We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.

Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]

Is Italy heading for a (Terror-)Famine? Spanish press report

The ‘conservative’ Spanish newspaper/site abc.es. has a report about the food situation in Italy (in Spanish) which indicates the following, something our media seems to ignore, per my translation:

‘Increasing woe in Italy due to the coronavirus: almost 3,000,000 people need food aid’

There’s a 10% uplift there, as the report gives a breakdown with more details.

In Campania more than 530,000 people need food, almost 9% of the region’s population. More than 364,000 in Sicily, almost 283,000 in Calabria. Even Lazio has more than 263,000 people in need. One analysis says around 2,700,000 people need food aid.

There is much discussion of raids on pharmacies and supermarkets, with police guarding them. This might be Southern politicians screaming for ‘pork’. Or perhaps the economy collapses when the State imposes lockdowns.

The Italian State has responded (to the problem it created)

Urgent response of the government

On Saturday night, the government responded urgently to this cry of alarm from the whole South of Italy, where there is a grave risk which some have called a ‘Social Bomb’ or ‘A Social Powderkeg’ which could explode if urgent solutions aren’t found.

The Prime Minister announced on Saturday night aid of 4,300,000,000 euros for families (Mr Ed. What type of family?) and another 400,000,000 euros in vouchers “to help the citizenry who have no money to buy basic necessities”

Or is this about something else? This paragraph caught my eye:

The challenge of the black economy

The ex-president of the National Anticorruption Authority, Raffaele Cantone, a prestigious Napolitan magistrate, has indicated that the true challenge is the black economy, with thousands of people who are now helpless: «It’s about the existence –says Cantone– of a parallel economy which everyone knows about, which some, and not only Southerners, exploit and many others tolerate, hypocritically pretending that they can’t see it.»

And how long here before our food supply chains might disintegrate, when people have to laboriously shop 2 meters apart, queueing to get in, queueing to pay, as the capacity of the shops to serve customers is throttled, whether or not the products are limited or in short supply. Is there any modelling of how long this can go on, never mind if it should at all?

28 comments to Is Italy heading for a (Terror-)Famine? Spanish press report

  • Paul Marks

    Even if these reports are exaggerated the rule of the “liberal” left in Italy has clearly failed.

    The media support the “liberal” left coalition due to the alliance of much (although not all) banker interests with the left. In the case of the Economist magazine – they are actually partly owned by an Italian Big Business family.

    The paradox of most (although not all) “Big Business” supporting parties of ever higher taxation and mass social disorder (official plundering, and unofficial plundering) is one I will NOT examine here – it does not make sense, but it is very real.

    The League and its allies must, at some point, come to power – in order to restore the basic protection of private property in Italy. And to end “liberal” left social policies that have led to the Italian fertility rate going well BELOW replacement level.

    Continued rule by the “liberal” left is, in fact, slow motion genocide – with “liberal” social policies gradually exterminating the Italian people, with a fertility rate barely half replacement level. With “Big Business” seeking the replacement of the Italian people by mass migration from Africa and the Middle East, not understanding that these migrants are a net LOSS to Italy – due to their demands for benefits and “public services”. Of course there is also the direct plundering by the migrants – rather than using the state as a middle man (via tax and spend) people can just rob directly themselves, if they are people of spirit. And many of the young men coming in from Africa and the Middle East are men of spirit (indeed daring) – they do not need the state to plunder for them, they can plunder for themselves.

    It must be stressed that this is nothing to do with biological “race” as such – as people of any biological race can assimilate into any culture. However, since the 1960s (not since World War II – as some people claim) the West has been dominated by people who DESPISE Western culture and history – and so the migrants are actively discouraged from assimilating into Western religion and Western culture generally.

    If they are to survive the Italian people must reject the propaganda of the “education system” (the schools and universities) and most of the mass media – they need to totally reverse the economic and social policies that have hit Italy since the “opening to the left” in 1962.

    I repeat I do NOT regard all this as a matter of biological race. And I do NOT think any of this is a consequence of World War II.

    The League and its allies must come to power in order to reverse economic and social policies that are leading to the break down of order – and the slow motion extermination of the Italians as a culture (as a nation).

  • Mr Ecks

    The lockdown has to stop NOW.

    It is only still on because most haven’t yet realised they are being ruined over a bad winter flu if that.

    This and other situations like it has the potential to cause far worse than we now have.

    THE FUCKING STUPID LOCKDOWN MUST END AND THE WORLD GET BACK TO WORK.

    AS IN NOW,NOW NOW GODDAMN IT NOW.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6wRZCV7naE&list=PLZbXA4lyCtqql2cBUEw4VFFOJUyXPAB7i

  • Paul Marks

    Note to people who do not understand – Culture does not mean association football, pop music and pornography (enjoyable though all these things may indeed be).

    Culture means basic world view – fundamental beliefs.

    The deliberate undermining of basic traditions, of fundamental (foundation) beliefs is, perhaps, the greatest crime of the “liberal” left (who are not liberal in any sense that Prime Minister Gladstone and other Classical Liberals would have agreed with). Their pretence that trivial things (see the first paragraph) can replace basic, foundation, beliefs – is an obvious lie.

