Europe

Italy is moving towards another election and subsequent new government. The economic challenges facing the victorious political coalition will be daunting. With declining international competitiveness and a rising euro, a huge and growing budget deficit and a rapidly aging population, the Italian economy faces overwhelming obstacles to growth. To complicate the recovery, there is no consensus on reform proposals, which range from privatizing state-owned assets to deregulating labor markets and downsizing government payrolls.

Snapshot asks, what are Italy's best options for economic reform?

Reuters - The Italian Deficit
Wall Street Journal - The Italian Fix
Guardian - Italian Manufacturing
Adnkronos - Italy as Seen by a Chinese Correspondent
BNP Paribas - Italian Business Confidence Continues to Deteriorate

Today, the American Strategy Program is proud to host Senior Research Fellow Parag Khanna's latest book, The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order. His talk is entitled, "The Global Great Game" and runs from 12:15 to 1:45. For more information about the event, click here.

In the meantime, Salon.com featured Parag in their Big Think section. Check it out:

If you are following the spread of the subprime contagion around the world, this event I hosted yesterday here at the New America Foundation is required viewing. Steffen Kampeter, CDU/CSU spokesman for the Budget Committee in the German Bundestag is a man in the subprime trenches. Kampeter's advice: focus on managing the unwinding of the crisis so it does not get any worse and only then go back and put in place the voluntary and if necessary, regulatory safeguards so this never happens again. A big thank you to the Konrad Adenauer Foundation for making it happen.