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They line up at soup kitchens by the thousands. Individual debt is rising, savings are eroding and many young people have simply given up, staying home without studying or even looking for a job.

They are Italy’s invisible poor, unseen by tourists, ignored by the country’s fat-cat politicians and living in a reality that’s a far cry from former Premier Silvio Berlusconi’s description of an affluent country where “the restaurants are full.”

Or in the words of Francesa Zuccari, who runs a soup kitchen in Rome: “There is another city out there where people can’t get to the end of the month.”

This is the Italy facing Mario Monti, the economics professor tapped to form an interim technocratic government after Berlusconi was forced to resign last weekend. International markets and the European Community decided the 75-year-old media mogul lacked the political clout to enact needed reforms to head off a debt crisis and get the economy moving.

On Tuesday, Monti won support from Italy’s two largest parties, but the question remains whether politicians will back his expected painful reform measures at the risk of social peace.

On the one hand, Italy’s elite manufacturers are girding for an increase in luxury exports and some wealthy Italians are looking to move their money into the real-estate markets in New York, Miami and Paris.

On the other, the state statistics institute ISTAT says 8 million Italians, almost 14 percent of the population, are living in “relative poverty.”

While tourists may not see the poor as they visit Tuscany’s rolling hills, Venice’s waterways or the Amalfi coast’s picturesque villages, they are increasingly visible on Italian city streets.

Many Italians have begun taking their money out of banks, fearing reports that measures to help fight the sovereign debt crisis might include deductions from bank accounts, as was done in the 1990s.

“They are putting it under the mattress, or even inside empty wine jugs in the cellars. We are a country of farmers,” said Elio Lannutti, president of consumer protection group Adusbef.

An American service organization in Rome asked its members to spend their Thanksgiving holiday next week making food packages for the poor. Zuccari said demand for food parcels had risen 20 percent in the last few years, with well-dressed Italians now joining immigrants in line.

Caritas, the Roman Catholic church’s charity arm, says growing numbers of families can’t meet a surprise expense of euro700 ($947) without turning to borrowing.

“What is really dramatic is the geographic division,” said Caritas’ Walter Nanni, pointing to figures that Italy’s south remains severely impoverished.

While only 18 percent of families in the Alpine province of Trento could not meet such an unexpected payment for medical expenses or car repairs, the figure rises to 48 percent in Sicily.

“The (south) shows in a particular manner growing signs of economic and social vulnerability,” Monsignor Mariano Crociata, secretary-general of the Italian Bishops Conference, said in an October report on poverty.

To be sure, Italy isn’t as bad off as Greece or Portugal, which are both in recession, struggling with high unemployment as they are being bailed out by international lenders.

But Italy’s prospects aren’t great either, particularly given its brain drain and policies that have pushed Italy’s underutilized youth even further to the margins.

A gerontocracy dominates Italy’s key professional posts, making workers even well into their 40s still considered up-and-coming. In the highest political circles, Monti is 68, Berlusconi is 75 and the president of Italy, Giorgio Napolitano, is 86.

Many younger Italians in fields like medicine, science and technology leave for countries that have more professional opportunities and mobility.

And the prospects for those who have not left are eroding fast. The Bank of Italy this month reported that nearly one in four Italians under 30 _ a total of 2.2 million people _ neither study nor work.

The great majority of the Italian NEET’s _ short for “Not in Education, Employment or Training” _ live at home with at least one parent, and a full 25 percent are living in a family where no one is working, the bank said.

A university degree does little to alleviate their plight: A full 20 percent of college graduates are without a job.

Lawyers in Italy must do a two-year apprenticeship before taking the bar exam, and most firms take advantage of the requirement to get free labor out of the trainees. Among the measures being discussed to confront the debt crisis would be a requirement that internships are paid.

“At least with Monti there is some hope since he is not a politician subject to pressure from the lobbies,” said Francesco Bureca, who graduated from an elite school but can’t land a job.

But hardline leftists expect no improvement for Italy’s poor, even from the new government.

“The Monti government is born from a mandate of Confindustria (a powerful business lobby) and the banks,” said Marco Ferrando, leader of the tiny Communist Workers Party.

He called for new protests. Italy’s last major economic protest this fall ended in a bloody riot on the streets of Rome.

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Barry reported from Milan.

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Italy’s borrowing rates spiked early Tuesday to their highest level since the euro was established in 1999 ahead of a budget vote in Parliament that could force the resignation of Premier Silvio Berlusconi.

With speculation over Berlusconi’s future swirling, the markets are focused in on developments in Rome, which has become the epicenter of Europe’s debt crisis. Berlusconi’s government is under market pressure to enact quick reforms to protect Italy from the growing sovereign debt crisis, but has been hobbled by a weak coalition and political gridlock.

