Mr. Monti goes to Washington

picture by Gianni Falcone
www.gianfalco.it

While Americans were dazzled by another Goldman Sachs exec in their midst*, the Italians were busy debating whether or not it would "be fair" to allow Mr. Monti to run for office in the next elections.  Basically, they wanted him to refuse to run for office, thereby denying a common citizen his rights under the law.
With no irony at all, Mr. Monti, who professes to usher in a new era of meritocracy, because of his merits in salvaging the Italian train wreck of government and reviving the economy in just a few months' time, was being denied what might be a nice reward for his efforts [it remains to be seen if he even wanted to run for Prime Minister in the first place].
Just like FIAT's Mr. Marchionne, who will do more than Garibaldi for heralding in a new era in Italy by thumbing his nose at the politicos who want to hold his puppet strings, Mr. Monti is being tied down by the very politicos who now realize he actually is the puppeteer.  
Only one party said they would welcome him to run - they weren't afraid of what that might bring.  Now, we're left with both left and right fighting to see which side Monti might choose.  
As for me, there won't be true meritocracy in Italy until politicians dismiss outright the idea that votes = favors.  It's high time they stop being involved with or on the take for every minor decision that gets made; from deciding on what art shows can come into the country, to who manages the ice skating rink, to who gets hired as a street cleaner or bus driver.  Without Italy's marked "raccomandazioni" (recommendations), it's not what you know, it's who you know.  Even Monti, who seems to know a great deal, seems to lack friends in the right places.  And no amount of laws he gets passed, until this very pillar of Italian society is knocked down truly, will assure that change has in fact finally come.
In the meantime, if you want to know about Meritocracy in the Bel Paese, try joining the discussion group of a former head of McKinsey Italy, who has penned many a rich tome on the issue:  
http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Meritocrazia-1562147?mostPopular=&gid=1562147
As Berlusconi prepares his theme song to run for office come election time, saying that after 17 years in the public eye, he still needs time to bring in the much-needed change only a corporate man could bring, maybe someone will finally see that a meritocracy- based system indeed, has its merits.


*there is a stupendous graphic floating around the web...Showing how 1) the Banks' predatory lending & derivatives caused 2) the financial crisis, which provoked 3) a political crisis, which then allowed 4) the very bankers who caused country's to fail in the first place to come in and act as the country's saviors...

Berlusconi, Monti & the Spread

All the Prime Minister's Women / This picture was posted on the Informare Controinformando News Facebook Page and compares the women Ministers of the previous Administration to those of the newly minted Monti Administration.

Above, we have (the titles above are incorrect)

Minister of Justice - Paola Severino - Lawyer, Four time Vice President of the Council of Military Magistrates, with a stellar defense career, she has been listed as one of the richest public officials.

Minister of the Interior - Anna Maria Cancellieri - Commissioner of Parma, Bologna, et.al., Prefect & Sub-Commissioner of Milano.

Welfare Minister - Elsa Fornero - Economist, specialized in pensions, & Prof of Policy & Economics, Vice Pres on the oversight board of one of Italy's top banks, Intesa Sanpaolo & advisor for Russia & E. European banks

Below, our previous ministers:

Minister of Tourism (Italy's most important industry) - Michela Vittoria Brambilla - Former model, Voted Miss Elegance for Emilia, worked for Mediaset (Berlusconi's TV co.) - Studied some philosophy & obtained journalist credentials

Minister of Education - Mariastella Gelmini - Graduate in Law/Administration outside track, President of the City Board of Desenzano del Garda (a small tourist hamlet)

Minister for Equal Opportunity - Mara Carfagna - Former topless model, ballerina & voted Miss Cinema at the Miss Italy contest - Graduated with honors in jurisprudence before working on Berlusconi's campaign in Campania.

Let's just hope that these women with the credentials can now be the ones to turn heads.

Italy's Reforms...Let's start with the Politicians

Compare Parliamentarian 
w/yr avg Giuseppe
Annual Pay - Benefits -
Annual Working hours
Yrs til pension - Vacation Days

While everyone's waiting for Italy's boot to drop...I'd like to offer my own version of a panacea (or utopia as the case may be).  Can we really expect to get centuries of political patronage, immovable chauvanism, decades of socialist perks wiped away with one flick of a wand?  The revered “ViaMedici Spell?”  Add a pinch of eye of meritocracy too?  Good luck Mr. Monti.  But, unless you’re Dumbledore (and if he’s gay I don’t think that would ever pass muster with the church…they want Harry in the Inquisition Room already), I don’t think the EU’s quick-fix reforms can help Italy so much today (see my previous post as to how open many of them lead to more graft & corruption), but, certainly they might put the country on the right track for the future.  But still, entire mindsets have to change.  It’s as if the entire country needs to take one grande leave of absence and go immigrate to Australia, Canada, the UK or the USA for awhile.  And see just how fast those time-held traditions fall away.  Ask any brain who’s left Italy (the only country in the EU exporting graduates at this accelerated rate) and they will quickly tell you, they did it to get ahead; young, ambitious, and talented (and often female) due to meritocracy.  Heck, even Florentine Bini-Smaghi just left the European Central Bank for a position at Harvard rather than return to the den of thieves back home.  But I digress.

