Berlusconi’s spicy affair and European Elections advertising
As everytime an electoral appointment approaches, all media try to focus our attention on the most futile news. So yesterday’s scoop was the marriage of Renato Brunetta (the Italian Minister of Public Administration and Innovation) and today’s one concerns (again) Berlusconi’s girls. Every day, since a month ago, people just expect updates on the Noemi affair, the presumed relationship of Premier Berlusconi that started the divorce procedure with his actual wife (see ‘When a Veronica Lario’s party?‘).
Sincerely, I’m not interested in politicians’ private lives, since they very often do the opposite of what they support in their campaigns, so it is openly clear they lie on this point. What it’s really worrying me is the fact they truly know what they’re doing in driving our country. An heavy ironic sentence italians say is: “Uno che ne sa di politica è uno che capisce come girano le cose!” that can be literally translated as “One who understand politics is one who really knows how things come and go“. Being irony, that means almost all italians don’t trust politicians (see ‘Unhappy to be italian‘, Problem number 1: mistrust in the institutions).
In any case Mr. Berlusconi had to deny the rumors about this affair many times. Even the biggest italian catholic periodic asked him to clarify his position. I believe integrity is not of this world, I can say no one is perfect, but I’d like to separate the man from the politician. I don’t mind if Berlusconi had a relationship with Noemi or if he’s her father, I can’t forgive the man but what I’m much more interested in is if the politician is a good politician. If he, as Prime Minister, is able to manage the balance sheet of the country.
This is a pure selfish reasoning, not a matter of indifferentism, I want who sits at the Parliement to be able to do his/her job for the advantage of everyone, for the advantage of italians.
So I think all this mediatic storm is actually the largest electoral advertising left-wing and right-wing parties could establish in this moment. Otherwise how to explain the Berlusconi’s statement: “Contestate pure, che c’ho voglia [...] le contestazioni non fanno altro che rafforzare la mia volontà di agire nel bene del Paese.” (“Let’s contest me, that I’m longing [...] the contests reinforce my will to do well for the country“): all advertising. The eversive judges that want to change the people’s vote: all advertising. And so on. A fake storm before a fearful quiet.
Economically speaking, cash is king or cash is trash?
On other side there’s a fake quiet before a storm. After the March-April stocks run, May was a stationary month. Many companies gave dividends but others just hesitated around the same price for weeks. While we were intent to listen to various advisors telling us the crisis wasn’t over and other gossip or soccer boloneys, in Italy the stock market recovered more than 20%. Almost an half of what it lost from October of 2008.
Maybe it’s true, maybe the crisis is not over and the sexual behaviour of politicians is important but on today’s ‘Il Sole 24 Ore‘ it’s reported that this month the inflation is at the minimum since 1968. ISTAT says the trend for the summer is to lower further on. Another news, from ‘Il Corriere‘, reports the Governor of Bank of Italy Mario Draghi foresees unemployment will grow from today’s 8.5% to 10% within the end of the year. This tradeoff is known as the Phillips curve: the more inflation grows, the more unemplyoment lowers and vice versa.
All the bailouts FED and BCE (or ECB) did in past months will have an effect. After a period of zero-inflation prices will begin to increase rapidly and people will go back to work. Inflation will become again ‘public enemy number one‘ as US president Gerald Ford stated in the 70s.
So this is a fake quiet before the storm.
Be prepared! For you and me cash is not king, cash is trash. Instead of being misled by advertising we should learn how to manage our money by ourselves, not to be the best puppets in the hands of the usual politicians.
Umberto M. Meotto
