thisweekinitaly.com

Mall

I visited the largest Mall in Italy in nearby Prato. A similar one may be
built soon near Pistoia. It was….a Mall, just like the ones in the USA.
Probably the wave of the future in Italy too, although I think the smaller
shops and more intimate mode of shopping in Italy is one of the delightful
features of the country.

Reform of Television

The national legislature passed a bill to change some of the rules
regulating
television networks. The President (Ciampi) refused to sign it saying it
had some provisions contrary to the national constitution. I’ve found nobody
who can explain to me exactly what the bill does or even exactly the process
a bill takes after the president refuses to sign it. What is clear is that
the Premier, Berlusconi, owns television networks. In the United States,
it would be unthinkable for the President (who is equivalent to the Premier
in Italy) to take a strong part in legislation so intimately involved with
his personal fortune. In Italy some are not
bothered by this because it is “above board”. Everyone knows what
Berlusconi’s
interests are in this matter as opposed to cases of secret corruption.

My Wonderful Stove

Gas stoves in Italy do not have pilot lights. Recently I noticed at a
friend’s
house that his stove had a button to ignite the burners with a spark
igniter.
I thought this was a convenient feature because I use kitchen matches
to light my burners. When I got home I realized, which I had not before,
that my stove too has a spark igniter.

The Italian Catholic Church (contd.)

A friend wrote to tell me that in the Catholic Church the important thing
in attending Mass is not simply to “be there” but to be there to take
communion.

Recently I visited the town of Fiesole above Florence. While looking at
the Cathedral, I was treated to beautiful Gregorian Chants that a group
was practicing in another part of the church. Then I went to the old church
at the very top of town. Here there were no Gregorian Chants, but there
was music playing through a sound system –”We Christmas.”

Sin in Italy

A friend reported about a sermon at her Catholic Church at which the priest
stressed that any sin can be forgiven, even the most serious ones. His
example of a very serious one was adultery. As in the USA, this sin is
common
in Italy, but it seems to be even more accepted here. Whereas in the USA,
a married man may brag to his locker room buddies about his conquests, my
friend reported a story of visiting someone and hearing a total stranger
(a married man) tell her host about visiting his married girlfriend. In
the USA a man usually would not talk this way in front of a woman whom he
does not know. If not in bad taste, it would be viewed at least as
dangerous
to his infidelities being discovered by his family.

Red Underwear

It is traditional to wear red underwear for New Year’s as a way to insure
good luck. The stores windows were filled with various models. It might
bring good luck in the new year, but, as always with Italian under garments,
it is too skimpy
to keep you warm.

The New Princess

The last royal family in Italy was the House of Savoy. They were banished
from Italy after WWII because of their complicity with the Fascist regime.
Last year the family was allowed to return to Italy. Last week the daughter
gave birth to a girl. The daughter was married three months ago in what
I am sure was the finest model of a maternity wedding gown. The day after
the birth, I read two Italian newspapers. One had the birth of the
“princess”
as front page news. This was a regional paper of a more gossipy mode. The
other paper did not mention the story at all. This was a left wing
newspaper
that would not deign to give coverage to the “Fascist” royal family. In
the USA, newspapers certainly have political bents, but every paper would
nevertheless have covered such a story.

New Year’s Eve Dinner (Cenone) (at local restaurant)

Salmon over spinach with red peppercorns
Ricotta Tort with rucola, Pomegranate seeds, and orange slices
Baby Clams with squash and tomatoes
Shrimp with deep fried teriyaki vegetables
Pasta with a cream sauce and broccoli, almonds, and mushrooms
Medallion of pork wrapped in bacon with cooked onions and peppercorns
Chocolate truffle, coffee cream puff, and pistachio gelato
Three wines
Champaign
After dinner “digestivo”
Coffee

Everything was exquisite except the pork was a little dry. The cost with
tip was $90. Last year it would have been $72 with the stronger dollar
then.

Package Delivery Problems: Blame it on the Germans

Here is a note from a fellow American living in Italy in regard to my recent
item about packages from the USA that do not arrive.

Several years ago, Carol mailed a package in December from Chicago to our
house here. It arrived in May. We had given it up for lost, gotten a credit
only to have a delivery guy drive up our lane with it. He hands it to me
as if everything was A-OK. Turns out Deutsche post bought DHL
( large package delivery company in Europe that delivers packages sent
through the mail) and took over the package delivery for most of Europe.
It was a disaster. The International Herald Tribune ran an article about
the problems, after we finally received our package, recounting some
stories.
They received more mail about this article than they ever had for any other
article they’d printed. Everyone had a tale like our’s. Apparently, from
your experience, not much has changed.

