Berlusconi sentenced, what future for Italy?

Strange but true, the SIlvio Berlusconi’s Supreme Court sentence will have a greater relapse to  Left rather than the Right side. In fact, no matter that  this sentence is the ‘Gunfight at the O.K. Corral‘ that Italians wait by 20 years in a collective perception of Politics.
A simplified world like a Spaghetti Western, an universe where the bad guys are always morally inferior: ugly, rude, corrupt, incompetent, ridiculous, infidels. And the good boys are distinguishable for their moral superiority: storyteller and soberly trendy, high laureate, perfect at home and at work.

So wee expect, in next mounthes, the theme of an ‘opaque Enrico Letta’ allied with the bad guys (PDL and UDC), repeated in meetings, marches, strikes and scandals until November, when the convention of the Democratic Party will have to settle ‘inner aspects’ about real estate and financial interests, lobbying, factionisms, immobility and adventurism, political expectations of the different electoral bases.

Matteo Renzi, despite having a good following of experts and technicians, may be ‘light’, if the Right wing will begin to attack him or CGIL and the extreme Left will emit a ‘fatwa’ in name of ‘starvation of the people ‘?
Who weighs more? The traditional electorate, octogenarian and tipycally resindent in the Apenninic Regions? The public agencies, the health lobby and the  ‘justice machine’, the controllers of State holdings? Or will it better to return to the mediation and Walter Veltroni’s ‘moderate’ majority?
And La Repubblica – the newspaper deus ex machina of the Left – will be not able to be decisive for the balance of the party?

If the Left, predictably, will thread into the dynamic pre-congress – and in the debate pro-M5S and pro-extreme Left wing – more is going to change in the center-Right, with the departure of Silvio Berlusconi, that this judgment determines.

In fact, the major companies of ‘Made in Italy ‘ are now globalized and respond to not only to national interests, the Italian capital is restructuring, as evidenced by the various shareholders’ agreements broken in last months at the level of Mediobanca, and the situation of Unicredit Bank is very complex, because in Rome more than 30% of the Italian mortgages are filed with compromised Real Estate market.
At the same time, the pontificate of Pope Francis appears firmly addressed to safeguard the interests of Vatican and ‘not only’ those of ‘financially active’ Bishops. A Pope coming from Argentina with a clear and populist vision of the relationships between power and citizens.

It is not unlikely that, having the time, the PDL evolve / dissolve in key liberal-populist and this is the main reason why the tsunami ‘judgment Berlusconi’ could hit in a more eye-catching and dramatic Democratic Party, making hasty and fueling the shaking inside frantic thrusts.

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La leggenda della spending review

Difficile scrivere qualcosa di serio in giornate in cui cronaca, informazione e governance decidono di darsi all’intrattenimento ed al varietà. Stiamo parlando della spending review.

Innanzitutto, con “revisione della spesa”, si intende quel processo diretto a migliorare l’efficienza e l’efficacia nella gestione della spesa pubblica che annualmente la Gran Bretagna attua da tempo. Come riporta l’apposito sito istituzionale britannico, “The National Archives” (of spending review), la “revisione di spesa” fissa un piano triennale di spesa della Pubblica Amministrazione, definendo i “miglioramenti chiave” che la comunità si aspetta da queste risorse. (Spending Reviews set firm and fixed three-year Departmental Expenditure Limits and, through Public Service Agreements (PSA), define the key improvements that the public can expect from these resources).

Niente tagli, semplicemente un sistema di pianificazione triennale con aggiustamenti annuali, che si rende possibile, anche e soprattutto, perchè la Camera dei Lord e la Corona britannica non vengono eletti, interrompendo eventualmente il ciclo gestionale o rendendosi esposte (nel cambio elettorale) a pressioni demagogiche o speculative.

Di cosa stia parlando Mario Monti è davvero tutto da capire, di cosa parli la stampa ancor peggio.

