Such a simplistic and borderline racist analysis of the economical situation of these countries. This kind of narrative reminds me a lot of what was said on some media outlets during the recent Greece bailout episode.
Now I would love to see the Northern Italian's reaction to this. We have something similar in the States where the Northeast (Where I am born and raised) and particularity in New England view the rest of the country as backward lazy people with no real work ethic. I really had to fight this mindset when working in the Mid-West, South and California.
EDIT data on Italy divided- http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/italy---divided-country.asp...
But back to parent's flag: Its really easy to see where the right-wing politics from in Sweden and other scandinavian countries by reading this, even though I presume that those guys would consider themselves socially liberal. Its completely infested with unfounded cultural superiority rhetoric.
It is anything but clear that the Eurozone thing will work out even yet. You get to keep your debt, but we control the central currency. It might be worth reviewing how it is that the United States had and dismantled a Bank of the United States. Twice. Our present Fed isn't quite the same thing.
To be (somewhat) fair, there apparently was considerable "corruption" in Greece. That seems more of a public choice problem than racism. And, of course, if public debt eats the economy, it's no wonder about "not much going on there."
People really need to be called out for crying racism when the things that are being discussed are cultural. Regional cultures are different. That does not have to have anything to do with race.