Saturday, 24th January 2009
Time to listen, Prime Minister
When I made my assessment of this year’s state budget last November I had written that the government was heading in the right direction but that it was not being bold enough in its economic policy.
One problem that the Gonzi government had was purely semantic. While other governments around the world were first talking of bailing out banks and then of an economic stimulus package, the GonziPN public relations machine had already milked the phrase “economic stimulus” eight months earlier during last year’s electoral campaign. Come budget time and the realisation that it had overspent so heavily during that campaign with Government spending then € 70 million more than budgeted and the deficit back to 2004 levels, the Gonzi Government did not have enough room for maneouver. In the end, it could neither decrease taxes the way it had promised in the run up to the March 8, 2008 General Elections and nor could it give the sort of economic stimulus package which other countries the world over, following Gordon Brown’s example in the UK were doing.
That was the situation then and it is still the situation now.
Followers of this blog have been telling me to update it for some time, but I preferred to see out the Christmas and New Year’s period to see what the Gonzi government would come up with.
The answer is zilch.
I love the Christmas and New Year’s holiday but I have always kept my feet firmly on the ground and never expected that the problems of the passing year will simply disappear, as if by some magic wand, on New Year’s day. And so it is again this year. The economic misdirection of the Gonzi government which characterised 2008 is still here with us in 2009.
Not even the most welcome announcement of bi-partisan agreement on the nomination of Dr George Abela as the next President of Malta has changed that reality. Much like the eagerly awaited Inauguration of Barack Obama last Tuesday has not solved the USA’s economic crisis and made it disappear! Indeed, Obama knew so well what he had to face up to that his team have made much of the fact that they had practically achieved bi-partisan agreement on his economic stimulus package before he was actually sworn in and that this package will be passed by the US Congress by February, 2009.
In the meantime, the Gonzi government continues to believe that all is well in the state of Malta and that critics are simply being unkind and unjust. That may wash with some of its supporters who think that such criticism is coming only from the Labour camp. It does not, however, cut any ice with the more intelligent and free-thinking voters who follow closely what is going on both locally and abroad or with Malta’s business community.
Indeed, the truth is that such criticism is not coming from Labour only. The truth is that it is also the Maltese business community which is asking the Gonzi Government for an economic stimulus package. This is what the newly elected president of the newly merged Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry, Ms Helga Ellul, did at the first meeting of the Chamber’s Council last week. As The Times reported, “The president of the newly-merged Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry yesterday called for an urgent stimulus package for the private sector."Time is of essence. We need the stimulus package now", Helga Ellul insisted when addressing the first council meeting since the merger.”
It is high time, then, that the Gonzi government listened, if not to Labour, then, at least, to the voice of Malta’s business community.
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Comments
I was prevented by the MLP of any possibility to prove the injustices in a court of law done to me by passing immediate ad hoc amendments to the PSC discipinary regulations giving immunity to whoever had been used to testify against me.
"Broken back" is a layman's term that could mean anything from an incapacitating permanent injury to a relatively insignificant crack invisible in an initial emergency X-ray.
It is common knowledge that certain crack fractures can remain undetectable during the emergency radiology undertaken immediately after an injury but become evident a few days later and with more advanced techniques not usually undertaken immediately after an injury and on the eve of a departure. Mater Dei is no exception. Most probably Ms Shirley Walsh knows all about this and that is why she is not as willing to besmirch Mater Dei Hospital as some locals with a hidden agenda.
' I would like , through this newspaper , to thank the people who came to help us when we were passengers in a car crash last year , especially a nurse whose name was Rita . We returned to England the next day and although I was X rayed at the hospital in Malta and told I was just bruised I had further X rays back in the UK and it was confirmed I had broken my back . I am now well enough to be back in Malta . ' Anzi reget giet Malta !! '
You wrote, "The party that pulls the absolute majority of votes in June would also be getting the people's endors(e)ment to govern", I have this to ask. So, what happened three years ago? The MLP got 3 out of 5 but still lost the election.
You also wrote, "If the PL loses they must shut up and wait for the general election and try their luck once again" Since when is winning an election a matter of trying ones luck?
Just to prove sour grapes again you go on: "If however the PN loses they should call it a day and call a general election". What a load of ....
You still don't know the difference between a General Election and Local Council or MEP elections.
It is true that I had always voted PN but that doesn't necessarily mean that I'm so ignorant not to know the difference between MEP and MP .
With and without your demeaning terms like 'Lejburisti' that hard fact remains that in June Labour supporters will vote PL and PN supporters will vote PN and don't believe otherwise.
