110% consensus for him Other leaders should follow his example Berlusconi tells OECD on forecasts: "Shut up!" Berlusconi, who keeps urging Italians to stay upbeat despite the recession, on Tuesday told the OECD to stop giving gloomy economic forecasts and "shut up" instead. Asked about the latest downward revision by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development -- which now expects Italy's economy to contract by 4.3 percent this year -- Berlusconi said: "First they did not see this coming, now they give new forecasts every other day: Shut up!." The Italian leader, who this year chairs the Group of Eight, said bleak forecasts "fuel a gripping climate of fear." "We must do everything so that Italians do not change their lifestyle. I have been the first to say that the length of this crisis will be determined by how much faith people have in the future." The -4.3 percent OECD forecast for the euro zone's third largest economy was issued on Tuesday and compared with a previous forecast for a GDP contraction of 1.0 percent. http://uk.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUKTRE52U5MP20090331
The guy is a sleazeball of the first order, but you have to hand it to him. Not only is he capable of amazing feats of insight, but he can also express his thoughts in a singularly lucid and witty fashion.