The Easy Answer

Like a lazy ocean hugs the shore
Hold me close, sway me more...
Like a flower bending in the breeze
Bend with me, sway with ease
When we dance you have a way with me
Stay with me, sway with me
Sway
-Dean Martin

Business Week captured the latest gimmick to adjust an economy in Europe in a single word, which also explains why socialists tendencies and nations that become Welfare Utopias, find it difficult to re-embrace the tenants of free markets.

Sprezzatura originated from Baldassare Castiglione's The Book of the Courtier as a complicated, but complimentary, description of an essential skill an ideal courtier would need to support his ruler. This person had to be a marksman and an athlete, but be equally skilled in music and dance, and make it look effortless. These days, one might say such a person should be humble, however, the role and meaning of the word evolved differently. The ideal courtier would hide the difficulties of their skills and put on a facade for their peers.

Sprezzatura was described as the ability to hide true feelings and intentions by acting nonchalant. In fact, far from being a compliment, when someone was called Sprezzatura, one was being accused of being deceptive.
Sprezzatura entered English as "studied carelessness."

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Modern Day Studied Carelessness

Last week, the Italian government announced that it would add the grey/shadow economy of drugs and prostitution, and possibly illegal tobacco and alcohol sales into its GDP calculations. Such a move would buy the ultimate stimulus -at least on paper- as it has been estimated that the grey economy is 10% to 15% of the nation's GDP. This move would not only be a careless answer to a very difficult problem, but would also raise the white flag of defeat to the ever-growing economic strength of the Mafia.

It is estimated that the mafia in Italy raked in €200.0 billion last year, up 42% from 2012, with the N'drangheta crime family taking the largest chuck, €53.0 billion. The group controls much of southern Italy through money, power, and intimidation. It sells votes and kills everyone that gets in its way. Everyone, which included women and the 80 children killed in "hits" over the past year. The carnage is so high and terrifying that Pope Francis recently addressed the issue:

"This life that you live now won't give you pleasure. It won't give you joy or happiness. Blood-stained money, blood-stained power, you can't bring it with you to your next life. Repent. There's still time to not end up in hell, which is what awaits you if you continue on this path." - Pope Francis

Political Cowardice

Governing through Sprezzatura is not only lazy, but also cowardly, and only makes challenges masked over in the moment more difficult, and despair more powerful in the future. Yet this gambit is the solution that is being chosen more and more by governments around the world, including America. It is easy- at least it seems easy. In the case of using the grey/shadow economy, it is a lot of money, and it is part of the GDP (in some cases double counted), but it only emboldens those activities whose intangible damage to society, is often worse than economic.

However, it will be interesting to see if the EU, whose rules mandate that deficits cannot exceed GDP by more than 3%, accepts Italy's new calculations and that government debt can't exceed GDP by 60%. Without a doubt, it must look enticing, especially to post-socialist nations where poor habits and embedded corruption are hard to shake.

In America, we are moving rapidly toward a nation where marijuana use and the sale of marijuana will no longer be a criminal activity. Most politicians say it is a victimless crime and that it could be the source of major tax revenue. I am not a fan of weed and I think heavy users suffer in many ways that are detrimental to them, economically and mentally. That being said, punishment for selling small amounts has been too heavy-handed and has probably swept away lives that could have been remarkable otherwise.

There is not any other area of America's grey/shadow/black market, which can be legalized. Perhaps President Obama will decide that we simply add it into the equation. It would not be surprising, considering the most recent gimmick of adding research & development, and artistic creation to our GDP. The move boosted GDP significantly last year, but all it did was build a flimsy case for even more government borrowing and spending. (Pope Leo X would have avoided a lot of heartache as he built St. Basilica's, if he could have sold it as part of the GDP).

United States$625.63 Billion

Black Market Crime in the United States

• Alcohol Smuggling :$34 Million
• AK-47 price :$400 in CA / $500 in profit to drug cartels
• Cocaine Price :$300 to $8 (UN) | $28.58 (User Submitted) per gram
• Ecstasy Price :$35 per tablet (UN)
• Heroin Price :$200 (UN) | $110 (User Submitted) per gram
• Marijuana Price :$20 - $1,800 per ounce
• Meth Price :$3.0 to $500.0 per gram
• Counterfeiting :$225 Billion
• Cigarette Smuggling :$10 Billion
• Cocaine :$35 Billion
• Counterfeit Batteries :$12 Million
• Counterfeit US Dollars :$103 Million
• Drug Trafficking :$215 Billion
• Gas and Oil Smuggling :$10000 Million ($10 Billion)
• Illegal Gambling :$150 Billion
• Illegal Logging :$1 Billion
• Movie Piracy :$25000 Million (25 Billion)
• Music Piracy :$12000 Million ($12.5 Billion)
• Number of Prostitutes :1000000
• Organ Trafficking :$30,000 to buy kidney
• Software Piracy :$9773 Million ($9.773 Billion)
• Prostitution :$14.6 Billion
• Total Country Black Market Value :$625.63 Billion www.havocscope.com

Forget the gimmicks; what this country needs are politicians not looking to sway the populace through deception or easy answers, but with concrete results from honest intentions. Italy has been building on a house of cards for a long time and this has made matters worse, but do not think that America has not gotten its doses of Sprezzatura too, masked as critical decisions or thoughtfulness.