    The support of much (although not all) of Big Business for the “liberal” left is indeed baffling – as the basic objective of the “liberal” left (the Frankfurt School, Post Modernism, Critical Theory) is the EXTERMINATION of the foundations of “capitalist” society.

    Private property rights must be restored and protected, traditional cultural, societal, beliefs and practices must be restored.

    If Big Business will not help in this task – then they must at least STOP SUPPORTING THE ENEMY.

    In the Italian context – this government must go, and the “liberal” left doctrines it supports must go with it.

  • Paul Marks

    As for the “Black Economy” -that would be people who produce and sell at voluntary prices (not state mandated prices).

    The “liberal” left (and “Big Business”) appear to believe that government should set prices in the name of Social Justice (I suspect the Argentine Jesuit on the throne of Saint Peter agrees with them, but I NOT know as I have not got information on this gentleman’s personal position).

    It is ironic that people who call everyone who disagrees with them “FASCISTS” are following the policies of Mussolini.

    I would say it is the people who follow the policies of Mussolini who are the FASCISTS.

    And, of course, Mussolini was a life long man of the LEFT – and Fascism was, fundamentally, a leftist PROGRESSIVE movement. As was German National Socialism.

  • Mr Ecks

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsNWbfatRwg&feature=emb_logo

    Remember that Sweden–not the wisest of nations normally–has precautions and help for vulnerable but no lockdown and no economic collapse ( not internal at least:they wont escape the international madness). Their death rate is on the low end.

  • madrocketsci

    From my fuzzy memory:
    “..and they all had plenty of money, but there was nothing their money could buy. And the gods of the copybook headings, said ‘if you don’t work, you die’.”

  • WindyPants

    This link doesn’t seem to work matey. Any chance that you could paraphrase its contents???

    Ta muchly.

  • Mr Ecks

    All the links work from this end.

    Which one do you mean?

  • Mr Ed

    Mr Ecks,

    Many thanks for those links, it seems that some Anglophone media are aware of the situation, no excuse for those ignoring it. I think this (new?) contributor is insufficiently precise at present to be worth responding to, all the links work for me.

  • APL

    I love the way they slip ‘desperate for food, gangs are using social media to organise raids on supermarkets’.

    You’d think a gang that is capable of discussing their plan before putting it into action, could organise a raid too.

    But no, the media are now vilifying ‘social media’.

    Bit of a ‘sea change’ from how wonderful the media thought social media was, when they were covering the Arab spring.

    Of course the filthy creeps in the MSM suppressed the assault on Lara Logan.

  • Snorri Godhi

    Nobody from Italy told me of food shortages, and i keep in touch with both North and South. (Though obviously not with every town.)

    I checked Il Giornale and La Repubblica. The latter does say that town halls are receiving money to spend either in buying food or in distributing food vouchers, as they prefer. (In Italian of course.)
    The total sum is 400M euros.

    As for the ‘black economy’, having seen Contagion and the TV series, Cordon and Containment, i am actually relieved that Italy is not in Mad Max territory.
    A Southern Italian friend has retreated to his country house anyway, with his family, his sister (who is a doctor), a handgun, a big-game hunting rifle, lots of dogs around the house, an electricity generator, and a month’s supply of food. That way, they can leave home any time they want.

  • NickM

    Or perhaps the economy collapses when the State imposes lockdowns.

    Of course it does! And They fucking well know it! This is the best opportunity They (the Black Enemy) have had for decades. I’m at vomit-point with the hagiography of the NHS (WTF was that applause thing about?) and invocations of Blitz-spirit and all that. For the likes of us it is 11:59.

    If the buggers can drag his out long enough they can irreparably fuck civilization. It is Pol Pot’s Year Zero. I shall never forgive them and I will not say what I would personally do to the ring-leaders though it would be very unpleasant. I won’t say because I want this read and though I care not for myself I don’t wish Perry et. al. in the legal soup.

    This is existential and I believe we are on the very cusp of having to accept that the future is over and all but the most righteous will be medieval serfs (and lots of us dead). Unless we take direct action.

    Alas I appear to be a minority here (UK). There seems to be very high levels of support for the lockdown. That makes me sad and ashamed as well as angry.

  • Nico

    The Left doesn’t mind destruction. They don’t mind poverty. They don’t mind famines. None of it matters provided they get power. And if it helps them get power, then they’ll make those things happen. This isn’t paranoia: we’ve seen this happen several in the 20th century. Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot — all practiced this.

    I’m not saying that I know for a fact that we shouldn’t do any social distancing, that flattening the curve wasn’t worth doing, etc. What I’m saying is that it’s turning out to be too easy to get us to self-destruct. Much of that has to do with the power of fear and the media’s role in spreading it, and much of it has to do with local government’s existing legal power to make us self-destruct and the citizenry’s willingness to go along for a while.

