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THE NEW SOCIAL-ECONOMIC SITUATION

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Felice Ferraro
Felice Ferraro

The document discusses the worsening economic situation in Italy. Unemployment has reached a new high of 11.2% and youth unemployment is at 36.6%. Many Italians have given up looking for work. A new social class of "new poor people" has emerged from the shrinking middle class. This includes craftsmen, traders and employees who now turn to charities for help with living expenses. The gap between rich and poor in Italy is growing.

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THE NEW SOCIAL-ECONOMIC SITUATION That 2012 was a difficult year is a matter of fact but that 2013 is even harder, this is becoming obviously certain. An increasing unemployment and a decreasing spending power of families are only some of the alarming parameters used to point to the Italian economic situation, in which we can note the formation of a new social-economic class: “The new poor people”. It was the National Statistics Institute (Istat) which alarmed with unemployment since, according to the information released in February but referring to last December, the economic social phenomenon reached a new record. The number of unemployment has so far reached to 2,875,000 people (11.2%). These data must be put together with the youth unemployment that has decreased to 36.6% and the idle people, pointing out that 4 Italians of 10 have given up with looking for a job. But Italian problems are not only those related with (un)employment. Another important issue is the collapse of the spending power due to a very small salary increase, just 1.5% facing an inflation rate of 3%. The Consumers’ Federation (Federconsumatori) calculates the relapse on family spending power, according to which a simple income family of 4 people, will waste € 540, that means less expenditure, less consumer goods. The crisis is deepen also by new increasing taxes, so that Italians can only hope and pray they will be able to get to the end of the month. But that’s not all, since another alarming economic phenomenon is the formation of a new strange social class: “The new poor people” made up of people who previously belonged to the middle class, including craftsmen, traders, employees and others. The falling down of the middle class began in 2007 and it continues up till today. Up to 2011, the percentage of population that turns to the Caritas to face the current expenses has grown of 14%, but among them there are not only indebted former workers or professionals, many of them are divorced, separated men who, exhausted by legal expenses, assist to their own financial crash without being able to do anything, and that only, because they want to practice the right to see their own children for few times a week. “Are we rich or poor people?”, this is the question that many people ask. Italy, as the rest of the world, is by now a Country with two sides: the rich people, who think of having fun and how spending the money earned, and the poor people, who manage to survive. Today we live in this world, a dirty and corrupt world, strange to our eyes, but for which we do nothing to improve it. The gap among social classes has always existed, but lately it has been getting worse and worse. If we think about it we could say advertising is one of the most common cause that makes us waste money, but reflecting, more we can say that the fault is only ours, since Italians spend more and more on cameras, motorcycles, computers, mobile phones and etc. Anyway, for Italy and for us Italians, these are very difficult times, and a Country as ours can’t and mustn’t allow the impoverishment of its inhabitants, our silent institutions should give some serious answers to the economic crisis and our ruling class should talk less and pass from words to deeds.

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THE NEW SOCIAL-ECONOMIC SITUATION

  • 1. THE NEW SOCIAL-ECONOMIC SITUATION That 2012 was a difficult year is a matter of fact but that 2013 is even harder, this is becoming obviously certain. An increasing unemployment and a decreasing spending power of families are only some of the alarming parameters used to point to the Italian economic situation, in which we can note the formation of a new social-economic class: “The new poor people”. It was the National Statistics Institute (Istat) which alarmed with unemployment since, according to the information released in February but referring to last December, the economic social phenomenon reached a new record. The number of unemployment has so far reached to 2,875,000 people (11.2%). These data must be put together with the youth unemployment that has decreased to 36.6% and the idle people, pointing out that 4 Italians of 10 have given up with looking for a job. But Italian problems are not only those related with (un)employment. Another important issue is the collapse of the spending power due to a very small salary increase, just 1.5% facing an inflation rate of 3%. The Consumers’ Federation (Federconsumatori) calculates the relapse on family spending power, according to which a simple income family of 4 people, will waste € 540, that means less expenditure, less consumer goods. The crisis is deepen also by new increasing taxes, so that Italians can only hope and pray they will be able to get to the end of the month. But that’s not all, since another alarming economic phenomenon is the formation of a new strange social class: “The new poor people” made up of people who previously belonged to the middle class, including craftsmen, traders, employees and others. The falling down of the middle class began in 2007 and it continues up till today. Up to 2011, the percentage of population that turns to the Caritas to face the current expenses has grown of 14%, but among them there are not only indebted former workers or professionals, many of them are divorced, separated men who, exhausted by legal expenses, assist to their own financial crash without being able to do anything, and that only, because they want to practice the right to see their own children for few times a week. “Are we rich or poor people?”, this is the question that many people ask. Italy, as the rest of the world, is by now a Country with two sides: the rich people, who think of having fun and how spending the money earned, and the poor people, who manage to survive. Today we live in this world, a dirty and corrupt world, strange to our eyes, but for which we do nothing to improve it. The gap among social classes has always existed, but lately it has been getting worse and worse. If we think about it we could say advertising is one of the most common cause that makes us waste money, but reflecting, more we can say that the fault is only ours, since Italians spend more and more on cameras, motorcycles, computers, mobile phones and etc. Anyway, for Italy and for us Italians, these are very difficult times, and a Country as ours can’t and mustn’t allow the impoverishment of its inhabitants, our silent institutions should give some serious answers to the economic crisis and our ruling class should talk less and pass from words to deeds.