The ballet of the maneuver: are they doing it or are they there?

For several weeks, following the vicissitudes of the government maneuver, I have been haunted by a question: are these our rulers really there or are they doing us? That is, they deliberately appear to be dumb to pull the wool over the eyes of market operators and the Brussels authorities as well as of course their own citizens, aiming in reality to safeguard their own shop. Or do they really not understand, have they lost touch with reality and are unable to understand the desperate messages sent by experts of all colors and by the international authorities themselves, the ECB first and foremost?
Seeing the mess made on the solidarity contribution, on old-age pensions, on the abolition of the Provinces, I would be tempted to lean towards the second affirmation. And every day new confirmations arrive. Hearing Berlusconi say that, should there be a need, VAT could be increased by two points for three months, one really thinks that there are people in the Government who have not the slightest idea of ​​how a market economy works and of what are the problems in particular that Italy must urgently address in order to get out of the quagmire in which it finds itself. No weight is given to expectations, i.e. the need to give clear and stable messages over time, to create a climate of trust in operators and citizens in the driver's ability to really keep the situation under control.
And instead we have witnessed an incredible ballet of measures which, already ill-conceived from the outset, have gradually worsened as the structural measures and the spending cuts have in fact been reduced to a flicker and the doses of demagoguery and illusionist games. Let's think about the fight against tax evasion. The creation of a "stock of convicts" for fiscal reasons was an idea of ​​the late Andreatta, launched in the mid-seventies and whose implementation (which took place years later and in a watered-down way) did not produce the desired results. In reality, evasion in Italy is a complex and mass phenomenon. To combat it, it is not enough to tighten controls or go hunting for shell companies, but a profound revision of the whole machine, not only fiscal, but administrative of the State, which often forces citizens to live illegally and therefore to create reserves in “black” in order to satisfy the demands of politicians, bureaucrats or criminals.
Above all, despite the calls of the experts, there is absolutely no idea of ​​relaunching our economy, any attempt to create the conditions for an increase in productivity and therefore to enhance the country's growth potential. But it's not just the government's fault. The canizza of the mayors, presidents of provinces and regions was truly shameful. Not a word came from Errani or Formigoni, Alemanno or Pisapia on the quality and cost of the services they offer to citizens, on the need to make savings to cut waste, on the possibility of selling real estate or shareholdings in service companies, land often of the most unbridled clientelism. Yet the management of many Municipalities is certainly not an example of efficiency. In Rome, for one thing, it seems that the bureaucracy has simply forgotten to charge the second installment of the old building amnesty of twenty years ago and that a clandestine market of favors thrives on the practices that have remained open for so many years.
Perhaps we think, as usual, that we are smarter than everyone else. Berlusconi says he worked hard to try and fix things without bothering the citizens too much. But where we are, that's not the problem. The real problem is how to distribute the inevitable sacrifices of recovery so that everyone is called to do their part and above all how to restore a positive perspective of growth so as to offer concrete hopes to the many young people who do not see how to settle down except by going to abroad.
But cunning may not be enough. The Germans are already accusing ECB Governor Trichet for the purchases of Italian and Spanish bonds. A board of the central bank will be held on 8 September and, if the Italian measures are not really convincing, it is said that the ECB will not be able to confirm its policy of support for our securities. In the meantime, it seems that international finance is preparing for a full-blown attack on the euro, targeting the weakest links, namely Italian debt in the first place. We hope that these are excessive fears and that nothing serious happens in the next few days. But certainly the judgments of the international press on the maneuver are very negative and let us understand that dark clouds are gathering on the horizon.
All that remains is to hope that during the parliamentary discussion the Government will accept some amendments from the oppositions to make the cut in current expenditure more incisive, to immediately reduce the number of Provinces, and above all to dedicate resources drawn from the reorganization of social security and from the increase 'VAT to a substantial reduction in the tax burden on employees and a relaunch of investments in infrastructure. Confindustria also says this loudly and in harsh tones. But this would mean profoundly changing the entire structure of the "crafty" maneuver conceived by the Government. But if we are faced with people who do not understand what is actually happening, the hopes that this happens are just a faint flame.