Vedi Napoli e poi Muori: See Naples and Die

I've been accused of talking trash many times in my days so this time I'm going to write about the literal mess in Naples, Italy. From NPR's Morning Edition "Naples, Italy Trashed by Garbage Crisis":

Garbage is piling up on the streets of Naples, Italy. Residents are angry about uncollected rubbish and battle police over access to a dump believed to be a serious health hazard. The crisis has become a national scandal for Italy.

Concerns were being expressed about burning of the trash and it potentially leeching into the food supply. Of particular concern was the dairy products where Mozzarella cheese comes from the region.

Another NPR program, All things considered, explained the background "Many Think Mafia Involved in Naples Trash Crisis"

The Italian city of Naples is suffocating under mountains of garbage. All the local dumps are full, and many Neapolitans believe Camorra, a mafia organization with huge economic power and political influence, is behind the crisis.

All the local dumps are full, and many Neapolitans believe Camorra, a mafia
organization with huge economic power and political influence, is behind the
crisis.

Roberto Saviano, the author of a griping and brutal account of how the Camorra works, has carefully studied the nuts and bolts of the group's waste-management business. It allows northern regions, like Tuscany and Umbria, to remain bucolic, while illegally dumping their waste at low costs in the south.

The Camorra has disposed of all kinds of dangerous toxic wastes from northern companies — printer toners, residues from leather tanneries, harmful dusts from pharmaceutical companies. That gets mixed with cement, non-metal car parts and even the remains of the dead from paupers' graves (which have to be disposed of every 50 years).

Saviano says anti-mafia investigators estimate the Camorra's turnover in illegal waste management alone is close to a billion dollars a year. In a region where there are no high-tech incinerators, more and more agricultural land has been bought up for landfills, and medical research has shown the region's soil is increasinly poisonous — the long-term effects of which can only be guessed at.

Around the same time, mainstream media reported the same story where the landfills are now full and there are some pretty shocking picture of trash mountains, trash burning and locals rioting in protest.

The Italians I know, are acutely embarrassed by the images. Perodi, Italy's leader, has called in the soldiers.

The European Union, has 'threatened' Italy with fines if the situation does not improve. I am sure the hard men gangsters running Naples must be quaking in their handmade shoes over a threat from the EU.

This negative PR is unfortunate as the greater Naples areas is heavily dependent on tourism: nearby is Capri, Pompeii and the beautiful Amalfi coast.

However, Naples itself has always had a rough reputation to live down to. Guidebooks warn of youths on moped snatching bags from tourists and to be weary of pickpockets coming out of the train station

One English friend I know participated in “Staples to Naples” rally. Not one to shy away from a brawl, he swore blind never to venture in Naples again. The reason was a car brake down late at night in a Napoli neighborhood and being introduced to the local youth culture. The Peacock cops could see this all but were too scared to intervene in the rapidly worsening situation but luckily for them, they're car started before it got too nasty.

My own experiences of Naples area also relate to driving. I first visited Italy (Rieti in the Sabine Hills, East of Rome) in 1990's where after I had finished my business there, the locals asked if I was going down to Naples. Once I said “no”, they let loose a sigh of relief. Apparently, there was a ruse going on in Naples of people reversing into hired cars and claiming you had run into them for the insurance.

Some years later, I drove around Naples on way to Amalfi coast. A lasting impression was the unfinished roads and bridges to nowhere. Apparently the road was funded by EU but you'd be a braver person than me to ask whose wallet the money ended up in. (Something about horses heads and beds put me off..).

Driving in Southern Italy is an eye (and bowel) opening experience and not for the faint hearted. I have driven in Italy – Northern Italy, Central Italy, Sardinia, and Rome itself especially it's one way system and lack of formal parking– so thought I'd seen it all about Italian driving. Ah ha. No. You need to drive in South to see what is applied anarchy.

Driving out in Caserta area, I came to realize that red lights just meant slow down. It is a bit strange, going through red lights doing 50 mph (you'd previously been doing 70 !~) on advice of my British friend who lived over there.

Finally, after visiting Pompeii, I made a mistake of stopping at a stop sign ! The guy in the fiat behind me went apoplectic : Blew on his horn; made a point of driving in other lane to come parallel to me, wound down his window; give me who some very fancy hand gestures ;shouted some operatic insults about tourists, then accelerated off waving a finger at me.

So whilst I love Neapolitans – the people, the food, the history – I have to say, Naples is one crazy city.

Vedi Napoli e poi Muori : "See Naples and die” was a phrase coined during the reign of the Bourbons of Naples, considered by historians to have been the city's Golden Age. It was not meant to be a prediction.

