Blog – Crooked Monkey

I realize that we specialize in making t-shirts, and not fixing government’s economic issues, but we’re going to chime in on this one, because it’s that easy.  I went to Italy last year to check out the Fashion Capital, and long before the whole debt issue flared up, it was apparent to me that the Italian economy is unsustainable.

Beyond all the fine leather, Prada bags, and Colosseums, is a cash based, unrecorded economy.  Estimates are that close to 30% of GDP is unreported, and untaxed.  Amounting to about 100 Billion Euros in taxes every year.  I’m pretty sure that they could put that 100 billion Euros to work.  For some reason no one’s really talking about this as being one of the underlying issues in Italy, and it boggles my mind.

The Solution: Crack down on unrecorded cash transactions, levy heavy penalties on infringers, and encourage/incentive companies and individuals to use credit cards.

That was easy. Now Italy, get back to making plazas and expensive clothing.  Stop adding to the turmoil in our economy.