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

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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!

Italy's Reforms: A Debt Crisis Primer

- The EU starts backseat driving -

From where I sit, cyberspace was totally on fire with news of Berlusconi's impending resignation.  An eternal cynic, let's just say, I'll believe it when I see it.  Like many of his promises, he mixed his departure date into such a minestrone, that Italy's President Napolitano had to step in and stir the pot, promising that Silvio's timer had signaled his goose was now cooked.  So, if you want news on Berlusca's getting burnt, just google it.  
As for me, I'm more interested in the three-card monty he's been playing with the EU and IMF authorities.  He promised the EU reforms, but again, there was the typical Italian vagueness to his document that today provoked a 39 page letter asking for actual details on each of them.  
So, while everyone is rejoicing with a Ding Dong Berlusconi's Gone chorus, what has he wagered with his bargaining chip that the Italians are going to end up paying for, in spades?  [His last reform package was deemed unhealthy by the President, not for the reform content ingredients, but because all the pork he had ladened it with benefitting only him and his constituents: his party cronies.
So, here's a brief summation of the Legge della Stabilità - Stabilization Law and its later addenda submitted by the EU, color-coded for easy reference.  


Human Capital / 
This supposedly takes on schools and research, including new doctoral programs (like at Gran Sasso lab) along with clauses for 'digital innovation' like automated paychecks.  
I can't for the life of me figure out what with kickbacks how any of this, at least as presented, leads to austerity measures.  It looks like throwing new money to resolve old problems.


Small businesses get three years' tax breaks for hiring young people as apprentices, trying to give a leg up for hiring women, and letting people telecommute.    
Again, all I can see are businesses saying they've hired the young just for the breaks and then firing them the day the contracts expire.  Taxes will be higher to pay for the breaks.


Word on the street (but not yet in the final document) that the retirement age would be raised to 67 yrs for both men & women [Women in Italy used to get a few year's break given that they have double the workload (home & office) and the burden of taking care of their offspring until well into their 80s].
This is good & well, but of course, lawmakers can receive their pensions after only 35 months in office (and at any age).  Where's the belt-tightening?


Liberalization of Markets / 
Reorganization of local transport???  Forgive my ignorance, but what does that have to do with the price of pasta in Parma?  It looks like we're having a hey-day of issuing new government contracts for politicians to grease their palms further...
Reform of Professional Orders  Like Judges, Lawyers, Doctors and whatnot and of course, Healthcare Reform (read: cuts)
Aside from closing hospitals and firing staff (already in progress), I'm not sure how the rest saves us money, but, I'll give it a pass for now.


Businesses/ 
Here we have a reform of the (grossly incompetent, overblown, over-staffed, under-achieving ridiculous arm) ICE (Istituto Commercio Estero), a monstrous octopus whose job is to "promote Italian goods abroad".  I don't believe in these parking lots for political cronies and their extended families and would be all for it, if I didn't think it would end up as 'more of the same'. 
I would suggest instead (oops, that's supposed to be tomorrow!) a swift course in building user-friendly websites without Google Translate, made by professionals and not some html dropout, along with figuring out how to get items delivered without getting them stolen in the mail or without having customers spend a day home from work waiting for the delivery guy...
This would go far further in promoting Italian products abroad than anything any government agency could ever pull off.  Not to mention that a "reform" sounds like whoever is in power in 2012 gets to put his buddies in place.  I cite Berlusconi's pal Stanca from IBM who breezed through 58 million euro (that's over $85 Million) just to build the www.italia.it website (click here for my writeup).  This is the true reason why Berlusca wants to stay in power to "see through" the reforms and his party pals don't want elections. 
Italy's the no. 1 exporter of wines in the world, no thanks to ICE.


In this category, they are looking at initiatives to improve Italy's bandwidth and subsequently, e-commerce.  Sounds good to me, but...I still don't see how we're saving money here...


They're also planning on going after fake companies offering auto insurance (but as of this reading I don't see them going after the fakes getting pensions, the false invalids, the fake companies, the companies faking receipts, the companies and people faking their taxes)...Sorry, ahead of myself again.


There's a provision for simplifying the tourism sector.  How about just butting out?  People love to visit Italy. See www.Italia.it website above.  'Nuff said.


Other provisions include incentives for auto dealers, improving energy efficiency & distribution, and other improvements for ports and highways.


