Off the Beaten Path in Italy
Barbara and I have spent most of the last six weeks in Italy, our adopted second home. We met in Rome in 1973, got married five months later in the big synagogue on the banks of the Tiber, lived there for several years, and have managed to get back every year for varying lengths of time. This trip has been almost all in places most tourists don’t get to see, like rural Tuscany and Naples, and Campagna, and right now we are in Sorrento, looking across the bay at Naples and Vesuvius, which, as the vulcanologists will tell you, is overdue for its next eruption, which will devastate the whole region…so far, no sign of it this week though.
Naples is a doomed city, which mightily contributes to the unique creativity of its citizens, about which you’ve undoubtedly read by now in my Virgil’s Golden Egg and Other Neapolitan Miracles. The image of people living at the foot of a great volcano can be applied to Italy in general nowadays, and indeed to Europe as a whole. The European ecoomy is famously gasping for energy — with productive niches in Holland and Germany — and explosive forces are bubbling through the crust of the self-satisfied welfare state that’s been happily and irresponsibly taking care of Europeans’ every desire for decades. Now that they’ve been caught spending much more than they ever had (and having most of their military needs covered by Uncle Sam), and suddenly being told to get serious, they’re blowing a lot of political steam. Thus, the Greek riots. Thus, the sprint to socialist fantasies in France. Thus, the recent bombs set off at Italian welfare offices, and the kneecaping of a welfare official.
The “technicians” in charge of the Italian government nowadays started by cutting government spending and raising taxes. I have long believed that it’s incoherent to raise taxes during a recession, and indeed the Italians are now talking about ways to stimulate “growth.” But, rather like our own deep thinkers in Washington, the stimulation they’re talking about is all supposed to come from on high, from the state. Which of course is the root cause of the crisis in the first place. But the Europeans made a Faustian deal with their politicians–I’ll leave you alone if you take good care of me, and I’ll just indulge myself–and it’s hard for them to ask their failed leaders to get out of the way and let the people work their way out of the mess.
The big Italian story this week is that one of the country’s most prestigious banks, indeed its first bank, the Monte dei Paschi di Siena, was raided by the Feds because it turns out that they overpaid for an acquisition a few year ago. Why did it take so long to be noticed? Good question. Probably both the sin and the delayed response are part of the corrupt system that is inevitably created when so much power is left in the state’s greedy hands (it alo explains the central government’s reflex of raising taxes while pretending to shrink its activities). The bank was very much part of the system, being part of the municipal government, etcetera, etcetera, and so forth…
Some folks will go to jail in a few years, after the slow judicial process unfolds, but the basic problem is unlikely to be addressed. And that’s a great pity, because some of the explosive forces at work over here are very healty, and in some ways even magical. If you get the chance, go to the little city of Cortona and visit the museum oppoite its fabulous Gothic cathedral. In that museum you will find a fresco by Fra Angelico that looks to have been painted a few hour ago, full of blazing reds and golds, vibrating with deep faith and true genius. It’s amazing.
That sort of creativity is still alive here, but it’s been suffocated for generations. I hope the Europeans manage to open pathways for creative energy rather than asking the pols to solve all their problems. It’s tough, and there are some dark sides to the enterprise. The Neapolitans largely ignore their governors and find amazing way to beat the system. But one of the most successful of those amazing ways is to resort to organized crime…which indeed creates “jobs,” generates enormous wealth, but…destroys any hope of law and order.
Stay tuned. It’s fascinating. And while you watch and listen, remind yourself that this is what Obama Inc. is trying to build in America. We don’t want that, and we’re frighteningly close to it.
Faster, please!
Thanks for the “Italian Symphony” ( Cue Mendelssohn), er, update.
I predict Obama will go down as one of the most significant presidents in history, since he’s proven that truth is stranger than fiction—he’s living what was left in the air, at the end of that Redford movie, “The Candidate”.
What a grace, for America to get to experience, in full, her first—and probably only, at least for a generation—“red baby”, Socialist prez! And, Obama could end up being the “hook” that defines the whole tendency of western civilizations trying out this anti-capitalistic dead end.
However, happily, you can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube—meaning, more and more people over time will understand what he as the King of Socialism truly has in store for them: and, they’ll heartily reject it.