Until its annexation to the Kingdom of Italy in 1861, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was the wealthiest and most industrialized of the various Italian states.

What went wrong?

Phileas Fogg,
14th January 2008
Houston, Texas

The housing bubble: a travel outlook

If your only source for current affairs is 'Entertainment Weekly', it may be news to you that the 2008 forecast for the US economy is stormy weather. The dark clouds gathering on the sky appear to be a harbinger of a recession caused by a confluence of winds from a bursting housing bubble, a rapidly developing cold front from a credit freeze that reacts violently with the hot air from politicians and economic 'experts'.

For those following the Jamie Lynn Spears '16 and preggers' scandal but think 'Ben Bernanke' (Current US Federal Reserve Chairman) is a brand of Rice:-

• Following 2001, the Federal Reserve went mad. Fed Chairman Greenspan lowered fed rate to 1% which made cost of borrowing ultra-cheap. On the flip side, treasury bonds, CDs and savings rates correspondingly went down, so investors sought higher yields with more riskier ventures.


• Wall Street and Financial institutions went mad. They borrowed that 1% money and actively sought for ways to lend it to anybody. Over the years, rational practices such as down payments or evaluating risk of borrower were abandoned. Brave New World products were created by MBA hotshots with fancy sound names as collateralized debt obligations (CDOs). In reality, they were financial sausages made from pieces of risky mortgages and Wall Street positioned them as prime steaks complete with “AAA” ratings.


• The US populace went mad. Real Estate, once perceived as being a place to live in with modest appreciation expectations, was now a 'can only go up' investment and a ticket to riches. Why work when you can flip a fixer upper for $100K by providing a only a lick of paint, staged furniture and baked bread prior to a visit to give it that 'welcome home' smell. Prices appreciated year after year which appeared to confirm the perception. Greed took over, people bought condo's unseen and people willingly signed themselves up with toxic products such as ARMs and Interest only loans.


• Investors went mad. In their haste and newfound belief that RE could only go up, they never thought too hard about what is was exactly it was that went into the financial sausages they were consuming nor how those sausages had been cooked.


• The RE professions went mad. Appraisers knowingly overinflated property values, Realtors willingly jumped on the bandwagon as their lively hood is commission based to talk up the market. Mortgage brokers happily facilitated fraud to get people into mortgages that they knew were not affordable with pitch that “you can always re-fi before the reset”.


• Politicians went mad. They clapped as rapid RE appreciation happened since it is a source of taxes and money that could be recycled into the economy. GDP would go up. % ownership was at an all time high and touted as a success of President Bush's leadership. Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac were challenged to lend even more although those newcomers were poorer. Politician's also neglected their watchdog role.


• Media went mad. (Not perhaps since they are no longer independent thinkers). They willingly cheered articles encouraging the myth of RE always goes up – they had self interest in selling ad space to REIC - and never questioned if it was a good thing. The fact that RE prices got out of whack to peoples incomes never was raised. Interesting to note that the peak of the housing bubble probably corresponds to the June 13, 2005 TIME magazine cover.

So now where are we in 2008. We are beginning year 3 from the peak and individuals are recovering their senses one by one.

Flippers are left with flops. ARMs are resetting higher and payment amounts are increasing. Foreclosures are (no pun intended) through the roof and 'jingle mail' is increasing. Selling prices have dropped at least 5-10% and trend is down, Volume of sales has dropped even more, at least 20%. Sellers needing to get out are finding it a long and lonely wait. Open houses can have no visitors. Many sellers and unable to drop their price.

Investors, having caught a bad case of poisoning, have not surprisingly lost their appetite for mortgage sausages or other meat products which have Wall Street brand.

The inventory of unsold sausages are now rotting on the accounts of the financial institutions that created them and spreading to the institutions themselves. Many are not looking too healthy: SIVILIS where symptoms are lenders are no longer in a position to lend due to massive profit losses.

In the REIC world, Mortgage brokers are going broke. Appraisers are no longer appraising. The 6% RE agents are 0% RE agents. Builders may be building for now but they are selling and are cash flow negative. Ironically enough. Sub-prime was named word of the year for 2007.

Washington Politicians are pretending they are concerned but looking for political opportunities at the others party's expense. “Hope Now” is and will continue to be a flop. Other tinkering will be attempted but with low probability of success. Market forces are too strong, there is too much debt and overvalued assett prices vs. what market is able to pay.

Local and State politicians on the other hand have to face the music sooner, Unlike Washington, they are no allowed to deficit spend and must balance the budget.

• Foreclosures = no taxes from an occupant and lower property values for neighborhood.


• Declining house prices = lower taxes.


• Lower build starts = lower fees.


