Mid-summer political nightmares in the west

This has not been a good summer for politics in the US and Europe. As western economies struggle to restore significant growth, the poor quality of political leadership continues to deteriorate at a time when tough political decisions need to be taken. This problem has not spared our own political class.

The earlier part of this summer saw a nauseating session of bickering between Republican and Democrat politicians on the raising of the debt limit of the US government. Rating agencies downgraded US public debt from its long-held AAA rating, as Republican politicians were more interested in jockeying for position in the run up to next year’s presidential election.

In the meantime, statistics show that US economic growth continues to be anaemic with no end in sight to further job losses. President Obama disappointed his many supporters worldwide by showing little effectiveness in stimulating economic growth through his policies. He is likely to be remembered as an excellent communicator, but a poor manager of the national economy.

The eurozone crisis entered the summer months with yet more dithering by the major European leaders. A second bailout package for Greece failed to halt the nervousness of financial market that do not like what they see. Electoral expediency and political ineptitude will ensure that the crisis of the euro will persist in the foreseeable future putting at risk the steady economic growth that Europe needs. Spain, Italy and Cyprus are now in the firing range of worried investors and financial markets have passed a vote of no confidence in the EU politicians who up to some weeks ago were trying to reassure markets that they would do what it takes to save the euro.

The UK government had its own share of political baggage that it is finding difficult to dump. The hacking scandal of the News of the World has shown how obsessed today’s politicians are with spin and the power of the media to affect their electoral fortunes. David Cameron’s closeness to the owners of the Murdoch empire as well as journalists associated with their newspapers has shocked many political observers by showing what little scrutiny is done by political leaders on those who they appoint to advise them on their communications with the electorate.

Italian politics has probably suffered most during the current summer months. After losing badly in regional elections, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi continued to struggle to remain in power by offering rewards to soulless politicians who were prepared to cross the floor of Parliament to join and support his weak government in return for juicy appointments within and outside the government.

The Italian government’s latest summer folly was the enactment of a law that will help Berlusconi bluff his way through his numerous court cases. In the meantime the Italian economy continues to stagnate and Italy may soon need to be bailed out – a prospect that up to some months ago was considered as highly unlikely.

We had our own mixed bag of political ineptitude. The divorce saga has shown how so many of our politicians are isolated from the tough realities being faced by many families. Boring debates on politicians’ right to vote according to their conscience and varying interpretations of what this really implies have ensured that the more important issues relating to the sustainability of our public finances in the medium and long-term, as well as the decline in competitiveness of many of our economic sectors remained largely unaddressed.

Then we had the pathetic introduction of the new bus service following months of ceremonious blowing of trumpets by the administration and the new providers of this service. After more than a month from the introduction of this service the anger and frustration of thousands of bus users is palpable. Our tragedy is that we have become so fatalistic that many of us really believe that in Malta nothing is expected to function as it should even if we pay well for public as well as private services. Our expectations for the raising of service standards after joining the EU are in many cases proving to have been a mirage.

But what annoyed me most in the last several weeks is our streak of political vindictiveness, the promotion of cronyism in government circles and our intolerance of anyone who opts rightly or wrongly to change his political views and alliances.

The western world has had its fair share of mid-summer nightmares.

jcassarwhite@yahoo.com