Ettore Bono says:
Saturday, 30 May at 1635hrs
“The thing is, Chris, that a very large percentage of our deficit has nothing whatsoever to do with the global economy and everything to do with gross mismanegemnt of the economy by the PN.”

Are you in a position to substantiate what you wrote? Or are you just being economical with the truth?

I think you are all too scared of a deficit. It’s a natural state in any growing economy and unless you have a vast natural resource which can keep you going (as Norway with their oil – bastards – and Canada to a small extent with their gas) you have to sometimes progress through loans.

I have just taken a home loan which I will be paying for until my grey days, but that doesn’t mean that moving towards purchasing a property was a bad move. Taking that loan and investing it in a property means I now have a significant investment to use throughout my life, whether it’s for living purposes, or to simply resell and grow with.

Same thing goes for a state. Sometimes investments are needed to grow the economy to a state where the repayment would be suitable.

Now I know pretty much squat about economics and I might be wrong, but that’s how I see it.

If in the 70’s and 80’s “someone” had had the decency:
1. to invest in the required infrastructure;
2. to stimulate the Malta Drydocks into working instead of wasting their time on trucks running around the island and terrorising everyone in sight;
3. to close down (better still never opened) the Malta Shipbuilding and
4. to really put some confidence in the Maltese to increase their economic output;
5. to build a new power station and not be poisoned by the discharge and dust from cheap Polish coal;
6. to repair the water distribution system (ah I forgot, there was no need for this the solution was easier – just stop the distribution!);
7. to invest in a decent telecommunication service and not purchase a scrapped, mechanical system (though it did have its own uses and records – it was the first skype like mechanical teleconferencing equipment – pick up the phone and you could enter into a conference with three or more people concurrently!).

Then there would not have been the need to increase the deficit so as invest in 8 years what should have been invested over the previous 24 years.

Yes, we had and still have a deficit, but I can tell you, it is better to have a deficit and live decently (maybe even emulate the Leader of the Opposition and buy Alfas, ask for a VAT refund and maybe even ask the government to buy it back from us) then to have no deficit and living on the street.

As economists (objective ones) can tell you, running a fiscal deficit and increasing government debt can stimulate the economy. And as budget deficits are usually due to the level of government spending being too high for prevailing tax levels. As I really cannot see that anyone would agree to reduce the government spending on health, education and social services (the real high cost expenditure of government – though I believe that social services should be reduced – but that is my believe) the other solutions would be an increase in tax and/or payment for health services (this is an option that Edward Scicluna is proposing!)

Can you mention one non-oil-producing country that has a budget surplus?

The thing is, Chris, that a very large percentage of our deficit has nothing whatsoever to do with the global economy and everything to do with gross mismanegemnt of the economy by the PN.

There was no global recession in 1996 when (according to Godfrey Grima) Fenech Adami said “I nearly had a heart attack when I found out how high the deficit was going to be” (or words to that effect.)

Maybe Auchan wasn’t enough to keep the weekend shoppers entertained.

I thought that we were discussing private lives. Maybe not in this thread, but elsewhere. Nevertheless, I find this thread very interesting. It makes me think (Geeze, just realised I have brain this morning).

Anyhow, the Socialist EP campaign fundamentally makes a lot of sense. And even the PPP campaing at that.

This being an EP election, the local political parties should have focused on the wider issues rather than petty arguments which are unrelated to the EP election. But I suppose, their intention is to target the Maltese audience which I’m afraid is largely disinterested in issues that extend beyond our shores. This is what I describe as the insular mentality.

The parties should have conveyed the message that the scope of their being part of the European Parliament (EP) is to contribute positively to this institution. The candidate’s attempts to demonstrate their ability to do so are very weak (with the exception of Simon Busuttil perhaps).

The EP is an institution that should be there as a world leader addressing global issues apart from legislating matters European.

I’m afraid that I am very disappointed by the lack of a serious campaign. The parties are missing ‘the wood for the trees’.

Joseph Muscat is a clone of Alfred Sant minus wig !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7KfZ3egKPs

Hi Leo,

I already read the Spiegel article. I can’t figure out Herrn Schulz. He seems to be a pretty ‘left sock’ and that is, somehow, his only message.

I thought ‘Mein liebe Schulz’ is a quotation and therefore I didn’t mention it. The correct form in this case is ‘Mein lieber Schulz’.