and you thought Congress wasn't worth it!

Whatever your complaints about the U.S. Congress, withhold them for a moment to consider the regional assembly in Sicily. Spiegel reports:

The problem isn't just that they receive a monthly net salary of €10,000 to €15,000 [$12-18,000] -- more than members of the national assembly in Rome get -- without working terribly hard. The assembly rarely convenes and the turnout is usually quite low. Even the fact that almost a third of the Honorables have a criminal record, are being sued or are under investigation is a cosmetic blemish at most. The true problem lies in what they have been doing: The political class in semi-autonomous Sicily has been doling out jobs and cash so lavishly over the years that the region is at risk of financial collapse.

We're not there yet. Not even close.