What happens in Italy is a particular worry as it’s the eurozone’s third-largest economy. With debts of around euro1.9 trillion ($2.6 trillion), Italy’s debts are thought to be too big for Europe to bail out.

Higher rates would make it more difficult for Italy to rollover its debts and will mean they consume more and more of national income. Italy has over euro300 billion ($412 billion) to raise in 2012 alone.

By mid-morning, the yield on Italy’s ten-year bonds was up 0.12 percentage point at 6.66 percent, down from an earlier high of 6.74 percent. A rate of over 7 percent is considered unsustainable and proved to be the trigger point that forced Greece, Ireland and Portugal into accepting the need for financial bailouts.

The vote later looks like it’s on a knife-edge, with Berlusconi’s coalition showing signs of fracture. Italian news agency ANSA reported that Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti hurriedly departed from a meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Brussels to return to Rome payday loan lenders in states.

In less tense times, the vote would have meant routine approval of the 2010 state accounts, but instead it has become a crucial test of Berlusconi’s survival as head of his 3 1/2 year-old center-right government. Last month, the vote of the same measure failed by one vote. Chamber whips were meeting a few hours before the vote to map out a strategy for the vote, which is likely to take place Tuesday afternoon.

Opposition forces were considering boycotting the vote so the numbers would more clearly show just how many deputies still support the government. If Berlusconi’s forces number less than 316 deputies _ or one more than half the number of the 630-member chamber, it would be plain that the media mogul no longer can count on a majority in the lower house of Parliament.

The government could still win the vote, by commanding more than half of those showing up to vote, but a dismal showing could show Berlusconi is too weak politically to continue to govern.

If he gets through Tuesday’s hurdle, Berlusconi has indicated he would put a vote next week on the anti-crisis measures to a confidence vote. If it loses that vote, Berlusconi would have to resign.

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NEW YORK

Ladue-based McCarthy Building Cos. Inc. was awarded a $7.5 million contract to renovate one level of the two-story, 32,069-square-foot Inpatient Rehabilitation Center at Immanuel Medical Center in Omaha, Neb. Preliminary phasing work has started, and main work on the renovations will start in January. Completion is scheduled for October 2012.

McCarthy will serve as construction manager and general contractor on the project. Renovations to the rehab center will include the addition of 36 private rehab inpatient rooms, a gym, dining and living space and support spaces. McCarthy will work with Omaha-based Altus Architectural Studio and Omaha-based Farris Engineering on the remodeling.

The Federal Reserve is holding off on any new actions to help the economy because stronger growth is giving it time to gauge the impact of steps it’s already taken.

Fed policymakers made the announcement after a two-day meeting.

In a statement released Wednesday, the officials said the economy has strengthened and consumers have stepped up spending. But they said the economy continues to face significant downside risks, including strain in global financial markets _ a reference to the crisis in Europe.

The Fed left open the possibility of taking further steps later to try to boost the sluggish economy. But it gave no hint as to what those moves might be.

The vote was 9-1. Charles Evans, the president of the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank, dissented. The statement said he wanted to take stronger action.

After their September meeting, the policymakers said they would shuffle the Fed’s investment portfolio to try to further reduce long-term interest rates. And in their previous meeting in August, they had said they plan to keep short-term rates near zero until at least mid-2013, unless the economy improved.

The Fed repeated the mid-2013 target in its statement Wednesday, and also said it was continuing its program to rebalance its portfolio to try to lower long-term rates.

The Fed has kept its key short-term interest rate at a record low since December 2008. This is the rate that banks charge on overnight loans. It serves as the benchmark for millions of business and consumer loans.

Later today, the Fed will also release its economic forecasts and Chairman Ben Bernanke will hold a news conference.

The debt crisis in Europe could force the Fed to lower its economic projections. The Greek prime minister’s surprise move to call a referendum on the country’s latest rescue plan sparked fears that the debt deal could unravel, that Greece could default on its debt and that the crisis could infect the global financial system.

Even if Europe dodges a financial catastrophe, many economists think it’s headed for a recession that would affect the U.S. and global economies. The Fed expressed such concerns after its August meeting.

Still, the Fed remains deeply divided over what, if any, action to take next.

The actions taken in August and September were adopted on 7-3 votes, the most dissents in nearly 20 years.

Three regional bank presidents _ Richard Fisher of Dallas, Charles Plosser of Philadelphia and Narayana Kocherlakota of Minneapolis _ all voted no. They have expressed concerns that the Fed’s policies could lead to high inflation later.

On the other hand, Vice Chair Janet Yellen, Governor Daniel Tarullo, Evans and New York Fed President William Dudley have said the economy is at risk and might need more support.

