If she reads the defeat report objectively La Benoit should know that the source of the problem was AS lack of credibility following his unorthodox re-election as leader following the 2003 defeat to promte policies which before were allahares qatt.

All the other failings identified as subsidiary to this and if there is any criticism to be made to the report it is precisely this. If list failings but gives little sense of prioratisation. It makes no effort to separate cause from effect.

However it is clear that Labour needs a new broom and only someone coming from the outside like GA can really deliver what Labour truly needs.

You are really suck at this. If you want to make a proper cost-benefit analysis you also include revenues in your equation.

It is true, you buy an asset on a loan, which brings with it interests costs, then also on the cost side there is maintenance and depreciation of the building, and finally the opportunity cost of not investing the amount loaned on another investment, usually we use the risk-free interest rate as sure forgone earnings.

Let us cross on the other side of the equation now John, the one you intentionally omit. On the income side you have imputed rent, which means the rent you had to pay if you did not own the building, you have capital gains, where in the property market the global average in the long-run is over 4%, with the amount being much higher in congested urban areas (this alone kills most of the interests), then you have profit from renting out, which again in a city like Brussels the demand is very high and thus revenue from renting becomes very profitable.

Those are pretty much the most important direct variables, then like everything else there are indirect variables that play a role.

Now when you have a value to all of these and other variables you can state if it was a waste or a good investment. From the limited info I have I think it was a good investment.

Good news: My substitutes didn’t fail me.
Bad news: If moderator is correct then I got an intruder
in my “office system”.

Moderator are you so positive that “Omar Bezzina’ or whoever used “my system” to post in your forum? I got a fixed IP. I am to contact my server about it.

In the meantime, I was doing a bit of research on OUR LADY OF MOUNT ETNA!I will ctach with the rest later.

THE Buying of dar malta was not planned in that year budget

So Dr Gonzi went to the parliament for emergency funding ,
That means taking a loan to buy Dar Malta
On loans one have to pay interest

So a 5% interest on a 10 million loan is costing the maltese taxpayers half a million interest each year

So the smallest country in the eu now have one of the biggest building in brussels

Fanfarunati??????

And what happened to the penthouse planed for our King richard cachia caruana?

Or even a penthous built on a 10 million building is to small for his ego????

I preety much agree with the first part of your comment, and I also think that being more objective will be more beneficial to discussions, so admit my faults. I mentioned other ‘investments’ becuase Dar Malta does not even come close to past bad investments, but some people want to make it look like a bad investment simply due to their hostility towards the EU.

Your last sentence is simply untrue. You speculate when you buy with the intention to either re-sell later on with the hope of making capital gains or to profit from renting out. The government invested in a property that will be using and at the same time it has the added benefit of a high probability of future capital gains, which will result in increasing the profit earned from renting out the space that the Maltese administration will not need to use.

I also question the dubious investments like the Drydocks and other public companies. I have said time and time again on this blog that Government has no business running companies and this should be left solely to the private sector. The fact that the country was mismanaged on a massive scale in the 70s and 80s does not give the Government carte blanche to do what it likes, simply because everything will pale in comparison to the excesses of the 70s/80s.

You have to get out off your mentality that questioning anything done by the Government is tantamount to glorifying the opposition. I for one voted for this Government, but I find no problem saying where and when I think mistakes were made.

Besides i don’t think that any government should be in the business of property speculation.