Wrong direction

The economic direction that Italy has taken as well as the rest of the European Union, is not bringing the expected results. The debt of Italy is still growing, even with the consistent cuts to the pubblic spending. This situation is not a surprise or at lest should not be. The first actions taken by the Monti government, the supposed savior of Italy, was increase taxes in any area of the economy. After an initial increase of revenue, the disastrous effect of this measure on the overall Italian economy didn't wait long ti show. After 3 years, the tax revenues are falling, due mainly to the economy contraction caused by the previous years choices. Unfortunately this is not the end and if the economy policies at European level, I see more hard times coming for Italy.

Nobel prize lecturing

Shirin Ebadi, an Iranian nobel prize, has recently expessed a non positive opinion on Italian society and in particular on the women condition. Now, Italy is a free Country and everybody is allowed to express their oponion. However I could not avoid to think about that quote from the Bible that talks about a straw and a beam.

The conflict between the government and the Unions

In the last months, in Italy the conflict between the government and the Unions has became more intense. The government is not going to back up on the so much needed reforms in the job rules, the structure of the parlament, the election system. All these reforms are intended to modernize the Country and make it more competitive on the international market. It looks like everybody should be happy about that. There is instead a strong opposition from some of the Unions. According to these folks, the reforms will erode workers's right and will bring more uncertainty. One of the problems Italy have, is that job market is currently too still, with little opportunities for the companies to fire and even less opportunity for an unemployed to find a job. This, together with the high taxation, has reduced year by year the value of the salaries, that have not kept up with the prices rising and with the increasing taxation. The unions for decades were focused on the same issues of maintaining or increasing workers's right, buying these rights from the companies with low requests on the salary side, and selling them to the workers as big conquests of civilization. They completely failed in understanding how the world was evolving around them. Unfortunately they were not alone, also the governments and many industries were in the same situation. Now that the government has finally realized how urgent it is to turn page, they, or some of them, try to oppose the change, reproposing the same mantra of untouchable rights that they have used for the last 20 years....