But isn't it obvious?

There's nothing much to write about at the moment other than the current economic maelstrom - and there's not much I'm able to add to the sum of human knowledge about it, anyway, given that I'm no economist, by any stretch of the imagination.

That having been said, it seems that utter ignorance about how the financial clocks tick is no barrier to shooting your mouth off about it or - even worse - actually trying your hand at messing around with other people's money. The only difference between the professionals getting it wrong and people like me doing the same seems to be that I would lose my money while they get a pat on the back and a golden handshake, to say nothing of their government bailing them out.

Luckily for us, this sort of crass incompetence on the part of the money-spinners and the regulators seems to have been avoided down this neck of the woods, though we don't seem to have the same sort of luck when it comes to avoiding the effects of the recession into which the world has talked itself. When you are dependent on the state of other economies, you are vulnerable, there are no two ways about it, and if your cost base is already relatively high, something has to give and about the only thing that can give is labour-related cost.

What price protecting the manufacturing sector now, I wonder? We went through this in the 1980s; the government got the blame then and no doubt the same will happen now.

This time around, however, unless you're a particularly virulent strain of Lil'Elf, you can't really point a finger at loony economic policies.

In fact, a look at the public statements of many of the players will demonstrate that it's more the manner in which certain measures (OK, the utility rates) are being introduced than the measures themselves that are irritating all and sundry.

Some of the reactions are pretty rich, if you ask me (and I'm telling you even if you don't ask me, that's why I write this thing).

For instance, the grey eminences at the Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises - GRTU have issued an edict that their members will pay only their share of the burden and they ain't about to shore up anyone else's operation.

This prompts a number of questions, one of which is: Aren't we, the poor flippin' consumers, going to pay for the shop-owners' bills anyway at the end of the day?

Another of these questions is: If the shop-owners' customers lose their jobs, because their employers have cut down on costs, who is going to suffer along with them? Duh? I don't have any answers to these or all the other questions but I have enough of a grasp of reality to recognise that there's really not very much we can do in the circumstances.

Sure, if we were politically inclined, we could mouth never-ending platitudes about how the government should be more efficient and how cruel the utility rates are and how we should avoid shocks to the system and all the other sound-bites of which everyone seems to be so enamoured, and it would be surprising if the MLP and its public voices didn't revert to type and take advantage of the situation.

If I were them and their sympathisers, I'd be worried about sounding too pleased about the fact that the government is on the rack in these particular circumstances, but I suppose the prospect of marching at the head of the massed ranks of protesters against recession is way too attractive for Joe Muscat.

What would be quite funny would be if the PM and the Cabinet were to join him to have a jolly old rant themselves, since they're only about as much to blame, really, as anyone else.

All of the above will, no doubt, cause the Lil'Elves to rise up to call me all manner of names, but it's about time someone injected a bit of reality into the proceedings: the worldwide recession, as regrettable as it may be and as painful as it's going to be to all of us, isn't Lawrence Gonzi's fault; it isn't Austin Gatt's fault and it isn't Tonio Fenech's fault, for all the portentous tones used by Dr Muscat in their regard.

Changing the subject radically, doom and gloom being a bit boring when it is the full content of the week's fare, last Saturday we went to the opera in Gozo, at the Astra Theatre, where a particularly fine Turandot was put on. The only two little flies in the ointment were the great heat in the auditorium, about which there's not much anyone can do, and the slightly screechy eponymous soprano.

These were very, very minor issues, though, compared with the lavishness of the production, the excellence of the National Philharmonic under Mro Joe Vella and the skill of the other singers, both the soloists and the choir.

The leading tenor acquitted himself superbly, as did Miriam Cauchi, and the capacity crowd trooped off, after many rounds of applause, in good time to catch the ferry many of them were seeking to take, well satisfied.

Just a couple of words of congratulations to the lads who play with a funny-shaped ball. Great game against Croatia, you deserved a better result.

imbocca@gmail.com, www.timesofmalta.com/blogs