• Lower revenue = cuts somewhere.

Media are now slowly waking up and pretending they knew it was going to happen all along. However, they still parrot happy talk backed by quotations from a hapless industry insider 'experts' such as Lawrence Yun.

Unfortunately for many people who jumped on board, the gravy train has been derailed. The golden days of RE have ended. People will wake up from the “American Dream” and realize it was just a dream. Supply vastly exceeds demand and prices will revert to the mean with an overshoot to the downside. The house prices to salary is still too high. Critical enablers to the bubble, exotic mortgage products and willingness of investor to buy mortgage backed assets are dead. Conservative lending with a down payment and proof of ability to pay will be back in vogue.

So what the heck has this got to do with travel ? The answer is a great deal. Disposable income for much of US (especially areas with higher price appreciation) will decline. Consumer sentiment is negative. The revenue streams that people used to fund their discretionary spending -:Refinancing and HELOCs - are being shut down. As RE went up, people would withdraw equity and leverage up their notes. The money would be frittered away on cars, home improvements, pay down credit cards but it would also be used for holidays. Next year as house went up again, Re-Finance and take money out again. Wash-rinse-repeat.

Secondly, much of the economic expansion and GDP growth has come from housing. Jobs will be cut and consumer spending will contract.

Is the travel industry projecting a decline? Nope. Just like National Association of Realtors (NAR), who's projections only seem to go upwards, Travel Industry Association of America (TIA)'s annual forecast,

the U.S. travel industry is expected to post only moderate gains in nearly all sectors in 2008. Travel spending by domestic and international visitors in 2008 is forecast to increase more than 5 percent to $778.2 billion, up from projected full-year 2007 travel spending of $740 billion. Domestic leisure trips are expected to continue an upward trend of modest growth in 2008 and a slight increase in travel for business is expected.

My predications are discretionary vacation trips will be cut back in 2008 as a financial crisis starts to bite: Disney, Cruises, Winter holidays, Hawaii, New York will be impacted. Vegas, US #1 destination, will be especially vulnerable as it has gone through a huge RE boom itself not only in residential but also expanded it's accommodation capacity.

Sales of RVs will also be hit as boomers revisit their budgets and they realize selling their property may not bring the windfall they expected.

Families who are cash starved will still take a vacation. However, it more likely to be local and more frugal. Perhaps camping will be more popular.

Is the US alone in this situation with exposure to RE? Absolutely not. The RE mania seems to worldwide phenomena albeit to differing degree. The differences are between methods of financing. Some countries like Ireland, Spain, UK have seen a similar speculative run up with funky loans. All seems to have peaked which does not bode well for those counties. Like US, troubles in RE will impact their currencies.

In 2008, I expect the UK to be more slightly more attractive as a destination as the pound decreases. Since Nov 07, pound peaked at 2.11 to the greenback. It is now 1.967: a 7.5% decline in just 2 months!It is still not a steal as I remember it at 1.5 but for a frequent visitor to UK, I like the trend. I also predict the the Euro to decline in 2008 as ECB caves under pressure to help it's exporters and drop interest rates.

Don't get me wrong here. I am not saying the dollar will strengthen. I am saying the European ones will weaken.

Ben Bernanke in attempt to protect economy will likely drop interest rates again. However, this will not rescue economy as it is not a liquidity crisis now, but a solvency one. Regardless, it will drop the dollar down further. I expect to see more energy surcharges in 2008: Commodities are priced in dollars and value of dollars will decrease. If dollar drops 20%, why is it we are surprized when oil goes up at least 20%? Also factor in China and India demand and fact that limited investment has gone into energies in past decades due to declining commodity prices.

One region which I project to benefit from lower rates in US and Europe are Asian countries. Their currencies will appreciate and assuming they will put up with US Immigration hassle, it will mean an increase of visitors from Asia.

Other areas that will impact travel are cut back in state budgets. An easy target being closure of state parks. California is facing a $14 Billion shortfall and is proposing cutbacks with a closure of 48 state parks.

So on the bright side, if you still are employed and cash positive, 2008 should present some travel bargains as prices are slashed to attract visitors.

Question then is which ghost towns should we visit?

Phileas Fogg,
Houston, Texas
Jan 2008

1000 places to die before you see

A tale of bandwagon travel books, oysters,and crapholes

I was intrigued when "1,000 Places to See Before You Die: A Traveler's Life List" by Patricia Shulz came out. Over a pint, I paged through it to see where I'd been and where I would want go to next.

I soon discovered that the book itself was a 'Condé Nast Travel' level with it's posh selection but useless as a travel guide to someone like myself. However, under Ireland, I did find THE place where I first ate oysters - Moran's- where I was taken to there in the 90's by an Irish collegue after visiting Galway.

