The Euro: An Endangered Currency Species

Ten years and probably too young, or too late, to die. Is this the fate of the Euro currency?
I can't believe what these EU clown politicians are doing. Enough of listening them claiming "the EU is one country". Which we all know is not, neither substantially nor as a concept. We can rather say Europe is a system of "satellites" economically revolving around Germany which is showing excessive pride.
I have nothing against the Germans in principle but I'd love to see Angela and her friends act like they would really care about "their" European Union. Enough of jokes here, rather pull the lever that lifts the gravity and let the "satellites" go find their way through space as they always did. Some have milk, some have citrus, name it. No need to kill cows, or destroy the fruits, just not to exceed the production quotas assigned to a country. Too much of this or that? Get rid of it. Isn't this a practical way to put one country against the other rather than promoting true unification and respect? Does this help the economy? Well, Italy is very good at being inefficient by itself and the reason why we deal with a horrible public debt and new, heavy austerity measures.
Just admit the European Union and the Euro currency that drew our tears and blood were prank projects. The Central European Bank? I'd need a different joke.

Sizzling summer

One week into summer and here we go, 36.2 C in town today with a heat index of 45.5 C that impairs neuronal activity.
This is nothing though compared to the hot times we're all going to face in this country. The government has decided to proceed with cuts worth 2 BEuro in 2011, 5 BEuro in 2012, 15 BEuro in 2013 and 20 BEuro in 2014. If this is aimed at recovering the limping finances of Italy, I wonder why very little is being done to bring to surface the "submersed economy" - the illegal trade that skips tax - which has a turnover of 250 BEuro per year. Well, if this figure is known to the authorities, I guess someone should then know what and where it's all about. Just VAT alone, which is 20% here, equals to 50 BEuro not conveying into the country's chest. The remainder 200 BEuro would mean another estimated 80 BEuro worth of tax.
Wouldn't then 130 BEuro per year SOLVE all issues? Doesn't it ring a bell that our politicians do NOTHING in this sense and rather cut, cut, cut on essential services to the citizen? Digusting. Yeah, let's blame the "global gloom".
Italy has one among the highest public debts. Almost 2,000 BEuro and growing.

Nothing is forever

Yesterday, June 16, a violent thunderstorm in Torino tore down about thirty large trees in the Valentino Park alone. Many of these were over a century old. Several cars were wrecked but, luckily, nobody was injured. It's amazing what five minutes of havoc can do on this dynamic planet.

Record breaking

As of today, the national price of gasoline at the pump in Italy has reached the unprecedented level of 1.60 Euro/liter, which translates into US$ 9.00 per US gallon.
Good luck folks!

Mighty, mighty Telecom Italia

My land phone line is dead, been so for not less than three days now. Callers report it's ringing - which is not - and they are left without an answer.
Funny thing is that my mother's line is experiencing exactly the same occurrence. Then yes, it appears to be a common problem.
I'm not saying problems do not exist, but they shouldn't last this long.
What really, really irritates me is that there's NO WAY to report it. Telecom customer service number doesn't work. Should one want to report a problem via their website, it requires registration but, after I did, I lost over one hour by surfing and searching through the entire website only to discover that the assistance section is only for DSL-related issues. There is NO section regarding simple land lines. No contacts, nobody to even write to. All they say is "call the customer service" - which doesn't work. Tried about 30 times. How nice. Enough of it, but I can't even contact them to cancel my contract!
THANK YOU TELECOM.

Love is in the air

LOVE IS IN THE AIR (John Paul Young)

Love is in the air
Everywhere I look around
Love is in the air
Every sight and every sound
-And I don't know if I'm being foolish
-Don't know if I'm being wise
-But it's something that I must believe in
-And it's there when I look in your eyes
Love is in the air
In the whisper of the trees
Love is in the air
In the thunder of the sea
-And I don't know if I'm just dreaming
-Don't know if I feel sane
-But it's something that I must believe in
-And it's there when you call out my name
---(Chorus)
---Love is in the air
---Love is in the air
---Oh oh oh
---Oh oh oh
Love is in the air
In the rising of the sun
Love is in the air
When the day is nearly done
-And I don't know if you're an illusion
-Don't know if I see it true
-But you're something that I must believe in
-And you're there when I reach out for you
Love is in the air
Every sight and every sound
And I don't know if I'm being foolish
Don't know if I'm being wise
-But it's something that I must believe in
-And it's there when I look in your eyes

Remember it? Like it? Now do a simple thing:
Replace "love" with "radioactivity".
Much, much more to worry than natural disasters. This is man made, folks. Fukushima in Japan or wherever. The final arrogance to think we could put the atom on leash.

