The political drama surrounding the formation of a new government continues in Italy. The rising party of Grillo and his 5 Star Movement refuses to join in a coalition with the two mainstream parties, and the President (who is responsible for managing the creation of a new government) refuses to ask them to take the lead in forging a ruling coalition.
When the Eurozone was first formed and the single currency was first printed, there were rumors in the financial markets that both Greece and Italy ‘fudged’ their books in order to artificially lower their outstanding debt, and thus qualify for admission to the Eurozone. In October of 2009, just after inauguration, Greek Prime Minister Papandreou admitted to the world that Greece had lied about the true extent of its government borrowings. It was eventually revealed that Goldman Sachs had created certain swaps for Greece, that allowed it to ‘reduce’ its debt to an acceptable level (on paper only, as that debt did not go away – it just took on a different form).
This Greek history is relevant when looking at the current political standoff in Italy. I just read that Mario Monti, the bureaucrat that was appointed Prime Minister of Italy, was a former employee of Goldman Sachs. The press has often stated how involved he was in the admission of Italy to the Eurozone. Perhaps one reason why he was chosen was that he knew where the skeletons were in Italy’s closet? Now enters Grillo, who has claimed that Italy is already bankrupt and is calling for a referendum on Italy’s participation in the Eurozone. Is it possible that he suspects that Italy has similarly hid the true extent of its government debt, just like Greece had done? In this scenario, Grillo and his Movement will need to win an election outright in order to form a new government. Should neither of the 2 established political parties be successful in forming a coalition, then new elections will have to be held this summer. Should Grillo and his Movement be able to win just a few more percent of the general vote, then that may be enough to allow them to lead the next government. Should that happen, then we can have confidence that Grillo will find out if the market rumors were accurate about Italy, as they were about Greece. If Grillo should win the next election, and should he find out that Italy is hiding the true extent of its debt, then we can expect to see the final phase of the Euro debt crisis play out. The end result would be most likely be the northern countries of Germany, Finland, and the Netherlands splitting away from the troubled southern countries of Spain, Italy, and Greece.
For Believers in America, the question continues to be, will the children of the Beast be successful in using the coming financial/economic/social upheaval to merge America with the European countries that will be dominated by the Anti-Christ?