As promised, what are some ways that Italy could cut costs without forcing the middle management to pay the entire country’s way?  [Regular employees of companies & the govt get regular paychecks and so taxes are taken out at the source and therefore the middle can’t hide the income, thus supporting all the millions who do].  And, at the same time become more competitive?  I don’t have the magic spell here, but, every little potion might help.  Here’s a dose of my Monti Magic that would cut audacious spending, add in some sense of responsibility (a word that lost its meaning in the Berlusconi years), tackle corruption, and maybe, by example, make the citizenry proud of the Paese again.  But, it has to start with the leadership.  So, that’s where I’ll start too:

POLITICIANS & PARLIAMENTARIANS

-       Cut the Numbers    The EU has asked that they “try” to cut Parliament.  I say, Napolitano dissolves it and only allows half of them back in the front door.  To this, we add a clause that they must be elected officials and not hand-picked by the party.  How will we monitor the success?  Holding them to a UK bar.  The countries have similar sizes & similar GDPs, yet it doesn’t appear the UK politicians are going hungry (in fact…the opposite might well be true)…A corollary to this is, if you’re under investigation or have already done time, no party.  Of any kind. (This would be nice in the USA as well).

-       Cut the Costs    If you’re gonna raise the retirement age to 67, then it’s gotta be across the board.  Politicians too.  And, for good measure, and to increase morale (which is at an alltime low), it has to be retroactive.  All you under-67 politicos currently living high on the hog are getting a paycut.  Today.  Wait your turn, and don’t despair, Italy has such a long life expectancy, you’ll still be able to enjoy the dough when it's given to you like everyone else (and besides, you have all your kickbacks to live on – tax free).  So no complaints.

-       Cut the Cars    All the limos going to all the boys in office (and they’re almost all boys except when their lovers are being picked up from a shopping spree) from local City govts to Regional ones to State (national) ones lose their multi-car/multi-policeman chauffeur services.  Again, the number and position of the people who do get an escort (not in the Berlusca sense) will be based on the UK.  And, the policemen get to go back to policing the streets and not policing your soirées.

-       Cut the Perks    No, the Italian people will no longer subsidize a barber who makes more than Bank Directors and whatnot.  Pay for your own haircuts, your own gourmet lunches, and no, you can't charge it back to us.

-       Cut the Pay    I call this the Obama Test:  No politician nor government hack is allowed to make more than the Leader of the Free World.  Retroactive.  You want to be a public servant?  We’re going to put the "Servant" back into the name (think of it as getting 'closer to your people' - most of whom--especially the youth are working as slave labor).   Low-level minions (even if you’re a hooker like Nicole Minetti) must make the same as a Post Office teller (you can still turn tricks on the side, it's not a felony here).  Managers paid like Bank Tellers, then Bank branch managers, and up we go to Leader of Italy (population size: ¼ of the USA, so you get ¼ of Obama’s pay).  Besides, you’re getting free apartments and bribes so just put up or don’t go into politics to begin with.  But our tax revenues are no longer paying for your nights in Ibiza.

-       Cut the Red Tape    This is a proposed clause in the current package, and I’m all for it, as long as your nephew, son or lover isn’t the one hired to see them through.  In fact, I would make it a mandatory 10 yr jail sentence for nepotism (applied to Universities as well where it's rife) and see how fast you want your lobotomized offspring to fill your shoes (this should be the case with any companies in which the State is a partner, so Agnelli's 20-something nephew would no longer be at the helm of FIAT.  He can go start his own company if he's so talented - and then we'll see how well he fares).

-       Cut the Spoils System    It’s no wonder Italy has so many political parties.  They reap gazillions (pre-lira!) in payments from tax revenues directly into their coffers.  It's so much you'd think that none of them would be trying to cash in on more govt handouts than they already get. This should be stopped immediately.  Parties can fund themselves from their patrons instead of lining their own pockets and their own walls with masterworks.  Let the struggling citizenry and companies decide, just whom, is going to help their cause.  It's a rotten system as well, but it's better than what we've got.  Italians shouldn’t have to pay to sustain the parties at the expense of education and the elderly, our trash pickup and tiny tots. 

