Italy sinking
Italy sinking
Image by Getty Images via @daylife
Apart from the obvious pun of the cruise ship Costa Concordia which crashed last Friday off the Tuscan coast near the island of Giglio near Grosetto, Tuscany, one wonders economically and socially is Italy sinking ?
Is it time to jump the boat before been left last man onboard to turn the lights out like captain Schettino did ?
Not covered by the international media but last week Sicily came to a grinding holt. A strike by lorry drivers blocking motorways and principal transport routes started last weekend, by Thursday the supermarket shelves were empty, petrol stations dried up, stores without supplies and okay life is slow here, but last week it was scary. It felt if though Sicily had literally stopped functioning.
Amazingly seasonal, zero mile supplies became popular like once upon a time. Prices though shot throw the roof, even the black economy benefitted with under the counter sales of scare products. There was even rumours the mafia was starting to get involved (if not already) controlling market prices.
Personally i was without petrol, not even enough to get to the airport in case of an emergency departure. I felt trapped. At least the cash machines worked in case a shop had some supplies. Ok it only lasted till Saturday, probably because the mums told their lorry driver sons to get back to work as their food supplies dried up for Sunday lunch…but even now Tuesday shops, stores, supermarkets are only just starting to stock up. With people now panic buying in case of a repeat strike, those few supplies arriving are quickly disappearing. Fortunately today i managed to find a petrol station with petrol, so i feel safer.
But worse the strike is now rolling out across the mainland. From north to south from Milan to Puglia roads blocked, lorries not delivery, live & fresh stock reaching sell by date, queues at petrol stations starting to form and some gas stations already dry. Even a protestor has been killed by a German lorry driver.
This is the people’s revolution against Mario Monti austerity reforms. Monti euro technocrat probably appointed by world banks to control their interests. With property tax on owner’s primary residence been reintroduced after 5 years, increases of VAT, redundancy growing, tax evasion been stamped on, from liberation of Chinese walled markets like taxis, chemists, notarys and more….the population have had enough and the Italian revolution has started and is Italy sinking ?