The party that pulls the absolute majority of votes in June would also be getting the people's endorsment to govern .If the PL loses they must shut up and wait for the general election and try their luck once again .If however the PN loses they should call it a day and call a general election . Only this would be acceptable in a democratic country . Your rhetoric and your bla bla bla about the incapability of Labour to win a general election won't change the rule of democracy .
In closing , just in case you do not know , the main beneficiaries of the results in June would not be the PL ,although they will be the winners ,the beneficiaries would be a particular cabinet minister and a few PN backbenchers .
You just wait .
You may insinuate, allege,and try to justify the political transfers until you turn blue in the face but you can never manage to alter the fact that our court of laws, during a PN administration ,described them as vindictive and illegal and the culprits were condemned.
Speaking for myself, I have you know that after 1996 up to the time when I retired during a PN administration, I occupied very senior and politically sensitive positions and was awarded testimonials that my conduct throuout my term in office was always beyond reproach.
There could not be a similarity between my ordeal and yours, mine was contested at the Constitutional Court and tried in a court of laws.
You were processed by the PSC and you were reinstated in service a few days after the party you support gained power in 1987. High ranking police officers were baffled seeing you at the police HQ wearing the uniform of a Police Superintendent.
You would no doubt respond to this, however, I shall ignore your comments and allow the readers to judge for them. No more no less.
I will address your comment about the AirMalta political transfers and appointments.
I go beyond the period you mention to the time when AirMalta was created and when it was stuffed (no spelling mistake there) by MLP devotees at a time when the MLP did not provide the protection of any tribunal against injustices. The "political transfers" you mention, many years later, were deemed necessary to neutralise the injustice of the preceding "political appointments" and in conformity with the exigencies of a new government.
There is no similarity between these corrective transfers within the service and the frame up to secure my dismissal and, when that attempt failed, to secure my illegal compulsory retirement from the public service. As if this were not enough, during the subsequent twelve years I was obstructed from exercising my profession as a family doctor by depriving me of an essential telephone in my clinic and by notoriously denying urgent treatment to severely ill patients referred by me to St Luke Hospital thus imperilling their lives.
Same here.
Further discussion with you is a waste of time for me.
As I have already told you, I refuse to be drawn into a discussion of your red herrings which
you habitually introduce irrelevantly simply to divert attention from the real point at issue and for which you have no other reply except to confirm what I had said.
As far as I am concerned, you may raise any issue you like but I am under no obligation to flit across from one irrelevant subject to another at your bidding as if I am your puppet on a string. I have better things to do.
Please do not go off at half cock, please do not put words into my mouth and please do not preach at me. By ".... irrelevant side issues" I did not mean unimportant issues - I clearly meant extraneous matter unconnected with the issue under discussion.
The transfers in AirMalta introduced by you are irrelevant because they had no bearing on the subject matter of my comment i.e. the allegation made by a Chris Borg against Evarist Saliba whom you yourself admit to be an honourable gentleman. Nowhere did I cast any "doubts about the integrity of other people" with the exception of the hidden source of the libel against my brother.
I call the transfers at AirMalta "alleged" simply because I myself have no first-hand knowledge of the details myself and because I do not make it a habit of swallowing unquestioningly any allegations made by others. Nowhere did I challenge your version of events - I only say once more that it is unconnected with (irrelevant to) the comment against my brother.
Why do you keep casting doubt on other people? That is a sin you know.
Did I ever imply that you or your brother had anything to do with the political transfers at Air Malta? I had only accused the Political Party which you so earnestly defend.
When you talk about the “alleged’ transfers and their legitimacy, you are casting doubts on my former colleagues and I. I gave you all the proof you want; the transfers were proved that were politically motivated, our court of laws condemned the Board of Directors and awarded us financial compensations as well as backdated promotions, and you still refer to them as allegations. But what really hurts is the way you treat PL supporters like me by describing their past pains as “irrelevant side issues”
It is indeed a noble act to defend and laud a brother’s honour and I know that Ambassador Saliba is an honourable gentleman, I worked at the Malta Embassy in Libya and his former colleagues talked highly of him, but why do you need to cast devious doubts on the integrity of other people?
As to the “diversionary-tactics”.....it takes one to know one.
@ Saviour Buhagiar
"That statement was doctored to read thus : ' The next Labour government will be a government for Labour supporters only . '( Ghall Laburisti biss )'
The doctored version was prominently featured on Net TV and quoted by Dr.Gonzi ".
Is it possible, and does NET have the technology to 'doctor' a video (and audio) without giving itself away? How about running the NET video and the One TV version? That will answer the 'doctoring' part of your comments.
