Tag Archives: Politics

It’s not a load of Kaki

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SuperMario says he wants to change Italy to a more meritocratic society. A view that seems to be widely applauded and backed by many that I know here.

It’s a nice idea. Some would say that it works that way in most Western countries. And, to some extent, they would be right.

I was looking for the word that means the opposite. It’s not so easy to find, you know? Kakistocracy was the first word that comes up. Except it doesn’t really explain it so well. I mean, this country has not been run by a bunch of idiots – I mean, they’re not really stupid even if you disagree with them. You could even say they have been clever.

Eventually, I found that oligarchy is what I’m really looking for. The country has been run by a bunch of wealthy and connected people. Then I found Corporate Oligarchy – this included such people as would run the banks and other corporate institutions as well as politicians of wealth and connections.

It is said that “any political system eventually evolves into an oligarchy” [Robert Michels].

And that got me to thinking that, in spite of our conviction that we (in the UK) have a completely meritocratic system, in fact, as far as the ruling class go, it is really a Corporate Oligarchy.

And, of course, with the old regime being washed away here, it has been replaced by a new Corporate Oligarchical system – run by banks.

Perhaps it’s time for us to go back to the creators of the democratic system, Ancient Greece, and introduce some checks and balances as they did, just to prevent the creation of this oligarchic government that we all seem to have?

But, actually, that wasn’t what I wanted to say.

What I really wanted to say is that, in spite of everything that people may say here, given the chance of getting a good job through someone you ‘know’, nearly everyone would take the opportunity. So, in spite of the backing, the reality will always be different. I think these are words that people want to hear – as long as the ones in control don’t have to actually change anything.

Don’t you think?

The game of ensuring a profit.

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Let’s have an imaginary scenario – just like a game.

Let’s say I am a business. My business is to give insurance. I give insurance for a healthy profit, thank you very much. And, by making a healthy profit, I can award myself huge bonuses. It’s a win-win situation.

I can, almost, decide on any premium I choose because there are only a few of us companies in this ‘game’. I decide that this insurance is very risky – so I make everyone who wants it pay more than they really need to.

Unfortunately, some of the organisations that take on this insurance are not as good as I am. They have found themselves in some sticky situations. They rely on other companies making a profit. Unfortunately, those other companies don’t always do that.

Now, I want the insurance business. But I don’t really want the risk of the other companies underperforming.

It’s a difficult situation. I mean, I want the organisations to keep insuring with me and they’ll only do that whilst the other companies continue to exist. If all the other companies went bust there’d be no need for my insurance. So, I need to keep the other companies in business – even if they have to sack many of their workforce; even if they have to reduce the pay to the workers that are left; make cuts in everything – just to ensure the company can stay in business. I don’t really care at all. It’s just important that the other companies continue to survive.

So, recently, I’ve had a few of the other companies that have been having a few difficulties. Obviously, my premiums to cover the organisations rises and I make more profit. Which is great. But it’s no good if the other companies go to the wall.

So I have come up with a very cunning plan.

Some of my employees, who have all become very rich working for me, have agreed to go and ‘help’ those companies survive as I want. Of course, we need to keep this below the radar as much as we can. So keep it quiet, please. It’s just our little secret.

You may know one of those employees (or should I say EX-employee). He goes by the name of Mario Monti. He’s going to make sure that that particular other company continues so that I can collect huge amounts of money. He’s going to do exactly what I say he should do.

Let’s face it. The banks, in the pursuit of huge profits, permitted loans to everyone. And investment banks set up the CDS scheme – which, from what I can see is completely unregulated. Eventually it all caught up with them. Now, some high-powered (ex-)employees of those very banks are running Greece and Italy. Obviously, what must not happen is for everyone to stop paying the debts, which generate huge profits for the people running the CDS industry. If they stop paying the debts then the CDS industry goes down and the whole system collapses taking with it, erm, well, the people who’ve been earning bigger and bigger profits and bonuses whilst making everyone else suffer a lot.

I mean, that would be a bad thing, right? Right?

Mist over Milan

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Damn! I missed it.

By the time I remembered it was already 11.44.

Not that anything happened at 11.11. Still, it would have been nice to have noticed. Kind of.

This morning was much colder. There was a mist hanging over Milan as I took the dogs out this morning. It was almost as if Milan was asleep. We ‘owned’ the city – or, at least, the parts where we walked. We don’t see many people – if any at all – at that time in the morning.

