Dear Mario Xmas,
This year I have behaved quite well with the students, so I ask you to bring me these reforms (knowing that you may not satisfy many of these wishes, for reasons of political arithmetic). I would like you to bring me:
• the privatization of the Fondazioni Bancarie (Banking Foundations), those strange and unaccountable share-holders that politicians use to control banks
• the abolition of professional associations orders (all)
• the privatization of RAI, the state television (preferably at least two channels), the abolition of the RAI tax, and the auction of all available frequencies
• constitutional reform (the abolition of the “special statute” Regions, the abolition of the Senate)
• the alignment of all public salaries to those of a weighted average of OECD countries with similar per capita income (say, within one standard deviation, plus or minus)
• the privatization of public utilities (electricity, gas, water) and the ban on local authorities to hold shares in those companies
• the separation (to be proposed at European level) in the banking system, of investment from retail banking
• the inclusion in the new property taxes of all the property used for economic activities (including those run by the Church and other “benefic” entities)
• the abolition of the legal value of the Laura degree, and the suppression of those universities whose scientific standards are inadequate, the link between quality of research and public funds
• the liberalization of public transport (all) and the withdrawal and re-auctioning of all concessions (from motorways to tax collection)
• the abolition of subsidies to the press
• the reform of the labor market, of contracts and layoffs (I’d like to personally negotiate the conditions of my employment contract with my University, just as I could do abroad)
Dear Mario, thank you very much. Despite my age, I still believe in you.
Yours faithfully,
Paolo Manasse