Italy Bows to Northern Europeans – The Bourbons Avenged

Berlusconi (Italy) bows to the northern dominated European Union

Reprinted from SOUTH OF ROME–WEST OF ELLIS ISLAND

By TOM VERSO (December 3, 2011)

Now that the European Union has sent the Northern League’s favored Prime Minister Berlusconi pack’n, Northern Italians now know that Northern Europeans do not make a distinction between north and south Italy. There is no “Southern Question”, only the “Italian Question”; and that question is essential an Imperial Question about domination and wealth extraction. This will come as a surprise to the tabloid readers, who for years have been reading nothing but Berlusconi gossip. But, it won’t surprise readers of articles in the economic blogosphere, which have been providing objective historical analysis of the Italian political economy. Comparative economic analysis like “Italy and Japan” and extrapolations like “Italy's Future” demonstrate that behind the mindless mass and tabloid media headlines and sound bites, a fascinating nuanced complexity of Italian history and Mediterranean culture can be gleaned.

Introduction

A neurotic compulsive reader of economic blogs (trying to understand why - after all my working years - I’m broke), one of my favorites is “The Street Light” (http://streetlightblog.blogspot.com/) written by economist and economic consultant Kash Mansori.  In November, Mr. Mansori posted three very interesting articles about Italy’s economy:

Italy's Future (11/2 http://streetlightblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/italys-future.html),

Italy: Illiquid-but-Solvent  (11/9 http://streetlightblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/italy-illiquid-but-solvent.html)

Italy and Japan (11/29 http://streetlightblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/italy-and-japan.html).

No doubt, the economic concepts discussed in these articles will be (have been) debated, and few general readers have the qualifications to judge the accuracy of the facts and the validity of arguments based on complex economic concepts.

Nevertheless, such economic discussions provide fascinating tacit historical insights into the Italian political-economy; if for no other reason, because they break away from the economic clichés of mass media business news (more government spending vs. less) and the ad hominem clichés of tabloid media (à la Berlusconi gossip).

While Mr. Mansori does not categorically state, but to my mind, his argument strongly implies, that Italy’s economic problems are independent of its Prime Minister, indeed its political system as a whole.

Specifically, Italy’s current economic problems are related to Italy’s decision to give up its national currency and enter the Eurozone common currency group of nations.  Accordingly, Mansori’s thesis transcends economics per se and places it in the broader context of the history of Italian national sovereignty. 

This first act of joining the Eurozone, and thereby relinquishing national sovereignty over its currency, has lead to this months second act of diminished national sovereignty; i.e. having a Prime Minister and budget imposed by non-Italian northern European nationals.

These articles provide factual comparative measures and analysis of the Italian economy. While they make specific recommendations for the Italian economy, they are not, per a recent post-Berlusconi i-Italy article, “Lights at the end of the Tunnel”.  More importantly, for purposes of this ‘note’, they demonstrate the intellectual emptiness of equating Italy’s or any national political economy – current or historical - with the personalities, rhetoric and life styles of politicians. Continue reading