In JFK’s day, his foibles were kept secret, but ho boy, what a difference fifty years makes!
I’ll be 70 in a couple of weeks, and in my retired dotage, seeing old movies has become quite a consciousness-raising thrill. After viewing early 50’s flicks like “Cheaper By The Dozen”, the mind rolls on—just think, in 1952, it was only 20 years earlier that it was 1932, and the USA had to process all things to do with and by FDR, while suffering a depression that seemed to last for ever.
Here we are in 2012, and only 20 years ago it was 1992! Seems to moi like just a few days ago!
Also, in 1952, it was only around 50 years ago that it was 1899—which to us, NOWADAYS, seems like ancient history. But to me, 52 years ago, the year of 1960, when I graduated high school—why, eminently memorable.
My point?
The old saw that time waits for no man applies, in oh so very human and humorous spades.
Perhaps we, in Obama’s America, are too close to the denigration he and his leftwing ilk are gleefully producing. I had my own perspective vastly broadened last night, with a PBS program featuring a woman trekking around in Bangladesh.
What a country! CW encapsulates its essence in two “facts”—the regular flooding that happens there, and the terrible poverty suffered by the people of that bad assed land.
However! Even as all the living standard metrics are horrible, especially when compared to those of the USA in 2012, the humans living there are able to feed themselves and reproduce more of themselves, over time. Isn’t THAT in itself a success?
Therefore, perhaps we would be better served to look at humanity from Mars, say, and stop worrying about all the political and economical “ripples” from certain specific Obama-like “plucks” of reality.
Besides, there is only light.
It is surpassing strange how people can “know” about the spectrum of light, X-rays, ultraviolet rays, the visible part of the spectrum, infrared rays—the rainbow, for heaven’s sake—and fail to bodily incorporate this knowledge. The sensation receptors, especially the eyes, are always struck by light, in infinite forms, at the same time THEY, themselves, are gatherings of chemical elements, each of which is merely stepped down light.
And, the consciousness of all this, as well, is light. Indeed, consciousness is ALL.
“Be Consciousness.
Contemplate Consciousness.
Transcend everything in Consciousness.
This is the Epitome of the Way of Truth.”
From “The Liberator (Eleutherios)”, page 37, by Da Free John, 1982
– during 1966-7. Pretty much visited all of it and the rest of Europe at that time. Went back for a couple more visits before the turn of the century. Since then, have visited four times between 2001 and 2012. Somehow thought the Euro would help, but Italy and my California appear in a determined downward spiral. Used to joke that Italy could live off the Romans and the Renaissance for another 500 years, but not funny anymore.
Enjoy the rest of your stay Michael. I envy you; I’ve always wanted to see Italy.
Apprehensive as I am about the Obama Government following the Euro-Socialist course, I don’t think you can put all the blame on Italian “leftists.” Silvio Berlusconi, twice Prime Minister, dominated politics in Italy for almost 20 years, during which period, as a capitalist in the Robber Baron style, he came into control of all television in the country and became one of the richest men in Europe with a fortune of over 15 Billion dollars. Maybe you could write a book about the inherent corruption of all Italian politics. It is so thoroughly and uniquely rotten that I don’t think even Bill Ayer and David xelrod would ever perceive it a a viable model for the USA.
I am sure, however, that there are a lot of members of Congress who would love to follow the Italian Legislatlure which provides a car with driver for every Representative.
Berlusconi was engaged in what’s politely called “Crony Capitalism” but it’s really Fascism. He used the power of the State to secure preferential treatment, crush any competition, and enrich himself and his cronies… just like the Corrupt-O-Crats in Washington (and every State capitol and City Hall in the nation). The media and politicians have trained us to equate the terms “capitalism”, “private equity” and “free markets” to the extent that most now believe a privately owned monopoly engages in “free enterprise”. What Italy needs is free markets because competition unlocks the creative capacity of the people. With free markets the power is with the people, with non-free markets the power is in the hands of the politicians. Unfortunately, there’s little opportunity for graft in free markets so Italy, and the rest of the world, is likely doomed. Politicians would rather rule over an impoverished nation that govern a wealthy and prosperous one. Government is inherently corrupt and the only way to minimize the corruption is to minimize the government.