Earth's resources

Several studies report that we are currently using up "1.5 Earths", that is we are drawing 50% more of this planet's renewable resources. Such studies do not consider finite goods such as oil and mineral elements, but just food-related resources.
This means that Earth can't replenish what we - as a global population - draw from it.
Shouldn't epidemics and disasters occur, without human intervention the natural limit to the growth of animals and plants populations would be dictated by the available resources in and around local systems. Most developed countries can't rely on their domestic products for food demand, hence already outsourcing from distant shores.
Civilization and technology apparently spare the human race from the natural laws of equilibrium. Politics and ethics don't really mix. I'm not calculating, projecting or predicting how many generations it will take to see a major collapse. It will happen.
Should I shrug and enjoy the present?
Should I advocate conservation?
Actually both, to some extent, but not happily celebrating the seven-billionth human treading on Earth. In 1950, population was 2.5 billion. A scary almost-three-fold in 60 years.

Italy - 150 Years celebrations

March 17, 1861. That was the day the Regno d'Italia (Kingdom of Italy) denomination was introduced under the House of Savoy.
Not really the present-day Italian territory, but rather the date when a name was born.
Among other more powerful European players, it was the small House of Savoy to set hands on larger and larger territory, finally reaching the (almost) border configuration that we see on present-day maps. Brief history:

1416 - Duchy of Savoy - Capital: Chambéry, then Torino
1424 - Principality of Piedmont - Capital: Torino
1718 - Kingdom of Sardinia - Capital: Torino
1861, March 17 - Kingdom of Italy - Capital: Torino, then moved to Florence in 1865 and Rome in 1871
1946, June 2 - Republic of Italy - Capital: Rome - On this date, a referendum dictated the choice of the population for the republic form instead of monarchy. June 2 has been since established as the National Day. Last King of Italy, Umberto II, left Italy for exile on June 13, 1946.

March 17, 2011, will be a special one-off day to celebrate the 150th anniversary year through various events set forth to commemorate the historical dates in the make of Italy. Many of such events involve the city of Torino as the focal point of the country's genesis. It doesn't mean Piedmont has - or should have - prevalence in terms of importance across the nation, but still many Italians have mixed feelings about the Italian Northwest. Envy? Hate? It doesn't matter. Not even after 150 years is Italy really "unified" into one body. It never will. It's rather to be taken as common ground to a variety of proud different ethnic groups, arguing and complaining to each other for futile reasons.

"Shut up, I am right"

I'm sure it happens in other countries too, but I find it highly obnoxious and gross that ANY confrontation in Italy is a total idiotic fight. Topic is irrelevant. Politics, sports, anything. Participants do EVERYTHING to prevent opposed viewers to have their say. Most common practice is to talk over the other, as if both chess players would move at the same time. There's no way to witness sensate discussions, therefore no interest whatsoever in following awful, miserable cacophony. Loud, stupid, useless.

Small, but good news

Justice, at last. Well, let's see if and how this will work but so far it's enough to place a grin on my face. Wondering if somebody heard my daily cursing along that of thousands who lost their sleep, as my thought especially goes to those working the night shift. At any rate, here it is: starting today, land-line numbers owners can add these to a registry and avoid being hassled for commercial proposals, surveys and whatever soliciting. I can't stand quitting what I'm doing just because somebody promotes a certain phone operator, or wants to know if there's any apartment for sale in my area or if I like pizza.
Such registry website will be activated within hours and I can't wait to put my name on it!
Hopefully, next time the phone will ring for a good reason.

UPDATE:
Nearly three months after signing-up and, hard to believe, it works. -grin-

Flat screen indeed

Beautiful HD. The thing is not stupid itself, but look what’s in it. As flat as somebody wants us to be. What are you watching? Big Brother? A bunch of idiots sobbing on a remote island? Sunday’s fake studio brawl or the ubiquitous political confrontations? A ball thrown or kicked across a field? Rocky XXXIV? New singing idols? Live feed from war and disaster zones? Enough of autopsies and crime scenes. It doesn’t really matter as long as you promise and prove to become alienated in the short term. Be a good buyer of tons of nasty products. Fatter food. Pills for anything. The wonder crossover and state-of-the-art wireless plans. A flatter brain, that’s what you need.
An endless zap quest for decent stuff through hundreds of dumb channels. As if thumb routine exercise would be a healthy practice.
Enough. Turn it off for good.
But I’m happy, as the climax of stupidity has been reached and things can only get better. Question is: when? Meanwhile, open a good book or turn on the favorite music.
Whatever makes you think.

