As everyone knows, Italy is in the midst of a financial crisis (it seems always to be in a financial crisis, as it was when I was a correspondent in Rome in the seventies, and has remained ever since), and the reaction of the political class, including the PM himself, is the same as ever: they assume some greater power will tell them what to do about the crisis, they focus on getting their hands on power and money. It’s not unfamiliar to Washington watchers, of course, but it’s more blatant in Rome. For the most part, the Italian Government (within which power struggles abound) is looking for the deus ex machina of the day to tell them what to do with their money, taxes, and debt ratios, while all and sundry demand the resignation of the Berlusconi Government so that they can divvy up whatever goodies are available after the deus (the IMF? the European Central Bank? Obama?) issues the orders.
An Italophilic friend once remarked that Italy is forever on the edge of the abyss, but it won’t ever slide into the darkness, because they always find a way. But then again, the past is not a reliable guide to the future, and you never know. One thing to keep in mind is that his enemies have been trying to (politically) kill Berlusconi for a long time, but nothing — not sex scandals, not indictments for various crimes, not parliamentary maneuveing by so-called friends and open enemies, has gotten the deed done. If there were an election in Italy today, and if he ran, he’d most likely win; there isn’t a popular opposition candidate around whom the various anti-Berlusconi parties seem inclined to rally.
Meanwhile, there may have been a message from the Almighty that one can take seriously. If you’re familiar with the fabulous frescos by the great early Renaissance genius Giotto in the Basilica of Assissi, you may recall that one of the most famous panels depicts the death (at the bottom) and the rise to Heaven (on top) of Saint Francis. Between the two scenes is a layer of clouds. Millions of tourists, faithful, art historians and students have admired it for some eight hundred years, but only now has a scholar noticed that there’s a demon, complete with horns, very clearly in the cloud bank. Have a look. The article’s in Italian, but at the bottom there’s a series of photos and you’ll see it. You can’t miss it. It’s one of those things which, once you’ve “seen” it, you say to yourself, “well of course! It’s so obvious.”
But the lady who spotted it saw more clearly than all the rest of us. As Saint Francis rose to Heaven, he had to deal with real evil.
Which, I can’t help thinking, is a perfect metaphor for our world, in which so many would-be leaders grab whatever they can while they ignore the very real forces of malevolence lurking overhead. Like those Italian pols — and ours — who keep playing the same failed games instead of girding their loins and fighting evil. Of which there is quite a lot, in the clouds and on the ground.
– that Devil’s Face in the photo of billowing smoke from one of the World Trade Towers on 9/11.
unfortunately if there were an election now in italy, every kind of italian’s left will win, every poll show this.
Actually, I was more frightened by the way the Eurozone was treating both Italy AND Greece these last few days. When Prime Minister George Papandreou was threatening to actually have an election on whether or not the Greek people should take the deal the Eurozone was shoving down their throats, France and Germany were acting more like the Mafia than fellow democratic nations. France and Germany were openly saying that Greece would be kicked out of the Eurozone if it did not take the deal, and who knows what other financial horrors would befall the Greeks if they did not take a deal that was put together by Germans, the same people who invaded them during World War II and killed a lot, and I mean a lot, of Greeks.
The people in Paris and Berlin keep forgetting that they are NOT dealing with the United States of Europe. This is a vast collection of nations with their own histories and their own way of doing things. They NEVER, EVER, should have gotten rid of their own currencies. For over almost 50 years after World War II, Europe was doing fine as a group of independent nations working togther as a loose union (as in the common market). But no, they had to make believe that they were just like the United States and they never, ever, will be. And the more they try to be like the United States, the more they will be alienating their own members.
I don’t think either the Euro or the EU will last much longer. And for the Germans to try and impose their way of doing things on the Italians, they should consider one of Italy’s favorite sayings, “Dolce fa Niente.” Roughly translated, it means, “How sweet it is to do nothing.” It probably drives the Germans crazy.
What did you make of “Boomerang” by Michael Lewis? For his pieces in that book
aren’t all that different than his pieces for “Vanity Fair”.
As long as assets reflect tangible book value, frankly we wind up with a proper
valuation of the work done by people.
It is quite the come down for those whose view of themself is shattered when they don’t have the house with the circular drive when they get back from their honeymoon.
I don’t think the “face” is all that obvious or realistic. I think it’s quite accidental. The human brain has a propensity to “recognize” faces in accidental arrangements of objects or other abstract patterns.
I have never quite understood the great big fuss over the most delectable Ruby Heart’breaker. The girl’s a whore, and that’s the end of it. It’s not as if Ruby was a good girl, lured by subterfuge into the vile embrace of the lascivious Bunga-Bunga. To be sure, she has now made her mark. She is sure to acquire a wealthy ‘protector’.