Venendo al super-tecnico Enrico Bondi, la faccenda si fa ancor più “esilarante” a partire dal fatto che, con tutti i professori ed i “tecnici” di cui questo governo si è dotato (utilizzandoli molto poco a dire il vero), è necessario un esterno per fare la prima cosa che Monti-Passera-Fornero avrebbero dovuto fare per guidare il paese: la spending review e cosa altro?
Il bello è che, dopo 20 anni di “dogma” – per cui di finanza ed economia potevano occuparsene solo economisti, matematici e statistici (ndr. i risultati si son visti) – adesso ci vuole un chimico (tal’è Enrico Bondi) per sistemare le cose, visto che sono gli ultimi (tra i laureati italici) ad avere una concezione interlacciata dei sistemi, una competenza merceologica e, soprattutto, la capacità di fornire stime affidabili con sveltezza.

Dulcis in fundo (al peggio non c’è mai fine) l’appello ai cittadini a segnalare sprechi.

Quante decine o centinaia di migliaia di segnalazioni arriveranno? Quanti operatori serviranno solo per catalogarle e smistarle? Quale è il modello (se è stato previsto) con cui aggregare il datawarehouse delle segnalazioni?

E quanto tempo servirà per un minimo di accertamenti “sul posto”? E chi mai eseguirà gli accertamenti?
Quante di queste segnalazioni saranno doverosamente trasmesse alla Magistratura, visto che nella Pubblica Amministrazione italiana vige ancora l’obbligo di denuncia, in caso di legittimo dubbio riguardo reati?

Una favola, insomma.
Beh, in tal caso, a Mario Monti preferisco Collodi: fu decisamente più aderente alla realtà italiana.

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L’agenda politica di maggio

Arriva il mese di maggio, quello maggiormente funesto, insieme all’autunno, per governi iniqui e regimi infausti. Niente paura, siamo in Italia, l’andamento è lento.

Giorni fa, si accennava alle “provincie” ed al nulla di fatto delle Regioni, nella non riposta speranza che Mario Monti si attenesse a tempi, leggi e promesse. Ed infatti, salvo una BCE (ovvero Mario Draghi?) che suggerisce di “accorpare” anzichè eradere, nulla s’è detto o s’è sentito.

Intanto, l’agenda c’è, l’ha fissata Monti stesso per decreto, ed è scaduta.

Non a caso, a fissare il viatico dei 30 giorni futuri, arrivano segnali di insofferenza dal Senato, dove una leggina “salva pensioni d’annata” è caduta su un emendamento della (nuova)Lega con 124 voti a favore, 94 contrari, 12 le astensioni.

Esiste, almeno al Senato, una “maggioranza” diversa dall’attuale non disponibile (in parte) a votare le mattanze sociali della Fornero o gli F-35 di Finmeccanica, ma propensa a legiferare in favore di minori prebende per la Casta e minore spesa pubblica?

Sarebbe interessante saperlo e, forse, lo sapremo a breve, con quello che c’è da votare in Parlamento.

Una “congiuntura interessante”, perchè un cambio di passo di Mario Monti – con rimpasto di governo, visto che stragiura da mesi che “i conti sono a posto” – rappresenterebbe un’ottima via d’uscita per Mario Monti, Giorgio Napolitano ed i partiti per restare saldi in sella mentre si avvia la tornata elettorale del 2013, per licenziare qualche ministro “ingombrante” e, soprattutto per noi, metter mano a quello che spread, default e speculatori hanno interrotto: la nascita della III Repubblica.

Del resto, i tempi sono pronti.

Tra qualche giorno conosceremo gli esiti delle elezioni locali e gli pseudomaghi di partito consulteranno le loro sfere di cristallo e detteranno alleanze e strategie.

Tra un mese circa esploderà (è il caso di dirlo) il “panico” da IMU, che verrà incassato anche da enti che la legge ha già cassato, pur senza attuare. E dopo un po’, con la chiusura delle scuola, le grandi città inizieranno ad esser piene di gente disoccupata e ragazzini senza meta, mentre le località turistiche dovranno aspettarsi i minimi storici.

