Nicholas Farrell writes in The Spectator (U.K.) that Italy is in terminal decline. The economy is a mess, a near majority of young people are unemployed, and the only jobs worth having are government jobs ... sounds like California, come to think of it.
I believe Farrell describes the malaise fairly, but Italy will stumble along its present path for a few more years because too many have too much to lose to change the current entirely dysfunctional system. It is sort of the Argentine "disease" transplanted to southern Europe.
Unlike the Argies, the Italians cannot devalue their currency to unload debt as they are embedded in the euro zone of the EU. Poor Italy reminds me of a psychotic character played by Sophia Loren - both beautiful and screwed up. Hat tip to RealClearWorld for the link.