Invaluable loss

Just saw a frightening TV report. Wow, Italy. The small fertile land of our grandfathers. In between 1990 and 2005 alone, the 21% of its territory went lost to concrete. That's more than one fifth of it. Arable land gone forever, lost at a rate of 940 equivalent soccer fields per day. The funny thing is that the 40% of such lost ground was "non-building" land by law in the 70s. But laws can be changed, eh? Business is business for somebody. Yet I have to see a report for the years 2005 to 2010 but that will be horrible for sure. In recent years, productive agricultural land has been converted to photovoltaic. Food prices have dropped to unsustainable levels for farmers, hence the new energy business soaring at an increasing alarmingly rate. Our hunger for electricity can't quench our stomachs. Can't eat silicon wafer semiconductors, but I don't want to eat Chinese tomatoes either. Love them, but solar panels should be put off the ground to allow growing something underneath. I've seen it, then it's possible.

EcoSunday

Air quality can be bad in Torino if winter weather conditions - basically thermal inversion and the absence of precipitation and wind - don't help dispersing the pollutants produced by industry, heating and vehicle exhausts. Although large portions of the city are heated through a district heating system, that is hot water piped from local power plants, motor traffic is an obvious major source of dangerous compounds and particles joyfully playing at nostrils level. Public transit can play an essential role and it's not so bad in this town, but currently used by a mere 23% of urban commuters. The 67% of them use their car and the 5% use a motorcycle.
This said, why does the City Council dictate a total motor traffic ban on selected Sundays? This coming Sunday will be one of these. Statistic data from past experiences show that this measure is totally useless. Despite the ban, the quantity of authorized circulating vehicles is not much different than that moving around on a normal, typical Sunday.
Personally, I'd love to see a re-humanized, empty city at all times. Conversely, the majority of citizens shout their angry voice even against occasional Sunday bans (from 10AM through 6PM). Same chorus of complaints occurs when certain city streets are converted to pedestrians areas. Walking? Cycling? This is considered as stupid. Rather than understanding the serious health risks posed by pollution, people feel deprived of their freedom for an eight-hour period of time. They can't wait to start their engines again. They love being imprisoned for hours in traffic jams inside their costly toys.
A well deserved punishment.

Fuel boycott

Nobody ever wants to pay "too much". Period. But when too much is too much?
Many agree that fueling up is painful in Italy and I join the chorus, but the real issue here is tax. Let's try to understand the picture.
As of today, the prices at the pump in Italy are the following:
Gasoline = 1.50 Euro/liter (7.60 US$/USgallon)
Diesel = 1.38 Euro/liter (7.00 US$/USgallon)
Total tax is 58% on gasoline and 51% on diesel. Tax weight is therefore:
0.87 Euro/liter (4.39 US$/USgallon)
0.70 Euro/liter (3.56 US$/USgallon)
I do understand "some" tax but this is a rip-off to me. Furthermore, I feel a naturally growing itch as I hardly see where my tax money is being put. No wonder I'm using the bicycle as much as I can.
Boycott oil now!

Torino vs. Detroit

The comparison between the two "twin" cities is interesting albeit difficult.
I've spent enough time in Detroit to build my own opinion. Imagination efforts for those who have never seen both places are insufficient to confront Detroit and my hometown Torino, but bringing it down to the concept of "Motor Cities" there are notable historical similarities, among which we can find the growth and welfare revolving around the automotive industry, and the relevant social impact due to consistent immigration.
The collapse of the automotive market underlines how impossible is for Michigan to convert its almost-exclusive economy. Most of the assembly plants are closed and abandoned, and the industrial parks of the supply chain are dramatically deserted.
Those who could, have left already. The entire area is devastated as well as hope and it's not surprising that the GM Orion Plant workers have signed-off the agreement through which they accept the hourly wage of $17 and $28 - for new hired and existing workers respectively. The agreement also includes benefit cuts to health insurance and other. Such agreement appears like an insult bringing the employer/worker relationship back to feudal times, but it's the only feasible solution for those who can have a job again.
There would be a lot to say but I'm not discussing the causes, the missed alternate policies or the consequences of such a step behind that, tonight, is going to hit the news at FIAT Mirafiori (Torino) plant. The workers will vote and the prize at stake is that if "YEA" will prevail, FIAT will invest 1 BEuro into the plant and keep it alive. On the other hand, a "NAY" result will dictate the plant shutdown.
"YEA", although the Mirafiori facility won't produce high volumes, would give hope to its 5,500 direct workers plus around 85,000 in the supply chain located in the Italian northwest region. This would anyway set a precedent for the retrogression of many other work contracts, an epoch-making change.
The hard times are coming, not just in Detroit.
"NAY" would be worse. Like the Irish Potato Famine had moved masses in mid XIX century and the Dust Bowl - which laid the foundations of the Great Depression - had forced hundred of thousands to relocate, the disappearing of automotive jobs in Italy - FIAT is the largest domestic industrial company - will have huge consequences.
Let's find a spot on the toy planisphere on which to put our finger before moving over. Hard to find one.
We have too much and ought to seek a simpler life.

Think

New year, new figures to ponder.
www.worldometers.info