Entro luglio bisognerà capire come uscire dallo “spremiagrumi fiscale impazzito” che Prodi, Visco, Padoa Schioppa, Tremonti e Monti hanno creato in questi 20 anni, portando la leva fiscale sul “cittadino onesto” ben oltre il 60% del PIL da lui prodotto.

Da settembre, forse prima, saremo in campagna elettorale per le politiche e bisognerà trovare soldi da spendere per rattoppi e ripristini, se i partiti vogliono le urne piene.

Dulcis in fundo, l’idea – cara ad una certa Roma – di riaggregare intorno Pierferdinado Casini la vecchia Democrazia Cristiana ed i comitati d’affari d’altri tempi, sembra inabissarsi dopo le esternazioni del leader dell’UDC ed il proseguire delle sue frequentazioni con Totò Cuffaro, detenuto per mafia a Regina Coeli. Dopo il fondo il “de profundis” con l’ennesima caduta del Partito Democratico che votava a favore delle “pensioni d’oro”, mentre il PdL sosteneva l’emendamento di Lega e IdV.

Mario Monti non sembra un uomo da “cambio di passo”, come non sembra anteporre l’italianità a tutto tondo, quella “popolare” come quella “laica”, agli ambienti bocconiani e “protagonisti” dai quali proviene.

Ma, d’altra parte, sono già sei mesi sei che l’Italia non ha un ministro dell’economia a tempo pieno, quello del welfare sembra quasi che levi ai poveri per dare ai ricchi, agli esteri “vorremmo vincerne una”, alla giustizia serve sempre, da 20 anni almeno, una legge per snellire, semplificare, accelerare le procedure giudiziarie, dateci un ministro delle infrastrutture che faccia costruire o manutentare qualcosa.

Mai dire mai, però. Il trasformismo è un’arte italiana.

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Italy? A cleptocracy, as a Supreme Court judge wrote

Ferdinando Imposimato, 76 years old, is the Honorary President of the Supreme Court. In his long career he was involved in the fight against Mafia,  Camorra and Terrorism, including the kidnapping of Aldo Moro (1978), the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II (1981), the murder of the vice president of the Superior Council, Vittorio Bachelet, or of judges as Ricccardo Palma and Girolamo Tartaglione, killed by Mafia. A brother killed by Camorra for revenge.

Below, extensive abstracts are reported (translated by me, I hope correctly) from a long examination published by the “citizen” Ferdinando Imposimato on his Facebook page (link).
A “brief”, which should give pause not only to Italy but to the whole European Union and the Atlantic Alliance, as Mexican situation has required.

“The debt is not ‘public’: it is of the State. It covers the total expenditure incurred by the State, as direct investments such as large public works infrastructures, costed hundred times more ‘than it would be right to spend’.

“Public debt is grown tremendously to fuel corruption and financial crime, that ‘won’ 90% of large public works contracts.
And it ‘s not true that that debt should be paid by those poor souls who have not enjoyed at all. “

“Italy have not built new public schools, no funds have been created for the indigent, small and medium enterprises were not supported, public services were not improved, wages have not been collected to guarantee a free and dignified life. “

“We need funds for debts contracted – with dilated to excess costs for firms – in the post-earthquake emergencies, in the construction of large and unnecessary infrastructures for the swimming championships in 2009, to increase per thousand of the costs of highways and high speed railroads, in the payment of debts incurred by Alitalia and in indirect investments such as public financing of political parties (also used for purchases of private property), in soft loans or in patronage hiring in Autorithies, in the plethora of unnecessary bureaucracies in Regions, provinces and municipalities, as well as in the Italian Parliament. Up to the costs of military commitments in Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon.

All expenses that do not produce any benefit to the community as they will not ensure peace in the world”.

