely to do with the Tea Party? You liberals are really grasping at straws.

"In an August 30, 2010, article in The New Yorker, Jane Mayer said that the billionaire brothers David H. Koch and Charles G. Koch and Koch Industries are providing financial and organizational support to the Tea Party movement through Americans for Prosperity, which David founded.[117][118] The AFP's "Hot Air Tour" was organized to fight against taxes on carbon use and the activation of a cap and trade program.[119] In 1984, David Koch also founded Citizens for a Sound Economy,[120] part of which became FreedomWorks in a 2004 split,[undue weight?] another group that organized and supports the movement.[121] Koch Industries issued a press release stating that the Kochs have "no ties to and have never given money to FreedomWorks".[122] Former ambassador Christopher Meyer writes in the Daily Mail that the Tea Party movement is a mix of "grassroots populism, professional conservative politics, and big money", the last supplied in part by Charles and David Koch.[123] Jane Mayer says that the Koch brothers' political involvement with the Tea Party has been so secretive that she labels it "covert".[124]"

That right there, in short, is what is wrong with the Tea Party. The fundamental ideas aren't bad and the people that make up the party aren't bad people... but the Tea Party leadership isn't actually operating in the best interests of the littlest members. When the interests of your funding aren't the same as the interests of your membership, you really need to take a second look at the goals of your organization.

reply to post by strings0305


Yea. And how about the similar maneuverings of the Democrats? How many of the so-called grass root organizations are run in a similar manner? The problem is that they got out flanked by their own tactic!

reply to post by hangedman13


It wasn't really out-flanked... Both parties are doing it, and siding with either is tantamount to selling your rights away. On the one side you have Energy/Goods Conglomerates on the other side you have Wall Street. You're damned if you do, damned if you don't.

The American people should back away from anything receiving funding from someone other than the people. A real grassroots organization, working to bring about change and compromise between Americans across the country would be something to talk about. But the Tea Party is just as bad as the Democrat grassroots movements you mentioned.