All the logical limits of the opposition on assistance to the poor
The opposition parties do not seem to want to guarantee the poorest a prospect of effective redemption, but hairy benevolence. Gianfranco Polillo's analysis
It is not easy, at least as far as we are concerned, to follow the logical thread of the reasoning of the main Italian political forces, now in opposition. Considering only that those parties were the main architects of government action, in that long period of time, which goes from 28 April 2013 to last October. Certainly: the formations, in their composition, have changed; but if we exclude the season of the yellow-green government, the sign of continuity appears to be prevalent. Even if, and this is one of the main differences with the First Republic, their programmatic foundations have proved to be much more fragile. At the time the various exponents of the DC squabbled, the Governments lasted an average of 12 months, but the basic direction was the one that had accompanied all the great socio-economic transformations of the country.
Is there therefore a breach between that past and the undoubted uncertainties of the present? Trying to get to the bottom of the problem involves first of all a choice of method. According to the Monetary Fund, Italy's per capita GDP was $33,740 last year. Two and a half times the world's average income. Value that placed Italy in 31st place in a ranking made up of 192 nations. However, those values are affected by monetary variables (such as the euro-dollar ratio) which can lead to errors. In fact, the same income, measured in terms of diversity of purchasing power, increases to over 51,000 dollars, while Italy falls back by two positions. Placing itself below the average European per capita income, valued at 56,160 dollars.
In this second "group", according to Eurostat data, Italy, with a per capita income (2021, at 2010 prices) of 26,700 euros, occupied the 11th position in 2021. Leading the way are Luxembourg and Ireland, data distorted by the presence of large multinationals, followed by a good number of "frugal" countries (Holland, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Austria), followed immediately by Belgium, Germany and France. Just the fact of being part of this club should, in some way, reassure. Even if the losses of positions made themselves felt over time. In fact, the latest data show a value 13 per cent lower than the average income in the Eurozone, when at the beginning of the third millennium the advantage was more than 3.5 per cent.
Given these elements, it is difficult to imagine that, today, the main problem in Italy could be that of the negative excesses of income redistribution , such as to produce a growing number of poor people. Which obviously exist, but are the consequence of very different causes.
In general, phenomena of this kind are accompanied by much lower levels of per capita income, characterized by a much smaller presence of the " middle class ". The growth of which, as historical experience shows, always presupposes (the last case, China) an adequate level of economic development. But if you want to be calmer, just consider the weight of the tax burden: an element of rebalancing with respect to normal market trends. In the Eurozone, Italy ranks 4th, with a tax burden equal to 43.4 percent of GDP. Preceded only by France (47 per cent of GDP), then by Belgium (45.4 per cent) and Austria (43.7 per cent). Data that should reassure.
Much less, however, the trend that occurred in the Italian GDP per capita: in sharp decline compared to the Eurozone average. With that loss, indicated above, of more than 16 percent, over a twenty-year period. And that finds full justification in the lack of long-term development pace. Only in the last 11 years (2010-2011) has the average annual rate of decline of the real economy been equal to 0.1 per cent, placing Italy in the penultimate position. Better only than Greece which closed that period with a fall of 1.4 percent.
The data reported should, in some way, mark the political agenda. Circumscribe the terrain of the possible confrontation with the aim of achieving a better overall balance, in order to combat the so evident danger of a possible further decline. Being aware of the fact that only by getting the economy back on track is it possible to guarantee society that level of individual and collective well-being which has been lost in recent years.
And instead, especially on the part of the oppositions, but with some gaps also among those of the government coalition, the silence is deafening. And it is above all because of the competition that has opened up between the various protagonists in trying to expand their market space, trying to leverage the more direct and immediate representation of the outsiders. That is, of those who are considered to be the pariahs of Italian society.
And here then is the constant call to the weakest, the fragile, the poor: to whom we guarantee not a prospect of effective redemption, but hairy benevolence. A charitable alms – all the absurd debate on petrol excises – in the hope of “buying” their assent.
From a sociological point of view the changes that have taken place compared to a few years ago are impressive. During the "Fordist" period, characterized by the centrality of the "working class", the reference was not the needy. But a social subject, such as the working class, which did not need donations, but only to assert its rights. Making it grow, both in terms of numbers or from the point of view of wages and power, in fact meant developing industries, increasing production and consequently the national product. In other words, there was a one-to-one relationship that linked the interests of those classes to a more comprehensive growth perspective. And consequently to an economic policy which had the task of defending a more general equilibrium.
What has changed since then? The guidelines of development: one would have to answer. Today it is above all science and technology that have taken control of it. The old identification of the good old days no longer exists. Also because the workers, who still exist in a reality like the Italian one, have turned elsewhere. Looking for new representatives. Certainly not among the theorists of state parasitism. These morphological transformations, which led to a new paradigm, however, did not break the old basic rules. They only made them more complex. No longer identifiable with the interests of a single social group, but with different layers of society: not only the "old" and "new" workers, but all those whose fates are intimately linked to a restart of the social elevator. Which, in turn, depends to a large extent on the pace and breadth of general economic development.
But the weak, the poor, the fragile: what happens to them? Of course they need to be assisted. But their defense, over time, is inextricably linked to the overall growth rate of the economy. If the sources of wealth dry up, eventually redistributive conflict will take the form of all-out warfare. And it will be the weaker classes who lose out, as we have seen in recent years. To prevent this from happening, it is necessary to reconstruct, in political terms, a relationship more or less similar to that which was typical of Fordist society. In which the prince's donation could not be such as to question the social pact on which the whole of society was founded.
At the time, that circular reasoning prevailed which linked unlimited needs with resources that, on the other hand, were not. And which, consequently, had to be created. The exact opposite of what happens today in most of the Italian opposition forces – think only of the basic income – completely insensitive to any call, which is not the vain attempt to gain, in terms of consensus, a handful of votes . To the detriment of an electorate, fortunately, much more savvy.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/tutti-i-limiti-logici-dellopposizione-sullassistenza-ai-poveri/ on Fri, 03 Feb 2023 14:44:35 +0000.