289. Berlusconi Rides Again, Milan’s Stock Exchange flies, while Rome Burns: 2
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| Berlusconi being congratulated after the vote of confidence on 14 October 2011 between two of Umberto Bossi's Lieutenants and the Minister of Economy right next to him. |
Again reading the international papers whom most are convinced that Berlusconi is dead and buried
under the debris of Pompeii, I found this affirmation from The Guardian- Edition 14
October 2011- worthy of comment:
“But his (Berlusconi's) pledge to battle on helped send share
prices tumbling on the Milan stock exchange and raised the already
unsustainably high interest rate on Italian government debt.
The reaction
in the markets was a clear sign that investors are less concerned now about
stability than government paralysis.”
From the above it seems The
Guardian has interpreted Berlusconi’s presence in the Italian government as a
means of government paralysis which sends share prices tumbling on the Milan
stock exchange.
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| Members of the Opposition on the day of the Confidence vote |
Only moments before The Guardian had made that statement, Berlusconi won the confidence vote
316 to 301 which not only showed that the Berlusconi government was still
capable of mobilizing its members of parliament showing that the government,
far from suffering from paralysis was alive and kicking but also contradicted The
Guardian’s claim that Berlusconi was artifice in sending the stock exchange in
Milan to smithereens since such were the values on the European Stock Exchange at that moment:
Milan 2. 49 +
London 1. 17 +
Paris 0. 97
+
Frankfort 0. 87 +
And this was not a one night wonder either.
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| Members of the Opposition on the day of the Confidence vote |
Another episode which made me smile was what
occurred during the briefing after the EU 27 meeting when the French president Nicholas
Sarkozy, at the mention of Berlusconi started smirking, and smirked all the
way, placing the German chancellor Angela Merkel in an uncomfortable position,
but like the lady that she is, she smiled, she did not smirk. Of course the French and Italian Leaders are
known to be at logger heads adding to which Berlusconi maintained at the EU
meeting that the Euro is in the bad shape that it is also thanks to the
inappropriate management of the Euro by the leading powers of that currency,
namely France and Germany.
Well, whether or not they have any
confidence in Berlusconi’s government is not for me to judge, what I can say is
that Angela Merkel comes to Italy for her holidays and Berlusconi’s government
has produced one of the best unemployment rates in the West:
RATES OF UNEMPLOYMENT
Spain 21.2
France
9.9
USA 9.9
UK
8.1
Italy
7.9
Germany 6.9
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| Rome burning by acts of hooliganism |
But my last point in this post is one focusing on hooligans. How does one become a hooligan? Now don’t tell me it’s Berlusconi’s fault
again which again the papers have tried to pass off. Don’t tell me it’s because they are
frustrated with this or that government, and they let off steam at the
stadiums, or in this case in Rome and guess what? The Black Blocks promptly presented
themselves on the same occasion as Berlusconi won the vote of confidence. Was this so as to link the two events to one
another? In that case is this all the opposition can come up with?
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| Rome- A Protester throwing a fire-extinguisher against a police van |
However, one also wonders where
the parents of these thugs are and why are they utterly incapable of keeping
tabs on their offspring? Is it so hard
to teach kids the difference between right and wrong? Is it so difficult to teach kids that they
can’t have everything they want, when they want it and how they want it. No, of
course not, but it’s much easier not to bother and just give in. Of course, let’s blame Berlusconi for that
too.
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