Secondly, if the doctoring was done by NET, how would Dr. Gonzi's remarks 'avoid' a libel suit against NET ?. I am pretty sure that given such a golden opportunity, the LP would have gone for the jugular. I don't think that a libel suit would have made much difference anyway since the score was something like a dozen or more against the MLP versus one against the NP.
Maybe Jason did not want to risk committing a mortal sin by doctoring his own speech?
By the way, "Immoral weakness" amounts to 'moral strength'. Malafama was the poster with pictures of Cabinet Ministers claiming that they were corrupt.
Malafama was recently confirmed in court .
You do not even understand what I am saying. I am not trying to justify myself and I do not see where I made some mistake! I am only pointing out discrepancies in the given versions of Jason Micallef's speech. After all, his promise (whatever that was) was conditional to the MLP winning the last election and we all know that that did not happen!
Resorting to your usual diversionary tactics, I see. Neither my brother Evarist not I myself had anything to do with the alleged transfers at Air Malta and their legitimacy. I do not take your bait and I will not be drawn into discussing irrelevant side issues. Our comments dealt specifically with a comment by Chris Borg against my brother and the false hearsay allegation of misconduct when Evarist was serving at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I note with satisfaction that this comment has since been removed from this blog. That should tell you something.
I suggest you stop trying to justify yourself since the hole you are digging will only lead you to the other side of the world and nowhere else!! Accept your mistake for once, it is more dignifying.
@ Dr Francis Saliba
I declare that I and big number of exemplary Senior Executives, officers and staff at Air Malta, also carried out our duties with great loyalty to the company and to the utmost limit of our conscience since the inauguration of our flag carrier, however, after 1987, we were officially emarginated because of our political inclinations and got replaced by PN activists.
Past and present Chairmen, Directors, Senior and junior staff at Air Malta, parliamentary debates, our Constitutional Court and The Tribunal against Injustices will endorse my declaration.
Dr. Saliba even though these victims are not your biological brothers and sisters I do not think that you should find it so difficult to admit and confirm that we went through the martyrdom which the selfish and self-centred individuals are now denying. Correct me if I’m wrong.
Not being present when Jason Micallef said whatever he said at the Dolmen I take your word for it. What I find perplexing is his "...the next labour government will be everybody's government EVEN (my emphasis) for labour supporters" allegedly followed by "Ghala le?" (Why not?) .
Since when has "everybody's government" not automatically included all "labour supporters"? In my opinion labour supporters are not some inferior breed that needs to be "even" admitted.
I confirm that Evarist Saliba was an exemplary civil servant who carried out his duties to all governments under which he served with great loyalty and to the utmost limit of his conscience.
I was present at that ' get together' at The Dolmen in June 2007 .
Jason Micallef was talking about meritocracy when somebody interrupted him and complained that during 1996 - 98 Alfred Sant sidelined Labour supporters under the excuse of meritocracy , at that point Jason assured him that the next Labour government will be everybody's government even for Labour supporters . That statement was doctored to read thus : ' The next Labour government will be a government for Labour supporters only . '( Ghall Laburisti biss )'
The doctored version was prominently featured on Net TV and quoted by Dr.Gonzi himself but when Jason Micallef and Charles Buhagiar categorically denied the contents of the malicious and linellous version Dr.Gonzi publicly corrected himself and admitted that the term 'Ghall Laburisti biss' was added by himself to make Jason's statement more understandable . My impression was that Gonzi tried to aviod the embarrassment of libel suit .
Malafama is a mortal sin and the fact that its victim is a political figure doesn't lessen its immoral weakness .
I had given an immediate adequate answer. It must have been adequate because it was eventually posted. It is not my fault that it was delayed until you repeated the questions. It is not my fault either if you personally did not understand it. I was being discreet, not dropping names. I assumed that the original questioner was among those who intelligently took my clear hint.
If the Hon A Gatt said what he is quoted as saying then he was only proposing what is only an accepted practice in bigger and older democracies, e.g. the USA.
The important point at issue is who said what - where it was side is a diversionary irrelevance.
Your version of what Jason Micallef said is hardly credible. Can you imagine the secretary general of the MLP promising that if elected the MLP would provide "a government for all, EVEN FOR THE LABOUR SUPPORTERS (my emphasis)! That would be derogatory of all MLP sipporters.
I am not in a position to deny or confirm what Evarist Saliba was quoted as saying but I find it hard to believe . Mr. Saliba worked with Labourites for a long time ; moreover he was one of Dom.Mintoff's trusted aides in the civil service during the Socialist violent and dictatorial regime .