I think a basic, fundamental difference between us and the Europeans is that we overthrew/dispensed with the monarchist/aristocratic principle long before they did. In fact, it’s been less than 100 years since aristocrats ran Europe. Thus they still have an ingrained sense of being peasants and burghers looking toward “the castle” for dispensations. The duke or count owned your land, owned your village, in some cases your business, so you always looked above yourself for what you needed. We largely did away with that 235 years ago, although many would now like Uncle Sam to be the Big Hubby of the Julia state. Hopefully, though, we can resist that in November.
I’d postulate that Europe has yet to throw off the aristocratic principle. Mentally, the people are still living under a monarch. As long as the monarch is providing them bread and circuses; que sera, sera. Much like the blacks in the United States, freedom can’t be imposed from the top down. It must be taken from the bottom up. Europeans as yet don’t have that mindset, in my opinion.
We made that choice with our own form of government, but for some reason, we’re trying to emulate the failures across the Atlantic. Too many over here like bread and circuses. That bothers me.
Right on. It also reminds me of one of the great exoduses from California a few decades ago to the NW. Californians complained of the high cost of living and over regulation and taxation as the reasons for moving. Then, we saw a gradual voting in of CA values (spending and taxation) to the point of no political/ideological differentiation along the Western seaboard. What a mess.
Barackito Obamalini, la, la, la.
Law and order? Remember, cuckoo clocks and Borgias.
Mr. Ledeen, a correction:
They didn’t kneecapped a welfare official, they kneecapped the CEO (amministratore delegato) of Ansaldo Nucleare.
As usual, socialists (as Mises used the word) always kneecap productive people.
Hello from Italy.
I’m not sure the more socialism goes on, the more people will heartily reject it, and I think the proof of it is… Italy!
They complain about anything, from government, to taxes, to weather; but as long as you don’t hurt their feelings, they are all ok.
Translation of “hurt their feelings”: telling them they are the only ones to blame because they defend the system, the welfare, the socialized education, medicine, the extreme regulation of trading, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc.
Socialism is a vicious circle just because people is convinced those ideals are good, but it’s just the people is bad, so they are not implementing those ideals very well. Thus, they protest against people (politicians) but not against the system.
They actually think welfare, socialized medicine, commerce regulation are advances, the progress of humanity…
Once you begin to feed the beast, it demands to be fed continuously, regardless of who is in power. Witness Greece, Spain, and now France… .
And think about our educated elites, who clamor for more spending as well. I had to stop reading Krugman. I don’t think the man is quite sane.
Our only hope here is that the consequences of this kind of payola politics will become so clear from the European mess that we can stop it before it eats us too.
Sane? He’s a bug-eyed lunatic.
Europe is proving an old adage. “Give a mouse a cookies and he will demand a glass of milk.”
“they?” Think “us.” How many Repubs bestow praises on Social Security, Medicare, etc? If there is not a course correction, we will be soon fully vested and defensive of Obamacare or whatever improvement of it that Mr. Romney negotiates.
I use “they” because sure I -myself, don’t believe or accept that system. Your point is valid tho, pro-welfare ideas have infected a lot of Republicans since long ago
Unfortunatley, the Italians, like most of the other European welfare states, are paying for years of sitting on their butts. As the Italians used to say, “Dolce fa niente,” or “How sweet it is to do nothing.” That about sums up all of southern Italy. In northern Italy, the part north of Rome, you have most of the country’s industry and wealth. The northern Italians, especially those in Milan and Genoa, are very business oriented and very successful. The problem is, all the money they make can’t carry all of the people who don’t work much for a living, and most of those people live in the south. The Neapolitans not only are famous for beating taxes in Italy, but they’ve also made laziness a fine art, trying to get the most amount of money for as little work as possible. I can say this because my mother and her entire family is from Naples and they’d probably be the first ones to admit it. Remember, “Dolce fa niente,” that is the Neaplitan battle cry.