-       Cut Absenteeism    You want mobility in State jobs?  While I applaud the clause for making it easier to fire people, what about our representatives?  Not showing up for votes?  Falling asleep on the job?  Checking porn on your iPad?  Three strikes and you're out.  You would be if you were in a private job as well so…why can’t we make an example of our public officials?

-       Cut the Machismo   Everyone knows by now that women in politics and in the community do more for its growth and sustainability than anything else.  Stop the pussy-footing (perhaps post-Bunga Bunga that’s not the best word choice) and make it mandatory for 50% women representation.   Quotas would not have given us 42 male managers of the Milan Expo, women shut out of the political discourse, and only invited in if our clothes are off.  Can't you see that there's a direct link to being the last in Europe for women in politics and last in Europe?  Don’t worry, you can still make it contingent on sexual favors…because as we saw with the Berlusconi vote, sometimes even a whore has a heart.  Women may just step up to the plate and not behave like the men in the process. 

-       Make Money   Get those parties to pay their fair share for advertising, to pay for the mind-boggling tonnage of posters that rest 8 feet thick at any given bus stop or construction site, and pay for the cleanup (just like the mercato people do).  While we're at it, pay for the recycling of said posters as well.   Maybe they’ll stop littering the city with their nonsense if they had to actually foot the bill for their eyesores and abject waste.

-       Google It – Sign up the entire country for Google Government or Google Tracking App for Public Policy.  (click on title)  We get to follow the money.  So, Naples just got $2 million for that new trash can?  Or, money for education went to a modelling school in Parma?  I don’t think so.  Scoundrels, when caught would have to pay back three-fold in penalties.

If the politicians kick-started this, I think the rest of the country would start to pull itself up by its bootstraps.


p.s.  Alex of Italy Chronicles details the record-breaking pay of Italy's politicians...Making well over 3 times the EU average.  This is meritocracy at its absolute worse. 
http://italychronicles.com/record-breaking-pay-italys-politicians/

I’ll tackle the rest of the country tomorrow…(I'm starting to feel like Tremonti myself)...

And, if you agree with this, please spread the love (hey-it is 11.11.11 after all) and "Like" my new Burnt facebook page!

The Flooding of Genoa & the Cinque Terre...A pre-announced tragedy?

"In 1970 the same flooding occurred and 44 people died in the mud.  The lesson went unlearned.  Little or nothing has changed as we have seen in Genoa.  Politicians talk about building a bridge to Messina while sitting infirm when it comes to investing in our basic infrastructure.  We continue building haphazardly without any consideration for the societal or environmental risks, without thinking of services nor the caprice of Mother Nature.

There's not an Italian alive who wasn't left in utter astonishment in the face of an event that we were not only waiting for, but we thought we would be totally prepared for once it hit.  Yet once again we were presented with a tragedy in three parts: mediocrity, charlatanism, and superficiality.  

What must happen before our Country can one day count on an modicum of seriousness and rigor?  Upon efficiency and a sense of responsibility?  When will we became a civilized Country?  

Each and every time a disaster occurs in Italy, like clockwork, we uncover an absolute sewer festering underneath.  Just think about the garbage in Naples, the Aquila earthquake, and the squalid, criminal speculation that time and again reveals its ugly head.  There are thousands of examples.

Who knows what other miseries are lurking just below the devastation of Genoa!"

--- Excerpt from an opinion column "Tragedia che si doveva evitare" (An Avoidable Tragedy) by Vincenzo Cerami of the Rome newspaper, il  Messaggero on the Genoa floods in which authorities claimed the tragedy (6 dead) could not have been avoided.  

After the U.S. GOP blocked a $60 billion bill for infrastructure spending recently in the USA this week, we could well say the same thing (I'm thinking of New Orleans, or the flooding across the U.S.).

You can check out the Yahoo! Video Gallery of the disaster here

Francesca Maggi's...Strange But True!

What goes up must come down
And Rome’s Vittoriano is no exception! While Rome’s new Mayor hasn’t yet gotten around to taking down the Ara Pacis, it turns out they will be taking down the controversial elevators at the Victor Emanuel Monument in Piazza Venezia. They only cost over 1.5 M euro to put in (last fall) in the first place. Now, they want to build the elevator inside due to the eyesore factor (call me blind, but I still haven’t determined where they are…) You can read more about this practice here.

