We had been aware for some time that we were facing the worst right in
the history of the Republic - fascist in its ideology and publicmanagement, liberal in its services and economic approach. We knew that
when this political rabble would have to deal with the end of illusions,
that is, when it would no longer be able to postpone the implementation
of electoral bullshit, condescension towards the star-spangled master
would also emerge. However, we thought, poor deluded souls, that the
right in power in Italy would at least try to hide the leash.
The doddering Joe Biden, now former president of the United States, had
already done so to reveal the balance of power, when last March he gave
a kiss on the head to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, as one does with a
particularly obedient niece. Giorgia, the Christian mother, had sketched
an embarrassed smile, then returned to Italy to put on a ferocious face.
However, the pantomime did not last long. First, on September 24, very
excited and sparkling, she received an award from the Atlantic Council,
the US study center that two years earlier had awarded Mario Draghi
(and, even before that, Matteo Renzi): in practice the most obvious
attestation of continuity and recognition for the services rendered to
the Yankees.
With the Draghi and Meloni governments, in fact, the United States are
currently the real winners of the war in Ukraine, at least as far as
Italy is concerned, given that Russian gas - which Italy used for 40% of
its consumption until February 24, 2022 - has been replaced by US gas,
much more polluting (it is obtained with the harmful practice of
fracking) and much more expensive. Then, on September 30, Meloni
received Larry Fink, the president of the US investment fund BlackRock,
one of the most powerful men in the world, at Palazzo Chigi. In reality,
she had already welcomed him as if he were the most precious of the
stars at the summer G7 in Puglia; in that case even government leaders
were surprised by the choice. What was the CEO of the most important
company in the world, with total assets of 10 thousand billion dollars
(half of the GDP of the United States or, if you prefer, the sum of the
GDPs of Germany and Japan), doing at that conference between states? In
hindsight, we could say that he was looking around to understand what to
buy. At the end of September, in fact, Meloni and Fink agreed on the
possible purchase of Tim and Autostrade. And, we quote from the
government press release, it was Meloni herself who illustrated to Fink
"the investment opportunities in the field of national transport
infrastructure and in other strategic sectors", namely Ferrovie dello
Stato and presumably Poste, the latter two companies wholly (Ferrovie)
and majority (Poste) controlled by the state. Not only that: the
possibility of creating specific financial instruments by BlackRock was
discussed as part of the famous and infamous Mattei Plan (the right-wing
colonization of Africa that wants to make Italian companies happy and
force those who live in Africa to stay there) and the definition of bond
loans for the reconstruction of Ukraine, the most lavish medium and
long-term business that the European Union has also been trying its hand
at for some time.
As if all this were not enough, the 2024 budget law then arrived to
sanction the total subservience of the Meloni government towards US
finance. Just to give an idea of the forces at play: in Italy BlackRock
manages over 102 billion euros, that is, four times the money that will
be put into the budget law with which the government is about to define
its economic policy for 2025. BlackRock already holds 7% of UniCredit
and 5% of Intesa Sanpaolo, the two most important Italian banks,
controls over 4% of Mediobanca, has just increased its shareholding in
Leonardo to 3%, owns the largest private share of Eni and Enel and Snam,
has significant shares in Stellantis, in the Mediaset group and in
dozens of other important private companies. A control that will
increase dramatically thanks to Meloni's maneuvers.
The truth is that the maneuver born by the government has no structural
measures, preferring to continue cutting the tax wedge - a move that
benefits those who already enjoy privileges, in addition of course to
businesses, to which this government confirms its subservience -, is
satisfied with a cash advance from the banks (which in recent years have
made over 100 billion euros in extra profits), shamefully provides a few
pennies to those who work in healthcare and for pensions (we are talking
about increases of 7 and 3 euros!), gives the usual aid to families as
conceived by the right (numerous and Catholic faithful). As Alessandro
Volpi, professor of contemporary history at the University of Pisa and
author of the book I signore del mondo on the hegemony of US finance,
pointed out, "even the spending review of Monti's memory has been dusted
off, with cuts to ministries and local authorities through the linear
cut method".
On the other hand, the money earmarked for military spending continues
to rise: the "new" investments earmarked for Defense alone will increase
by 2.5 billion euros per year starting in 2025, while on the other hand,
4.6 billion euros that were earmarked for the ecological transition of
the car sector towards electric vehicles disappear in the new budget -
another gift to Eni, which is banking on biofuels to maintain the
dominance of cars with internal combustion engines (petrol, diesel,
methane and LPG). Far from sovereignism, this is the government that
from an economic point of view most resembles the Draghi and Monti
governments. In Melonian rhetoric, we continue to insist on the defense
of the middle class, a mythological social class that in reality is
numerically marginal despite being pampered by mainstream newspapers and
by this right-wing government, which makes its interests coincide with
those of the entire Italian population. When instead the reality of the
facts shows a collective impoverishment and the restoration of an
economy that eliminates the intermediate social classes or, if we want
to put it in other terms, the 1% that lives off the backs of the 99%.
And it is on this side that we need to create a mobilization. Because
the delivery of Italy to US finance follows exactly this plan: the
increase in inequality and the creation of a social class of vampires,
that is, shareholders, who feed on the blood of those who work and those
who produce. The social struggle will have to be the stake to drive into
their chest.
Andrea Turco
http://sicilialibertaria.it
_________________________________________
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