Wednesday 24 September 2014
Blog 7 – The useless "economic" entities
1) Using newspapers, Internet and other sources find a story (no more than five lines, you can also post the link) on a useless entity, answering the following questions: What is the name of the entity? Why is it useless, unproductive? Why is it still surviving?
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“Arsea” is a useless and unproductive entity of the Sicily region that would have thought to sort pubblic fundings to the farmers of the Island, but it has never opened. It has two headquarters that cost half million of euros every year, two managers and a general director with a too high salary. Many ministers have tried to close this useless entity, but everybody has ever failed. So, it's still surviving because of the corruption of the local politicians.
ReplyDeletewww.ilfattoquotidiano.it › Politica & Palazzo
DeleteThank you Giada. Do you have a link?
Deletehttp://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2014/01/14/sicilia-arsea-ente-inutile-che-mangia-soldi-senza-mai-essere-entrato-in-attivita/839933/ This is the link of the web page.
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DeleteThe most part of the offshore comanies are useless entities . There is nothing wrong if a company established in a country, is associated with offshore companies. Offshore company does not carry out commercial activity in the country in which it was registered, so it has no income in the country of residence, but only in other countries, so-called tax havens.
DeleteStates regarded as tax havens, represents a refuge for all types of companies, in order to allow beneficiaries to reduce and even completely suppress taxes, in full legality and practically impossible to be controled by the fiscal services from the country of origin.
In the last three years, the number of bankruptcies of companies that were associated with offshore companies increased exponentially from 3% to 14%. In 87% of these bankruptcies, the creditors have never recovered the debts , while in 13% of cases was recovered just a part of money that creditors have signed .
Gelsor , UniverAll Trading , Metropol are just a few examples of uselss companies .
In Italy we have a lot of examples of useless "economic" entities. The most are directly or indirectly managed by the Government.
ReplyDeleteAn example is the economic entity "ENIT"( Ente Nazionale Italiano Turismo) that, instead of improving and advertising turism in Italy, is only an huge cost and a waste of money. It is useless because the funds allocated by the Government are just enough to cover the costs of wages and operating expenses. It is still surviving because a lot of politicians, for different reasons, are interested in keeping on this entity.
http://espresso.repubblica.it/attualita/2014/02/10/news/enit-il-re-degli-enti-inutili-1.152122
Is Enit an azienda? Why? everybody can answer
DeleteAccording to Paolo, in Italy we have a lot of "useless economic entities". For entities i mean companies (aziende) and other public organizations (for example ENIT). For other informations about public Italian companies is possible to read the study (or project work) of Mr. Cottarelli and his staff in http://revisionedellaspesa.gov.it/documenti.html
DeletePay attention! according to our definition of azienda, all useless entities are not aziende, since they do not present the third attribute (economicity)
DeletePardon Prof. Di Carlo, I wrote azienda in brackets because i wasn’t sure if it was correct. I understood now, much obliged.
DeleteItaly has plenty of examples of useless economic entities, and the most striking case is that of Eipli (ente nazionale per l’irrigazione e la trasformazione fondiaria). Its suppression was programmed in 1979 but it is still in activity, even if its tasks are reduced.
ReplyDeleteI think it is still surviving because there is someone who takes advantage of the situation. In my opinion, people don't understand that fooling their State, they fool themselves, because we are the State.
http://www.nonsprecare.it/sprechi-enti-inutili-italia-mappa
goog
DeleteThere is an example of useless entity just near my hometown. It is a sport association which was born to let the youngers join the physical activity. The association takes place in a huge building with gym, pool and other stuff like this. Nowdays, it is an abandoned structure which no one takes care about it; so it is only a waste of space and in particular it was a waste of a big amount of money used during its construction. The fact has been just denounced by the citizens to "Striscia la notizia" and it will be broadcasted in a few days.
ReplyDeletethank you Michele for your testimony
DeleteAlitalia is an ‘azienda’ struggling since many years and keeps loosing a huge amount of money (and wasting). It can´t compete with many other companies which do offer equal or better service for less money. Moreover, it can´t survive any longer without constant huge private and public investments. These company is still surviving due to 3 main reasons,conflict of interest, patriotism (many believe Italy should keep its own national company) and to keep many workers employed. http://www.ilpost.it/2013/01/12/la-brutta-storia-di-alitalia/
ReplyDeleteunfortunately!!!
