Maybe the time has come for Italy to get rid of its expert politicians. After all, the track record of these self-proclaimed expert Italian politicians is not exactly brilliant. Far from it, as you will soon discover.
Want examples? No problem, there are plenty. Note that the Italian politicians responsible for this mess sit on both sides of Italy’s left and right leaning political spectrum even if some have been known to changes sides more than once. The politicians concerned have also been languishing in Italy’s parliament for rather too long. Many exceeded their shelf lives a decade or so ago. On to the list (which is growing thanks to the assistance of a certain Aldo).
After reading this, rather long, list of failures, “expert” is probably the last word that will spring to mind:
- Italy’s national debt in May 2016 was €2,242 billion and is still growing. Italy’s capital Rome is also mired in billions of debt.
- Italy’s 2016 GDP is projected to grow by an anaemic 0.9% and may even struggle to hit that.
- Nearly 5 million Italians live in a state of abject poverty – nearly 8% of Italy’s population of 60 million. 1.6 million families are facing exceptional levels of economic hardship. Not Italy’s politicians though – most earn exceptionally handsome wages. Maybe “earn” is not the right word.
- Italy’s unemployment rate is 11.5% and not really falling despite claims it would. Youth unemployment in Italy is still well over 40%.
- The productivity of Italy’s manufacturing base has fallen 25%.
- Time to export in Italy was 20 days in 2005. It was still 19 days in 2015. Italy should thrive on exports but can’t. France’s time to export is 9 days, and so is Germany’s. Spain’s is 10 and the USA’s time to export is a mere 6 days.
- Many hundreds of thousands of young well qualified Italians have jumped ship for nations which offer them greater opportunities such as the United Kingdom – even if the Brexit may change this.
- Italy’s banking system is in such a mess it may cause problems for the whole Eurozone – US Bank J P Morgan is helping Italy’s “expert” politicos find a solution to the mess they contributed to. What? No in-house experts, Italy?
- Those consummate expert Italian politicians apparently did not notice that Italy’s banks were selling extremely risky bonds to unsophisticated Italian investors. It was a kind of sneaky bail-in. Some of these bond sales were tied to applications to for loans and other finance. No bonds, no loan, sorry. How come nothing was done to prevent this?
- Press freedom in Italy is at a record low level. Italy dropped 4 places from 73 in 2015 to hit 77 in the Reporters Without Borders 2016 ranking.
- Italy’s tax burden is a record 43.5% and climbing. The average Italian company pays 68% annually after rates on profits and labor. Tax evasion is still at record levels and Italy’s government of “experts” is failing to do much about this evergreen Italian problem.
- Italy’s ruling classes are so riddled with corruption, cronyism, and links to organised criminals that they have just about lost all credibility. So corrupt are Italy’s ruling classes that they are no longer ashamed of committing crimes not that Italy’s justice system acts as much of a deterrent. It is also exceedingly difficult to arrest corrupt parliamentarians in Italy.
- Italy’s expert politicians failed to note that the ‘ndrangheta was gaining, and has now gained, a firm foothold in Italy’s north. Or maybe someone in Italy’s expert government at the time did note this and was happy to let the expansion of organised crime continue.
- A bankruptcy system which takes 7.8 years to crawl to a conclusion. The European average is 2 years. This is one of the reasons why saving Italy’s banks is proving so difficult.
- A prime minister who promised to sort Italy out in 100 days and then claimed Italy’s economy would recover with a bang. Neither happened.
- Public works schemes in Italy tend to be unnecessary, routinely go over budget and cost many times more than they should often because certain people take very generous cuts. Example: high speed rail lines in Italy cost an average of €61 billion a kilometer. In France, Japan and Spain, the cost is around €10 billion per kilometer.
- On the tourism promotion front, the record of Italy’s expert politicians is not too hot. According to Worldbank data, between 2015 and 2015, the number of tourists visiting Italy went up from 31 million to 48.6 million. That’s 17.6 million increase is not too bad until one sees the figures for Germany which upped tourism numbers from 14.8 million to 33.9 million – a 222% increase. France in the same period increased tourism numbers from an already healthy 60 million to 84 million. There’s so much to see in Italy that the nation should be attracting at least as many tourists as France was in 2005. Time for a little expert intervention, don’t you think? And a well managed tourism industry could give Italy’s exports a boost too.
Is there any alternative to “expert” Italian politicians?
Yes, and it’s called the 5 Star Movement. No, the 5 Star Movement is not perfect but it is learning and wants to cut the cancer that is corruption and cronyism out of Italian politics. It also wants to engage true experts to run Italy not those who simply claim they are gurus.
The Rome Test
As you may know, the Five Star Movement has won control of Rome’s City Hall. Italy’s capital is beset with problems and up to its eyeballs in debt too – the consequence of “expert” management. Now, if Virginia Raggi, the new Mayor of Rome, and her team can sort out Rome, then this may well indicate the Five Star Movement can manage Italy rather well too. Ms Raggi will face many obstacles from those who need her to fail so the road ahead will not be at all easy.