A True Bike Rider

I saw last week a man on a bicycle with plastic tubes running to his nose
from an oxygen tank. I did not see the tank; maybe it was in his bike basket
or disconnected. The people in USA who walk around toting portable oxygen
tanks don’t look to me like they are about to jump on a bike.

Adventure in Germany

I often complain about Italian trains (poor service, but low prices)
as compared to German ones (good service, but higher prices). I recently
made a pre-Christmas trip to see my son Chris in Germany. In the town of
Regensburg, I had to change trains to get the train to his city. My schedule
told me that my train to Regensburg arrived on track 4 and the one from
Regensburg departed on track 5. I got off, and my train was waiting on track
5. There was no sign posted on track 5 (as there usually is) giving the
train number and destination of this train. What I did not notice (and would
never have thought to look for) was that there were two trains on track
5, ready to go in opposite directions. I’ve never seen a train system that
puts two trains on the same track at the same time. I got on the wrong
train.
In about 10 minutes the conductor came to punch my ticket. He did not tell
me that I was on the wrong train even though that was obvious from my
ticket.
When I finally realized the error, I was in a small town near the Czech
border. At that time of night there were no more trains going back the
direction
that I had come. Chris, who had driven 5 miles to pick me up at the right
station, instead had to drive 90 minutes to get me at the wrong station.
I did have a pleasant visit with the owner of the nearby restaurant while
I waited for Chris to arrive.

Another Interesting Event in Germany

I went with Chris to the American Supermarket on his military base. There
was for sale a large tin of Christmas goodies from Germany. This was the
last one on the shelf, and I could not find the price, but a nearby sign
indicated that the price might be $25 (a good bargain). So I took it to
the check out line. Chris, as always, had to show his military ID at the
cash register, but I gave him my credit card to make the purchase. It turned
out that the large tin was $50, and I was not interested in it. When I went
to sign the charge slip for the other items, the lady said that we could
not charge the purchases on my credit card; we could only do so on the card
of an authorized purchaser. Chris said fine; in that case void the credit
card slip and we will pay in cash. The lady then said she was not allowed
to void a slip that had already been run. At this point, I knew for sure
that she was a German employee. She was now deadlocked by two rules, both
of which she was bound to obey. She could neither accept nor void the credit
card slip. Soon an American supervisor appeared and told the cashier simply
to accept the credit card purchase.

Pistoia’s Rating as a Place to Live

An Italian newspaper each year publishes rankings of cities and regions on
the basis of how good they are as places to live. The rankings are based
on factors such as crime rate, business activity, leisure time
opportunities,
available services, etc. At the outset it is important to note that articles
about such rankings (In the USA we have the US News and World Report’s
rankings
of Colleges and Universities.) make interesting reading only if the rankings
change appreciably from year to year. But in fact the relative quality of
life in various cities or the relative quality of various institutions of
higher education does not change much within a single year.

Although Tuscany ranked number 1 as a region, Pistoia ranked last in Tuscany
as a place to live and fairly low even compared to cities outside of Tuscany
Where I lived in the USA, Gettysburg, was in my mind one of the best places
to live in Pennsylvania — an attractive small town, with many cultural
opportunities because of the College and the Seminary, convenient to large
cities such as Baltimore and Washington, etc. I also find Pistoia a
delightful
place to live. Is Tuscany so wonderful that the worst place to live in
Tuscany
is still as nice as the best place in Pennsylvania? Is the article in the
Italian newspaper simply wrong in its rankings? Am I simply blind to many
defects of Pistoia that are obvious to others?

I did like the “spin” that a local politician put on this article. One
of the real weak points for Pistoia according to that article was a high
crime rate. The politician said that in most of Italy, people don’t report
many crimes because they feel the police will do nothing about them. He
said, on the other hand, that the police in Pistoia are very efficient in
solving crimes. As a result people are more likely to report crimes to
the police here.

Train Signs

At the local train station the three signs are now working, but no
indication
when and if there will be signs also installed on tracks 4 and 5.