So, how are we going to pay for all this?  
For starters, they've already raised the VAT tax on a few items (like highway tolls), although they left businesses alone as it would have put another dagger into the already-dead economy.
Gas prices are through the roof because of additional taxes levied to help pay for the devastation from the flooding of the towns (now dozens and counting) in Cinque Terre, Genoa, Matera, now Messina.  I'm sorry, but if I want to donate €90 to Genoa, I'll do it by my own volition -- I absolutely abhor this "taxation without representation" -- the basis of which created "These United States."  And besides, if they didn't ruin the landscapes by over-construction to begin with, we wouldn't have to cough up the gazillions now to resurrect these places...
I've found a few mentions of selling off State properties both in Italy and abroad, and others still occupied by the Defense Dept. [but no mention of halting orders on say, the 17 Maserati's recently purchased by the Ministry of Defense. "They're Italian-made, before they were Audi's", the Minister stated in his defense.  So are FIAT 500s.  And besides, perhaps Audi's last longer.] 
One thousand teachers will be let go (none in Parliament, however).  State employees will no longer get a free lunch (but Parliamentarians will).  
Unemployed who want to apply for State job bids will have to pay for their admission (€10-€15).
Cuts to Carabinieri & Police (most of whom are used to escort politicians anyway)
Cuts to the Monopoly Administration (insert your own joke here).
Different use for monies coming from Telecoms bids (4G).
Cuts to administering all the pay & pensions schemes & their over-loaded bureaucracies.


Tomorrow, I will give you my own list of proposed cuts that most every red-blooded Italian could not only live with, but would embrace wholeheartedly.  If only the EU would force Italy's hand in this direction (along with Greece's and their own corrupt systems) instead of relying on thinking debt goes away by raising the retirement age and other half-measures as the ones above suggest.

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

Tante Belle Cose - October in Italy

picture from Shakespeare's Den

This past month in Italy events revealed the depths of the daring dichotomy of all things Italian:  
Where we stand, Italians are worried about the fact that Italy might go the way of Greece but then again, Berlusconi might be the collateral damage (not that the Left would do any better).  
We had a march on the government but our moment of populist activism was over-shadowed by the hoodlums in hoodies smashing windows and lighting cars on fire.
We heard that Carla Bruni had a baby girl which might put a dent in her singing career, while Berlusconi put off his own record release given the seriousness of the financial crisis he's clearly been too busy penning tunes in order to resolve.
They've added a countdown clock for the opening of Rome's third subway line, but it looks like it won't be ready for when and if Rome wins the hosting of the Olympics. 
I have discovered that the next-to-impossible website selling tickets to Rome's magnificent Auditorium offers a 10% discount if you use your American Express Card.  This is an absolute first, seeing that most establishments don't accept the Amex let alone one with a discount.  Now, if they would just post signs telling us how to get there and go home again, it'd be perfect.
And, some of the best news yet:  
- Italy is now the no. 1 wine producing country on earth (and, Dutch scientists have discovered that red wine has even more benefits including reducing diabetes risk and increasing metabolisms).
- And Rome's Senior Citizen housing and hospitals are now allowing dogs in for Pet Therapy.  I have seen the benefits that my little Trevor used to bring and can attest that dogs are not only a senior's best friend, they're often their only friend.

All Hallows Eve...Whose holiday is it, anyway?

Halloween in Italy picture courtesy of hotel-apartment rental service
Cross-Pollinate / Beehive Rome

Year after year, those of us living in the Bel Paese find that Halloween, with its accompanying ghouls, ghosts, witches and zombies, gets celebrated by kids large and small.  You'll now find bars, pubs and trattorias offering their own holiday festivities, even hilltown trattorie are enticing clients to come in and ghoul around...Stop in an Autogrill and you'll find those January Befane witches now riding brooms atop packages choc full of halloween candy.  Mark my words:  one of these days we're going to see a new sort of orange-flavored pandoro cake in the shape of a ghost at grocery stores for this newest of Italian holidays. [In fact, here's a recipe making a sort of s'more out of one...lathered in nutella and topped in marshmallows...You can't get anymore closer to and Italian Halloween treat if you tried...].    
A friend posted on facebook, "What's all this talk of zombies and vampires all of a sudden?  Could it be because of Halloween?"  Sì, Virginia, there is a Great Pumpkin.
And every year, just like every launch of a new Harry Potter installment, the Catholic Church has to roundly condemn it, as if anyone listened to their dictates anyway.  This year, a Cardinal remarked that Halloween was an entirely pagan holiday celebrating death and the macabre which did not merit any recognition whatsoever.  Furthermore, it took away from the observance of its antithesis, All Saints' Day (ognisanti - 1 November).   He then added for good measure that in case anyone wanted a nice use for pumpkins, they could bake them and use the filling for ravioli instead (a dish that I must admit, is exceptional in every way - click here for recipe).
But I think he's got it all wrong.  Yes, Halloween did start out as a Celtic holiday and a pagan rite.  But the Church, like they did with all those pagan temples and mithraism, appropriated the holiday as one of their own and thus All Saints Day came into being.  Seeing that Halloween was a lot more fun, they ended up moving the day from May 13th to November 1st so as to ride on the witches' coattails...so to speak.  If the Church, instead of fighting it, went with the flow, they could turn Harry Potter tales of good versus evil into a decisive modern-day parable worthy of attention. 
As for the Catholic Church coming out against Halloween?  There's always the response by Irish-American comedian, Stephen Colbert:  Wasn't Jesus someone who rose from the tomb?  Wouldn't that make him something like the first zombie?  
Maybe this is why there's all this talk about zombies in the cybersphere...

