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TEENS

Swiss youth are most optimistic: study

In spite of their worries, Swiss young people aged 16 to 25 are more optimistic than their counterparts in other countries, a study has found.

Swiss youth are most optimistic: study
Young Swiss want it all. Photo: teen life.com

The 2016 Youth Barometer commissioned by bank Credit Suisse among 1,000 people in Switzerland, Brazil, the United States and Singapore found 59 percent of young Swiss were optimistic about the future.

That compared to 54 percent for Brazil, 52 percent for the US and 43 percent for Singapore.

The authors of the Youth Barometer said “Generation Stress” was a good name for today’s 16 to 25 year olds who are permanently online in a world where communication trends are changing all the time.

Snapchat is the hottest app this year. And the internet has made politics much more accessible.

The young people surveyed want to have it all in life, the study found, even though this involved contradictions.

They wanted a successful career with a good work/life balance, to be independent and yet work for an international company, to save less, but also to buy a house.

The top three goals of young Swiss were to pursue their own dreams (90%), maintain a balance between leisure and work (85%) and own their own house or apartment (77%).

The three biggest concerns were refugees/asylum (46%), free movement of persons/foreigners/immigrants (45%) and old age pension/retirement provisions (44%).

The main sources of information for the Swiss respondents were free newspapers, followed by the internet and TV and news apps.

Credit Suisse has produced its Youth Barometer for the past seven years. 

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ECONOMY

Salvini dismisses Italy’s ratings downgrade, says outlook ‘stable’

Interior Minister Matteo Salvini on Saturday dismissed ratings agency Moody's decision to downgrade Italy's credit standing because of the government's controversial budget plans and said the country's outlook was "stable."

Salvini dismisses Italy's ratings downgrade, says outlook 'stable'
Matteo Salvini earlier this month at the headquarters of the General Union of Labor trade union in Rome. Photo: Tiziana Fabi / AFP
The current administration will “keep going for five years, despite the “ratings agencies and European Commissioners,” Salvini told reporters.
 
“We are here to solve the problems of the Italians, not bring down the government or let ourselves be intimidated by the ratings agencies, which have made glaring mistakes in the past — and which are wrong again this time,” he said.
 
“Italy is a solid country, its outlook is stable, the experts tell me that is what counts,” Salvini added.
 
On Friday, Moody's cut Italy's credit rating by a notch from “Baa2” to “Baa3”. It cited concerns about Italy's plans for larger deficits and the high public debt load as the country's populist government clashes with Brussels over its budget.
 
Late Thursday, the European Commission formally warned Italy that its budget 2019 plans were a serious concern, calling for “clarifications” by Monday noon.
 
 
The coalition government of Salvini's far-right League party and the Five Star movement (M5S) was to meet Saturday to discuss its budget. At the heart of the concerns is Italy's public debt, which amounts to 2.3 trillion euros, or 131 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). That is the highest rate in the eurozone after Greece.
 
Brussels has demanded Italy cut spending and reduce its public deficit in order to pare down its debt pile.