Going to Church at Christmas

I went both to the Family Service at the American Church in Florence on
Christmas Eve and the Mass at the Cathedral in Pistoia on Christmas Day.
The family service was delightful. We sang the usual Christmas hymns.
The children in the congregation dress up as angels, shepherds, and wise
men. The Christmas Story is read and when, for example, it gets to the
part about the shepherds, all the children dressed as shepherds come
forward.
All babies under one year of age are brought forward when the Christ Child
is mentioned in the story.

The Christmas Mass in Pistoia did not seem to be a special mass except for
the large crowd. I noted that when the Nicene Creed was said by the
congregation, hardly any men repeated the creed. I think the men did not
know it from
memory as the women did. I was standing about 15 feet from the pulpit, but
I could not hear clearly all of the Priest’s homily. Perhaps I was in a
“dead spot” in the amplification system. I cannot tell if what I observe
is typical of (1) Catholic Churches everywhere, (2) Catholic churches in
Italy, or (3) State supported Churches (regardless of denomination)
everywhere.
It is clear that the omily is not a highly important part of the mass.
My friend tells me that it is not important that it can be heard clearly
because the people don’t pay attention to it anyway. Whereas in the
Protestant
churches I have attended (which, of course, may not be typical) the sermon
often wrestles with dilemmas and paradoxes is scripture and how to resolve
these in everyday life. The homilies I hear in Catholic churches are much
simpler and straightforward. I get the definite impression that the point
of going to church in Italy is to “be there, not to gain any great insight
or inspiration from the service. This is not necessarily better or worse
than what I am accustomed to; it is, however, different.

The Presepe

Catholic Churches all have a crèche scene (il presepe) at Christmas. Last
year at the Cathedral it was one in which the figures were fashioned from
pieces of rock, not carved rock, but stones assembled to look like people.
This year the people and structures were made from live plant materials
and pieces of paper and cardboard. It is impressive that each year the scene
is reinterpreted in a different fashion.

Those Eastern European Women

Last week I mentioned that Italian men often like the Eastern European
women.
I saw an article in a newspaper this week about the fact that such women,
after they immigrate to Italy, often”steal” Italian husbands from their
wives. What I found most interesting was that an Italian politician
suggested
that the government should offer some kind of aid or help to the abandoned
wives in these cases. Italy is a country where there is very little public
faith in the effectiveness of the government, but, nevertheless, when a
social problem arises, there is often an immediate response that the
government
should “do something.”

Getting Directions in Italy

If you are one place in a city and want to find an address in another area,
it is often difficult. When you ask someone on the street, he or she often
cannot help you. When I was a boy, I could tell you how to get anywhere
within one square mile of my house. But the streets all were parallel and
ran for long distances. Within one square mile of my house in Pistoia,
there are many more streets than there were around my childhood home. The
streets are not parallel. Many run only a short distance. Even if you
can picture where the desired destination is, it is often
difficult to explain how to get there.

Christmas Baskets

It seems that almost every store in Italy offers Christmas Baskets for sale.
When I went to the hardware store today, I almost expected to see some
Christmas baskets containing well arranged assortments of tools, sandpaper,
glue, etc. Basically the Christmas Basket business (in the USA and in
Italy)
is to take merchandise that costs $25 off the shelf, arrange in nicely in a
basket worth
$3, and then charge $50 for it.

I viewed one interesting variation on this theme when I went to my favorite
candy store. I saw a whole bunch of student backpacks. People came in,
surrendered a yellow slip, and took a backpack. It turns out that a company
in Pistoia made an arrangement with the candy store. For Christmas each
employee got a backpack filled with candy, wine, cakes, etc. as his or her
gift from the company, which the employee picked up at the store. This
probably is in addition to the traditional Christmas Bonus in Italy –one
month’s wages.

The Acquabomber

Last week in Italy there were a rash of incidents of people contaminating
bottled water in the supermarkets with bleach or detergent. It seems that
they injected the contaminants though the surface of the plastic bottles.
A few people went to the hospital. I don’t think anybody died. This seemed
to be a “copycat” crime with instances reported throughout the country.
I don’t think this problem affected the water bottled in glass. One
newspaper
did provide a brilliant bit of advice to avoid contaminated water — drink
tap
water.

Rating Restaurants

Did you ever hear a restaurant praised in the USA as a good place to eat
because it offered large portions or offered free seconds? This would not
happen in Italy where restaurants are judged solely on the quality of the
food, not the quantity.

