Il commento ai fatti europei pubblicato dall’Economist di questa settimana nella rubrica Charlemagne apre con un quiz:
HERE are three Europeans, talking about the best way to help car workers in the recession. For the first, the state must use “all means necessary” to preserve key industries: ie, give carmakers billions of euros. In return, it is “quite normal” to ask them to halt lay-offs, to keep existing factories open and if possible to “bring production home” from lower-cost countries.
A second European says that governments should focus on ensuring individual workers are employable, not propping up uncompetitive firms. For him, the problem with the car industry lies in “the overproduction of cars that nobody wants to buy.” That leads him to a blunt conclusion: save the workers, not the factories that turn out such clunkers. In his words, “when a ship is sinking my main aim is to save the sailors, not the ship.”
That robust second view is echoed by our third European. It is natural for labour-intensive jobs to go to low-cost countries, he says. Higher-cost countries can make things only if they innovate, focus on high-end products and ensure they are the “best in class” worldwide. But if firms are not competitive they should not survive. “Nobody is helped by having people employed in companies that aren’t viable.”
Chi sono? La sorprendente risposta qui sotto:
- Nicholas Sarkozy, presidente della repubblica francese
- Fredrik Reinfeldt, primo ministro svedese
- Aleksandar Zuza, rappresentante sindacale dei metalmeccanici della Saab
Avercene di sindacalisti così!
[The Economist]
