An Economic Crisis-Surviving it in Italy

The economic crisis is alive and well in Italy just as so everywhere else in the world. Although it is easy to say that Italy's economic woes are the result of the world's financial mess, this country has had high unemployment, inflation out of control, low impossible salaries for years and years. In fact when I arrived here ten years ago and saw what the going salaries were (much less then those in the USA for comparable jobs), my first reaction was to get back on the airplane and return to the USA. I remember continuously saying "how do people live on these salaries?" I suspect that the problems go way way back prior to my arrival in Italy.

So how do people survive now with this enonomic crisis in Italy? Just from my research of how people live, I imagine that those that will survive with fewer problems are those that know how to get by. These being people who already were savers and not spenders, regardless of the economic crisis. Most of these people are the elderly people. Why? Because they have been through wars, depression, recessions and most of all because of their personalities. It is ingrained in them of what it means to save. They don't even think about it. They have no problems walking by stores and NOT buying that article. They use their cash wisely. They don't have debt. They never use credit cards. Many of them do not even own credit cards. Their homes are paid off. They have one small utility car. They walk when they can to save money on gas. They put on an extra sweater instead of turning on the heat. All of these qualities are mostly seen in the elderly here in Italy.

The younger generation will have the most problems. These are people in Italy that HAVE to have all designer clothing, HAVE to go on vacation every year, HAVE to have the latest model of the expensive automobiles, HAVE to have expensive furniture, and etc. etc. These people will have the greatest problems in surviving the crisis in Italy.