The Perfect Christmas Gift

In Italy as in the USA, almost all businesses try to cash in on the the
Christmas Season buying. I passed a store that sells hearing aides; there
was a sign promoting the “gift of better hearing” as a fine Christmas gift.
You can hear grandpa now on Christmas Day saying (in Italian), “Gee, son,
it’s a Belltone aide
– just the model I wanted.”

Italian Postal System

As I’ve said before, when a package does not arrive from the USA, it could
be
fault of American system or the Italian system. A package with some
merchandise
from the USA seems to have disappeared permanently. Another one arrived,
but when I opened it (It was a large mailing envelope.), most of the
contents
were gone. It obviously had been opened and resealed. This one also could
have been pilfered in the lobby of my apartment house before I got to it.
When I talk about these problems to Italians, they nominate the Italian
postal system as the likely culprit.

Older Husband, Younger Wife

In the USA when you see a couple where the man is 15 or 20 years older than
the woman, it is most often his second marriage. Although I haven’t studied
the matter, I get the impression that the situation is not the same in
Italy.
Here I think it is more common for men to marry later and to take a younger
woman as their first wife.

The Family in Italy

I have commented upon the strength of the family in Italy in various
contexts.
As is often the case, what is a virtue in one respect leads to a vice in
another respect. The strength of family connections in Italy makes it very
hard for the country to operate as a meritocracy. Jobs go to family members
and friends of the family. This phenomenon is not unheard of in the USA.
For example, in New York City where certain union trades pay very well,
children follow their parents into the unions. In general in the USA, it is
better to come from a well connected family than from a poor one.
Nevertheless, the importance of family connections is
much more important in Italy.

Missing Pets

On TV there is a national show “Chi L’Ha Vista” in which missing persons are
featured with family members telling the audience how much they miss the
loved one. I discovered a similar national show the other day for missing
pets. Now it is possible that a husband who flew the coop in Milan might
end up in Sicily, but I don’t think that Rover who ran way in Florence is
going to be found in Salerno. Probably the main attraction of the show is
the touching tales the owners tell about the missing pet.

The three most popular breeds of dog in Italy are (in order): German
Shepherd, Labrador Retriever, and English Setter. All are large dogs
whereas, compared to the USA, Italians live in smaller houses and
apartments. So one might expect smaller dogs to be the most popular in
Italy, but logic doesn’t always rule in understanding Italy.

Consumerism in Italy

Italy is easily almost as (if not equally) consumerist in attitude as the
USA, but this seems to raise more discomfort here than in America –
probably
because the political left here is more radical than in the USA. The weekend
after Thanksgiving is a big shopping period in the USA. So it may be a bit
ironic that on November 29 (Saturday after Thanksgiving), a group in
Florence
sponsored a “Day of No Purchases.” They urged citizens to come to a meeting
on that day to discuss a new mode of shopping that would be more respectful
of the environment, more attentive to the rights of workers, and less
influenced
by advertising. I would not bet a lot of money on the ability of this group
to change what have become ingrained patterns in Italy.

A Purchase at the Semi-Weekly Market — Almost a Great Bargain

There is a stall at the semi-weekly market where I buy plates and glassware.
It is run by a man about 45 years old and his mother. I have learned that
his mother will never give you a discount for a volume purchase whereas
he will. Last week I wanted to buy some pressed glass plates. The man said
the price was $2.50 per plate with a 1 Euro discount if you buy three. I
asked him the price for eight. He got out a paper and pencil and began to
figure the price. To simplify matters. let’s just say that there were
various
ways to figure the discount, some more favorable to me than others. He
announced
a price of 13 Euros. Immediately his mother, who had been sitting about
6 feet away, got up and told him he was wrong. An argument ensued between
them over the correct price for eight plates. At one point he told her to
let him handle it, but she was unrelenting. Eventually he tore up the piece
of paper on which he had done his calculations and walked away. I ended up
paying what Momma wanted, 17 Euros. In Italy, you may be 45 years old, but
if you work with Momma, Momma is still the boss. Actually she reminded me of
my own Italian mother who was similarly stubborn.

New Train Signs at Pistoia Station

They are still on only three of the six platforms. One of the three signs is
now working.

