Labour – now selling to morons only
You don’t have to be stupid to vote Labour, but boy, does it help.
The Labour Party, ruled as it is by a lovely combo of Joseph Muscat, Toni Abela and Anglu Farrugia, with Jason Micallef whining and bitching on the Super One sidelines, seems to be bending over backwards to prove to us that it is now targeting exclusively a market of morons and those who are deranged by the chips on their shoulder.
Quite frankly, I don’t think this is a deliberate policy, for when we did we last have one of those from Labour?
I think it’s just that this is the best the inept Joseph-Toni-Anglu-Jason bandwagon can do.
Yesterday, dwarf jester Kurt Farrugia was stapled to his desk and made to send out one of the Labour Party’s increasingly frequent propaganda emails to addresses harvested in contravention of the rules without the address-owners’ consent (and ticking the Unsubscribe button doesn’t make a difference because they still keep coming at you).
This tackled the moronic Labour Party’s sole criticism of the Budget: that it does not contain the income tax cuts promised by the Nationalist Party in the 2008 electoral programme.
Income Tax Cuts were Lawrence Gonzi’s no.1 pledge during the election campaign in 2008. A promise Lawrence Gonzi vowed to implement in his first Budget. This is the third Budget in Gonzi’s legislature. And yet again there’s no mention of the promised tax cuts. Would you like to know how much better off you would have been, had Lawrence Gonzi kept his promise to reduce your income tax?
Let’s see now. Could that have been because, five months after the Nationalist Party was elected to government, some of the world’s major financial institutions collapsed under the weight of their bad debts, sparking off the worst international recession in living memory, putting millions out of work, and causing the bankruptcy of iconic businesses that had survived even the Wall Street Crash between the world wars?
Hmmm, yes, it might have something to do with that. Imagine that, not cutting income tax when you’re already losing revenue all round and can’t work out how you’re going to pay the 8,000 useless people Labour stuck on the state payroll 23 years ago, though at least you no longer have to pay millions to keep the Dry Docks on a drip.
The prime minister repeatedly accuses Labour of behaving as though the international recession didn’t happen, or as though the fallout is of no concern to us here in our Utopian bubble, where our biggest concern is the water and electricity bills and how to pay for our steak on Saturday.
And you know what? He’s right. The Labour Party’s only reaction to the Budget – that we haven’t got the income tax cuts we were promised – illustrates this only too well.
Just as it illustrates that the Labour Party hierarchy, with their job-for-life and everyone-owes-us-a-living mentality, don’t have the grey matter to work out that not everybody is as dumb, silly and maghluq go bozza as they are. Anybody with half a brain is just damned grateful to still have a job or clients who can still commission work because they haven’t gone bankrupt or ripped budgets down to nil.
Because we have a brain and can see the major job losses suffered by others elsewhere in Europe, or all those American families living in their cars after their homes were repossessed, we wake up every day and thank Whatever that we have a job to go to and work to do, for which we will get paid, allowing us in turn to pay our bills.
We’re not so bloody stupid that we expect income tax cuts as well, over and above this privilege of still being in paid work, not when we have the brains to work out that those income tax cuts were promised five months before a global financial crisis when things were looking really good and the money was rolling in.
And if we were that stupid – well, then we’d just vote Labour, wouldn’t we.
61 Comments Comment
Reply to d sullivan Click here to cancel reply
I’ve been trying to get myself off that bloody mailing list for months. I should start threatening them with legal action… not that that’s likely to work…
That is exactly what I did, and it worked second time round. Even I thought they wouldn’t fall for my bluff. But they did.
Daphne, if you’re implying that the world’s financial crisis leading to the global recession started AFTER PN won the 2008 elections, you’re wrong. The US had already entered into a recession and the spillover effect was already being felt by leading EU member states prior to those elections. You can’t just erase history and rewrite it as you deem fit!
[Daphne – Ahem. That’s a fine accusation coming from somebody who votes Labour. The international crisis hit AFTER February 2008.There were strong indications of bad times up ahead, which is why the Nationalist Party sold itself on the need for a steady head on the tiller (as opposed to Sant’s and Labour’s) BUT nobody foresaw the full scale of the disaster that would hit six months later. I believe there was one economist who did, in the US, but he was laughed out of town. When Lehmann Brothers collapsed in September 2008, I was working on a bond issue, the room was packed with people who worked in the field, and they were frozen with shock and dismay. From then on in, yes, it was perfectly possible to predict the knock-on skittles effect, but not before. The year 2008 opened pretty buoyantly here in Malta – people were spending like crazy and buyers were chasing sellers rather than the other way round.]
