Yes, and this is what I'm talking about. They want to make American-type wages but don't want to take American-type risks. They want the money and want a job they can't get fired from, and what happens when the government tries to change it to get a little competition in the market? They start rioting in the streets. "Oh noes! You mean I can get fired from my job if I don't do a good job? Fuck that! I'll settle for 800 euros per month as long as I can't get fired!". Monti's turning everything much more competitive market and Italians are so business-sense retarded that they can't understand that in a meritocracy, the more you produce, the more you're rewarded.
Italians are fucking dumb when it comes to making money. Most of them don't know how to make money without fucking people, and they think that the secret to making money is fucking people. That's where I swoop in like fuckin' Superman and take all their jerbs, money, and opportunities because I know how to manipulate my own skills and am flexible enough to work in almost any environment. I make 1000 euros a month in one job working two days a week, and I have three to four other free days to use how I want. I can either teach more classes for another 1000 per month or since I'm perfectly comfortable with working twice a week and 1000 euros per month, I can just sit on my ass, play with my dog, ride my motorcycle, play video games, practice guitar, and stay out all night every other night if I want to. That's because I learned as many skills as I could, took advantage of as many benefits as possible, and stayed as flexible as possible.
Italians are just lazy when it comes to working. That doesn't mean they don't work hard, that just means they don't understand the concept of a job or career. There are SOOOOOOO many FREE programs here in Italy that are paid for by the region to assist people in learning new skills that will help them immensely, but they'd rather watch fucking soccer and drink spritz. We're not talking about basketweaving either...we're talking about network administration, learning Cisco systems for IT, a multitude of languages from English to German to French to Mandarin to Japanese, and if these programs aren't free, they're like one euro per class or some shit. It's still not good enough for 'em because they'd rather just sit on their asses and bitch, so, like I said, I swoop down and scoop up those jerbs like Superman. I don't have a degree, I've only spoken Italian for 5 years, and I'm STILL able to take advantage of the skills I have in order to live comfortably, while there are many more Italians with much thicker CVs than I have who can't do shit...partly because they don't want to and partly because they don't know anything because they're scared to death of failure. People here don't understand that failing at something is just an excuse to try something different.
Now I'm merciless to them all. I never fail to point out the fact that a stupid American immigrant is taking their jerbs and there's nothing they can do about it, and that it's their own fault. The odds were stacked against me when I got here, but I networked, I studied Italian, I learned other skills, I took advantage of the opportunities available to me, and now I can do whatever the hell I want to do, and jobs ask ME when I want to work and ask ME how much I'd like to be paid instead of telling me.
There IS a meritocracy in Italy, it's just that Italians don't know how to use it. They don't know how to make themselves indispensable. A person like John, who will do almost any job asked of him and has a hunger for learning new things, would thrive here. I have Italian friends who don't believe in the hype that other Italians are complaining about, and they're multimillionaires because they can do ANYTHING. Narciso started out selling used cars and now he's a private security systems specialist who owns his own company and who is inventing a new type of green energy generator. His attitude has always been "ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE" and he will tell you that every day. Do you know why? Because he has a hunger for learning and knows how to manipulate his skills to fit with the job market. He can do anything.
Italy is wide open for innovation and growth, the problem is that it's full of Italians who want everything given to them without having to change their lifestyle. I tell them that if they want to work in a factory their entire life making the same wages and not getting fired, that's fine, but don't complain when you become obsolete.
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