A cheesy Italian bailout scheme reported by the Wall Street Journal today out of Salsomaggiore Terme, Italy: That’s right, the Italian government is set to bail out one of its most famous industries, producers of Parmigianno Reggiano cheese. In Italy, apparently, it’s wheels of cheese rather than autos that drive the economy, which is why the government is ‘doing something’ about the economic (and aromatic) crisis. In short, a bailout? with a really, really stupid twist.
In order to prop up demand in a falling economy, the government is buying up 100,000 wheels of the fragrant, grateable domestic product, and? ?here’s a demand-stimulus package for you? donating them to charity. And, in a further stroke of fiscal ingenuity, Italy’s government is borrowing from an EU fund (designated to help the needy) to accomplish this.
Let’s see…that means that instead of buying the cheese, even at a discounted price, consumers will receive it for free. And this will…increase demand and revenues for the makers of the product, thus saving the Italian economy from a ruinous collapse of the cheesemaking industry, and, for all we know, subjecting future consumers to inferior grated cheeses made in places not located in Italy. I feel certain this warrants a Minute lesson sometime soon on the operations of the market, so will pursue it further there.
In the meanwhile, Blessed are the Cheesemakers, but as the WSJ also notes, “Now that the government has stepped in to rescue the parmigianno makers, however, others are making a stink.” Gotta love it.