Mintoff had a few fifth columnists putting spokes in the wheel but I don't think that Ambassador Evarist Saliba was one of them .
I had repeated Joe Vella's question because you failed to give us an answer . Before making a statement a serious person would need proof or at least a source to justify it . If your statement qualified your response would have got posted . Take full responsability, substantiate your allegation and you wouldn't have a problem to get it posted . Playing tricks with name dropping wouldn't suffice .
The political appointments system is accepted as democratic but it's not good enough for Austin Gatt and he suggested that all heads of departments and their immediate assistants should be political appointees . Wouldn't that also include the Commisioner of Police , Director of Inland Revenue , Director of Social Service and others ? Would you have agreed with the same proposal if it were made by Alfred Sant , Anglu Farrugia or anybody from the PL ?
For the umpteenth time you continue to mix up issues.
What we are talking about is one specific allegation about a particular remark which Jason Micallef supposedly made namely.” Before the last election it was the MLP general secretary who indicated that things would revert to the same practice if elected”.
Net TV quoted Mr. Micallef as saying that when Labour is back in government it would be a government for the Labourites only. That allegation was nauseously repeated by other quarters even by Dr. Laurence Gonzi. Jason Micallef produced evidence that what he said was that “the next Labour Government would be a government for all even for the Labour supporters”. After that clarification, Dr. Laurence Gonzi, as a gentle man, corrected his version in that “Laburisti biss” was his erroneous conclusion.
That was the whole incident and like lightning, it couldn’t have happened twice. It happened at The Dolmen Hotel in June 2007 and not at the PL General conference.
As previously predicted you would still insist on you version even though it makes no sense to any intelligent reader. It reminds of your sighting of the Chinese Engineers building a bridge between Marfa and Gozo.
Your reply to Ms. Vella Bisset is a very impressive way of putting things in the proper perspective!!
I never intend to teach any old dog new tricks as much as I refuse to buy any doctored rendition of history. I would never dare impart any advice had it not been for a constant diet
of misinformation and negative outlook.
With regards to me looking inwards, you should not be so concerned because had that been the case, I would only be concerned with our problems here. I have to look outwards to what is happening in Malta because I have the luxury of being able to make certain comparisons which you apparently cannot or will not.
By the way, what is the 'C' between Jesus and Christ?
What Jason Micallef uttered/implied at the General Conference of the MLP/PL and what Austin Gatt said/implied are totally different.
If you are not aware in the USA, which many deemed as the bastion of democracy, have a system of Senior Civil Servants and it extends to the Diplomatic force as well, to be appointed by the President. Once there is a change in Administration the Senior Civil Servants are bound to resign from their posts as these are Political appointees. This assures the the Presidents Policies and Directives are pursued in a non bias way.
So having a Goverment tal - Laburisti, ghal Laburisti u mil Laburisti, is totally quite different then having the Senior Civil Servants appointed by the coming Administration which will only serve at the pleasure of that Administration.
You are repeating the same questions put by a Joe Vella about 6 days to which I submitted a prompt reply but which was never posted. I had advised Mr Vella to ascertain from the Hon J Debono Grech who had said what.
I do not know anything about your allegation re the Hon Austin Gatt. But I know for a fact that in certain democracies the heads (not the whole staff) of certain sensitive government departments are short term political appointees for the duration of the governing party retention of power so as to ensure that government is not sabotaged by unworthy employees owing allegiance to the political party in opposition.
Who was the Labour Party Minister who stated that ' First preference goes to our Labourites , next preference goes to other Labourites and if anything remains after that it will also go to the Labourites ' ? And who was the PN official ( now minister ) who said that if he had his ways he will have all the senior civil servants political appointees? Correct me if I am wrong but I think it was Austin Gatt .
When I wake up in the morning I always remind myself that its ‘Non èmai troppo tardi...per imparare e pensare’. You strike me of being one of the same genres except that, in your case, the emphasis is on ‘educare’ while mine is on imparare. I live to learn, you live to teach.
Sadly however, at times your lessons are not so consistent- “Perhaps you can come up with some words of wisdom of your own. All of us would preserve them along with Churchill, Mahatma and Coleridge quotes. Hehe” That was part of one of your recent lessons. Today you are contradicting your material by quoting to us from Professor Edward de Bono.
Furthermore, while suggesting to us Islanders to take heed of Edward de Bono’s wisdom and line up the shores and look outwards instead of lining up the shores and look inwards, you keep looking inwards albeit from a different shore.
