Serenity

The Economy

The Italian government has made it official: Italy is in a recession and inflation is expected to continue to be a problem into 2009. I read another report where the Italian real estate market is expected to be flat at best and some areas are seeing a drop in prices and property movement is expected to slow as a result of the lagging economy. Great Britain has been dealing with similar mortgage issues as the US and I recently saw another article where even the German economy, the stalwart of Europe, was expecting poor results.

The problems of the collapse of several small airlines and financial problems with the big carriers in the US are reflected in the circus that the Italian flagship carrier Alitalia has become recently. Air fares across the Atlantic continue to rise. The brokerage and banking problems in the US still make front page news here, just like the collapse of the mortgage industry earlier this year as Italy keeps a watchful eye on the US economy.

These factors do make it a bit difficult for those of us trying to develop businesses based on foreign travel and the real estate industry. These are factors we have no control over nor could we foresee, nonetheless no less of a bump in the road that we continue to work at to overcome.

There are two small glimmers of hope in all of this for us expats, the euro/dollar exchange rate has improved over the past few months, as much as 20 cents, and interest rates on investments have evened out and perked up some recently. Again something we have no control over but every little bit helps.

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I can not change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.