A shot in the dark

I will never forget the first time I came down with the flu in Italy.  Tucked snuggly under the covers, the family I was living with was of course, concerned.  I was expecting to be plied full of orange-flavored St. Giovanni's aspirin, or cherry flavored syrups of some sort.  Fresh-squeezed orange juice flowing from the blender, and maybe a shot of zucchero to make the medicine go down.
Instead, when the doctor showed up and told me to turn over, I assumed it was so he could check my back with the stethoscope.  But before I could say "Ammazza!" I was given an injection with a very large needle right in my behind.  I fully thought I would fall soundly asleep -- fully sedated -- only to wake up later in a cage at the Milan zoo.  To this day, the slightest sniffle brings on those visions, and any of you who remember the Milan zoo will know what a nightmare that truly is.
Getting sick in Italy usually means picking up a package of tissues from your local street vendor and a huge box of syringes from your pharmacist.  Naturally, having read far too many articles on syringes causing AIDS, or syringe swaps in needle parks and the like, I simply cannot bring myself to buy a box of needles without feeling like my next stop is skid row.  The idea of bringing them home, preparing the liquid concoction to go inside, and giving myself a quick shot in the butt, thigh, or any other part of my anatomy for that matter is enough to shock my system 'scared straight' to good health.
In order to make absolutely sure that I don't succumb to the local customs, I import my favorite fruit-flavored liquids each and every flu season.
The worst part is, I wouldn't even need these, really...but I'd have to get a flu shot first.

Garbage in Italy: Not in My Backyard

The posters and talk around town, was the exciting news that Rome would be closing down its garbage dump.  Who knew that it is also the largest garbage dump in all of Europe?  But, any walk through any neighborhood outside the pristine city center, and you find garbage galore strewn near the dumpsters by old ladies and young kids alike.  It's often just too much of an effort for residents to use the handy pedal to open the dumpsters. I realize it's a brain teaser for most to figure out that the plastic recycling (blue) does not go into the paper bin (white) and nor should your plastic recycling contain your chicken bones from last night's dinner, your pizza boxes, nor even your milk containers - touch them as you are wont to do when pouring - you'll discover not only are they not made of plastic but with the special Tetrapak™ coating, they are not recyclable - even as paper.

So, when Rome's dump is closing (and the protests continue in Naples to bar authorities from opening new dumps), one starts to wonder...where are we going to put the 3 million yearly tons of garbage?  A reader pleaded for me to write about their plight...

Europe's largest land fill
Photo courtesy of http://ecoitaliasolidale.bloog.it 
by way of blogger SustainableRome

Admittedly, I am not usually on the side of the protesters.  People want to be able to toss their litter cavalierly out car windows and leave it for 'someone else' to depose of later - preferably as far away as possible, like in Nigeria [It is such a part of life here - and everywhere worldwide - I have dedicated an entire chapter to environmental issues in my forthcoming book].  I will never forget the days gazing at the view out my Amex tower office window and beholding the sight of The Garbage Barge, parading up and down the Hudson river, looking for a place to dump its load.  In any case, Italy is a slim country.  Inevitably, you're gonna end up tossing the crap in someone's backyard.

The Lazio region solution is to thumb their noses at EU rules while telling locals to hold their noses after they open a new toxic dump in a fairly residential area.  Plans are to open it near Riano, a lovely place with rolling hills and speckled with beautiful homes, and, atop of Tiber river tributaries.  Seeing that most of these homes get their fresh water from that very source, cancer rates should be rising to levels seen only by Erin Brockovich.

But is there another solution when land fills are filled to the brim?  I am no expert on this stuff, but I can't understand why the focus is on 'fill 'er up' rather than on breaking her down through the rite of recycling.  Milan placed garbage cans inside each and every building, and residents were fined for flippantly tossing their paper in the plastic bin (we were all forced to share the pain--to the point that some of us (well, most likely just me) fashioned themselves as courtyard Carabinieri -- to the point that I was ready to put CCTV cameras outside my balcony window in order to catch the waste-mixing culprits).  Milan's recycling is over 50%.  In Rome, where dumpsters overflow and residents resist dividing their waste, it's clear to see that reaching 25% is a stretch.

Garbage can also be turned into energy.  Again, why these 'termovalorizzatori' aren't utilized is beyond me.  According to the investigative reporting of Striscia la notizia, in Naples and Bari energy-producing incinerators get built (with EU money no less), and then abandoned as monuments in a sort of museum of what technology could do if someone simply turned on the 'ON' switch.

I'd be quite interested in having you dish your own dirt on the topic--