At the same time that the Nationalist Party was putting up its billboards boasting of a sound economy, Standard & Poor’s was downgrading Malta’s rating.

In retaliation, the PM and the Finance Minister blamed the Opposition for downgrading, saying this was because it did not cooperate with the Government to approve the 2013 Budget.

Even if the Budget issue was true the negative vote came only after a Government MP voted against it. Anybody caring to search for the truth will find that facts are totally different than what the Government claims.

Standard & Poor’s did not include the 2013 Budget in their assessments and assumed that the financial estimates will be approved as they are after March 9 as the Opposition has promised.

Finanzi fis-sod translates into spending less than earning and putting a little under the mattress for a rainy day. That was Malta’s situation between 1971 and 1987.

In 1987, the newly elected PN Government embarked on a spending spree like there was no tomorrow. By 1992, the Government devoured all the country’s fortunes and put us in an unsustainable debt situation which we no longer can live with. That was the time when John Dalli, as Finance Minister, directed his colleagues to take it easy on spending – to no avail.

Now Tonio Fenech and Lawrence Gonzi are trying to convince us that all will be OK after the Budget is approved, S&P will reverse their ratings and we will live happily ever after under a cloudless sky. If you believe that vote PN.