Word: strozzini
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Dates: during 2001-2001
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...that's the irony. Even if the anti-usury activists get everything they want, many ordinary Italians will still be choking on high-interest debts. Confesercenti, an association of retailers, reckons that about 120,000 Italian shops are in the clutches of loan sharks, or strozzini-literally, stranglers. A special commission has been set up to fight the loan sharks, who make billions of dollars a year off the backs of debtors. The strozzini have thrived because of weak competition from legitimate lenders. Banks rarely allow overdrafts or unsecured loans, for example. For small businesses in particular, a loan shark...
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