A massive ‘I told you so’ moment, but it’s no consolation in this mess

Published: October 18, 2014 at 8:27pm

The only bit that Tonio Fenech got wrong here in this interview from January 2013 is where he says that the people don’t believe the Labour Party on its electricity plans and promises.

But they did.

His succinct explanation of how you can’t cut tariffs by creating surplus capacity is totally accurate, but general elections tend to be manifestations of irrational behaviour and magical thinking (“wishing it will make it possible” – aka positive thinking).




9 Comments Comment

  1. pablo says:

    I don’t know why but I can see Edward Scicluna responsible for national finances soon having to do what a hungry snake does – it eats its own tail.

  2. anthony says:

    Fenech, like the rest of the top brass of his party grossly overestimated the intellectual capacity of the average Maltese voter.

    And consequently screwed the country.

    • vanni says:

      Think of all the effort and expense involved in trying to educate and instill some sophistication in a nation.

      Your thanks? You get booted out of office, and belatedly realize that you had been breaking windows with guineas all along.

  3. H.P. Baxxter says:

    Tonio Fenech is the closest the NP ever got to fact-based politics (as opposed to emotion-based).

    • fm says:

      How I sincerely wish Tonio Fenech was the leader of the Opposition. He steered Malta in a very difficult world economy when Franco Debono and JPO were bent on making Gonzi lose the plot. If Muscat had Tonio Fenech chasing him, he would already probably be in deep trouble.

  4. Kevin says:

    What puzzles me is what Scicluna means by a move towards indirect taxation without increasing VAT. I smell an Internet sales tax or some form of surcharge that will significantly increase the cost of living to finance the growing deficit and government expenditure.

    In 18 months I have heard of no concrete strategy for economic growth, business investment and employment.

    • H.P. Baxxter says:

      I smell something even fishier – a CET Redux.

      Both this shower of shyte and Alfred Sant have never really given up on CET. They’re really still in love with the idea, Like all true self-absorbed intellectuals, they’ll tell you it would have worked, if only they had tweaked this and that.

      So here it is. CET Redux:

      – A tax on internet sales.
      – 35% VAT on a list of “luxury products”, to be decided ad hoc by Edward Scicluna every morning, as Alfred Sant did back in the day.
      – 30% VAT on books (ghax dak lussu)
      -An increase in VAT on restaurant meals – wait for it – but only for Maltese citizens. Halli ma naffetwawx l-imqaddes turizmu.
      – A tax on flight tickets. Except for X-Malta-X flights. Again, turizmu uber alles.
      – Anything else that might occur to this piece of academic flotsam.

  5. White coat says:

    Malta has not seen one single employment-enhancing foreign investment comparable to say, Lufthansa Technik, during the last 18 months of Labour, or comparable to a mobile beach-side ice-cream stand.

    On the other hand, we have seen a crash in direct foreign investment.

  6. White coat says:

    Serious foreign investors think twice before investing where uncertainties exist especially when created by a government shady-dealing with China, Shiv Nair and a bunch of suspect cronies.

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