All the economics have gotten worse in the past five years. The process is going to be very painful. |
Berlusconi is desperate and he's latching on to what he can to deflect attention away from the economy; it's the most prominent chink in the armor. That's why he's jumped on the wiretapping scandals. |
Berlusconi put up a fight and he'll continue to be a problem for the new government. His will be a tough opposition. |
Berlusconi's goal is to change the equal-access law. If he can remove the limits on the electronic media, he can use his much greater wealth to his advantage. |
Both candidates have made big promises to cut taxes. But neither has said where the money is coming from or how they'll cut the debt. |
Enough Italians feel worse off than they did five years ago. He didn't fulfill his promises. |
He will go some way to address the problems, but he will not be radical. |
He will go, but he'll go screaming. He can perhaps hold a little longer. He is clinging with such tenacity it's staggering. |
It is the last gasp of someone trying to do anything he can to delay the end. |
It's another two hits on a ship that is not very seaworthy to begin with. |
It's going to take a miracle for Berlusconi to win. The government has run out of steam. |
The biggest problems are public debt and the competitiveness of Italian goods. But in order to deal with those, he has to overcome the fear of being fired. If he is lucky, and if he is clever, he will be able to do something. |
There are no easy rules to get rid of the governor so they are having to invent ways to deal with it. |
When you have someone selling himself so vigorously, you will provoke a reaction, even personal animosity. If all you see when you walk around is someone's cheerful grin saying everything is really ok, well, you're going to get annoyed. |