The skyrocketing price of food has made it to the front page of The Times. This time it was noted that increases in Malta were greater than those experienced elsewhere in the EU and we all want to know why. When energy costs followed oil prices skyward it was easy to say that this was a global phenomenon and ignore the fact that doing nothing about total dependence on fossil fuels since the 1973 oil crisis left Malta to take the kick in the teeth in full while other countries have other sources of energy.

It helps that in the case of food prices it is the EU Commission pointing out the contrast and offering an explanation. It points to the fact that the market in Malta is dominated by a small number of operators. Who are they? Are they inefficient or have they formed a cartel? Is this something new or is it as old or older than the paralysis on oil dependence? It would be great to read an in-depth analysis by an investigative journalist.

I will avoid holding my breath on that one since food importers also provide a significant fraction of media advertising budgets. The few who dominate the market also dominate the advertising industry. We may have generalised reports but we will not have names and faces.

My guess is that investigative élan will fall short of expectation in this case. I would love to be surprised. Let's face it, there is no such thing as a media independent of its commercial necessities and our state broadcaster has been reduced to pathetic straits.

To top it all, some food importers have a stake in newspapers while others are also construction industry moguls. Being big, very big, also means that one has the ability to create obligations weighing down those officially in power. It is back-scratching in a big way. Being big enough means that one becomes untouchable.

For those who have not attained the dimensions of dinosaurs it is a very different story. Our disposable income is being whisked away from us through a plethora of taxes seen and unseen and forms of law enforcement aimed at generating revenue instead of achieving widespread compliance. For the last several years we have gritted our teeth and borne it. More recently we have been taxed by distant oil companies reporting all-time record profits and now every mouthful means even less money in our pockets.

We are not going hungry yet, most of us, but there is a feeling of uncertainty and concern which worries consumers and businesspeople alike. Despite the bluster and the high hopes exuded by the government, everybody feels the need to be cautious. So many things we took for granted for so long have changed radically in the past few months. It is disconcerting to say the least. If all of us are concerned, low income earners and pensioners must be distraught.

Any give-them-cake statements from the government will not go down well and will be long remembered. Who gives a damn that the financial sector is booming if grocery bills and electricity bills leave nothing at all in one's wallet? If we are doing so marvelously well, why don't we all feel marvelously good about it?

Until recently the neo-liberals occasionally disguised as bleeding heart socialists who have been in power for the past two decades, were happy to provide us with a deal we could live with while they made millionaires and millionaires kept them happy. It was the old trickle-down theory. It seemed to be working well until the mid-1990s; then we discovered that we had serious economic problems in 2003. Now we are told that they are all over.

It is hard to believe if one follows world news at all. We are heavily impacted by anything of the sort because we import almost everything and have to export more than most to be able to do so. Unless, of course, we propose to live off the cream coagulating in the hands of the global few who have made oceans of money from the dawning apocalypse. When the trickle-down system begins to fail, trickle harder. Can we all work for a bank providing the best deals for zillionaires?

Will the old trickle-down theory be able to cope with the challenges we face? I think not. The pinch of food prices exacerbated by the coziness of our domestic market arrangement is just the end of the beginning. We face much greater challenges, which demand a radical rethink of all our systems and strategies. It is a great opportunity to make a great leap forward to another way of thinking, of consuming, of living, leaner, cleaner and more humane. We will because we must.

Dr Vassallo is chairman of Alternattiva Demokratika - the Green party.