1/20/12

A step in the right direction

Jan. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Mario Monti's Cabinet will pass a plan today designed to boost competition and spur economic growth by targeting Italian professional guilds, many of which date to the Fascist era.

I have always said in my talks that the main problem in Italy is the guilds. The concept that you cannot start a pharmacy within a 10 mile radius from another. That you have to pass a government test to have the permit to start one, which eventually is given to "special families".

Newspapers can only be sold by approved newsstands. Lawyers, notaries, journalists, ....have all their turf. Taxis have their own restricted club. I could not have never started The Peter Dag Portfolio in Italy because of the incredible requirements. People cannot do anything without paying taxes, permits, long bureaucratic processes.

What is interesting is that, as for GM, problems are tackled only when the crisis is so dire that something has to be done.

The lesson is that the politicians will do something about our problems here in the US only when they recognize the eye of the storm. Nothing will be done until then.

The other important lesson is that socialism, protectionism and class warfare lead to disaster. The western world is failing not because capitalism is failing. The western world is failing because it has embraced too many socialist ideas that only Karl Marx would have approved.

More details in my The Peter Dag Portfolio , in Dag's Exclusive Market Alert, and my free educational videos on http://www.peterdag.com/.

George Dagnino, PhD
Editor, The Peter Dag Portfolio. Since 1977
2009 Market Timer of the Year by Timer Digest

To find out more about my in depth views of the markets and my strategy just visit our website https://www.peterdag.com/ where you can subscribe to The Peter Dag Portfolio. You can also call me at 1-800-833-2782 to discuss your specific investment portfolio.

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