If the US gets out of the mess first it is because of the ‘first in, first out’ syndrome. The US economy tanked out because of greed and lack of reasonable precautions. The “Amercan dream” has turned into an American nightmare and worse, their problem has become the world’s problem. They are now printing billions, nay, trillions of dollars which their future generations are bound to pay dearly for.

Pity that so many senior citizens who have toiled all their life and accumulated their own retirement funds are now faced with the utter decimation of their investments due to reckless lending by American banks. Even more worrisome is the fact that the crisis has not bottomed out yet and many more millions will find themselves out of a job, lose their homes, go on welfare and line up at the soup kitchen.

The Maltese public has not experienced any major consequences of the ongoing disaster which will continue for quite some time yet.

The trillions of dollars, sterling and euros which are being thrown at the problem are no guarantee that the various economies will turn around any time soon. Profiteering by the unscrupulous many will absorb a substantial amount off the people’s back after the various governments succeed in even agreeing how to spend the multitude of funds. Even if all the allotted money hits the economies tomorrow, it will take several months for the effect to take hold and start to help economies find the road to recovery.

If one looks at America’s history for the last 50 years, one finds that its economy performed best in wartime, followed by serious downward economic trends – WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq 1, Afghanistan and Iraq 2. This time we are all paying for unwinnable wars.

You are probably right in predicting that the US’s freer capitalist system will help it emerge from the current crisis ahead of the EU. Perhaps you should consider also whether the number of casualties in the US “unburdened” with state welfare provision will be lower than that in Europe.

The Dow will keep going down as long as Obama keeps on bashing the banks, the CEOs of the largest corporations, and the fact that he is using the stimulus package to widen the concept of the welfare state in the US. Everyone is expecting a heavy tax burden in the years to come.

2. Catholics do believe that prayer will help in difficult situations; but one is expected to do one’s bit: “Għin ruħek biex Alla jgħinek” (God helps those who help themselves) was drummed into my head by my Catholic parents, and it is a maxim many of us go by.

3. If you dwell only on what is negative, you’re bound to concoct a pretty dismal picture of the Maltese reality. One has to wonder why some tend to bring into focus only failures, eccentricities, idiosyncrasies and ignore the many positive things we have: the willingness to help, a sense of community in many areas, the success stories….. Why the constant need to view life as it were one massive caricature?

[Daphne – The willingness to help? Help who?]

The more people feel dependent on the state, with widespread suspicion and envy for any individual initiative and success, the longer the whining state of mind will persist. The Maltese have been spoiled for a very long time.

[Daphne – Despite all the whining? Passiveness and negative thinking are part and parcel of the same psychological make-up. Positive thinkers are pro-active and have initiative. And if you’re not careful, I’ll get started on the Catholic/Protestant thing again.]