Here we drank multiple pints of Guiness, eat not so much bread and butter, talked about work and the craic. Since he'd already eaten 4 plates of a dozen fresh oysters, I was persuaded to try 1/2 dozen of the slippery beggars. "G'wan, G'wan, G'wan".

Not being used to the fleshy, slimy, stinky, texture, the first 5 oysters went down with same enthusiam as one licks stale cat piss off a cactus. The 6th however, had a magic Celtic mix of lemon, tabasco, salt. Oh My Gawd, Bloody Marvellous. I'd discovered why oysters are the food of love and I fallen in love with molluscs.

Anyhow as I was drinking the black stuff I was too buzzed to remember the place where I lost my 'Oyster Virginity' so was pleased to find out it's name again from the book.

Some years later, I heard that my Irish collegue caught a life threatening liver disease from his oyster passion. Before you ask, I'd like to clarifty it was NOT from Moran's,but from Oysters he ate in Dublin. It laid both him and his wife low for months.

I've acquired the Oyster lurve but am a strict "R" man. For the Oyster 'curious' out there, it is nothing to do with cinema ratings but relates to fact that you should only eat raw oysters if there is an "R" in the month". Less chance of bacteria Vibrio vulnificus you see, which reproduce rapidly in warm water. Still I always wonder if I will get 'oyster Roulette' and get a diseased one but I digress.

Fast forward to Dec 2008 and while christmas shopping in bookstore, I see plenty of "me travel, me die" books with variations of same topic:-

• Unforgettable Places to See Before You Die by Steve Dewey.


• 100 Things to Do Before You Die: Travel Events You Just Can't Miss by Neil Teplica


• 1001 Natural Wonders: You Must See Before You Die (Barron's Educational Series) by Michael Bright


• Journeys of a Lifetime: 500 of the World's Greatest Trips Hardcover by National Geographic


• 1,000 Places To See Before You Die: Collection 1 (2007) DVD


• Make the Most of Your Time on Earth by Rough Guides


• Unforgettable Things to Do Before You Die Paperback by Steve Watkins


• Life: Heaven on Earth: 100 Places to See in Your Lifetime (Life)

Hm, the words "jump" and "bandwagon" come into my mind. Perhaps with my collegue's experience in mind, I should join this gravy train and come out with my own death and travel title.How about "1,000 places you should die before you visit ": sub-text, all the crappy places you've been to and would hate to go back". I've already produced the cover.

I started to compile a list and on research, came across a BBC article on the most boring place on earth. The comments on this town as classic:-

I have to nominate Rainham (Kent) and its housing estates. The focus of life in Rainham is either the library or the small Tesco's. The Kent Coast sea view consists of a great view of the oil refinery on the Isle of Grain, the sea air is stale, clammy and full of London pollution, and the nearest thing to sea beaches is the mud flats. If you want to go for a walk, there are endless roads filled with houses, but you will eventually come out either by the motorway or a busy main road. Gerry Martin, England .

Another site was UK's Channel 4 Location, Location, Locations: Best and Worst places to live". The people of Middlesbrough did not like being named #1 worst: "it seems that these rating lists are made by ponces that have never even been outside of southern england".

Bwah :)

The big warm American welcome

Alternative title: Have a nice day and by the way, thanks for the Stadium.

Happy New year, Happy New blog. This site will discuss travel but not in the manner of the conventional unthinking drivel you get on main stream US media. First up let's get one thing clear. I do not work in or for the travel industry but travel with my job in a major US multinational company, and for fun when I can.

I travel around the world where I recently submitted a few months of expense statements. Meine Texas Freedom fried Franglais 'chap my ass' de jour is US stiffing it to their visitors (so called guests) with the special, city and state taxes . Whilst you may find that cheap hotel on the internet, you can subsequently find 15-25% or more added to the bill when you check out.

Throughout history, the traveler has been prayed on as a source of revenue : tolls; tariffs; kidnapping; shipwrecking and piracy. A 1996 New York Times article discusses a survey conducted for the Travel and Tourism Government Affairs Council in 50 cities: "Travel Taxes in America's Top Destinations,":

The 43 cities that responded to the survey question about restaurant taxes collected $3.1 billion in 1995 -- of which only $47.9 million, or 1.6 percent, went to travel and tourism. The 43 cities that answered that part of the survey about hotel taxes (not all of them the same 43 that answered the restaurant question) collected $1.8 billion last year, of which $637.3 million, or 34 percent, went to travel and tourism.”