Delete"Montedison" is an industy closed, that shows no need and has no role in the industry, has not workers into too! "elcon" proposed to buy Montedison, and trasform it in a chemical waste disposal industry, "Montedison" doesn't want to sell the industy saying that the terrain must be reclaimed. This discussion is going on from a year and seems without an exit. It's surviving because of the Mayor and the Owners of the azienda doesn't want to sell it.
ReplyDeleteThe site is: http://www.laprovinciadivarese.it/stories/Homepage/361988_addio_industrie_allex_montedison_il_fantasma_elcon_si_allontana/?mediaon.trackers.autorefresh.Homepage
In my opinion Equitalia Gerit S.p.a is an useless entity. In order to justify it s existence it profits from the sacrifice of private citizens forcing them to make ever increasing tributory payments. These payments could easily be handled by other existing entities such as local municipalities. This entity continues to exist because of political interests.
ReplyDeleteThere is another example of an useless economic entity.
ReplyDeleteCNEL (Consiglio Nazionale dell’Economia e del Lavoro) is an organization which provides advices to the government. When CNEL was founded the 1957, is was necessary for the state. But now the situation is different, since we are in the midst of globalization, the recommendations come from Brussels. Although this entity is not worthy of 18 million euros of investment every year, it is still useful for some politics like unpaid candidates.
http://www.investireoggi.it/economia/cnel-un-altro-ente-inutile-mantenuto-dai-contribuenti-italiani/?refresh_ce
According to me an useless economic entity is Eurolink S.C.p.a. that have the duty to build the bridge on the strait of Messina.
ReplyDeleteThe build works had to begin in 2006 but the Italian govern paid 300 million euro in 2012 because the works have never started. The Eurolink S.C.p.a. was an useless entity because even if it receives money by the govern, or in a better way, by the citizen's taxes it didn't build something of usefull for them.
One of the most useless entity in USA is the " Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)" .They ignored environmental damage and the health effects on humans from major events such as the Exxon Valdez oil tanker that struck Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska and spilled more than 11 million US gallons of crude oil.
ReplyDeleteRather than deal with real dangers, they have gone after farmers for dubious claims of water contamination, while treating milk spills as they should have treated oil spills. Even worse, the EPA has concluded that there is no law preventing it from doing “research” on Americans. A recent lawsuit over the EPA’s work with airborne pollutants will put this claim to the test in Federal court.
I believe that our national airline company ALITALIA that is almoust risking bankruptcy is having a very hard time surviving and it is a useless entity .Many italians want and like the idea of having a national airline company that rapresents italy,of course there are also many employers that work there and many people would like to acquire it like the arabic airline companies
ReplyDeleteActually in Italy there many useless economic entity that we can assemble all together and they are " Comunità Montane" that is how they were called before to be revisioned and defined "Unioni di comuni montani". They cost a huge amount of money for all the italian citizens and they perform the same task of the Common of italian regions but without their responsability giving back no service. Therefore I will define them useless and unproductive because they are not absolutely effectiv in terms of services using their resurces given from the citizens paying tax. They are still surviving because the public admistration instead of remove this entity keep changing slightly the name and the aim of them, keep wasting a huge amount of money that could be directed in other services or sectors.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.iltempo.it/economia/2014/04/08/la-stangata-delle-comunita-montane-1.1238241?localLinksEnabled=false
http://www.iltempo.it/politica/2014/01/28/addio-alle-comunita-montane-anzi-no-1.1213154
Here in Italy there are lots of useless entities not because they are effectively useless but because people in the position don't really care about the good of society, they just think about earning money (for their own interests).
ReplyDeleteAn example, at Cornelia, here in Rome, there is a sort of 'auditorium' which was abandoned even if it was well-completed and ready to operate. After years they have to renovate it so it is under construction again. It would have been offering goods and services so far and bringing opportunities for youth.