Better late than never
After 34 years and over 750,000 pages of legal docs, it terms out the 6 neonazis responsible for setting off a bomb in Brescia (killing 8 and injuring 108) will finally go to trial. This case has been frozen for so long, it should have run out as a statue of limitations…

Bamboccionis in the Media
After a 32 yr old high on whatever ploughed his car into 2 Irish tourists, killing them, the media kept referring to him as a ‘ragazzo’. The last time I checked my dictionary, that term meant ‘boy’, e.g., under 18 – heck, I’d even take 21. His own dad called him a typical bamboccione (the Italian man-boys who are stuck in a prolonged adolescence). I’m sure the apple of his eye. You can see him at the wheel filmed with his own phone in another episode and a 'Look Ma, No Hands!' bravado.

Blondes have (much) more fun
Mara Carfagna, neo-Minister for Equal Opportunity is, in fact, a lawyer (and that’s no small feat in Italy). So, you can have good looks and brains to boot! No wonder she proudly displays her brunette locks.

The Demise of the Family In Italy, as in the US, there’s been much talk about divorce, gay marriage, cohabitation, and so on. Berlusconi must have taken one look at the low birth rate, and decided to do without a Ministry of Family Affairs altogether!

The Fountain of Youth

So, the pundits are in and so is Berlusconi's new cabinet. The average age seems to be a wonderfully low (and never before seen nor heard nor done) 52. This is nothing short of revolutionary in a country in which youth is seriously frowned upon (although one look at the 30-something bamboccionis playing video games in local bars...and, well, I too would practice reverse age discrimination).

But, perhaps that was simply pre-botox...or pre-Berlusconi (same thing). It would appear that he thinks that by surrounding himself with young Ministers, he'll trim a few years off his 70+ size. He may never need hair implants again...!

But, I will take a reader's advice and give you the real age breakdown:

MEN = 54 (still nothing short of miraculous)

WOMEN = 35 (still nothing short of miraculous, given that they're actually over 30 -- just look at the TV programs).

And, as a service to my readers, since no one is coughing it up, here is my full listing, happily gleaned from Wikipedia entries:

THE NEW ITALIAN GOVERNMENT MINISTERS

Berlusconi 71

Ministers with portfolio

Foreign Affairs: Franco Frattini; 51
Interior: Roberto Maroni; 53
Justice: Angelino Alfano; 37
Economy: Giulio Tremonti; 60
Defence: Ignazio La Russa; 61
Economic Development:Claudio Scajola; 60
Education: Mariastella Gelmini; 34
Agriculture: Luca Zaia; 40
Environment: Stefania Prestigiacomo; 42
Public Works: Altero Matteoli; 68
Welfare: Maurizio Sacconi; 58
Cultural Heritage: Sandro Bondi 49 (dubious entry, just look at his photo)

Ministers without portfolio
Reforms Umberto Bossi; 66
Simplification: Roberto Calderoli; 52
Implementation: Gianfranco Rotondi; 48
EC Policy: Andrea Ronchi; 53
Equal Opportunities: Mara Carfagna; 33
Regional Affairs: Raffaele Fitto; 39
Youth Policy: Giorgia Meloni; 31
Relations with Parliament: Elio Vito; 48
Innovation: Renato Brunetta. 58


Who knows? Maybe this practice will have an impact on the other institutions like Colleges & Corporations, where the average age is probably more like 79.

HELP WANTED...

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Candidates should contact Lucrezia Marfiorio rescue.italy@gmail.com

Italia.it or Italia NOT it?

P.J. O’Rourke, acclaimed author and Economist for Rolling Stone Magazine, once remarked that there are three ways to spend money:

1) YOU spend YOUR own money – and therefore, search out the best deals, price compare, get the best quality for the lowest price.

2) SOMEONE ELSE spends YOUR money – and here, he says, it’s like an ex-wife with your credit cards. Spends with wild abandon, but within the card limits (hopefully) or until she’s cut off.

3) SOMEONE ELSE spends SOMEONE ELSE’S money – an absolute free-for-all, no price controls, no checks, no limits, a case of pigs feeding at the trough. This, is Government Spending.

And, while this is applicable across all governments in all nations, it’s especially true for Despot Dictators and the Bush Administration at War. But it’s the Italians who really add that touch of color and drama to their spending. While Americans lament a $78 hammer, the Neapolitans once gave funds (through that seemingly bottomless pit of EU money) to two guys to set up a ‘modeling school’ (read, whorehouse, with owner-employee discounts). But I digress.