One is going to keep a close eye on the recently elected Ms Raggi and how she gets on in her attempts to remove the rot from Rome.
Italian Politicians Experts in Irony?
Ironically, during local elections, certain Italian politicians claimed 5 Star Movement candidates should be ignored because they are inexpert. Why is this ironic? Because Italy’s Minister of Public Administration and Simplification, Marianna Madia has zero political or administrative experience, nor does Maria Elena Boschi, the Minister for Constitutional Reforms and Relations and, to cap it all, Italy’s current Prime Minister Matteo Renzi had run nothing larger than the prosperous Italian tourism honeypot Florence before talking himself into power. What a bunch of experts.
In addition to these “gurus” is Pier Carlo Padoan, Italy’s Minister of Economy and Finances, who keeps on insisting Italy’s banks are solid.
Today, 30% of Italians now realise that the 5 Star Movement presents an alternative to the “experts” even if both Italy’s establishment politicians do not and nor do European mandarins.
Maybe it’s (past) time to oust the current “expert” Italian politicians and replace them with something new? This Italy watcher thinks so and the list above does seem to suggest Italy is in desperate need of genuine experts.
Italy has enormous potential, if only it could realise it.
My glass of excellent Italian wine remains half full, for now.
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Please note that some links go to articles written in Italian.
Photo of Matteo Renzi by Roberto Vicario
aldo says
Sometimes I stumble across your blog and every single time I have this unpleasant feeling that you REALLY need to seek psychiatric help as quickly as you can.
Do it before it’s too late.
If not for yourself, at least for your family.
Alex Roe says
If you’re still voting for the same people who caused this mess Aldo – then I’m not one who needs help.
Now go vote for the 5 Star Movement 🙂
Have a lovely, thoughtful, evening.
Cheers,
Alex
PS You kindly reminded me of something to add.
aldo says
Sorry, not taking any advice on how I should use my vote from someone who believes in chemtrails, mermaid and sits in the Europarliament with the likes of Farage.
And you can wind down your authoritative tone, we still have not restored fascism, even though you might like that, in proper M5S style.
Now go schedule that psychiatric examination. When left untreated, paranoia can evolve to be very dangerous for you and those around you.
Ps: you kindly reminded why brexit is the best thing that could happen to Europe. You and your lot are better off when isolated and kept very far away from Europe.
Alex Roe says
Well thanks for illustrating personally, Aldo, just why Italy’s in such a mess. Your head is stuck firmly in some deep blinding sand.
The facts in this article speak for themselves – anyone who ignores them really does need some help.
The M5S is the only political movement in Italy that actually speaks to Italy’s citizens to find out what they need – I know, I’ve been to their meetups.
Re odd friendships, Mr Renzi seems to be great friends with Mr Verdini – very worrying.
Pity you didn’t have a thoughtful evening, but no real surprise.
Kind regards,
Alex
PS You could be right, Brexit might be good for Europe, I agree with that.
PPS You’ve reminded me of a couple of other things to add to the already long list – many thanks 🙂
aldo says
You sound like a broken record.
“You’re the reason why Italy is in such a mess” is your standard response to anyone who points out the delirious blabber going on on your blog.
Is this everything you can come up with? 6th grade debate level?
“And what about Renzi”? another M5S classic comeback.
Who said anything about Renzi? What about the aliens and what about my cat since we are there?
You’ve been to their meetups? Great. I’ve been too, and all I saw was a bunch of loonies whose only interest was anti-immigration policies and how to stop same-sex civil unions.
Maybe this is what you mean when you write stuff like “the only political movement in Italy that actually speaks to Italy’s citizens to find out what they need”. Yep, and their answer is populist fascism, low-simmering racism and ill-conceived homophobia.
And all of this has already been pointed out several times by international press, which never miss the chance to have a laugh at this mob of ex-unemployed crooks.
Sorry, I don’t think I need any thoughtful evening, but surely you need a thoughtful rest of your life.
Alex Roe says
Obviously you don’t read very much of what I write but that comes as no real surprise, Aldo.
Don’t know what you have been reading (il Giornale, maybe?) but M5S is in favour of same-sex civil unions: http://www.wikipink.org/index.php?title=Movimento_5_Stelle#S.C3.AC_alle_unioni_civili – it’s in Italian.
Well, I’ve yet to meet loonies at 5 Star Movement meetups – usually a bunch of down to earth Italians who are sick of mess illustrated very clearly in this article.
Nope, the M5S is not anti-immigration: http://www.beppegrillo.it/movimento/parlamentoeuropeo/2015/09/immigrazione-con-il.html – it just wants everything to be managed more expertly.
“their answer is populist fascism, low-simmering racism and ill-conceived homophobia.” – “Their” presumably refers to FI, NCD, FdI/AN, LN and elements of the PD 😉
Most of the M5S people I’ve met have jobs. Talking of crooks, how many Italian government politicos are under investigation for crimes? Quite a few, as the M5S know rather well.
My best regards, as ever,
Alex
PS Many thanks once more! Have thought of something else to add to the list! You are a genuine inspiration 🙂