One useless entity would be “Federconsorzi”, it was an important istitution born in order to fight the crisis of the Italian agriculture of the last years of 19 century. It was born like an instrument of collective purchases to control the market and guarantee the high quality. They need to cover the agrarian requirements. The crisis began to come out during the ’90 years when the Premier according with the bank decided to limit the overdraft because it was considered an instrument that controlled the farmer’s life and that was too much linked to the right side of policy even if after the Second World War the fascism would be died. Why is it still surviving? Because it is at the same time in credit and in debit with the italian State, in credit for the accomulated interests gained during these years, and in debit because it has to compensate the State.
ReplyDeleteAGNESE SCIARRA
The province, in Italy, is a territorial local authority whose area is less than the extension of the region (which, in turn, is a part) and includes the territory of most common. Belongs to the provinces tasks:
ReplyDeletesoil conservation, protection and enhancement of the environment and disaster preparedness;
protection and enhancement of water and energy resources;
enhancement of cultural heritage;
traffic and transport;
protection of flora and fauna parks and nature reserves;
hunting and fishing in inland waters;
organization of waste management at the provincial level, bearing, discipline and control of discharges of water and air emissions and noise;
health services, hygiene and prophylaxis public, awarded by the national and regional legislation;
tasks related to secondary education degree and artistic and vocational training, including school construction, attributed by national and regional legislation;
data collection and processing, technical and administrative assistance to local authorities.
Nowadays the province are still surviving because they can not be abolished without the politic decision and they can be considered as useless entities because their duties are limited, old and because the so called " Regione" already perform them .
In Italy,unfortunately, there are a lot of useless entities : this principally because of the interference of politics ( especially bad politics) in these sectors. A good example of that is just here in Rome: it's the "Atac" public transport, which has a hole of 1,6 billion of euros in its balance. It still work just because of the politics do not want to angering potential voters.
ReplyDeleteNicola Iezza
In Italy there are many useless entities that are still surviving. Some of them because they are good ways to allow and perform corruption (for example to assume somebody to return a favor), others just because of our politicians and in general our ruling class incompetence. That is the case of P.R.A. which stands for (Pubblico Registro Automobilistico). Motorizzazione Civile and P.R.A. do exactly the same job, so there is no reason for this register not to close. It is just a cost, about 400 millions euros a year, that does not provide any service.
ReplyDeleteAs I said, apparently there are no corruption reasons to keep it alive. many governments tried to solve this problem, failing every time.
In 2007, after the much disputed General Elections in Kenya, a coalition from the 2 main political parties was formed to end the tension and the violence in the country.
ReplyDeleteNow, the coalition had to accommodate all the politicians hence the formation of more ministries by the government.
USELESSNESS: These extra ministries and state organs were basically duplicating one's that were previously there. e.g: The Ministry of Public Health & Sanitation was formed alongside the Ministry of Medical Services. They both did the same thing ) Provide HealthCare) but had to run concurrently to sooth politicians' egos and "keep the country stable".
It becomes useless and UNPRODUCTIVE when the taxpayers suffer in order to keep afloat an institution rather than the other way around- The government introduced new taxes and reduced minimum wage of the civil servants.
Using smoke and mirrors, to the layman numerous jobs were created and different ethnic communities thought they were being included in the say of the Nation hence their SURVIVAL.
http://www.afrik-news.com/article13187.html
According to me there are a lot of useless entities in Italy : for example all the entities which still work on the road of Salerno - Reggio Calabria and also the entities who receives money by the govern and after that don't realize something. But i want to discuss about The Ast (Acciai Speciali Terni), that is one of the most important industry in Italy which produces steel. The Ast has an hole of forty millions euros. In my opinion it is not an useless entities because it is the only one that produces and shapes bright steel and it still surviving for this reason . I have worked inside the industry in August just to do an experience. And i saw many workers unproductive. For example, a lot of workers walked only around the machines. So i think that the problem of many entities is the unproductive of workers who works only to make a profit for their own interests.
ReplyDeleteA good example of a useless economic entities can be finded near my town: the place where I live is famous for the production of Wine and organic food. A few years ago, there was a winery which was supplied by little farmers for a low repayment. The final products were sold at a higher price than it should be sold, because of the great costs of productions they had. This leaded for a bankruptcy due to the products that remained unsold. This Winery failed and damaged hundreds of his stakeholders, after a long investigation police founded out that the money from the government were stolen and there was a lot of corruption in this entity.