“He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. ...” Jesus C. Christ.
May I quote a fellow Maltese, by paraphrasing part of an interview on Maltese television a few days ago?
This was in response to the interviewer's remark that he is not as well known in Malta since only two out of a class of thirty were even familiar with his name and one of the two was Indian!
For those still unfamiliar with this brilliant person, Google his name and enjoy.
Professor Edward de Bono said thus: "Being a small island nation, one would expect the inhabitants to line up the shores and look outwards. Instead, they line up the shores and look inwards".
What an indictment! How true!
@ J Martinelli
The fact that the Moderator, is pruning off most of your responses, proves that you’re not playing a fair game, I never had problems with censorship here.
You need to think again before resorting to humour because that’s not always the best medicine. “Be well-mannered, but don’t be a clown. People don’t buy from bad-mannered salesmen, and research has shown that they don’t buy from bad-mannered advertisements. It’s easier to sell people with a friendly handshake than by hitting them over the head with a hammer. You should try to charm the consumer into buying your product. This doesn’t mean that your advertisements should be cute or comic. People don’t buy from clowns”.—David Ogilvy
As to your advice to be original,
“Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring two pence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it”. C. S. Lewis
"I hope that after I die, wise people will say of me 'That guy sure owed me a lot ”. –CJ Buttigieg.
That, after 1987, some people "turned from rags to riches" because they belonged to some "club" is your "allegation" and not a "proof". The government estate at Ta' Pennellu, Mellieha was built by George Borg Olivier but distributed by Dom Mintoff and you know to whom!
It was the MLP, not the PN, who is on record as boasting openly of its discrimination in favour of its members. Before the last election it was the MLP general secretary who indicated that things would revert to the same practice if elected.
Again, this time, you quoted, Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Very good. You obviously are an avid reader and searcher of famous (and not so famous) quotes, however at times I hardly see their relevance.
Perhaps you can come up with some words of wisdom of your own. All of us would preserve them along with Churchill, Mahatma and Coleridge quotes. Hehe
"Advice is like snow; the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon, and the deeper it sinks into the mind".Samuel Taylor Coleridge
C'mon be a bit original.
Churchill must be one of your favourites as you often quote him. You must have read him extensively in the late fifties to very early sixties!
I'm surprised you still have his famous quotes (and speeches) in your library.
Even Mahatma wasn't that original - he concocted the quote you mentioned after an older saying that, " You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar"
You're in good company! (too bad he's dead) hehe
Whenever you are confronted with an opponent. Conquer him with love. --Mahatma Gandhi. He he he
'The Club of the chosen few ' closed its doors in 1987 and was reopened under new managment . I can give you names of some of the new members that went from rags to riches . There's no problem to look back , the problem is to close your eyes to what is happening today when all around you are opening theirs .
Take a walk around where you live and count the number of plots Labour gave to its Club members against those awarded to the rest . Dawn huma l - provi .
"These gentlemen are stuck with the past and play deaf and dumb to the present situation we live in".
This comment is rather rich coming from someone whose political party desperately reached way back and recycled long gone politicians and re-elected a Secretary General who weeks before was tagged with the loss of the last general election....
Who is stuck with the past? White washing the past with 'the new way of doing politics' will not cover the indelible stains.
Who was the Labour Party Minister who stated that ' First preference goes to our Labourites , next preference goes to other Labourites and if anything remains after that it will also go to the Labourites ' ? And who was the PN official (now minister) who said that if he had his ways he will have all the senior civil servants political appointees ? Correct me if I'm wrong but I think it was Austin Gatt .
The only "Club of the Chosen Few" I know had as its motto "First preference goes to our labourites, next preference goes to other labourites and if anything remains after that it will also go to the labourites". In view of your selective amnesia, whether true or only pretended, may I remind you that it was an MLP Minister who made that boast. Just before the last election the MLP general secretary Jason Micallef intimated that things would remain the same if the MLP won that election!
It is you who are twisting events - u bil-provi!
These gentlemen are stuck with the past and play deaf and dumb to the present situation we live in. To insist in delivering twisted fragments of the past to justify the present Capital Sins is unacceptable in a modern society. They tend to forget that the majority of the readers are much more intelligent then they ever want to accept.
It is time that these gentlemen realise that the Club of The Chosen few is condemned by one and all.
Your unusual way of addressing me ‘CharlesJButigieg (Mellieha)’and your reference to “some kind Labourite from Mellieha there was a mark against my name in the list of applicants” might have aroused suspicions that I was that “kind labourite”. I have my faults and weaknesses but my virtues are strong even though I’m not religious or a daily church goer. Please clarify.