So let’s review. You have half of the country that’s supporting the other half that is leaching off of the government for just about everything. And the people living off of the government will continue voting for the social-welfare state because the like getting “free” stuff, or being supported by the government. Hmmmm, where have I heard this before. You would think I’m talking about California or Washington DC. But that’s Italy and, unfortunately, that type of attitude is rampant here, too. At this rate, a majority of Americans will also be saying “Dolce fa niente” in the very near future.
Northern Italians have a saying: “Africa begins at Naples”.
Go ahead blame Southern Italy and Sicily for all the Republics woes.
How boring, trite, conventional and wrongheaded. So simplistic better as a bumper sticker.
Much rather be in Sicilia than some neighborhoods in Milano.
Samuzzu
I’ve dreamed of touring Italy since I was a teenager
Even as I never traveled farther south than Bologna, I am very fond of Italy, its landscapes, its art, its people and their gusto.
And yet, Bologna has long elected a communist mayor, and its otherwise great university has long been as lefty as it gets. This juxtaposition of catholic faith and communist politics is very strange to me, but they have a special talent for finding their way in it. They have an old saying “metere la coda dove non va il capo” (put the tail where the head won’t fit) expressing their dogged resourcefulness, to the point of managing paradox with ease, and even elegance.
Where is this headed? It looks dreadful to me. Italy’s nativity statistics are dismal, barely over one child per woman, which can only be disastrous, since the wonderful “social benefits” depend on money taken from the youth to support the greying, but for how much longer? I believe having children and raising them is an act of faith, particularly faith in the future. Hard to admit, but failing to have children must therefore be a spiritual bankruptcy, a terrible loss of faith, regardless of how well covered by the charms of an apparently inexhaustible energy.
Creativity and the capacity for improvisation are wonderful things, but what good is a fountain when the water is gone?
Upon the fact that, unassisted, you’re smart enough to know which side of the bread, the butter is on, when someone tells you that, he is there to help you (“We’re from the government—we’re here to help you.”), probably, he’s fibbing, . . . administrative officers are a threat to human life and intent, . . . hence, the inverse proportion of administrative governmental people to children, . . .
Naples is a pigsty. Classic example of what happens when the smart people leave. The ones that remain can’t be bothered to pick up the trash. And yes, I have been there recently. If the Northern Italians had any sense they’ed declare their independence from the Mezzogornio and prosper.
I lived in Italy for a year in the ’70′s while going to school. I puzzle over the import of the Fra Angelico fresco. It does show what amazing beauty can emerge from the heart and mind of man. But such men were also captives, much as architects are today, of more economically creative types.
I saw dynamism in the mid 70′s, particularly in design, industry and fashion. The government was widely seen as unstable, not too important, and highly bureaucratic. But the Italians themselves struck me as a very family centered culture.
I think Professor Guvinoff has touched on the most troubling and tragic aspect of the current situation: the loss of faith in family and the reluctance to have children. It seems almost a natural outgrowth of ease and prosperity, visible all over the developed world. It is almost as if societies want to die, like plants, after a period of flourishing color.
We should be different from the plants and animals. We don’t just breathe and consume, we think and make. It falls unto us to figure out how to master our collective destiny, how to ensure our survival through the survival of our offspring. In that regard, we seem like the basic forms of life, we just carry a better tool kit.
Simple, the inverse proportion of administrative governmental people to children, . . .
Dear Barbara and Michael,
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! And many, many, many, many more!
Love,
Mary Lou and Mike
Yes, and many happy returns Dr. Ledeen.
Bravo! Sono d’accordo con Dr. Ledeen. Che peccata!
Chiarificazione: It’s a shame not that I agree with Michael, but that Italy’s in the shape it’s in.
Alas, Michael, the affliction that debilitates Italy is found elsewhere. Take a look at the letters to the editor about Quebec, for Quebec has more in common with Greece or Italy, than the most productive Europeans: http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/05/14/todays-letters-majority-say-its-time-for-quebec-to-go/
Also, congratulations to you and your better half. How goes her submission for sainthood for having put up with you all these years?
If a person fails to contribute to society, then they have no investment. Everything is someone else’s responsibility – mainly the government.
Margaret Thatcher nailed it best when she stated something to the effect “Pennies don’t fall from heaven – they have to be earned here on earth.”
