Italy's Chamber of Deputies in Rome passed into law this week (by a vote of 302 to 263) this asinine deal which allows private investment in public utilities, including water. The Minister of European Affairs, Andrea Ronchi, who wrote the bill, assured the public that water rates wouldn't rise, that privatization would help utilities afford repairs to leaking pipelines and that the government would monitor the water sector. What most people don't realize is that the buffoon PM, Silvio Berlusconi, received a vote of confidence called to facilitate the passage of a bill allowing private firms to buy stakes in public utilities. Berlusconi's ruling majority won by 320 votes to 270 (if they had lost, his government would have collapsed.)
"The Noblest of the elements is water." Pindar, 476 B.C.
What does have the privatization of water in Italy got to do with the rest of the world, you may ask.
Plenty is the answer.
Cross-posted on the Big Orange
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