Jacopo Fo
Author, actor and writer
IL FATTO QUOTIDIANO
SEPTEMBER 8, 2019
For different reasons, the majority of politicians and economists have lied to us about a fundamental issue to understand why Italy is struggling to get out of the crisis. Money. They told us again and again that there was no money. But the truth is another: we are the most stupid people of the industrialized West. The money is there, but we throw it away!
I believe it is essential to understand this question. The Italian system must be reformed because it is the primary cause of poverty, unemployment and the economic slowdown. Our country is surrounded by a pincer with three jaws: demented bureaucracy, corruption, antiquated infrastructure.
The bureaucracy gives power to politicians and public officials and creates the fabric on which the ill will of favoritism and clientelism sprouts; it also inflicts a hidden 10% tax on companies, kills thousands of projects in the bud, slows justice; finally it discourages foreign investors who are afraid of having to measure themselves with a sadistic administrative machine, thanks to which after mayor and technicians have assured you "in principle" the possibility of building a shed, you can expect an operating authorization for ten years. And because of the dinosaur bureaucracy, our state now finds itself with 150 billion euros in its pocket, most of which comes from European funds, which we can't spend (and if we can't spend the quota coming from the EU we have to return it) .
Then there is corruption. Thanks to the elephantine system of bureaucracy the processes are eternal, add that the laws are written to favor criminals in suits and that there is no certainty of punishment ...
And here is that the country system rewards dishonest and leaves honest entrepreneurs in the mercy of unfair competition, unpaid debts, fraudulent bankruptcies. And for you the banks don't have the money because they lent 150,000 million euros to friends of friends, without asking for guarantees. And they are all free and happy, while the state must repay the chasms that threaten our country's financial stability. Add 115/200 billion of tax evasion, a crime that swarms where justice does not work and there are so many public officials that can be bought ... In Italy the dishonest in a suit and tie are 0.6% of prisoners, the European average is 10% .
What then is the cost of bureaucracy, of the inefficiency of justice and corruption as a whole? It is not known, but it is certainly enormous.
What's more, these two scourges are compounded by the fact that, while countries like Germany or France developed the transport of goods by train, river or sea, we invested in motorways. The result is that every Italian buys products that have traveled on wheels and therefore cost more. We are then back in energy efficiency, and therefore the Italians and the State throw money for electricity and heat and have less money to spend on more useful or pleasing products that make the economy run more.
With ECOFUTURO,
collaborating with numerous distinguished university professors we have realized an estimate of the economic cost of this backwardness that we then presented to the Chamber and the Senate. And without calculating the human and financial cost of 50/70 thousand deaths due to smog, every year we reach 200 billion energy costs, wasted.
If a government had the courage to say this to the Italians, then it would no longer have the excuse of not having money ... and it should really make reforms. And if it were able to reduce by one fifth bureaucracy and corruption and increase energy efficiency, it would get a shower of money in the state coffers and in the pockets of the citizens.
Let's see if this time someone in the government succeeds.
http://ecofuturo.eu/
https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2019/09/08/un-governo-che-cambia-litalia-iniziamo-a-rottamare-le-balle/5437807/
What then is the cost of bureaucracy, of the inefficiency of justice and corruption as a whole? It is not known, but it is certainly enormous.
What's more, these two scourges are compounded by the fact that, while countries like Germany or France developed the transport of goods by train, river or sea, we invested in motorways. The result is that every Italian buys products that have traveled on wheels and therefore cost more. We are then back in energy efficiency, and therefore the Italians and the State throw money for electricity and heat and have less money to spend on more useful or pleasing products that make the economy run more.
With ECOFUTURO,
collaborating with numerous distinguished university professors we have realized an estimate of the economic cost of this backwardness that we then presented to the Chamber and the Senate. And without calculating the human and financial cost of 50/70 thousand deaths due to smog, every year we reach 200 billion energy costs, wasted.
If a government had the courage to say this to the Italians, then it would no longer have the excuse of not having money ... and it should really make reforms. And if it were able to reduce by one fifth bureaucracy and corruption and increase energy efficiency, it would get a shower of money in the state coffers and in the pockets of the citizens.
Let's see if this time someone in the government succeeds.
http://ecofuturo.eu/
https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2019/09/08/un-governo-che-cambia-litalia-iniziamo-a-rottamare-le-balle/5437807/