ReplyDeleteIn italy there are so many useless business entities : Ice cream parlors, pizza restaurants, betting sites,hairdressing and tobacconists.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of these entities because I think they satisfy the most common wants of Italian people , but they are too many , so there is a great competitiveness and I don't know how these entities still work and survive to mantain their profit.
A case of useless business entities occurred in my small town Vico del Gargano, in my old high school "Publio Virgilio Marone". The province of Foggia had awarded the contract for the construction of our gym to a fake firm of builders that each time began the work and then pretended failure. After 7 years it was discovered that the firm divided the money of contracts with some members of the provincial administration. Unfortunately I couldn't find the name of the firm.
ReplyDeleteAndrea Gaudiomonte
ReplyDeleteAn example of useless entity in Italy is the which is a state-owned entity. The objective of this entity overlaps with that of the famous that "operated" until it was closed in 1992. The net income statement of this government entity is negative, its survival and development is secured by the State that finances it by providing one and a half million every year.
The entity should operate in order to increase productivity and efficiency of the factories that produce in the south of Italy. Despite the considerable flow of public money invested the entity's results have been disappointing.
http://www.lanotiziagiornale.it/paghiamo-ancora-per-la-cassa-del-mezzogiornolente-resiste-e-continua-a-succhiare-soldi/
Fake copies of expensive phones, watches, perfumes, alcohol and clothes flooded into the Russian market. Copies of the famous brands are much cheaper than the originals, therefore are popular among consumers. However, the production of fake brands is forbidden by the law, but still exists. In my opinion, the popularity of these products is due to mans desire to be different than he actually is, for example more successful and etc.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion profit based companies that do not satisfy customer needs and wants in long term become bankrupt. I strongly believe that no company can survive without generating revenue therefore if they make useless products they will not generate any revenue. However, there are some governmental institutions which get funded by the government, but i believe they should serve some kind of purpose.
ReplyDeleteATAC (Agenzia per i Trasporti Autoferrotranviari del Comune di Roma) is a useless economic entity which provides public transport in Rome.
ReplyDeleteIts bad service in a big city like Rome, gives birth to a really huge problem: dirty and laggard buses and undergrounds, low security control in the stations, undergrounds' lines still in construction ( for example the C line in construction since 2007 in 24 stations) make ATAC a useless economic entity.
"Breakfast project" is a useless entity in China , It was established by government in order to let people have the safety breakfast . They set many points in every districts. Many food services firm offer the food to these points.
ReplyDeleteYou know , there are many kinds of breakfast in China and the flavor is different, some Southern people come to Beijing and sell the breakfast to earn the money(there are 70% people to have their first meal of the day on the way to working) KFC McDonald also sell the "eastern breakfast" and it cost cheap many young people are fund of it . The food services company submit that offer the food to these points they have high cost and low profit. the reason why the project is still surviving , from the view of my point is set by government.
"Atac" is a useless public entity that offers transport service in Rome.
ReplyDeleteIts most important problem are the high debts and bad services; for example buses are never on time, the links are bad, the cost of the ticket is not too high for the services it offers. We can read it in a lot of papers like repubblica.it, that wrote an article about useless companies such us ATAC here: http://roma.repubblica.it/cronaca/2014/09/30/news/atac_ama_eur_spa_nel_mirino_di_cottarelli_sprechi_e_disservizi-96961056/
BGE (baltimore gas and electric) as a useless entity
ReplyDeletehttp://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-666728
The name of entity is "Van Phuc silk village". This is a brand silk in Vietnam, but it works ineffective. Because needs of Vietnamese customers change over time, they liked using it 30 or 40 years ago, but now it is not suitable for Vietnamese. Although this entity is unproductive, but it is still surviving because this is a traditional weaving in Vietnam and the government want to preserve it in society.
ReplyDeletehttp://hackmed.org/web/385-professione/83-la-sanita-italiana-anatomia-di-uno-sfascio.html
ReplyDeleteI chose the italian health care. This economic entity should be an important and powerful entity into a state but in italy for some decades the health care entity has seen an shrinkage either in performance or in creating value for the community. With this, i don't want to say the health care is going useless but that its performance are really bad. It lacks productivity, efficiency and management effectiveness. Sadly a great part of its manager have lost sight on the main purpose of this entity. Health care is able to survive thanks to continuous payments done by the government.