Events in Italy and the rest of the world were confirming Pareto’s predictions … [T]he national government was incapacitated by indecision … It was in this milieu that Italian fascism took root … On aggregate, people had come to feel that they should grow prosperous without having to work hard. As a consequence more energy was invested in connivance and in devising ways of transferring existing wealth than in constructive activity and the production of new wealth. With workers engaged in prolonged strikes and capitalists busy with parasitic or speculative activities yielding quick and easy money, no class was contributing to sustained growth or real property … corporate giants and organised labour were granted whatever concessions they asked for, at the expense of the general public. (C.H. Powers (ed.) in V. Pareto, The Transformation of Democracy, Transl., R. Girola, pp 17-18).