Two officials pushed for bolder action at the September meeting, according to minutes. The members discussed more bond-buying. Some said it should remain an option.

A brighter outlook for the economy has given the Fed more room to wait. The economy grew at an annual rate of 2.5 percent in the July-September period _ the best quarterly performance in a year. That was largely because consumers increased their spending at triple the rate from the previous quarter.

The growth is strong enough to show that the economy isn’t about to slide into recession. Still, growth would have to be nearly twice as high _ consistently _ to make a major dent in the unemployment rate, which has been stuck at 9.1 percent for three straight months.

Most economists had predicted that the Fed would hold off on new action until its December meeting or early next year. The next step could be further clarity on its interest-rate policy.

Evans has proposed that the Fed set benchmarks for raising rates. For example, it could agree not to raise short-term rates until unemployment fell below 7 percent or the outlook for inflation exceeded 3 percent. The unemployment rate has hovered around 9 percent for more than two years, and the Fed’s inflation outlook is under 2 percent.

Yellen, who heads a Fed panel that is examining ways to improve the central bank’s communications, has cautioned that such benchmarks could confuse investors. She has suggested that the Fed could add further guidance when it provides its economic forecasts four times a year.

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Asian stock markets headed upward Tuesday, with investors emboldened by reports that Germany and France were moving closer toward resolving Europe’s debt crisis.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index rose 0.6 percent to 8,789.83 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was 0.8 percent higher at 18,215.17. South Korea’s Kospi was 0.1 percent lower at 1,837.11. Benchmarks in Singapore, Australia and the Philippines were higher. Those in mainland China, Taiwan and Malaysia dropped.

The Guardian newspaper reported that France and Germany have agreed to expand a rescue fund. European officials are expected to take up the expansion along with a package of other measures at a meeting this weekend.

Wall Street rose sharply on the news business cards design. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 1.6 percent to close at 11,577.05. The S&P 500 index rose 2 percent to 1,225.38. The Nasdaq composite rose 1.6 percent to 2,657.43.

Concerns about a messy default by the Greek government have been the main cause behind many of the big swings on the world’s stock markets lately.

The fear is that a default would cause deep losses for European banks that hold Greek bonds. That could lead to a freeze in lending between banks and escalate into another financial crisis similar to the one that occurred in 2008 after the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

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Stock futures rose Wednesday on hopes that Europe will finally take the bold steps needed to stem its financial crisis.

The European Union is expected to present a new plan Wednesday to strengthen weak banks and lower Greece’s debt burden. The plan is considered the boldest yet to stem the debt crisis that threatens to push the global economy into another recession.

The plan comes a day after Slovakia rejected a bill that would have given more power to Europe’s financial rescue program. Sixteen other countries that use the euro have already approved the bill, but the measure requires unanimous support. Still, there are ways around Slovakia’s opposition, and investors predict the bill will ultimately pass.

Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 95 points, or 0.8 percent, to 11,425 about 45 minutes before the opening bell.

Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 10, or 0.8 percent, to 1,199. Nasdaq 100 index futures rose 26, or 1.1 percent, to 2,314.

Earnings season is under way, and so far results are mixed. PepsiCo Inc. rose 1.4 percent in premarket trading after the company said its profit rose because of stronger sales of its snacks and beverages, particularly in overseas markets.

Yet Alcoa Inc. dropped 4.1 percent ahead of the opening after the aluminum maker reported earnings that were weaker than analysts expected. A 12 percent drop in aluminum prices in the third quarter dragged down results.

Host Hotels & Resorts Inc. fell 3.2 percent after the lodging real estate investment trust lowered its full-year forecast for funds from operations, a key measure of its financial performance.

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A three-day rally in the stock markets faded on Friday after a mixed jobs report and credit-rating cuts for Italy and Spain.

Indexes drifted between gains and losses in the morning, then turned lower after the Fitch agency cut Spain and Italy

Steve Jobs, founder of Apple Inc., and visionary whose enduring legacy is held firmly in the hands and hearts of millions of people around the world, died Wednesday evening.

The man who will be remembered as one of the most influential entrepreneurs of the 20th century was 56 years old.

Apple confirmed Jobs

Ford’s chief executive says the growth of China’s auto market is sustainable as the company looks to launch 15 new vehicles by 2015 in the country.

Alan Mulally said Monday that China is a sustainable market with the country’s leadership focused on keeping inflation in check without derailing economic growth.

Ford made a comeback last year with $6.6 billion in profit, its biggest in 11 years. Now the company is looking to invest further in Asia personal loans for people with bad credit. Last weekend it broke ground for the construction of a $350 million transmission plant in the southern Chinese megacity of Chongqing.

China is the largest car market in the world. Last year, sales of passenger vehicles in China, excluding large buses, jumped by a third to 13.7 million vehicles.

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