The Euro vs. the Dollar

A reader of my newsletter, much more knowledgeable than I in these matters,
tells me that the main factor in determining the values of these two
currencies
against each other is not the relative health of the American vs. the
European economies
or the opinions Europeans have of George Bush, but short term interest rates
in Europe and the USA. It does not appear, however, that the recent sharp
drop in the dollar was based on any interest rate changes. It remains a
mystery.
I am pleased if the drop in the dollar is not premised on the Europeans’
opinion of Bush
(because this is not going to change), but I am dismayed that my friend
predicts that the dollar may fall to the point where 1 Euro = $1.50. He
thinks that the European community (or at least some major countries in
it) for political reasons wants a strong Euro even if this is to the its
disadvantage economically.

The Never Ending Surprises of a Trip to the Dentist

I reported in the spring about my first visit to an Italian dentist where
I went to get my teeth cleaned and ended up with a tooth being extracted.
I now go to the dentist said to be the best in Pistoia. I have to get a
bridge over the space where the tooth was pulled. At my last appointment,
the dentist prepared the teeth in front and back of the space for the bridge
and then put temporary caps on these teeth. This week I expected the bridge
to be installed. Instead he started drilling and using some instruments
I had never seen before. His assistant held my mouth open with a tool that
looked like (only slightly smaller) what a brick mason uses to smooth the
mortar between the bricks. Eventually he said a sentence in Italian in which
I understood the words,” remove, root, and detach.” Next he was putting
some thread in a needle to sew up my gums, and it was clear that I had just
had some oral surgery. In Italy this is done by a general dentist, not
specialist. Eventually I am confident that I will get the bridge.

Weather in Italy

The mountain areas in Italy are much colder than the rest of the country
and have a lot of snow. Still when the temperature in the mountains gets
down to mid 20s and the temperature in places like Pistoia gets to the mid
30s, we have a cold wave. TV stations start broadcasting advice about how
to deal with the extreme cold of the type you see in the USA when the
temperature is under 10°. I killed a mosquito in my bedroom last week. I
never saw
mosquitoes in Gettysburg in December.

Learning Italian Vocabulary

When I study Italian in classes with other immigrants, I have a larger
“literary” vocabulary than they because I studied Italian at the college
level, but they are
at the everyday words they use in their jobs or talking to their spouses
(Many are Eastern European women married to Italian men — Italian men love
those blonds.). In class last week we saw a short film that had some Italian
slang and swear words. The other students knew them all!! I do have a book
for English speakers that contains all the rude and obscene Italian words;
maybe I should study this book in depth.

My Christmas Tree

It is up. Although I had vowed to use only a few ornaments on my tree in
Italy, I ended up buying a lot of them. Small trees in Italy all come with
a ball and are kept in a large plant vase so they can be planted after the
season. I am told, however, that few survive the replanting. When I was
a boy, we had a few strings of christmas tree lights (This was the 1940s.)
that were wired in series so that if one light went out, the whole string
went out. Some of the early strings of the small twinkling lights also had
this feature, but for full sized Christmas tree lights, strings wired in
series are a feature of the distant past in America. Not so in Italy. So
if one bulb goes out, I have to test every bulb in the string to determine
which one needs to be replaced. I suppose you can buy in Italy too the more
modern type (called parallel wiring), but I did not expect that a new string
of lights in Italy (imported from China) would be so old fashioned.

Italy and the Holocaust

Recently a prominent Italian politician went to Israel and on his trip
formally
apologized for Italy’s part in the persecution of Jews by the Fascists. As
a result, Mussolini’s granddaughter, who was a member of this politician’s
party, quit the party and threatened to start her own party.

As the story was reported, I found it interesting that the anti-Jewish laws
were not passed in Italy until 1939. I had known that anti-semitism was
not a big part (perhaps not even a little part) of Fascism in Italy as it
was in Germany. So why did Italy finally follow the German lead in this
matter? A professor or Italian History in the USA provided this explanation

“The anti-Jewish laws were passed so late because, as the questioner
noted, race had nothing to do with Italian fascism and nearly everyone
in power detested the Nazis on this point. However, by 1939, the writing
was on the wall that Italy would have no allies other than Germany and
ler et al. were insistent that Italy fall into line like the other
German “satellite” countries in counting, repressing, and deporting
Jews. As we know and are thankful for, many Italians (especially in the
military) thought this absurd and shielded Jews despite Mussolini’s
calls to give them up. As to the question of coercion, I don’t know of
any evidence that ler threatened to invade Italy or anything of that
magnitude, but the Italian military could not have functioned without
the weapons and other resources given them by the Nazis. If fascist
Italy was going to expand in Europe and/or Africa, this tie to Germany
was essential, and Mussolini reluctantly (it seems) accommodated
ler’s desire to marginalize and persecute Jews.”

