8
◼ REMARKS Bloomberg Businessweek August 10, 2020orhotel cleaners.(Anearlierplantoofferpayoutsof
300,000yenjusttotheneedywasscrappedonconcern
thatassessingeligibilitywouldslowthetransfersandlargely
defeatthepurpose.)Whilewealthierpeoplearebenefiting
fromthefirehoseofcash,“moneyhasgonetoallclasses
invariousforms,wecan’tsayjustthemiddleandupper,”
saysJeremySiegel,a professoroffinanceattheUniversity
ofPennsylvania’sWhartonSchool.“Everythingis meantto
encouragespending.”
Yetcriticssaymanywell-intentionedprogramstendtohelp
thehavesanddon’tdomuchforthehave-nots.Italyis offer-
ingtaxrebatestooffsetgreen-orientedhomeimprovements
andwilleventhrowinanextra10%—soif youspend€60,
(themaximum),you’llget€66,000inbenefits.Australiais
handingoutA$25,000($18,000)grantsforrenovationsor
newlybuilthouses.Whilethecashis onlyforhomesvalued
belowA$750,000,detractorssayit’sstilla subsidyforpeople
whodon’treallyneedit.Themoney,saysCassandraGoldie,
chiefexecutiveofficerofAustralia’sCouncilonSocialService,
wouldbebetterspentwitha moretargetedprogram.“Itwill
largelybenefitthoseonmiddleandhigherincomesundertak-
ingcostlyrenovations,”shesays.“It’sa wastedopportunityto
addressthebacklogofurgentsocialhousingrepairsandthe
shortfallinsocialhousing.”
LikeItalians,residentsofParisanditssuburbscangeta
rebatecheckforhalfthecostofa bikeupto€1,000.Andacross
France,buyersofnewelectriccarsarebeingofferedasmuch
as€7,000cashbackfromthestate.InGermany,government
incentivesonelectriccarshavedoubled,to€6,000forpur-
chasesupto€40,000,atanexpectedcosttothetreasuryof
about€2.2billionthroughtheendofnextyear.
IntheU.K.theeffortsrangefromthemicro(50%offmeals
oncertaindaysinAugust,upto£10[$13]perperson)tothe
macro(exemptinghomepurchasesupto£500,000froma
transactiontax,savingbuyersasmuchas£15,000).“Nostamp
dutyif youcanaffordtobuya home.Cheaperdinnerif you
canaffordtodineoutinrestaurants,”Britishtradeunionist
Lauren Townsend wrote on Twitter. “But nothing to ease the
pangs of anxiety if you’ve recently lost your job, are facing
eviction from your home, or are using food banks every week
just to survive. Cool.”
Despite the deep economic crisis, those lucky enough to
have kept their jobs or hold investments have been able to
save—even forced to do so, given closed shops and the difficul-
ties of jetting off to Bali, Barcelona, or Berlin for the weekend.
Some of the money not spent on restaurants and vacations
has gone into kitchen renovations, flatscreen TVs, or video
games to ease the ennui of home schooling and remote work-
ing. Sales of game consoles almost tripled in April from the
year-earlier period, according to researcher NPD Group.
It’s also going toward swimming pools. Pentair Plc, a maker
of pool pumps and control systems, says demand has been
“very, very strong.” In Italy, the number of people intend-
ing to install pools has swelled by more than half this sum-
mer from last year, as families seek a secure way of keepingcool behind the walls of their properties, according to mar-
ket researcher ProntoPro.
Bicycles represent one of the most poignant symbols of
modern Italian culture—from the Alp-climbing-superheroes
of the Giro d’Italia, to the craftsmanship of the finest racing
frames, to perhaps the nation’s most celebrated film, Vittorio
DeSica’s 1948 TheBicycleThief. Intheblack-and-whitefable,
animpoverishedfatherneedshisdilapidatedtwo-wheelerfor
hisjobhangingmoviepostersaroundRome.Whenit’sstolen,
hecannolongerfeedhisfamily.Inhisdesperationfora new
bike,hestealsonefromanothermemberoftheunderclass—
and is arrested while his young son looks on in shame. In
essence, De Sica transformed bikes into a metaphor for the
economic distress of the postwar era.
In the Rome of 2020, bikes present a more complex picture
of class and opportunity. They are now, simultaneously, the
object of bourgeois desire and tools of the trade for legions
of immigrant deliverymen who fed the locals via food apps
during lockdown. While there are no statistics showing how
many of the latter are taking advantage of the “bonus bici,”
it felt like Christmas in July in wealthy sections of Rome.
Bike sales in the city tripled in the weeks after the program
was announced, and at a shop near the Galleria Borghese
museum, police had to intervene to keep order as custom-
ersjostledoverlimitedsupplies,CorrieredellaSerareported.
Inall,Italyhassetasideabout€210millionforthe“mobility
bonus.”That’sa smallsliceofthegovernment’sCovid-19 mea-
sures, which include €100 billion in state-guaranteed loans for
small companies and some €400 billion for larger ones. (The
moneyed middle classes are arguably getting crumbs via the
bike bonus when compared with the wealthy people who con-
trol the biggest companies. Government-backed loans have
included a €6.3 billion credit facility for the Agnelli family’s
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV.)
At Collalti, a bike shop near Rome’s Campo de’ Fiori mar-
ket run by the same family since 1899, the spending spree has
been going full tilt. A wooden pallet holding boxes with eight
Casadei bikes sits at the door. A crate with a €1,000 Serious
Athabasca Hybrid is propped against a wall across the street.
There’s barely room in front of the store for the empty car-
tons from a pair of Brompton folding bikes (about €1,
apiece) just in from the U.K. Inside, Collalti family members
complete purchases by taking personal details from custom-
ers, which staffers send off to the Italian tax service. “It was
crazy, a tsunami,” says Danilo Collalti, the current genera-
tion’s proprietor. “Everyone wanted one, even customers
who’d never ridden a bike.”
It is at Collalti that Polimeno found her Tern foldable bikes.
She and her husband have since packed them and the dog into
their car and relocated to the Tuscan sun for a work-from-
home summer. These days, Polimeno’s biggest concern is that
the government might not make good on the deal. “I’m a bit
nervous that Italy will run out of money,” she says, “before
they send me the check.” <BW> �With Carolynn Look, William
Horobin, Paul Jackson, and Nate Lanxon