Not a day goes by now without intellectuals or politicians from left declare their discomfort in front of to the Monti government accused of only applying rigor, of not thinking about development, of not even being fair in the distribution of sacrifices. Or worse to be slave to the spread, i.e. of large international finance, succubus of Merkel which imposes on all of Europe the suicidal recipe of budget rigor, or, on things of the lowest local cuisine, to be tender with the Berlusconi family's TV interests. Yesterday, for example, there was a chorus of complaints both at the presentation of Federico Rampini's book "Alla mia Sinistra" and at the Milanese conference of the "Giustizia e Libertà" association, where a manifesto was presented which states verbatim that technical government can be a poison for the whole of society.
Rampini wrote a book that can be framed in the nostalgic vein: how beautiful it was when young people were moved by great ideals of justice and renewal, when they took to the streets in the wake of generous illusions of changing the development model! But that libertarian and progressive thrust, not being based on a solid culture of real government of society and on taking into account the great historical upheavals that have occurred in many regions of the planet, has been defeated by conservatives who have elected liberalism as a philosophy of freedom and progress. Now that the world crisis has called into question many virtues that were attributed to the market, old buzzwords are being dusted off by the left and a way is being sought to be able to offer the citizens of many impoverished, and even more frightened, Western countries a way to resume a path of progress in safety.
A generous and important effort. If you look at theItaly where trust in parties has dropped to a minimum, the need for political forces to renew themselves both culturally and in organizational methods is certainly a priority. However, the analysis of the causes of the current crisis and the first therapies that are proposed are still largely incomplete, if not completely misleading. Rampini, for example, seems to echo the statements of Landini and Fiom, when he argues that Monti has pressed too hard on fiscal rigor, when there are no real development projects and when there is no thought of increasing employment. In reverse, according to Rampini, internal demand should be stimulated, because without consumption companies do not work and therefore invest. Vendola, adds in his preacher's tone that the policy being implemented takes the form of a "social butchery" and indicates a series of goals, more work, more income, more equality, but being careful not to say how they can really be achieved.
It all starts from a somewhat demagogic and populist analysis according to which the origin of the crisis is the greed of bankers and the mess made by completely deregulated financial markets. It is curious to note that a similar analysis is also made by the right, where authoritative exponents of the PDL such as Cicchitto and Tremonti, who are also in profound disagreement with each other, accuse the financial market of being at the origin of all our troubles. Nothing is said about the responsibilities of politics which for years has expanded public spending too much by printing dollars as in the US or making debts as in Italy. And perhaps the true origin of the crisis must be sought in the imbalances of the real economies reflected in the balance of payments, in the lax policies of Governments and Central Banks and then also in the nonchalant operations put in place by the banking system which had to circulate this enormous mass of money circulating in the system.
As far as Italy is concerned, we must consider that the "save Italy" maneuver would not have been credible if it had been based on spending cuts rather than on the certainty of tax increases, because, as Paolo Savona has shown, in the last twenty years, despite the repeated announcements of cuts, public expenditure has always grown at higher rates than income. The first problem was and is for us to reduce the spread not only to avoid default but also to ensure that the reduction in interest would allow for some resources to make some investments in infrastructure and/or reduce the tax burden. In short, it is not only Germany's fault that Italy is forced to implement a policy of rigor given that no one is more willing to finance our debt. Growth will come both from fiscal consolidation through interest rate reductions and from reforms such as liberalization (unjustly mocked by Rampini) and the labor market.
What is really missing both in Rampini and Vendola's analysis and in Monti's policy is an effective and rapid cut in public spending and in the political superstructure that administers it. That's where Italy's real problem lies: in the waste and in any case in the low efficiency of public spending, where does our low competitiveness mainly come from. We must not eliminate but rationalize welfare and above all remove the management of many services from the political world which operates according to patronage and consensus criteria and not efficiency. We don't talk about this. Indeed Vendola has come to fully defend the "caste" of politicians saying that the true caste is "in the banks and large properties."
Solo Bersani he tried to indicate a concrete and politically possible way to give substance to the hopes of building a different, more just and more dynamic society in which one can have reasonable certainties about the future. The left cannot be just a state of mind but must demonstrate an ability to govern by confronting real problems without leaps forward or wishful thinking. He reminded you that the Monti government was born to save the country which had been brought to the brink of the abyss and that therefore certain emergency measures could not but be adopted. But if politics wants to govern the country again in a year's time, it must offer a credible program and solid alliances on very clear points, also involving the moderate forces in the centre. And on this Vendola, despite his talkative extremism, said he was also willing to speak with the Third Pole.
The left in search of its new identity cannot limit itself to dusting off fragments of its old ideology by fighting against the injustices of the market and entrusting the restart to the role of the state. Indeed, in Italy the real epicenter of the crisis is the public sector, while the market, if it operates according to clear rules, ensures a more efficient use of both financial and human resources. The formula to be tested is therefore that of a well-functioning market in the ambit of a “stronger not bigger state”.