And, although I hate the cold, when it’s misty or foggy or, even, snowing, it has a beauty about it that I can’t explain. Of course, the beauty is there only because I know that I’ll soon be in the house again; in the warmth. It wouldn’t be beautiful at all if I didn’t have that to look forward to.

It’s not freezing yet – that is to come. But it’s quite close.

Berlusconi is supposed to be resigning today. To make way for a technical government. Maybe, perhaps. Will that make everyone happy? I doubt it. Italy have had technical governments before now. The EU think they have what they want. They think that they can make Italy more ‘European’ but they’ll never be able to get Italy to lose its uniqueness – its underworld, its ‘in nero’, its patronage. It’s a daily thing here. It invades every day, every aspect of ordinary life. There are things I accept here that I would never accept in the UK. You can try to fight it all you like but it is (in my opinion) unlikely to change or be changed. If it were a minority of people who accept it like this then there would be a chance to change – but with the majority accepting it all – you can’t change that.

You could say it was education. But you can educate all you like – if the wheels work better with a little oil, taking the oil away won’t make it stop – you just find some more oil.

And, anyway, from a few days ago when everyone thought they knew what they wanted we are in now where the things that people want are different than before and different for different people. And, anyway again, the problem is really so deep-seated that we have to crush everything and start from scratch. And no one will want to do that because it’s too scary; because we don’t know what will come in it’s place.

A bit like removing Berlusconi, really.

You replace one lot of shysters for another lot. It’s all the same. Nothing really changes. The mist still hangs over Milan; the dogs still need walking; the sun still shines …. or doesn’t – over which we have no real control.

At the end of it all, everyone wants something to change as long as it doesn’t mean they end up with nothing. But, not everyone can have more. For some to have more, others must have less.

From what I read, Obama has been giving a good talking to to the European leaders, telling them to get it sorted. This is from the leader of the nation that has actually caused this in the first place by allowing its people to run up huge debts that they cannot repay whilst they are chasing the ‘American dream’. More of an ‘American nightmare’ really.

But now I’m joining in with the finger pointing, which is what is happening right now. Articles about how it’s this country’s fault. Or that country. When, in reality it’s none of them individually but, rather, all of them. And the banks. And the greed. And the consumer society that says ‘MUST HAVE’ to every new thing whereas it should be ‘would like to have’. ‘Must have’ is for food. And shelter.

But all this crap that is happening now was perfectly predicted in The Sword of Achilles. Not the crisis, as such, but the changes. The changes necessary.

Just how long will it be and what will it take for people to say ‘basta’ (enough)?

Like the mist over Milan, it seems that most people have their heads in the fog and some are completely lost.

Racing to Italy

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Before I was 14, we lived in rural Herefordshire. I went to a ‘posh’ school and, so, had ‘posh’ friends. Among those friends were farmers’ sons and the like. One of the things that was a favourite pastime was going to the point-to-points. These are like horse racing but over fields rather than at a race track. There are no stands and no real facilities (obviously, basic toilets and stuff – but in tents rather than fixed toilet blocks).

I used to love it. Even it it was illegal (which I’m sure it must have been), as kids we would go to the bookies and make bets on each race.

It was fun. It made the race fun – obviously, you wanted your horse to win. It taught us about money, weighing up odds, the form, etc., etc.

It was a game and, like all betting games, although you wanted to win, it was the thrill of the race that was the thing.

Most of life is like this. Certainly, recently, it seems as if the whole world is like this. Will they win? Will they lose? How much money can they make from a single bet?

So, the ‘markets’ (which are, in reality no different from us kids betting on horses) want to win. So far, they have forced Greece towards an implosion. And, now, after weeks of pressure on Italy (from the markets in the main) they appear to have got what they wanted. Mr B has said he will step down.

I, for one, don’t believe it is the end of him. He’s a bit of a shyster and I’m sure he’s biding his time before he says something like ‘See where that got you all? Now you need me back’.

And the markets have reacted in quite a predictable way. Since there is (I would think) a LOT of money which has been bet on Italy being the next country that needs a bail out (since you can bet on anything now), unsurprisingly, the markets have reacted negatively to the news that Mr B will resign. One could ask ‘What do you want?’ – but, of course, what they want is to make more money. Didn’t someone say that money was the root of all evil. Of course, if I won a few million, I would be different ;-)

To be honest, with or without him, this was almost invariably going to happen but they have given him a bit of a boost given that before he announced his resignation, the bond yields were below 7% and now they are above 7%. See where it got us?

Everyone may think of him as a bit of a buffoon but there is no one who can easily take his place (either left or right) and, in truth, the markets like strong government, not weak. The politicians here have successfully ensured Italy’s slide to a bail out, in my opinion.