“Meanwhile the crisis overwhelms millions of people, data from studies of Caritas have witnessed more than 8 million poor and an increase of 20% of poverty among young people under 35 years. Job opportunities are heavly reduced. “

“Nobody tells us the truth about what is happening and they want to impose new sacrifices with the pretext of having to reduce the public debt, with the danger of bankruptcy, the bankruptcy that will sweep only the most weak people.”

“The movement of Indignati was under  attack and it was unjustly de-legitimized by the violence of a few scoundrels, who are the main allies of the Parlamentar Majority, responsible for a iniquitous and unjust policy. We stand in solidarity with the Police and share their protest, but it would be a mistake to confuse the criminals that have rocked the Piazza San Giovanni and other streets of Rome by assaults and arsons, with those who were protesting peacefully. “

“However a minority of thugs can not obscure the reasons of the disagreement. They only do the interests of this Government that should go home.

The movements, in the absence of the parties, are now the protagonists of a direct democracy, mobilizing millions of people to feel like characters and push the government toward decisions that do not penalize again poors and dispossessed. “

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Who was Marcello Dell’Utri?

First, we point out that, according to two judgments, canceled or being canceled by the Supreme Court, as it seems, Marcello Dell’Utri was charged to support mafia organizations and activities.

As one of the closest  “political” advisers of Silvio Berlusconi, these news would have to make a stir since its entry into politics, but this did not happen.

In addition, admitted the veracity of witnesses and evidences, it is ‘impressive’ that Senator Dell’Utri has had dealings with mobsters only until 1992, interrupting when Berlusconi entered politics.
Not a “detail”, if anyone considers that, in the world and not only in Italy, many business and relationships have changed since 1990, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, with regard to policy, and the arrest of John Gotti in New York superboss, as on the Mafia.

Elsewhere, there were already Oppositions and Media on the sidelines and the Government Berlusconi was forced to resign.
Elsewhere …, not in Italy, a garantist country, where there are draconian laws for illegal immigrants,  against ‘smoking a joint’ kids and about workers dismissions, as those to reduce future retired rights or to exclude a part of unemployed by social salary.

Yet, at least one question could be put: if Dell’Utri had contacts with the Mafia – without being a ‘consigliori’ or simply a friend – or if had not: who was represented by him when he was in tose places with that people?

Mr. Rapisarda, with whom he worked from 1978 to 1981, years in which he had – as Marco Travaglio wrote – relations with Ciancimino, powerful mayor of Palermo, with Cuntrera-Caruana’s Clan, which controlled cocaine trade, and with Jimmy Fauci, who ran the drug trade between Italy, Britain and Canada?
Or acted on behalf of Silvio Berlusconi since 1963, when he went to Milan to become his secretary? Or, again, was he infiltrated by Mafia since 1974, a time when it was assumed as ‘groom’ Vittorio Mangano, who was arrested in 1980 by Giovanni Falcone for international drug traffic?
Or nothing of that and, then, what else?

Hypotheses, not certainties, in the face of so many temporal and relational proximities those have to be fully clarified and justified, before in politics and after, if necessary, in a court.

Who or what “masters” had Marcello Dell’Utri – if he had – from 1982 to 1992, when, despite having strategic locations Publitalia’80, was caught by the police in the company of known mobsters, as Marco Travaglio reports in his books?

If it was not a gangster – and it seems it was not – for whom Marcello Dell’Utri worked and what was its real function? Incredibly, the issue is not only relevant about the respect of laws, but, principally, it is an historical and sociological question.
And these questions are absent in the media and in social groups.

A mediator, an “ambassador”, a broker? A sure and confident friend of a VIP as Silvio Berlusconi? A competent and clever manager? A ‘free lance’?
Had he a personal (and big) power or he was always an instrument of powerful ‘others’? What was the appeal that led to a prominent man like Silvio Berlusconi to find in Marcello Dell’Utri the confidant of a lifetime and the trustee of an empire?

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