Her and my views are the opposite of today’s liberal. It could actually be said that the liberal philosophy is rooted in moral degradation. If we don’t plant ourselves firmly in principle-based morals, society will collapse with the help of opportunistic thugs (political and corporate).
Margaret Thatcher also said that Socialism is an excellent system —
until you run out of other people’s money.
I have also visited Italy. Although the country is very beautiful and has a lot to offer, the service industry sucks. The high cost of employment forces many restaurants and stores to cut the number of employees. It was normal to enter a busy restaurant, to only have one waiter and just one or two cooks, whereas here in the USA, there would be three times as many employees.
Mr. Ledeen,
Excellent article. I agree with you that, European style socialism (or any other kind) is not the answer to our economic problems. We’ve seen how that story ends several times. Governments can’t run business. However, government must regulate business. We’ve also seen what happens when there is a lack of important regulation.
Something that is (apparently) not understood by conservatives is that the Mexican economy (excluding its energy sector) is one of the most libertarian economies in the world. If Friedman, Rand, and Regan were correct, Mexico should be an economic paradise; it’s not.
So for your next article, I have the following suggestion for a title and topic:
On the Broken Path in Mexico – Touring Mexico Offers Glimpse into the future of the Republican Economy
Uh-ah. Mexico is socialistic too, well, more fascist, as in national socialism. Their energy sector is nationalized and all the power and money is concentrated in a handful of families that control everything. The result is corruption in every aspect of the country. Nothing gets done until you pay off (bribe) someone.
Andrew Klavan: Liberal Fantasies vs. Reality, Can you Spot the Difference?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90SdmjuCAqw&feature=player_embedded
How To Tour Rome
Rent an apartment for a full month near the Pantheon. Don’t leave the city the whole time. It will cost you less then a hotel and be more comfortable. You will never run out of new places to discover but you will also have enough time so you can have days where you just relax and do nothing but enjoy life. You will also have enough time to develop favorite cafes and coffee bars. And it will not be that expensive since you will not be spending anything on transportation, moving city to city.
I did the above in 2005. Best trip of my life.
#12 – f1guyus – has it exactly correct. Naples is a pigsty. And yes, I have also been there recently. The city is teeming with filth, both literally and figuratively.
I have been in Italy the last 11 years with my wife and 3 kids.So I can bring more than a turist experience.There is one huge cancer choking Italy: Its political class.From the top of the state down to the very minor elected town counselor, they crave for power, for money, for perks, for lust.It has been the same disgusting behaviour all over the XXth century.Left-Right-Center, call them socialists-communists-christian democrats-rightist-fascist: They steal , they corrupt and they get corrupted. sometimes they get caught, sometimes they serve a few years in jail.The nickname of the political class is ” La Casta “.This example from the political italian world ( 180,000 personns are involved in politics at various levels from state to regions to provinces and cities ) stains the whole country’s behaviour.The health system is under political power sharing ; if you need a good surgeon, check not only his Medicinal credential ( he may have bought most of his exams ) but check also his political affiliation.He might be really in power in his hospital or the contrary and you the patient may end with the wrong blood transfusion because some feuding colleagues decided it was time to kick him out with a ” blackflag ” medical malpractice.The whole country is corrupted by the behaviour of the political class.
The same behaviour applies to the Universities : ” clientelism ” , exams given to friends and good looking girls willing to please in bed the professors, numerus clausus exams where 90% of the accepted students are sons or relatives of the practitionners ( very evident in the medical admission test )
The second aspect is that the people themselves no longer care, they have grown accostumed to the bad behaviour of the so-called elites, and they develop a defense mechanism : If the elite rob and steal , we the people shall rob and steal at our own level; tax avoidance is an euphemism in Italy.
The third aspect is the uselessness of the State apparatus and its ever-growing burden on the real economy:
1/3 rd of the public employees do almost nothing- 1/3 do things that are choking the economy and the enterprise spirit – 1/3 are working hard and are giving an inefficient service because they have not enough computers, the ink toner is finished, their office is open two afternoons per week ( they are still payed full wage ) and ouhave to wait abnormal delays to get a redtape schedule.
So altogether those are the 3 capital sins of the italians.But the country is marvelous , the food and the climate are great, etc..For a turist it’s a dream, for a common citizen it’s quite complex to say the least.
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