Word: lire
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...lira jitters were set off by last January's long Italian political crisis. As the country drifted for 35 days without a government, panicky Italians smuggled lire into Switzerland, often lugging them there by the suitcase. To halt the losses, the Italian Treasury in January closed the official foreign-exchange market. Shortly before it reopened
March 1, the lira skidded to 808 to the dollar. After the market reopened, the currency recovered slightly to the 790 range, mainly because the Italian central bank spent $300 million to buy up unwanted lire...
...most popular vehicle for relatively small payoffs is the envelope. In Italy, bustarelle, or "little envelopes" containing lire for favors rendered, are quietly left on government officials' desks. In the U.S., Gulf Oil passed out many of its political contributions in sealed envelopes. Gulf Lobbyist Frederick Myers testified to the Securities and Exchange Commission that in 1964 he handed one envelope to New Mexico Republican Senator Edwin L. Mechem, now a federal judge, at a ranch outside Albuquerque. In 1970, Myers said, he flew to Indianapolis to present another envelope to Republican Representative Richard L. Roudebush, now head...
Most of the mess is on the urban fringes, where land was cheap and speculators bought marginal farm land for a few lire per square yard, then subdivided and sold for profits of 500%. Many of the builders who bought the land dutifully filed for construction permits. But after months, even years, of waiting in vain for the creaky bureaucracy to move, most went ahead without permits and broke ground, confident that bustarelle -little envelopes stuffed with lira notes -would forestall any action by the city. Even when more conscientious officials discovered the wrongdoing, nothing happened. Over the past four...
...share her polite confusion. Why did Pirandello bother with this slight and static play? At most, it deserves a quick reading before dinner, as a contrast to his mature work. We are shown deception, but are not rewarded with a shield for our weakness; only with a few thousand lire and unspecified sexual remuneration...