But, overall, it may not be a bad thing. Maybe this time, things will change? Maybe this betting on failure will be stopped, for one? Maybe Europe, as a whole, will default? Maybe we’ll get something better than the current system?

Oh, well, one can always hope.

Crisis? Oh, yes, that old thing.

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Apparently, we’re fucked.

Well, on the plus side, at least the Italians (around me) seem to be talking about things. It has always seemed as if ‘the crisis’ was happening elsewhere – some other country in the world.

But, rather than the crisis, per se, the talk is about Buzz Lightyear (Mr B) and how long he can hang on for and who will take over from him.

And there’s the rub. Because, as I’ve said before, there is no one. Neither the Left nor the Right have anyone who has any real hope of pulling parties together to form a government. Buzz, at least, has enough charisma to do so.

I read this on the BBC site.

However, it’s a little strange. After all, even if it is written by an ex-pat Italian, she writes that ‘the school’s walls are covered with graffiti”. Hmmm. Yes, of course they are. And they were before the crisis. It is ‘normal’ here. In the UK, people would be up in arms and the police would go and find the culprits. Here, in Italy, graffiti is on most buildings. It’s a cultural thing.

And, in the time I have been here, I have noticed that the Italians, in exactly the same way as the Brits, complain about the money being spent (or not spent) on schools and hospitals and how the service from both is much worse than a) it used to be and b) other countries (especially in Europe). For that matter, the same is said about public transport.

Anyway, my view is that Aunt Cristina has it spot on. When explaining why Buzz keeps getting voted in, she says:

“It’s not just the pensioners, you know,” she says, jabbing at the air with her fork. “It’s a macho thing. So many Italians think he’s all man.”

That and the fact that there is no one else who could be a possible leader.

My colleague at work suggests that the President (who has all the power of our Queen in the UK) will call for a Technical Government, here. A government that will be full of economists and the like and who won’t actually ‘govern’ as such but just concentrate on the fiscal side.

But they will have a tough job ahead of them. After all (and I might have figures wrong here – but it’s something like this), there are 72,000 cars for officials in Italy compared to 195 in the UK. I think that says it all, really.

Anyway, by the time you read this, Buzz could be out of office, or Greece could have left the Euro or the world could have collapsed – or, more likely, everything will be, more or less, the same.

An end to the world crisis?

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If you’re working for a company, for example, and you feel something is wrong (or something is wrong), going on strike, on your own, doesn’t actually work very well. In fact, you are likely to be sacked.

That’s why Unions were born. With Unions, all the people go on strike, meaning that it is not good for the owners of the company. Therefore, the idea being that the owners of the company and the Union come to some sort of agreement.

But it doesn’t seem to work in all circumstances and there are risks, of course.

But I was just wondering, if we think of a country as an individual and think of the owners of the company as the banks (and, therefore, the money markets) ……….

What would happen if all the countries got together and said that they had all decided not to pay the debts – i.e. they went on strike?

I mean to say, if one country does it, they have a rough time for a number of years. But if every country did it, all at the same time?

Doesn’t bear thinking about, right?

Or, maybe it should bear thinking about?

Do the work and wait ……… wait ……… for the money

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I read this, from the Independant (which I got from Twitter or Facebook or something – I’m sorry, I forget now).

Interns, from what I can understand can expect no payment for any work they do. It is supposed to be treated as ‘work experience’. The problem here is that it rarely leads to a full-time job. Instead, Interns go from one ‘unpaid job’ to another.

It will surely become a problem given the current crisis. With no hope of securing a full-time job – why bother?

Which then leads to unhappiness. Which, in turn leads to restlessness. And then, when there are enough unhappy, restless young people, something is bound to happen, isn’t it?

However, the really damning bit (for me) comes towards the end of the piece, namely:

But it seems that even people hired by the magazine cannot count on being paid. The Independent spoke to one person who was recruited this summer by Flash Art magazine without pay on a two-month trial basis. After a successful trial he continued working but was told there was no money to pay him a month later.

“Of course it’s immoral,” he said. “If they haven’t got the money to pay the staff they need, then they shouldn’t be in operation. But it’s hardly the only company doing this sort of thing.”

The Flash Art controversy followed the magazine’s recent call for new interns for eight to 10-month periods – even though using someone as an intern for more than six months is illegal in Italy.

I have known of other people who haven’t been paid – either for a very long time or at all. Worse still, if you’re on some sort of term contract. I cross my fingers that I didn’t have too much problem getting my money when I was teaching (although there was one, how should I say, ‘near miss’).

