Another year, another scandal

I miei ripassi della lingua inglese continuano. E visto che ripassare la grammatica mi scoccia e non ne ho voglia (nel senso che mi addormento appena inizio a leggere una regola grammaticale) sto leggendo i siti di informazione anglofoni insieme a quelli dove si può leggere/ascoltare/vedere qualcosa in inglese.

E' tutto molto molto interessante. Ho anche preso l'edizione inglese di "Stupid White Men" di Michael Moore libro che merita di essere letto anche in cirillico e in cinese!

A parte questo, e saltando per un momento di palo in frasca, vedo che i libri e le pubblicazioni sul sudoku si moltiplicano esponenzialmente come gli articoli sugli scandali italiani nella stampa estera (ed eccomi ritornato a bomba). Come questo tratto dall'Economist.com di cui riporto le prime righe..

The latest scandals over a contested bank bid show that Italy has learned little from the spectacular collapse of dairy group Parmalat. The country’s reputation as a sensible place in which to invest has been badly damaged. But don't expect the government to do much about it.

LESS than two years ago, the spectacular bankruptcy of Parmalat, a family-controlled Italian dairy group, sent shock waves throughout Italy. It was the biggest scandal in European corporate history, revealing a €14 billion ($17 billion) accounting hole that had grown over a decade of deception. The saga cast regulators, bankers and auditors in a desperately unfavourable light for not spotting the fraud much more quickly than they did.

Europe’s Enron offered a chance for the comprehensive reform of Italy’s financial regulation that it so badly needs. Yet the growing scandal over the contested bids for Banca Antonveneta by Banca Popolare Italiana (BPI) and ABN Amro, a Dutch bank, shows that this opportunity was instead comprehensively missed.

In the first weeks after the Parmalat scandal erupted, reforms were introduced at surprising speed. Just before Christmas 2003, new insolvency legislation was pushed through, inspired by America’s Chapter 11. The government was also keen to improve financial regulation. Giulio Tremonti, the finance minister of the moment, wanted to replace the existing hotchpotch—Italy has four financial regulators other than its powerful central bank, all toothless and understaffed—with one strong super-regulator, an Italian equivalent of Britain’s Financial Services Authority (FSA). Mr Tremonti also tried to replace the central bank governor’s current job for life with a term limited to seven years.[...]

Il resto lo potete leggere direttamente sul sito dell'Economist.

Buone ferie a tutti ovunque le trascorriate. Buona vita a chi le ha già fatte. Buona fortuna a chi magari non riuscirà a farle.