Posted on 08/03/2023 10:55:45 PM PDT by aquila48
The government of Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni is driving through a drastic cut in unemployment benefits as it argues there are plenty of jobs available across the country.
The unemployment rate in Italy has been declining for months and is now at its lowest - 7.4% - since 2009, according to ISTAT, the national statistics agency.
Ms Meloni, the leader of the hard-Right Brothers of Italy party, is planning to phase out the so-called “citizens wage”, which amounts to 550 euros a month for some of the nation’s poorest citizens.
The benefit, which was introduced by the previous populist government four years ago, is given to 1.7 million households to help with basic expenses such as food, electricity and rent.
Tommaso Foti, an MP in Ms Meloni’s party, claims it has cost the nation 30 billion euros (£26bn) and said: “It doesn’t seem to me that it has abolished poverty or helped people find work.”
Last week the first 159,000 families were informed by text message that the benefit had been cut.
Opposition parties have responded furiously, warning Ms Meloni that by slashing the welfare scheme she risks setting off a societal “bomb” which will lead to violent protests and civil unrest.
But ministers say there are parts of the country that are desperately short of staff, if only Italians would be willing to travel and take advantage of the opportunities.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Italy is rife with people gaming the system.
Maybe she wants the give the illegal aliens the money, instead of citizens, even if people game the system.
Time for them to get a job at the local restaurant.
We're the same way in the U.S. Too many folks are on welfare.
If she wants to get re-elected, then she needs to do something about the alien invasion, which was what she was elected to address.
I wonder if she lied about it, and really doesn’t plan to do anything about the illegal aliens?
” so-called “citizens wage”, which amounts to 550 euros a month”
Meloni is “right,” and she’s right. There are plenty of jobs and opportunities for self-employment in Italy, particularly in the tourism sector. Hell, one could easily make 550 euros in a day just selling cold drinks to tourists in the sweltering summer heat.
Yet Italy is still welcoming “immigrants”?
[Not that Italy’s birth rate is above “sustainability”....]
True, and at all levels from the street to the top government officials, just like in America. But there is one thing about Italy that is more civilized and just than America: You can still say and do things there that won't bring the full weight of the government down on your head, even if you oppose "wokeness," "querness" or the agendas of a particular political party or ideology. In other words, you won't get "Trumped."
As far as opening a business goes or becoming legally self employed it's a joke: For a person to open a business, even one in which he is the only employee,it will cost him 6k per year whether he makes a penny or not. Therefore, a lot of folks here who are self employed operate on the black economy, which is huge.
Italy has had a long love affair with socialism and it has crippled it economically. It's now part of the Italian psyche and as such prevents Italy from becoming an economic powerhouse.
I currently live in Sicily.
I pass American panhandlers outside fast-food joints staffed by immigrants; we have the same problem here...
Ya, I dont think unemployment means to them what it means to older Americans. For a country that spent the 90s at 10% and just missed 13% in 2014, 7.4% would be a staggering success for a politician that could claim part of bringing it down that low...IF Italians wanted to work of course.
Some panhandlers are reported to make up around $100K and have control over their schedule. Fast food would still be lucky to pull 24K in most areas.
I guess so. Comparing American politics with European ones is always frait with danger for the novice.
Not for Biden
You forgot the sarcasm tag!🤪
Can PM Meloni text Americans, too?
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