Italy’s Populist Government Takes Aim at Central Bank and What This Tells Us About the Combover Man

Italy’s populist government launched an unprecedented attack on the country’s central bank over the weekend, reports The Wall Street Journal.

But here is the problem.

The leaders of Italy’s governing coalition, Matteo Salvini of the nativist League party and Luigi Di Maio of the anti-establishment 5 Star Movement, lambasted the management of the Bank of Italy for failing to avert the collapse of a number of banks, which resulted in losses for shareholders and some bondholders, including tens of thousands of mom-and-pop savers.

Salvini called for a “reset” of both the Bank of Italy and Italy’s stock-market regulator, Consob, of having failed to supervise the sale of shares and bonds to small investors.

Di Maio and other Five Star ministers said they want to block Luigi Federico Signorini, the deputy director-general of the Bank of Italy, from renewing his term, according to La Repubblica. 

It appears as though what both leaders want is for the Bank of Italy to get more involved with bailing out failed private sector Italian banks.

And, thus, we see the problem with anti-establishment radicals who do not have hardcore respect for free markets and liberty. 

Anti-establishment activities do not mean things will go in the right direction unless the anti-establishment trend also includes a desire for freedom and not intervention.

This is the same problem with Trump. He is not your conventional establishment leader but he has no appreciation for small government and anti-interventionism and he displays this by setting policy as if he is governing from different regions of the Nolan chart every changing hour. 

-RW