With regards to your unsubstantiated accusation itself I have no serious difficulties to accept its veracity as I am not that naive to try to deny something which, sadly, is a characteristic of some Maltese ‘canvassers’. It becomes more serious when these dastard acts become institutionalised and PBO has done well to find a modern system for that not to happen.
With regards to the old and relatively new telephone system, I honestly don’t mind if you have the last word, as far as I’m concerned that debate is now superfluous.
Your comment that governments are resorting to larger deficits is totally out of point.
This Nationalist Government overspent (on current expenditure to boot) on the eve of election, as red lights flashed all over the economy.
I do appreciate that you too consider this as an arukasa.
You state that this recession has not hit Malta yet.
Well, this is the whole point to Mr Grixti’s wake-up call to a Government in denial.
Government positioned Malta poorly to face world recession, and has now frozen at the wheel.
Re tourism, you accuse me of blatant spin. Once again, you are out of point. Regrettably, tourist arrivals post September report a year on year decline.
If the trend continues through the summer months, rough will become hurricane. Wake up Mr.Government.
Your attitude of isolationist-denial echoes Government’s frozen stance and reinforces Mr Grixti’s point that Government needs to face up to its responsibilities.
Finally, cheap barbs add nothing to a debate. Would it add anything to this exchange if I expressed a hypothetical opinion that I thought you lived in a detached igloo floating somewhere in the North Pole? Certainly not. So I will keep irrelevant spikes to myself.
To say that Governments always base their forecasts on future revenues, is stating the obvious otherwise it won’t be a forecast. However capital and recurrent expenses have to be sustained by a realistic revenue forecast something that since 1992 hasn’t be considered in Malta. John Dalli’s memo to the cabinet gave serious warning about that but it was ignored.
The record number of tourists saw less bed nights, less spending by the individual passenger and less overall revenue. The low cost carriers advertised Malta as a cheap destination; they attracted cheap visitors and increased the number.
The fact that the fuel which Enemalta is burning today was bought at yesterday’s dear prices doesn’t justify the utilities exorbitant increases. In business there’s an old principle called ‘Dollar cost averaging’ and it always gives good results in a bearish market.
What’s worse than an island mentality is a defensive mentality and please don’t take this personal as it wasn’t so intended.
The "upgraded" telephone system introduced by the MLP was a discarded French system with the quaint feature of making undesired multiple "conference" connections.
I am quite sure that this aspect of the MLP telephone system would not appeal to anyone, not even CharlesJButigieg (Mellieha) and his cronies.
I, a family doctor with a remote practice was denied a telephone, when telephones were available, simply because on the advice of some kind labourite from Mellieha there was a mark against my name in the list of applicants.
The employment of 5500 workers prior to the 1987 Election has a number of interpretations most of which I agree with.
*The power of incumbency.
*A surplus of 500 Million Liri in our coffers.
*KMB’s reasoning that it’s more economically viable to employ the unemployed than paying them dole for doing nothing.
*A copy-cat version of FDR’s New Deal of the 1930’s.
*A copy-cat version of GBO’s reasons for employing more grave-diggers than we had souls at the Addolorata Cemetery
prior to the 1971 General Elections.
My father and his parents would spin in their graves if they could hear the nonsense Gonzipn are peddling about recession today. In case you haven't heard, their latest fantasy is that the New Deal made the Great Depression worse. Try telling that to the tens of millions of people who, like my father, grew up hearing stories of family members being rescued from abject poverty by one or more of FDR's New Deal programs.
The sad fact is that KMB had enough reserved to switch to Plan-B something which Gonzi hasn’t got today.
When the going gets tough........
Charles, it is kind of odd that you quote, "We contend that for a nation to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle. (Winston Churchill}" just after you had finished lecturing me that , "Comparing standards between 1987 and 2009 hardly gives any credit to the analyst".
How much less weight can one give to Churchill's expertise in economic matters with a quote accredited to him, certainly prior to 1960?
In Churchill's time, a time of war and post war by a year or two, people were in re-constructing mode and not in the mood of wanting more and better services like people expect today. Churchill should have known that taxes were inevitable, heavier at times, depending on circumstances.
With regards to services such as telephones, water, etc, Labour had sixteen years to even present a solution, let alone do it. Maybe there was not enough time?
Bringing up 1961 and 1971 is both futile and unfair since this covered a pre-Independence period and the dawn of post Independence period when the economic base was very much in transition.
