The spin on prices

Since the cost of key ingredients like barley and hops, has increased the price of a pint of bitter in England could increase from around £2.20p to £4 within the next few weeks, if not sooner.

The cost of living increase is hardly measured by the price of a pint but it is an open secret that prices have gone up and will continue to do so everywhere and anywhere.

In many European cities the new year saw transport, fruit and vegetables, together with hundreds of other commodities go up by anything from 18 per cent to 29 per cent whereas in Italy alone it is predicted that the price of foodstuffs will increase by €420 to €440 during 2008. This, when the Italian media informed that millions are living below the poverty line and millions are earning less than €2,300 (minimum wage), with seven million actually struggling badly with less than €1,870 a month!

A few days ago, one of the top energy firms in the UK announced an increase of 12.7 per cent in electricity prices for its domestic consumers while gas bills will see a 17.2 per cent increase. The same is happening elsewhere.

Any politician worth his salt knows this but somehow the Malta Labour Party still insists that it is a major issue which if in power they will solve. How, they do not really tell us. Would they decide that all shops must have a "sale" 12 months a year?

Their only solution seems to be the setting up of a committee to monitor prices and which reports to the PM once every six months! What a sick joke. It is a pity that other leaders the world over do not think of such pre-election gimmicks.

What prices were ever reduced when the MLP were governing the country? Even during the famous wage freeze and bulk buying years, prices continued to go up and up. We also recall that as usual, Labour had promised to tackle the situation prior to the 1996 elections. The MLP leader himself went shopping and with a serious look gave us details of what he had bought for Lm27.62 (€64.34). At the end of his 22-month term the same shopping basket cost Lm32.76 (€76.31). To date Labour has never explained the Lm5.14 (€11.07) increase. Perhaps at the time they did not think of setting up a committee to monitor prices.

Monitoring hardly means controlling increases.

Possibly then they were concentrating more on a poll tax and a hefty increase in water and electricity bills at a time when the price of oil was just $12 a barrel or slightly less!

Before that same election they promised to remove VAT but never told voters that they will be introducing CET which meant higher prices for the consumer.

Why do Labour always try to convince the electorate that if in power prices will go down when they know that it is yet another spin?

Let's be serious, for once.