“BUT nobody foresaw the full scale of the disaster that would hit six months later.”
Speak for yourself, please. We, the anoraks, knew what was coming even before 2007.
Then you could have made a mint by buying CDS against CDOs.
A friend sent me the following link.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-24/germany-malta-boost-economies-as-europe-lags-lisbon-council-study-shows.html
It goes to show that our goverment is doing something right. I wonder whether the Labour party have anything to say about it. I would imagine that as usual, they would either put some negative spin on it, or choose to ignore it.
Daphne, before the last general election Gonzi knew about the financial crisis as there were already some indications, but he deliberately and conveniently chose to hide everything.
I didn’t expect much in this budget considering the international scenario, but if I would have voted for Gonzipn in 2008 I would have been a bit let down because back then he promised income tax cuts and a surplus in the country’s balance of payments by 2010 amongs other things.
[Daphne – Ah, but here’s the thing, David: people like me who vote PN rather than Labour tend to be able to think properly and to put things in context. So you’re not comparing like with like. You can’t compare the way a PN voter thinks with the way you think as a Labour voter, because if a PN voter thought like you, then he would vote Labour. The vote in Malta is split according to attitude and outlook, not really political philosophy at all.]
I might not vote Labour but then again I won’t vote for a party that misleads the public before a general election and has the bad habit of breaking his own promises left right and centre.
[Daphne – At the risk of repeating myself, an electoral programme is a five-year programme and not a list of promises to be kept in the first year of government. If we reach the 2013 election without seeing a cut in income tax, then fine. But I hadn’t noticed that the five years are up already.]
Shall we perhaps clarify for the benefit of Mr. Ellul that the main promise about tax cuts by the PN was that the maximum income tax rate will be reduced from 35% to 25% (except for those earning above Euro 60,000 p.a.)?
Now for someone who does not seem to have voted for that promise, and who presumably votes Labour, I do not see why all this fuss.
This is the marginal tax rate for those who earn above Euro 19,501 (about 3 times the minimum wage) in the case of a single person, and above Euro 28,701 (almost 4 times the minimum wage) for a married person.
And anyone earning up to Euro 8,500, single, or Euro 11,900, married, pays no income tax.
According to timesofmalta.com, Saturday, 10 October 2009 (sorry, I do not have more recent data), the average annual basic gross salary in Malta was close to Euro 14,000 in 2009. The figure is excluding bonuses, overtime and allowances. Adding in Euro 5,000 for bonuses, overtime and allowances, the average salary does not reach the marginal rate of 35%.
For a party that calls itself Labour, I would expect that the implementation of this promise would not present a priority.
I can understand that Dr. Gonzi should continue to derive as much tax as possible from those highest income tax earners as long as his policies continue to generate work for them, unlike what happened in other countries.
As for the adjustment to other tax bands, there was an adjustment already in 2009, but maybe Labour was more focused on the seismic activity at the Centru Nazzjonali at that time.
I knew trouble was brewing in 2008. I did not know the extent but I recall clearly reading about the recession in the US. Whatever Gonzi tried to hide, if he really did so, he tried to hide it from people who neither read nor follow the international scene.
I voted for the PN because I knew trouble was brewing and given Gonzi’s track record, I wanted him to lead the country. Would I vote for him again? Yes, absolutely.
Because I hope there would be tax cuts? No – but because, as Daphne said, like most Maltese, I get up in the morning, go to a job which very much depends on trade and commerce and, in spite of the financial crisis, we are still in the job with lots to do, to boot. This is not sheer luck but the result of good leadership.
Apparently these people do not watch the international news. See what is happening in Britain.
Daphne, the sad truth is that PL cannot stomach the fact that the global economic and financial tsunami of the past two years has left Malta relatively unscathed.
The recent study by Michael Heise for the Lisbon Council underlining, in no uncertain terms, Malta’s strong economic performance must have sent them rushing for their Imodium.
It is a pity that fellow Maltese are incapable of sharing and enjoying the positive consequences of having a “par idejn sodi” at the helm.
All they can contribute to the debate on the state of the national economy is a piddly calculator.
A very sad state of affairs indeed.
Lawrence Gonzi and his team have done their best to avoid that we fall into a severe recession that would have added thousands of jobless people.
On the contrary, Joseph Muscat and his team will see to doing just that, as soon as they enter Castille.
One of the good measures in the budget – something for Joseph Muscat to promote in his Sunday homilies – was the grant of a weekly training allowance of Euro 25 to workers on the minimum wage.
This is the sort of measure to help the poorest pull up their socks, retrain, find themselves a new better-paying job, and get out of poverty. It is far better than awarding an increase in the minimum wage, which would give no incentive to minimum wage earners to get off their minimum wage.