Continued
With regard to 1971-1981 the story was a little different. Mintoff had terminated the Defence Treaty with Britain since he was not successful in securing adequate terms and opted for making Malta a Republic. I take it that he would have settled for a renewed agreement 'at the right price'?
Internet as we know it today did not exist in 1987, you are right, but area networks did connecting offices, government departments etc. However Labour not being so avante garde in computer terms, would not even think of having them introduced in schools "because they dulled students' minds"!
With regards to water, it seems to me that there was enough to deliver by water tankers (rationed) but not enough to pipe in households. I wonder whether it was yet another tactic to have the population totally dependent on the State! Today we pull our hair if some minor thing goes wrong but at the time, the authorities did not seem to care when tourists had no water to flush hotel toilets with!
Yes, you are right when you write that hindsight is 20/20 but the past continues to be brought up since many damn the present.
The IT revolution worldwide hadn’t even started during that period and internet was unheard of. The Maltese were not left without water more than the Australians are left today during periods of long dry Australian weather, we had water shortages due to the high influx of tourism and the raised standards of the Maltese, to solve the problems reverse osmoses was introduced. One may call it bad planning others may accept it as a matter of different priorities. I belong to the second school of thought.
Prior to the Labour Administration few households had a telephone and we were still working through a system where you had to go through the operator to call a subscriber, not from home but from the local call office normally annexed to a grocery shop. Mellieha, during that period did not have more than 50 domestic telephone lines. Labour upgraded to an adequate system which was affordable to developing economies at that time.
If you like a comparison analyse objectively the two overall picture of 1961-1971 with 1971- 1981.
It takes more than 200 words to debate the doctor’s strike and I prefer to deal with that separately some other time.
Comparisons that are not drawn on a like with like bases are useless. Comparing standards between 1987 and 2009 hardly gives any credit to the analyst. Comparing 1967-1987 with the same period 1987-2007 doesn’t do justice either because the socio-political situation was totally different.
The Labour administration was focused on changing the Islands’ economy from one based on military spending to one on Industry and exports. During this process the Socialist Administration gave priority to social services and social justices. It is true that some measures were extreme and others were erroneous however it is also true that hind sight is a 20\20 vision and that difficult times require drastic measures.
The government does not wake up one morning and decide to make economic growth projections. It takes a lot of statistics over a period of time, therefore the GNP growth forecast for 2009 were prepared some time ago and based on the most reliable data available then, which were the 2008 statistics. The EU sent a message to ALL its members warning them that 2009 projected figures will not be achieved. Moreover it encouraged governments to spend up to (I believe) 2% of GNP in capital works in order to fend off the recession.
1.All governments whose countries are badly hit by the current situation are resorting to much larger deficits for the next five years to prop up their economies. I remember a much larger arukaza on the eve of an election when some 5500 unemployed were suddenly absorbed in government hastily formed corps.
2. This recession which has not hit Malta yet, developed practically overnight and no government had the foresight to invest in capital works fast enough to ward off the recession.
3. Governments always base their forecasts on future revenues - do you have a better idea? With regards to tourism, how can you blatantly spin the fact that 2008 saw a record number of tourists?
4. You still cannot grasp the fact that the fuel which the power stations are burning today were bought up to six months ago. Back-check prices if you care.
5. Thank God they are only apprehensions so far. Countless millions around the world already lost their job and their homes. If you care to find out the major reason for the bank collapses in the USA, then you would not argue this way.
Break away from your isolationist island mentality!
Please note that even the EU are contradicting GonziPN’s figures and predicting an even more difficult period this year and the coming year for all our industries and for all of us living here. You and your likes have lost all credibility and as always insist on delivering misinformation to hide the truth of events. To add insult to injury you keep insisting of delivering twisted past events to justify your misinformation. Even your local political history books are miles away from the truth since they are based on blatant lies, half truths and PN Propaganda. What a shame that one keeps being misled by PN’s manipulation of events.
Finally it amazes me that you didn’t mention the FACT that the head of the PORN industry in USA is asking for 3 billion US Dollars to save the industry. Do you blame the Texan Cowboy for this too?
I find your analysis to be rather slipshod, as it ignors key factors in the current economic equation:
1. It ignores the fact that a NPGovernment produced a massive deficit (second largest prorata deficit in the EU) knowing li kien 'qed iberraq' (Gonzi's words) leaving Malta's coffers vulnerable in the face of the impending storm.
A huge arukasa and much more, also being a second time that a NP Government resorted to such maneuvers in an election year.