Last week, with all the hullaboo surrounding the huge piles of trash overflow and the Italian government (note: terms interchangeable), a small item missed most radars:

Italy’s incredible website, www.Italia.it built to promote -- as the government is wont to say -- “our petrolium”, was shut down. Given that Italy has so much going for it, it doesn’t really need promotion as a tourist destination, long as the Colosseum is standing and Tuscany doesn’t go coop, but, again, I digress. See article here.

The site’s closure wouldn’t be much to remark about, if it weren’t for the 58 million euro – that is not a typo - $85 million they put aside to make it. Now, I know there are exceptional websites out there. Some companies spend lots on them.
What would be a good benchmark for a really terrific website? $500,000? $1.5M? We’re not talking the making and running of Google Search Engines here. I'm sure there are even better templates than what they came up with.
In fact, the site boldly boasting, In Italian and English!!!! was most distinct for being totally impressive – in how fast you wanted to navigate off of it. What else would you expect from a government-run website?

But this domain, in real terms, was bigger than Nero’s Domus Aurea, his golden palace which once covered over 2/3 of the entire city.

Once again, the very people who this bad management affects, the honest Italian taxpayers, should be rampaging through the streets calling for the Technology Minister's head...did I mention - in a feat Dick Cheney would be proud of - he gave the contract to an IBM subsidiary? If I remember correctly, he once ran IBM].
If this ‘sacking of the treasury’ happened in Asia, the guy would have committed hari-kari by now. But instead, it gets just a brief mention on page 17. People simply shrug their shoulders, knowing that, just like the ‘modeling agency’, it’s just part & parcel with bad governance and ‘business as usual’.

And while Nero’s domain went down in history as the biggest, most incredibly outrageous waste of money, all for the glory of one megalomaniac, I for one, would like to submit an entry in Wikipedia that in 2007, history repeated itself.

Another one bites the dust

So, here we have it, proof of that old adage which states, "Italy functions despite its Government, not because of it."

In due course, things will be put back in order, the same old faces will take the same old seats in Parliament, and nothing will truly change. That is, except their paychecks. They'll all give themselves a handsome raise when they come back into office. In fact, I'm convinced that there's a perverse incentive driving the government's occasional (or, should I say, regular) falls. Applying my own dietrologia conspiracy theory, I'm starting to think that, since each time Parliament starts anew, it gives itself sweeping raises of 5 to 15%, well, maybe this is the true reason every so often they just throw in their hats.

The most highly paid government in pretty much the world can't even keep it running on a continuous basis (well, Berlusconi did, but I'll save that for another blog). And I thought golden parachutes given to American Chief Executives after making record losses were obnoxious. While each new government gives itself higher pays and added perks, the Metalworkers union is rejoicing for 100 euro extra in their monthly paychecks after four raiseless years. Pick a category of worker (except for those exceptional employees at the fabulously run Alitalia), and you will find the same situation across the country.
[An exception however for FIAT employees, who got a raise after record profits, and my heartfelt congratulations go out to all of them.]

But, what gets my goat even more is the 2000+ year old acceptance of the status quo. People practically ho hum the results of a new set of septegenarians at the helm; all the same faces, just shuffled like a deck of cards. After all, wasn't Andreotti seven time Prime Minister? They still prop him up on crucial votes. And I'm sure a foray into his home would reveal a very modest place right in line with a public servant. Caligula.

And yet, while headlines scream that Italians are the least paid in Europe, the most-taxed, that they sustain the highest gas, electricity and water payments (and to this I would add milk) as well as bank charges, highway tolls and auto taxes...and the list goes on... Why aren't people taking to the streets and screaming for their heads?? America was founded on a much lesser gripe.

These are people who don't live for the good of the public, they live off the public good. The inside perks including cheap apartments (which would more appropriately defined as palaces) in Rome's city centre, private cars, wine, women and song. They spend their days bickering while Napoli burns. The Financial Times with pure British hubris finally stated the obvious this week: the worst-governed country in Europe. And yet, they remain the highest paid.

No one (but Beppe Grillo) comes out saying 'send them packing'. I, for one, propose tying pay to results. Another comic recently joked, 'let's pay them very little and see how many really want to govern'. Let's.

In a country of contradictions, the mindset is that if the politicos are well-paid, they won't be tempted to take bribes. Well, since that theory has long been proven uhhh...slightly off the mark....it's high time the people get a few perks of their own; start demanding pay increases each time a new government is installed.

This solution would even work with the Italians' love for Reverse Psychology: it might even serve as an added deterrent for changes in governments, and actually keep the bums in their fancy red velvet poltrone.