Political divorce - Italian style

Political divorce - Italian style

----------------------------------------------------------------

The following are the thoughts of Silvio Berlusconi, founder and leader of Italy's rightwing Forza Italia party, on what's wrong with his nation. ----------------------------------------------------------------

ROME (IPS): We can no longer accept an Italy that is so politicized, governmentalized, corrupt, and over-regulated. We need new leadership.

Forza Italia's vision of the future is very different from that of the left, or those who called for more and more political interference in the economy and in life, or preached state control.

The principles we believe in are neither abstruse nor complicated: they are the fundamental principles of all great Western democracies.

We believe in every form of liberty and thus believe in a love of work, of development, of competition, and of profit, which exists only where there is freedom.

We want an Italy of free men and women who do not know fear, social envy, or class hatred, who together can build a different future - an Italy that can fight with determination and efficiency against common crime and organized crime.

In our country, 96 percent of all thefts and 74 percent of all homicides go unpunished. This means that the state is failing in one if its fundamental responsibilities -- to guarantee the safety of its citizens and their property.

We want an Italy with fewer taxes, that is more accommodating to those who want to produce well-being and wealth. We want an Italy which gives more space to the private and less to the state.

Instead of concentrating on fulfilling its primary duties, the state has expanded, making its presence felt in the private sector and throughout the economy.

Taxes rose in recent years because government spending climbed from 43 percent of the gross national product to 58 percent in 1992 - an increase of 13 percent.

Between 1990 and 1992, three quarters of the additional income we were able to generate went to the state to pay for the deficit, leaving only one quarter to businesses, families, and individuals. Money that goes into public spending is money kept from investment in private industry.

Ninety percent of the savings of Italian families are tied up in state bonds to cover the national debt. Only 10 percent are in industry to increase production and expansion.

This has paralyzed the stock exchange and kept investing in stocks the domain of an elite few.

Privatization alone cannot balance public spending, nor can the size of the proceeds it brings be a measure of its success, yet there can be no doubt that it will make resolving the present financial crisis less painful.

Only a divorce of the economy and politics can free us from the endemic corruption and inefficiency caused by state interference in the economy and bring about a form of popular capitalism that would open up stock ownership to all.

The furor set off by my proposal to set a ceiling on payroll taxes shows how the leaders of the left who call themselves liberal democrats are still wedded to state control and management.

If in the last 12 years these taxes have risen 13 percent, it is not unreasonable to think that in the same amount of time they can be reduced by one percent a year.

Unemployment in Italy is due primarily to insufficient creation of new jobs. Between 1973 and 1990, the number of unemployed rose by more than two million, but the number of those employed increased by only 1.7 million.

In this same period, the number of employed people in Japan rose by 19 percent and, in the United States, by 37 percent. In Italy, the increase failed to top eight percent!

The principal reason for the jump in unemployment therefore is the lack of job creation.

This is caused by the channeling of investment into the national debt. Another reason is Italy's staggering payroll taxes, which scare off entrepreneurs.

Of the 20 largest industrialized countries, only in Italy do non-salary expenses exceed salaries themselves. Our country - although desperately in need of jobs - taxes labor as if it were a luxury item.

Thus the causes of unemployment in Italy are not merely conjunctural but structural as well: the extreme rigidity of the labor market, excessive restrictions imposed on firing and hiring, interference in determining salaries, and a lack of mobility, among others.

All progress in the development of production and technology must be accompanied by progress in saving the environment.

We must overcome the division between those who are for industry and those who are for the environment, realizing that both contribute to the growth of the country.

There should be fines for those who pollute and subsidies for those who use technology and materials that respect the environment. We must move away from a system that is excessively punitive, inefficient, and rewards dishonesty and corruption, towards a system that provides incentives to protect the environment.

After the war, and a period that was far worse than this, Italy amazed the world with what was called the "Italian Miracle".

Today, with our programs, we can also build a new era of development and well-being.