This World has been and continues to be in war between
good and evil. It is spiritual warfare that manifests itself
in the physical.
Our own nation is in an epic war between freedom and the evil
control of man.
exactly!
Neither party really wants to fight for freedom with even the Republicans slow walking us to the edge. In my of so humble opinion, why can’t we make government follow the rules they make for us? We sweat for W-2′s and scheme for 1099-MISC but all you have to do is beg and you get free money. It is past time that we knew where it went and that those who got it recieved their big brother reporting via a 1099-GOV!
Sinking of the Titanic
I suggest this quote from Titanic:
== ==
Ismay: (President of White Star Lines): Most unfortunate, captain!
Captain: [perspiring and trembling] Water fourteen feet above the keel in ten minutes. In the forepeak, in all three holds, and in the boiler room six. That’s five compartments! She can stay afloat with the first four compartments breached, but not five!
Captain: (thinking) As she goes down by the head, the water will spill over the tops of the bulkheads at E deck from one to the next. Back and back. There’s no stopping it.
Smith: The pumps… if we opened the doors…
Captain: The pumps buy you time, but minutes only. From this moment, no matter what we do, Titanic will founder.
Ismay: But this ship can’t sink!
Captain: She’s made of iron, sir! I assure you, she can and she will. It is a mathematical certainty.
== ==
I think most people believe that our country can’t sink, no matter what laws or policies are implemented. But, the iron laws of incentive, energy, and economy cannot be abolished. People will not work hard if their income is taxed away. Investors will not risk their money if they cannot make more money. Great doctors will not work in a profession that requires half of their time to be devoted to paperwork at no benefit to the patients.
Caring and Reality
A conversation in San Francisco.
=== ===
I pointed out that California and San Francisco were both hemorrhaging money, destroying jobs, and were fundamentally unsustainable systems.
She said “I know, I know. I’ve heard all that. But, you know, I just love it here so much and I don’t want anything to change. Something will come up and it will get fixed. I just have to believe it.”
=== ===
Obviously these anti-Berlusconi newspapers publish just lies and trumped-up charges in the right of this great and wonderful man, the son of the great ancient Roman civilization “Mr. Silvio Berlusconi” not the least of, which is jealousy over his great success and wealth.
No matter how “Greeks and Italians” are considered the sons of the foundational culture societies of the Western Civilization. and both great country (Italia & Greece) are considers in fact “the Masters of the Western Civilization.” But woe, pretty much everything bad in this world. Sad…
Dear Mr. Ledeen,
Today, Nov. 10, is the 236th birthday of the Marine Corps, one year older than the United States itself.
From the first Marines: Captain Samuel Nicholas formed two battalions of Continental Marines on 10 November 1775 in Philadelphia as naval infantry. To those deployed today, you provide honor to our country at at time of seemingly endless dishonor.
Thank you to all those that have and still serve including Mr. Ledeen’s son.
As long as the US can count on the US dollar being a reserve currency, the days of its sovereign bond yields reflecting what the Italians have to offer today,
haven’t arrived yet.
When 60 – 80% of asset value is determined by psychology, we frankly need a more
reliable gauge to determine tangible book value.
So, what this means is this: what European governments are going through, except
for the Scandinavian countries, and possibly the Czechs and Swiss, is not restricted to Europe.
Therefore, will the Italians take the Swedish way out and wind down its most questionable assets, discount those that are not the cleanest, and see the assets most likely to hold onto their value, to do so. I hope so, because expanding the money supply is not the best way of dealing with too much financial equivalent of empty calories, being pumped into the system.
For, there is no way that securities backed by sub-prime mortgages were worth what they were sold for. The same goes for Greek sovereign bonds, Irish Sovereign bonds, Icelandic sovereign bonds, and so forth.
Dear Michael, I think that “Italians must ride the Great American Ship!?”
I love your last paragraph Michael:
“Like those Italian pols — and ours — who keep playing the same failed games instead of girding their loins and fighting evil. Of which there is quite a lot, in the clouds and on the ground.”
In the Seventh Century, a small Muslim army defeated two superpowers of the time, the Persian and Roman Empires. History repeats itself, since it is made by humans, and human nature has not changed in the past several thousand years. It would take a hero with a sense of history to change the equation.
As Niccolò Machiavelli said: “if you wish to see what is to be, you must consider what has been: all things of this world in every era have their counterparts in ancient times.”
My humble advice to everyone: Learn your history well if you want to survive…