While the rest of Europe needs children, Italy also needs adults. Eight in ten of all Italians under the age of thirty live with their parents. The majority of these basement dwellers are men and have been dubbed Mammoni or Big Mommy's Boys.
The mammoni pose a grave threat to Italy. They do not get married, do not make babies (fertitilty rate is at 1.29 children/woman when 2.01 is where a population breaks even), the lack of their own place limits the amount of money pumped into the economic, and innovation decreases with the absence of independence. This all feeds a cycle of economic lethargy and high cost of living which are the primary reasons for so many mammoni.
There are so many mammoni that the Italian government is offering money for them to leave their parents' homes. There in lies the problem. The nanny-state mindset is ingrained so deeply in Italians. Why have babies when they are a burden and the state will take care of you? Why leave your parents home when they and the state will take care of you? The only solution the Italians can see is having the state take care of the problem with another handout. Expect to see more problems like the mammoni until having a family, hard work, and chance taking are rewarded by the state and culture.
2 comments:
I think your first link has been hijacked.
Oh Jebus! Thanks for the heads up. I have taken down the link and going to work with blogspot over that one. Thanks for the heads up!
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