What do you think about Italy's leader PierSilvio Berlusconi and about Italy in general?

Question

I'm talking about politics and economy (i'm not talking about beautiful places and culture)

Answer 1

I suppose the word you're looking for is egregious.  If the choice is him or Prodi personally I'd vote for Berlusconi if I were Italian - at least he can organise a business.  

Answer 2

The only news we really hear about Itally (in the US) is when Berlusconi makes the odd joke or the garbage strike in Naples.  Politically (from the U.S. perspective) the country is in limbo . . . government corruption being the main culprit.  

Answer 3

Italy: beautiful

Berlusconi: the least said the better!

Answer 4

Corrupt, corrupt and beautifully corrupt.

Answer 5

For some Italians, Mr Berlusconi's success as a business tycoon is evidence of his capabilities - a reason why he should run the country.

For others, Mr Berlusconi and his businesses did better out of the relationship than Italy.In the run-up to Italian elections this April, one of the most controversial aspects of the campaign was the media coverage.

To elect Berlusconi once, as Oscar Wilde might have put it, may be regarded as a misfortune. To elect him twice looks like carelessness. To elect him three times is beyond a joke, for he is the most transparent fraud to have held high public office in a major European country since the Second World War. He even makes the late Boris Yeltsin look serious and competent by comparison.

What can the Italians have been thinking? They were, I suspect, thinking that the situation is so bad that only a self-proclaimed miracle-worker like Berlusconi might have the magic to fix it. He managed to turn himself into the second-richest man in the country; maybe he can do it for the rest of us, too. And if the magic doesn't work, well, at least he's entertaining.

He is a compulsive clown, once making the sign of a cuckold’s horns behind the head of a fellow dignitary in a group photo. One wouldn’t dwell so much on the clown-like behaviour if it was just the cover for a serious political program, but there is none in sight. Having made a first fortune in real estate and a second in the media (he owns Italy’s three big commercial TV channels), he got into politics in the early 1990s mainly as a way of evading the bribery and corruption charges that were threatening to bring him down.

Italian society has been hit by a real ‘collapse of the future.’ Almost two out of three Italians believe that in the near future the young will have a worse social and economic position than their parents.

This is despair. Italian society in this frame of mind do not always make rational choices, and in choosing Berlusconi they are looking for magic. He doesn’t have any magic, though, and after five more years with him at the helm — he has the majority to last a full term — it is quite likely that Italy will even have to bail out of the euro. The Italian state is slowly collapsing before our eyes.

Though absent from the candidates' slogans, Italy's need to rejuvenate itself ought to be the nation's No. 1 priority. Better educated and more connected with the outside world, young Italians are ready to step into full-fledged adulthood and reshape their country's future. But far too few have had the chance. The young, of course, have to push for power, and some admit they don't push hard enough. Still, even the most determined shoves are rarely able to nudge open the doors to Italy's exclusive and aging ruling club.

For now, though, Italy's leadership lies in the hands of politicians steeped in the old ways. And they are plainly determined not to let go.Perhaps surprisingly, nepotism and favoritism run rampant in academia. Universities ought to be open to new faces and new ideas. Yet while the system of assigning teaching jobs is based on apparently open and competitive public exams, in practice, positions are divvied up by ranking professors to favor their own chosen protégés.

If the under-40 generation really wants to rejuvenate Italy, it will have to stop waiting for permission from the old guard and push ahead itself. And here and there, the crossroads of Italy's past and future is visibly emerging. The past can't exist without the present.

Do you understand, now, why so many Italians say they are dissatisfied with Italy, but could not live anywhere else, or miss it dreadfully if they do? The world is getting more complicated, so it's nice to have some new idea and goals to hand.

Answer 6

Silvio Berlusconi is no better, or worse than most other successful Italian businessmen who have made themselves a nice fortune from defrauding others not quite as sleezy as he is. He is definitely a crook, no matter how much he tries to show a legitimate image in public. His tactic of entering politics is just the usual Italian way of gaining some protection from prosecution through political immunity (see Giulio Andreotti, who got away with being closely tied to the Mafia - he is still today an active member of Senate, would you believe it?).

As for Italy, in general, well I would say that the country is actually quite beautiful. It sure is worthwhile taking a visit, as a tourist. One fundamental issue that ruins the nice image of the country, however, is the fact that it's inhabited by about 65 million Italians. Not counting the children, who have no blame for the kind of example they get from their parents, the Italians in general can be very nasty and dishonest, especially if they catch on that you're a foreigner. If you're lucky enough to be fluent in the language, then you're OK. But you need to be extra careful of the ripoff if you don't (try ordering a cappuccino in Piazza San Marco in English one day, then try again the next day in Italian; you'll notice an unexplainable difference in price ...). The word "Corrupt" is still inadequate to describe the people. Let's not even talk about how the public offices are run ... The economy? You've got to be joking! The only economy that works successfully there is grand theft and fraud. All other business carried out there is an "accessory" economy to the main activity of fraud and corruption.