Italy is a welfare state. A welfare state is one where most expenses necessary for the well-being of the public are taken care of by the state. Examples of such expenses are health, education, pension, etc. A prominent characteristics of a welfare state is the lack of distinct differences between the manifestations by the rich and the poor people, of their living standards on spiritual and basic material levels. Average workers can afford a decent living space, car, and quality education. A rich kid may live in a villa while a poorer kid in a flat, but they wear clothes with about the same degree of presentability and afford the average expenses of social activities, and therefore socialise with the same confidence. The state derives these expenses from heavy taxation from the public itself. But it's worth it, if you think of it in a way that your taxes are supporting yourself. That is, you surrender half of your salary at present to pay off the education you had had, andto pay in future for your pension and healthcare. This social condition, of which "-ism" I cannot name, might be the most equilibriated form that communism is capable of achieving.

Italy's welfare social system arose from ferocious postwar "communist" opposition. At that time, as Italy industrialised, workers were poor. But "communists", who are more like labour unions, were responsible for setting up this new social phenomenon - strikes - that enabled workers to effectively claim their rights. This history, of which I have yet to learn much, must have been different from actions taken by Korean labour unions, which give the impression of having been ineffectual due to over-riding emotional considerations.

However, Italy's equilibriated social condition is showing disagreeable signs of desire for individual over public benefits. The amassment of enormous amounts of wealth by the Prime Minister, signs showing that he might change laws regarding state school funding, packs and contracts made between unions and corporates, and, as a more specific and recent issue, the conversion tricks played by businessmen on the euro that enormously decreased people's power to buy. As for the last point, how the public could have not recognised a simple conversion factor error baffles me. I regret to say it further entrenches my impression of the foggy-headedness and challenged ability to perform logical tasks of the Italians.