The auction attracted enough bids to sell all of the bonds on offer, thus avoiding failure. Yet the avoidance of failure is different from success. Italy will pay an interest rate of almost 6.3% on the bonds, the highest since 1997, according to Bloomberg. What is more, the rate is almost a full percentage point higher than the one the country had to offer in an auction a month ago. With enough successful auctions such as this one, Italy will be on a path to bankruptcy. [Super Mario vs the Bond Vigilantes. Free Exchange. November 15 2011]
I laughed after reading the last sentence.
