Analysis of the Bellofiore’s article: A crisis of capitalism

Just reading the title the reader can suppose the not easy topic of the article he is reading, indeed the journalist used harsh sound “s” which is remarked by the alliteration.

The article is arranged into small eleven paragraphs. I’m going to re-organize the article in four sequences:

-the first one finishes to the first paragraph and it is an introduction to the topic of the article;

-the second one includes the following five paragraphs and deals with the development  of the crisis in

  all Europe and in particular in Italy;

-the third one includes the following two paragraphs and goes to the crisis’ routes;

-the fourth sequence is the last where the journalist tries to give some solutions and or hope of solutions.

The journalist quotes a Marx’s statement “the history repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce" . He said Italian history repeats itself three times in order to make the reader understand the Italy is a “funny tragedy” in addition only the comedians show their opposition to government in some TV programs.

The first sequence has the function to provide an introduction of the article’s topic. The reader can note the use of words which belongs to the semantic field of comedy like  farce, joke, comedians, tragedy and  he understand the journalist’s judgment about Italy’s situation.

In the second sequence the writer denounced the BCE’s conduct, which doesn’t lend and in addition raises the interest rate while it has at the same time an anti-inflationary stand. At the contrary German lends to countries, in particular in the southern Europe, but it imposes too much interest rates because it “risks”. Also the journalist didn’t avoid to give a personal judgment indeed he said: “the German request pertain to psychiatry” . In addition German neo-mercantilism increases stagnation and inflation.

Bellofiore affirms the private debt is only a mask to hide the public debt, in addiction he uses the harsh sound on the word disguise which is alliterate with crisis which emphasizes the meaning.

 In the writer’s opinion all actions and decisions takes more crisis in Italy: industrial sectors disappeared, technology was imported, public enterprises were privatised.. but Italy has been storing deficits from 1960.

According to Bellofiore Italy is in a structural crisis.

In the last sequence the journalist proposed a solution in particular the one which is suggested by the Greek economic  lecturer Varoufakis and the ex British parliamentary Holland, but the first thing to do is stopping the “domino effect” and Europe can overcome crisis only if became “united” and internationalist.

in the end of the article the writer uses the word “struggles” to make people put in alert, indeed the harsh sound of the word underlines the capacity to fight to their achievements.

 

My opinion

The article gives a lot of information but they are often influenced by Bellofiore’s judgments. Anyway it permit to have a general idea of crisis. I find terms which belongs to economic semantic field like:

Eurozone = la zona euro, cioè l’insieme dei paesi europei che adottano l’euro come moneta

single currency = moneta unica

lender = prestatore

inflation = inflazione, è il continuo aumento dei prezzi che causa la perdita di valore della moneta

anti-inflationary stand = posizione anti-inflazionista

interest rates = tasse di interesse

austerity =  austerità, politica che tenta di ridurre il deficit pubblico a spese sei servizi pubblici e dell’aumento delle tasse

deficit = mancanza, carenza

neo-mercantilism = politica che consiste nell’aumentare le esportazione e diminuire le importazioni

stagnation = indica le piccolo variazioni di PIL o del reddito procapite

privatized-keynesianism = dall’economista Keynes che suggerisce la continua domanda per evitare la disoccupazione

private debt = debito privato, denaro prestato che lo Stato dovrebbe ricevere

public/sovereign debt = debito pubblico, denaro preso in prestito e non restituito dallo Stato

use values = valori d’uso, cioè un servizio o un bene da utilizzare escludendo il mercato dello scambio

GDP = PIL, prodotto interno lordo, beni e servizi utilizzati per il consumo in un intervallo di tempo

Public debt to GDP ratio = rapporto tra il debito pubblico e il prodotto interno lordo

Rating agency = agenzia di valutazione che attribuisce un giudizio sulla qualità creditizia

Interest rate spread = spread dei tassi di interesse per definire la differenza tra il rendimento dei titoli di differenti paesi

Eurobonds = creare dei titoli del debito pubblico nell’eurozona

New Deal = insieme di riforme economiche e sociali attuate dal presidente americano Roosvelt fra il 1933 e il 1937, per  risollevare gli USA dalla grande depressione  a partire dal 1929: il Big Crash.

Internationalism = “unità oltre la nazione”, cancellando le differenze

default = il fallimento quando una società non riesce a rimborsare i debiti seguendo il calendario concordato coi creditori