I have noted that when there are signs at Italian railroad stations
commemorating when Jews were transported to the camps from these stations,
there is no
date earlier than 1943. I think the persecution of the Jews in Italy began
in ernest when the Germans in fact occupied Italy.

All this does not excuse Italian compliance in the Holocaust. I have been
told that the German government finds it difficult to ever take a
pro-Palestinian stance in the Middle East conflict because of the German
role in the Holocaust. Perhaps this is true of Italian government too (I
don’t know), but among the left in Italy there are strong pro-Palestinian
sentiments. Of course, the left in Italy traces its roots to the Communists
who lead the partisan fight against the Fascists. Just as in Germany there
were far fewer ex-Nazis in Germany in 1946 than there were Nazis in 1943, my
guess is that in Italy in 1946 there were far more ex-partisans than there
were partisans in 1943.

Newspaper Headlines

As I have noted, the newsstands have a poster each day that highlights one
or two stories. These stories are not necessarily the ones featured on the
front page; they are almost always local stories. If there is ever an
unusual death — in a car accident, in an industrial accident or of a young
person from illness– it is always featured on the daily poster. Automobile
accidents in which someone is injured but not killed get similar treatment.
Just a small indication of how life is much more “personal” in Italy. In
a city of 90,000 in the USA, the fact that a 20 year old died after a long
illness is not featured news.

Talking About Newspapers

I can read Italian well enough to follow a newspaper article. What is
frustrating, especially in articles about politics, is that in Italy an
article does
not start off by telling you Who, What, When, Where, and How. Instead it
starts immediately with the opinion of the writer about what happened. In
fact, one has to work to find the “facts” in the article. Even biased
news articles in USA, usually give you the “facts” before launching into an
analysis.

A New Italian Class

In addition to the usual language classes, the Intercultural Center in
Pistoia
is offering some classes that mix Italian language and culture.
One had to apply for these classes because space was limited. I applied,
but was not chosen for one of the classes. It was limited to 13 people.
I showed up anyway the first night. There were four students including
me. Since the class might be cancelled for lack of students, the teachers
were happy to have me. At the second class, there were seven students.
Since I don’t have a job that requires me to speak Italian, I need to find
as many opportunities to do so as possible.

An Analysis of Local Businesses

To give a flavor of what is most important in Italy, I walked down 8 blocks
in the local business district and recorded the types of businesses I found.
This district has some offices as well as retail businesses. I found 131
shops. Of these 61 sold clothing as follows:

General adult clothes 40
Shoes 8
Lingerie 5
Children’s clothes 2
Hosiery 2
Sporting Clothes 1
Hats 1
Ties 1
Shirts 1

An additional 18 stores sold items or services to improve personal
attractiveness including 6 jewelry shops. 4 optical shops, 4 perfume shops,
3 beauty parlors,
and one barber shop. So 79 of 131 businesses are concerned with being
attractive.

There were 7 bars, 4 restaurants (This strip does not have many restaurants
which are very common here.), 4 travel agencies, 3 pastry shops, and 4 gift
shops. There were 8 shops selling various things to use in the house.

You can do a comparison where you live to see if the distribution is much
different.

The Dollar vs. The Euro

The US economy just had a robust quarter. The European economies continue
to languish. The US stock market is going up. In Europe the inability of
Germany and France to curb their budget deficits within the guidelines for
the Euro (and the waiving of their penalty for doing so) should not have
increased confidence in the Euro.

So with all this Good News from the USA and Bad News from Europe, why did
the
dollar decline in value against the Euro? Some people think the current
administration in USA likes the weak dollar; it did not move to bolster
the dollar when it started to go down earlier this year. But it is one thing
not to bolster the declining dollar; it is another thing to work to
weaken it. I doubt that the administration is doing this.

I am no economist. Perhaps there are perfectly clear objective reasons for
this dilemma. But I have a suspicion that we are in the realm of the
subjective,
not the objective. I have a fear that part of the problem is the general
distrust and disrespect in Europe for the Bush administration. (Please don’t
write to me to tell me that this attitude in Europe is right or wrong; in
the realm of the subjective it only matters that it is) I see Bush as
suffering
from the Dan Quayle syndrome in Europe. He has been branded as a
lightweight,
and nothing he can do or say will shake this perception. I very much hope
that I am wrong because if I am right, it will be ever more expensive for
me to live here.