One of the more underreported stories in recent weeks has been the coalition government taking shape in Italy and how its promises of massive spending increases and the subsequent increases in public debt would blow up the eurozone. Italy is no Greece.  Its economy is ten times the size and is already in debt trouble.  The populist coalition that is going to take power is euro-skeptic and anti-austerity.  In other words, the threats from other E.U. members about sticking to budget targets and putting a ceiling on public debt may be falling on deaf ears. Reuters: Arriving for a meeting of euro zone finance ministers, the hawkish Slovak representative went so far as to warn that Italy under its new eurosceptic, anti-austerity coalition risks casting itself adrift from the common currency in a manner that would do severe damage across the bloc. "I sincerely hope that the new Italian government won't ignore rules and take euro zone hostage for the...(Read Full Post)