Aeroplane to Aeroplano

This is the second article by Roberto Vacca I have translated. I am very pleased to be able to publish his writings on this blog. If you are interested to know more about Prof. Vacca, his website (in Italian and in English) is right here ; and if you would like to read the first article I translated and published on the blog, click here . This is an interesting piece. Your comments, as always, will be greatly appreciated. L. Pavese Falling from Great Heights By Roberto Vacca Translated and re-elaborated (a bit) by Leonardo Pavese Lieutenant Giovanni Badalini of the Italian Royal Air Force completed 180 bombing missions over Malta. He was awarded one gold medal and two silver medals for military valor. On July 13, 1943, his S.M. 79 tri-motor bomber was shot down by a British fighter and dove to the ground. Badalini was ejected from the aircraft and fell at a speed greater than 310 mph. His parachute opened almost immediately and decelerate

The Euro, the welfare system and economic growth. By Antonio Martino Translated and re-elaborated by Leonardo Pavese   It seems to me the present situation presents us with quite a clear picture of the possibilities we face. To simplify, maybe excessively, I believe we can only have two of the following: a “traditional” welfare system, the Euro or economic growth. Let’s see. The first scenario is already before our eyes: we have the Euro, and we’ve got a traditional welfare system, whose astronomical costs caused public expenditure (in Italy) to reach something like 52% of GDP (Gross Domestic Product). But we don’t have economic growth: GDP is decreasing; the unemployment rate rose above 10% (for the first time in many years); youth unemployment stands at above 36% (but, as I will explain later, this is data to be taken with a grain of salt); small and medium size businesses are dying left and right; artisans and storekeepers are in a great deal of trouble an