2. It ignores the fact that projected capital investment is well short of what is expected when preparing for a recessionary period
3. It adopts an ostrich attitude, basing its forecasts on optimistic revenues.
It is indeed embarrassing to review downwards economic forecasts a few days later when all knew that the original estimates were pie in the sky. X'serjeta hi din? This is further endorsed by a tourism performance in a state of constant contraction.
4. It ignores the fact that Government sent energy costs spiraling skywards when the price of oil went down from a plus US$140 to below US$40 a barrel.
5. It ignores wage-earner (iespender)apprehensions in meeting mortgage obligations as wages contract or worse...
Joe Martinelli made a meaning contribution, whether one agrees partially, wholly or totally disagrees is another matter; the point is that he put in a good effort to give some food for thought. He might even manage to turn some people to his way of reasoning. Yes I like it; I have a few reservations however it did not make me feel sick in my stomach. To my mind this is what intelligent debating should be about.
Joe, as to your contribution, I can’t be untrue to myself either, I find it without any beef, no substance and it only serves one purpose-resentment. What do you really want to achieve, confrontation? You are doing a good job. (Sic)
"..... Now, this comment appeared at the beginning of his article, therefore his arguments were built on the wrong premise. Here is why:................"
Basing one's study/argument on the wrong premise is an MLP/PL trait. Just recently we had Alfred Sant even confirming that the election review report by the wise man/women appointed by the MLP/PL was based on the wrong premise.
What is new with the MLP/PL? Guess one have to take with a grain of salt what ever comes out of that camp.
I scratch my head when I read something like what Alfred wrote. The gist of his comments boil down to the Gonzi Government doing nothing, "while other governments around the world were first talking of bailing out banks and then of an economic stimulus package". Now, this comment appeared at the beginning of his article, therefore his arguments were built on the wrong premise. Here is why:
1. The US started the tumble - just like an avalanche which brought down several big banks putting in jeopardy the depositors' savings, investments, loans, mortages and so on. Such a crisis does not exist in Malta.
2. The US had ample warnings which the Bush administration decided to ignore. As it turns out the 'threat' of a recession were not threats at all - they were fact. The uS and Britain's economies were in negative territory all along but the respective governments failed to recognize their seriousness. Malta's economy is still performing on the positive side, albeit projected to be marginal in 2009.
Continued
3. The collapse of the banking system and the downward economic performance both in the US and Britain were locally made. In Malta, the banking system is robust and well managed and any
Layoffs will come as a result of diminished foreign demand for our goods and services.
4. The loss of jobs in Malta, todate, is of much lesser proportions (percentage-wise) than what is happening around the world.
5. The creation of 'stimulation packages' in the US and elsewhere will create such a burden which will have to be carried on the shoulders of generations to come. In Malta stimulation packages should be relatively small - just enough to tide the nation over until prosperity returns and economic performance returns to normal.
6. It is easy to politicize the current situation especially if one is in a position to promise a lot but obviously unable to deliver any. The sad part is for someone who is criticizing the government for not doing enough would be the first one to complain about excessive spending and incurring deficits.
Continued
Let us all remember that the LP boasts that in 1987 they had left some 500M in the Treasury but what they don't tell us that we had no water, not enough electricity, an inadequate airport, an archaic telephone system, an non-existing IT network, a decimated education system, state controlled trade, a ten year doctors' strike, Chinese and Pakistani doctors at hospitals who could hardly understand a word of English, let alone Maltese...and the list is endless.
How much more precarious was Malta's situation then, compared with today's?
Businesses complain no matter what and no matter where. What businesses will not tell you, or rather, what the public does not appear to understand that businesses enjoy a lot more 'allowances' than an individual does and one seriously doubts whether in good times, a number of these same businesses are honest enough to report their true earnings upon which taxes are due.
Mr.Grixti should remember that preaching doom and gloom constantly as the LP does, will not help these businesses because the less informed are apt to refrain from buying goods for fear of the unknown.
Who said, "The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself"?
"The economic misdirection of the Gonzi government which characterised 2008 is still here with us in 2009."
The economic misdirections of 2008 eh!!!!! The same economic misdirections that produced a record number of new jobs.
" "As The Times reported, “The president of the newly-merged Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry yesterday called for an urgent stimulus package for the private sector." "
If the Maltese have listened to the MLP/PL and Alfred Sant and in particular also to Joseph Muscat we in Malta wouldn't be discussing the issue of the merits if a stimulus package, but rather the meltdown of the Maltese Lira and the collapse of the Maltese economy.
Just ask the Norwegians. After all they took Joseph Muscat's advice.
Thank God the Maltese are wiser then the MLP/PL give them credit for.