STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Monday, 11 March 2013

[Demeter]

4. QE for the People: Comedian Beppe Grillo's Populist Plan for Italy

http://truth-out.org/news/item/14953-qe-for-the-people-comedian-beppe-grillos-populist-plan-for-italy

Comedian Beppe Grillo was surprised himself when his Five Star Movement got 8.7 million votes in the Italian general election of February 24-25. His movement is now the biggest single party in the chamber of deputies, says The Guardian, which makes him "a kingmaker in a hung parliament."

Grillo's is the party of "no." In a candidacy based on satire, he organized an annual "V Day Celebration" - the "V" stands for vaffanculo (f - k off). He rejects the status quo - all the existing parties and their monopoly control of politics, jobs and financing - and seeks a referendum on all international treaties, including NATO membership, free trade agreements and the Euro.

"If we get into parliament," says Grillo, "we would bring the old system down, not because we would enjoy doing so, but because the system is rotten." Critics fear, and supporters hope, that if his party succeeds, it could break the euro system.

But being against everything, says Mike Whitney in Counterpunch, is not a platform:

To govern, one needs ideas and a strategy for implementing those ideas. Grillo's team has neither. They are defined more in terms of the things they are against than things they are for. It's fine to want to "throw the bums out," but that won't put people back to work or boost growth or end the slump. Without a coherent plan to govern, M5S could end up in the political trash heap, along with their right-wing predecessors, the Tea Party.

Steve Colatrella, who lives in Italy and also has an article in Counterpunch on the Grillo phenomenon, has a different take on the surprise win. He says Grillo does have a platform of positive proposals. Besides rejecting all the existing parties and treaties, Grillo's program includes the following:

Unilateral default on the public debt

Nationalization of the banks

A guaranteed "citizenship" income of 1000 euros a month

It is a platform that could actually work. Austerity has been tested for a decade in the eurozone and has failed, while the proposals in Grillo's plan have been tested in other countries and have succeeded...