June 04, 2007

De-regulation Italian style

Sir, Wolfgang Münchau, who I do not take for an Italian begs “Italian politics needs to get over the rainbow” June 4, because, if not “over a period of 10, perhaps 15 years, Italy’s economic decline will become unbearable”. Unbearable to whom? Since I cannot under any circumstances profess to being an expert on Italy and I must instead confess always having the need of seeing what Italy could offer the world in terms of tips for better living, I would be more inclined to find in the observation that “many public sector employees never turn up for work” a description of effective de-regulation Italian style, and in the “yet are fully protected against dismissal” a slightly too Germanic observance of the taking care of the losers rule so admonished by the World Bank and others. Capicci?