By Cybergeppetto
Italians are indeed performing very well in these times of economic crisis. Their style is worldwide famous and it’s not just a matter of fashion and good food and beverages.
They have a relatively new Prime Minister, looking like a British country gentleman, that has shown the will to put Italy in line with the European Union, the institution determined to commit suicide by killing Greece. Berlusconi was overthrown, nothing has changed, but the media are telling the people that everything is going to be solved.
This week the Italian people is focused on the “Festival della Canzone Italiana” in Sanremo, so everybody is discussing about songs and singers. In particular the people are engaged in funny discussions on two issues: the first one is about Adriano Celentano, former singer now claiming to be a sort of religious opinion maker, a guy paid three hundred and fifty thousand euros to give blunt speeches on society and religion instead of singing, the only thing he used to be good at. People is split in two, the supporters and those against.
The second issue is about the link between the undies of miss Belen Rodriguez, an Hispanic pin up and Italian TV starlet, and a butterfly tattooed on her belly.
Italians have learnt to talk about the spread, the difference between German and Italian bonds, it is quoted everyday on all the media, this difference is linked to almost everything, but the only two real things, the level of German bond sales and the Italian ability to pay the State debt, are forgotten. Not a voice is saying that Italians should consider the idea to start paying the debt instead of increasing it.
The Italian style is incredible, they are like a jet pilot running out of fuel far from the airport, but already planning the subsequent fitness session via mobile phone.
The politicians are quite the same, they are responsible for the management of an important Country, with an institutional system too complicated in which a quick decision is taken in not less than one month, but no party seems to be interested in changing the status quo, they prefer to discuss about the electoral system, something considered important to gain the elections. The question is: why a reasonable person should try to win the elections to run a Country like a car without the steering wheel?
But the best evidence of the Italian style in politics are the discussions among the government, the trade unions and the political parties about the “statuto dei lavoratori”, the law setting up the rules about the status of workers.
Italians have a strange idea of job positions, the only issue they are keen on discussing is the salary, a lot of talk shows are about ideological issues, rights, state constraints, but nobody seems to be interested in assessing the ability of the Italian economic system to create richness, to sustain the current standard of living. The Unions are declaring everyday that the “articolo 18”, the 18th article of the law stating the reintegration to work , is a tool to protect the workers, but it is now clear that the system is about to collapse and the young people do not get the job because industries want to avoid the risk of keeping the people in the wrong place. The idea to move human resources whenever and wherever needed is far to come.
Europe is a very interesting continent in which Nations are keen on making debts, Italy is surely the best one.
Cybergeppetto
p.s. Mr. Mario Monti has announced the Italian way to pay the debt and get out of the economic crisis. Any butterfly tattooed on the belly will have a 20% increase on VAT, the results of this taxation will be used to pay the debt.
Photo credits: infosannio.com