    Trump’s extension of federal guidelines through April 30th makes political sense, but it’s an economic disaster. If everything goes well we’ll recover. If not we’ll elect Democrats who this time are making no bones about their naked quest for naked power, and God help us if we do.

  • Mr Ecks

    Enough of us can ignore their lockdown bullshit –but we can’t open up the shops , businesses that remain. If you want food –for now–its queue or do what the Italians are doing. I don’t think that helps.

    Its pathetic but I am making it clear to the new Tory gobboon in my area that he is a one term MP–if he lasts that long. If enough wrote/phoned etc that might start to have an effect.

    It is the age old issue. Things are going pear-shaped but its not yet certain that we are completely fucked. If we knew that then nothing to lose anyway. But kick off too soon and all is lost personally when we might still get back to a version of normality.

    Each should do what we can to pressure Blojo’s gang personally. Of course even setting Tory phone lines ablaze is no good because they are all sitting on their arses at home.

  • Markus

    I found this graph for Sweden, from their official Ministry of Health equivalent:

    https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/09f821667ce64bf7be6f9f87457ed9aa

    Click on “Sjukdomsfall per dag kumulativt” to see the curve for total infections, rather than the per day one. Really doesn’t look anything like the exponential ones that nations without lockdowns were supposed to get.
    Increase? Yes
    Significant? Yes
    But nonetheless linear, rather than exponential.

  • Nullius in Verba

    “Really doesn’t look anything like the exponential ones that nations without lockdowns were supposed to get.”

    It appears to show a sharp change in rate about two weeks ago in the number of confirmed cases. That might be the result of the initial measures that were taken around 11th March, 3 weeks ago, or changes in public behaviour a little earlier, or it might be a result of a change in testing policy. I don’t know.

    Log plot here. Exponential rise is mapped into a straight line on this sort of graph.

    They’re about where we were a week and a half ago judging by the number of deaths, and we didn’t have a lock-down then, either. But I think they might be preparing to step things up, shortly.

  • Snorri Godhi

    Haven’t been able to find “Sjukdomsfall per dag kumulativt”, but from the plots on Wikipedia for both cases and especially deaths, it looks pretty exponential to me.

    A few things to note:

    * The exponential rate of growth is not a constant, so the curve is not truly exponential. (Something that i have come to appreciate in the last week or so.)

    * Nonetheless, the doubling time over the last few days is a useful stat both for us and for the people supposedly in charge.

    * The purpose of lockdowns is not to turn the curve from exponential to linear but to decrease the doubling time.

    I must stress once again that a lockdown might not be needed if people behave responsibly. Over here, the doubling time is about 10 days by my estimate, w/o a lockdown.
    Unless we’re being lied to, of course!

    Added in proof: an exponential with a very long doubling time can look pretty linear!

  • Mr Ecks

    We don’t even know how many of these cases ARE coro or flu or pneumo or colds or only with coro…let alone how many DEATHS are coro. Been around since November but still no take off. Who has gone exponential lads? Who? Because even the dodgy totals that we have are nothing compared to a worldwide bad flu year.

  • Snorri Godhi

    The purpose of lockdowns is not to turn the curve from exponential to linear but to decrease the doubling time.

    Oops… I meant to say: increase the doubling time.

  • Johnathan Pearce

    In the meantime, China has been using the clusterfuck it helped produce and unleash to buy up vast amounts of oil at low prices, although I understand the US has also done the same. Nice work if you can get it.

    And we wonder why political unrest is rising. Italy as the centre of what could be a major upheaval. I am now close to wondering if the EU will survive longer than Harry and Meghan’s marriage – say about five years.

  • APL

    Lord Sumpton

    Johnathan Pearce: “China has been using the clusterfuck it helped produce and unleash to buy up vast amounts of oil at low prices”

    I hope the British government has done the same.

  • Mr Ecks

    APL–Why should they? The greenfreak wankers hate cars–except the ones that ferry them around.

  • lucklucky

    I hope the British government has done the same.

    Yeah why ? Your uncle Boris hates combustion engines.

  • David Bishop

    APL, thank you for the link to the video of Lord Sumption’s BBC interview.
    He’s probably Britain’s most eminent jurist, yet his quiet voice of reason and calm will no doubt be swept aside in the current gale of hysteria. I am not confident that things will ever get back to ‘normal’.

  • APL

    David Bishop: “I am not confident that things will ever get back to ‘normal’.”

    Normal is gone now. There is no way back to what we used to think ‘normal’.

  • Snorri Godhi

    OK, i got in touch with Italian friends. Two of them dismiss the report out of hand. (Though the videos linked to by Mr Ecks indicate otherwise.)

    Another explained to me why the ‘black economy’ is a problem: people working in the black economy have lost all income and are without a safety net. The new food vouchers should help, however.

    ——
    Paul:

    And, of course, Mussolini was a life long man of the LEFT

    Actually, Mussolini declared in Dottrina del Fascismo that fascism is a movement of the “right”.
    But note why he said that: because “the right” to him was the party of authority, the collective, and the State. In other words, Mussolini said that fascism is “of the right” for the same reasons why Paul says it is “of the left”.