The U.K. is heading for a hung parliament. This will mean no party can push through laws to sort out the post-credit crunch confusion without bringing other parties on board. This is an unusual situation in modern British government. I’m expecting a small and serviceable majority but that’s not what the election polls are calling.

Apparently all the pundits are calling the prospect of a hung parliament a disaster but I’m not so sure.

In southern Europe, Italy stands out. Its finances are nowhere near as over-stretched. Why? Because its government is so chaotic. What we need to get deficits down is less government. However this is not going to happen. Perhaps less governing might be an alternative.

In the last twenty years, the Thatcher/Reagan revolution has been rolled back and once again the state thinks it’s wonderful and that the people should try to live up to it. Meanwhile the over-arching state has managed to govern the west to the brink of bankruptcy.

Meanwhile chaotic Italy seems to be faring well, with its crazy politics and haphazard governance. It is borrowing less than half what the UK government is borrowing per head according to the OECD and only about 20% more than Germany.

This is quite a lot of money nonetheless, but a stark reminder that a chaotic political system can be more benign than a strict efficient command and control version.

Maybe a hung parliament, where those in power are consumed by infighting, wouldn’t be so bad. After all, more than a decade of unencumbered efficiency and effective government has put a surveillance camera on every British corner and street and meanwhile sailed the U.K. economy onto the rocks. Who needs that? I’ll take Berlusconi any day.