Zero concessions

Once upon a time, long, long ago, people used to rob from the rich to give to the poor. Later on, this situation began to change drastically. People began robbing the poor to give to the rich. While it may be true that the poor have very little, but there are many of them. Very little, stolen from many people soon make up many billions of Euro in our Country. Privatising the profits and mutualising the losses is something that has long been the motto of unscrupulous businessmen, starting with Fiat’s use of unemployment benefits paid for by the taxpayer.
Today, many of the poor people have been made destitute. Robbing the poor to give to the rich has become a hopeless enterprise. The great entrepreneurs are however people that know what goes on in society and understand the problems facing the unemployed and the families with no income and no roof over their heads. They are not totally unaware of the increasing number of destitute people and they have now come up with a solution to the problem: take away from the almost poor to give to those dying of starvation. Speaking for the Veneto Region industrialists, Andrea Riello stated that: “Public sector employees could give up a small percentage of their earnings for the next year in order to donate it in the form of a temporary loan to replenish the welfare funds. A loan that would be repaid just as soon as there is an economic recovery.” PDwithoutanel deputy, industrialist and former President of Federmeccanica, Calearo, rushed to express support for Riello: “Riello’s provocation does make sense however …this contribution would be required from office bearers, managers and directors of companies … and Government employees, of whom there are many. However, it would be great if the politicians were to set the example.”
Our politicians are the highest paid in Europe and the majority of them are either sentenced offenders or under investigation. After only two and a half years in Parliament they will have earned the right to a full pension, doing a job for which they are being paid but are seldom if ever present since they in many cases hold down other jobs, thus earning double salaries. They are already setting an example. We can ask nothing more of them.
Mr. Riello, instead of promoting solidarity between Government employees and the private unemployed, I would begin with the public concessionaries. These are people that earn hundreds of millions and indeed billions of Euro each year on Government assets. Government concessions should mean zero profit for the concessionaries themselves. These assets belong to the Country’s citizens, both employed and unemployed. The running costs must be covered but any profits, if any profits are made, should accrue to the State. The motorways, telecommunication frequencies, radio and television broadcasting frequencies, water resources and waste disposal contracts should be renegotiated as zero concessions.
When do we start? Are you going to tell Minister Marcegaglia about the incinerators?