Further more

The report does not object to the fact that state and local taxes, which make up the greatest share of taxes paid by the traveler, usually wind up in the general fund. But it strongly protests the use for general purposes of additional taxes and fees charged to the traveler, including taxes on hotels, restaurant meals and car rentals, which are rarely earmarked for tourism promotion, visitor information centers and other programs that directly benefit the traveler.

"Too many states and cities have used this scheme," the report declares, "to raise new revenue from visitors who are not voters to pay for programs unrelated to travel."

Most of the report consists of a city-by-city breakdown of taxes, and many of its findings are surprising. For example, Columbus, Ohio, had the highest room tax in 1995 of the cities surveyed, 15.75 percent. Seattle was runner-up with 15.2 percent, followed by Anaheim, Houston and San Antonio, each with 15 percent. Las Vegas had the lowest hotel tax, 8 percent, followed by Portland, Ore., at 9 percent.

Finally it concludes with:

In addition, 31 cities tack on additional taxes for cars rented off airport property, while 18 impose additional surcharges -- often to pay for athletic stadiums

In a classic example of “When you rob Peter to pay Paul, you’ll always have the support of Paul”, the voting population is behind this ruse.

In November 1999, the National Association of Counties and the U.S. Conference of Mayors commissioned National Research, Inc., to conduct a random survey of 1,000 American taxpayers on their opinions about sales taxes and the collection of these taxes on goods sold by vendors on the Internet. [Source] . Respondents were asked to rank five types of taxes based on their preference. The taxes were property taxes; personal property taxes; income taxes; sales taxes and hotel/ motel/tourism/occupancy taxes. Overall, 97 percent of respondents ranked their tax preferences. Not unexpected was the response that the number one most preferred tax (37%) was the hotel / motel/ tourism/occupancy taxes group of taxes because these are paid by nonresidents of the city or county.

This is outrageous . I visit YOUR place, I spend money in YOUR businesses, restaurants and shops, I rent a car, I pay sales taxes. Now when I check out I find that I am funding YOUR football stadium or contribute to educating YOUR kids. What on earth?

In most places in the world I visit, the room rate is the room rate. What is it about the US arrangement that is fair? If invited around for dinner and I brought some booze, I would not expect to pay a corking fee, donate for parking on street and or make a contribution to the Kid’s Montessori school.

Still there may be end to this type of scams with the credit markets freezing up. In a recent example. Orlando has delayed selling the first $300 million in bonds for construction of the Orlando Magic arena. This was to be paid for “repaid with hotel taxes, downtown-property taxes, sales taxes and other city revenue”. Note to Orlando Politicans: You are a bunch of scumbags for even proposing it in the first place.

In April 2007, the Texas House passed a bill giving Houston and other local governments the means of funding construction of sports facilities and other projects. This was a pyrrhic victory as before passing it, “the House removed the hotel occupancy tax, which meant Houston will not have sufficient funding tools to build a basketball arena. Left in the bill were taxes on rental cars, parking and sporting event tickets, and the authority for local governments to use funds levied for regional transit purposes”. The reason for removing hotel tax was the rational that visitors to the Texas Medical Center would not be a user of the Sporting arenas. Totally true as TMC is about 9 hospitals or so and people come here in troubled reasons. The last thing on your mind would be Texan's or Astro's game.

Compare this tax the non-voter attitude to New Zealand whose tourism operators fought hard against such proposals in Auckland.

Tourism operators from around the country are overwhelmingly opposed to taxing visitors to Auckland to fund a new or redeveloped stadium, according to a new survey.

In releasing the survey results today, Tourism Industry Association New Zealand (TIA) Chief Executive Fiona Luhrs said 97 percent of respondents opposed using bed or airport taxes to fund the stadium.

“TIA and the wider tourism industry are in full support of the Rugby World Cup 2011 and look forward to the event being a huge success. But the funding lines for a stadium should not be from bed taxes and departure taxes,” Ms Luhrs said

Finally, whilst I am still on a rant about stiffing it to your guests. The ultimate dishonorable mention goes to the Florida towns of Waldo and Lawtey who make up their revenues by fining speeding motorists whilst passing through. The cities have earned the ominous distinction of being one of only two official speed traps designated by the American Automobile Association due to the city's strict enforcement of the local speed limit on U.S. Routes as they cuts through town.

So this the new world order: the traveler getting their wallet picked electronically in front of your eyes. At least in Rome, I expect to get flinched by Romanian beggars. Here we have local government doing it for us.

So much for land of the free. Perhaps I’ve found the one job that "American’s want to do" after all....highway robbery.

Phileas Fogg,
Houston, Texas.
Jan-01 2008

Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors... and miss. ~Robert Heinlein