Part of the reason it’s like this is the Italian way of thinking. Mummy and Daddy can always take care of you, it seems. And, because Italians have the highest savings rate in Europe (maybe the world?), it is (I guess) assumed you have plenty of savings to tide you over.

I’m sure I would have a much stronger opinion about it if it had ever happened to me but it is wrong, isn’t it? I mean, in a civilised country within the European Union, how can this possibly be right?

It’s a sign of a wider problem. That of not really giving a shit about anyone else [that’s not either family or important to you].

And things that I do, as a Brit, sometimes get misconstrued by Italians. I remember somebody who got a ‘job’ through someone else. They thought it would be a really nice idea to take their new boss to lunch – if the guy were in the area. But the friend who had done the recommendation became something akin to a Tasmanian Devil and the vitriol and hatred that spat from a (normally) very nice, pleasant, Italian woman was more than a little shocking. For her it was this person ‘going behind her back’.

She now lives in the UK. I wonder how she gets on over there – where, to be honest, this kind of situation is not something to be bothered about.

We don’t all have some ulterior motive other than ‘to be nice and respectful’. Here that does not always seem to be the case. Not giving a shit about people seems to be the norm – and it does annoy me a bit.

Something wrong? Or just my imagination?

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There’s something wrong.

Well, maybe not wrong, exactly, just not quite right.

Or maybe it’s not that at all. But it certainly feels like that.

I can’t exactly put my finger on it. It’s not that anyone has said anything in particular or done anything particularly unusual but it certainly feels like something has/will happen. Soon.

Perhaps it’s the crisis? Perhaps, finally, it is having an effect?

And, apart from A, outside of work, there seems a slight change. We were discussing it last night, over dinner with An. People seem more worried about the future. None of us have children and, so, it is different, I guess. The restaurants still seem quite full, though. As I rarely go shopping (except to the supermarket), I can’t really say about the high street.

Yes, I think if I had children, I may feel differently but, as I said to An, you can’t really do anything about it so don’t worry too much. After all, if the world collapses (economically), everyone (except the very rich, maybe) will be in the same boat (or sinking ship).

So, back where we were. It all feels different. A concentration on petty (or seemingly petty) things. A tit-for-tat thing going on between management and workers. New work seems to be coming our way but is it quickly enough?

Or, of course, it’s all in my imagination.

Sending something by email – you might as well whisper in the wind.

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Blogging in Italy is different. Or, rather, Italians blogging in Italy have to be more careful.

If the government have their way, they will have to be even more careful in future.

The government, here, having been trying, for some time now, to curb what they see as the excesses of the blogging world. Particularly when it comes to criticising or revealing embarrassing details about our beloved leader, Buzz Lightyear (Berlusconi).

Ideally, of course, he would like anything said about him to have passed through someone who can edit it properly. And, whilst with most of the media, this can be done easily (as he either owns the company or, as the Prime Minister, is responsible for it), the blogging world is a bit different.

I think (and I’m sure I’ll be corrected if I’m wrong), LA7 (a TV station) is also quite independent. I remember watching a debate on TV which was heavily critical of Buzz and he was obviously watching too because he phoned in to have a bit of a rant.

The trouble with bloggers is that they can say something and he doesn’t get the chance to phone in to say they are wrong. Instead, in a bill going through parliament, he wants to make it obligatory that the person who is defamed or whatever, gets the right to reply. If not, then the blogger is fined.

The Guardian’s take on it is here.

However, the really shocking thing is hidden away in the last paragraph and, to me, shows why Italy always seems to be a little bit behind the rest of the world when it comes to embracing the new world of technology fully.

Legally, “email has no validity”.

Let’s just put that again:

“email has no validity”

WHAT?

I remember when I first came here (and I’m talking 6 years ago – not 100), I was amused by the fact that, when someone sent an email, they would follow that up with a telephone call to ‘check that the person had received it’. How quaint and old-fashioned, I thought.

Mail, of the old kind, is fine. In fact, everything is done via mail. And, of course, if email has no validity, it has to be this way. But the fact that it is inadmissible in a court of law scares me quite a lot.

After all the ‘E’ of email stands for electronic. If mail is acceptable then an electronic version of it should be the same. Shouldn’t it? Yes, it damned well should!

However, since my email address is a .co.uk address and in the UK that IS admissible and Italy is in the EU and so is the UK, I wonder how that would be viewed?

Maybe I’ll find out one day.

Not now though. I’m still in a state of shock.