I find this measure to be on par with the way the PN government subsidised university education of thousands of students who now earn good salaries.
This measure contrasts sharply with Joseph Muscat’s half baked idea of a living wage.
The reason why Malta emerged almost unscathed from the crisis was thanks to the passing over of wealth, which was a result of ‘safe’ speculative investments across the years, from the previous generation to this one. Many low income earning households, nowadays, have the privilege of not having paid for their houses but instead had their parents or grandparents do it for them. This is the equivalent of winning the national lottery and is a phenomenon possibly only present in Malta.
Had we had a situation where, like in every western country, almost every household is destined to pay mortgage or rent for the rest of its existence (I’m one of them btw), the impact of the crisis would have been direr indeed. Had the crisis happened 20 years from now, by which time it would surely become increasingly less viable for parents in Malta to purchase their own house, let alone their children’s, the situation would have been different. The current relatively ‘pleasant’ situation is a direct result of the previous generations’ investment efforts along with the conservative mentality of the Maltese banks. U mela Gonzi and his team jew!
[Daphne – If that were the case, and governments and prime ministers made no difference, then we would have been in clover in 1971 through to 1987, but it was hell, there was rampant unemployment, most of us were on the minimum wage, there was nothing in the shops, available food was rubbish, and our standard of living was crap. Much as you would like to wish reality away, it’s not going to happen. I was 22 when Labour was finally booted out in 1987, and married with a home of my own, one child and another on the way. It’s not like I can’t remember what managing a life and a household was like under Labour. 1987, for me and the rest of my generation, will always mark the watershed when life went from black and white to colour.]
Lejborist,
Taking just two examples: I do not see how the transfer of the wealth between the generations has effected the tourist arrivals this year.
And I do not see how that wealth transfer affects the financial services industry, which continues to grow.
Whereas I do not claim to be of her generation (!), I agree with Daphne that 1987 changed Malta beyond recognition. It was called Qabza fil-Kwalita.
The simple is not so simple for the simple.
..and yet Gonzi used to say, before the 2008 election, that he was seeing the “maltemp” coming. In spite of this he promised tax cuts because, he used to say, cutting taxes actually makes revenue climb, because the economy is stimulated. With this promise he won an election. Why is his theory that less taxes makes reveues climb not valid any longer now? Where was the rub?
[Daphne – No, Albert, please don’t fool yourself. The election wasn’t won on a promise of a cut in income tax. If that were the case, then a large chunk of AB voters from the Sliema/Swieqi/St Julian’s area wouldn’t have stayed home and sulked instead of going out to vote for him – because they are the ones who stand to gain most from income tax cuts. The PN won the general election for a great variety of reasons, starting with the fact that Labour was led, as it is today, by a total dud, and that people who can think tend to see the PN as a steady (safe was always the wrong translation, because it means somebody who doesn’t steal) hand on that tiller.]
Well said Daphne!
Can someone shed some light on what the PL and GWU mean by the phrase “…failed to meet people’s expectations”?
So what are they trying to say, that the budget should have been designed around the notion that the people want more money in wages/salary, free medical care, free schools, free everything, and not work hard for it and pay for it by means of taxes?
Shouldn’t the GWU and PL be more concerned with how the government might help maintain a sustainable economy (through calculated investment) in times of continuing economic crisis, so that their ‘members’ can fork out the 7 euros – or whatever the price was – to pay for a vote on a party emblem?
Really, sometimes I just wonder if these people know that there is a whole other and more challenging reality out there beyond ‘the rock’.
Someone once said that Labour should allow supporters of the Nationalist Party to select their leader if they wish for a sustained run in government.
Like-minded persons may be tempted, if things really get bad, to vote for the likes of Lino Spiteri and George Abela and in extremis an Alfred Sant but never a Joseph Muscat.
The man is out of his depth even here on this little island of ours, so just imagine him trying to pit his intellect – u jipprova jaghmilla tal-helu – with that of his European counterparts.
I shudder at the thought.
And if this is not bad enough, the delegates opt for Toni and Angelo to act as his furcina. Brace yourselves for another eight years of Nationalist government.
Daph, the first real indication of the financial crisis was the Northern Rock bank run in Sep 2007. A few months later many other big institutions were hit, namely, Bear Sterns, Lehman Brothers, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, AIG and what have you, but the fact that the world economical situation wasn’t rosy and the shit would imminently hit the fan was pretty clear from the start.
Now Gonzi made the income tax cut promise in Feb/May 2008 whilst openly envisaging a possible world recession. To his credit, no one could have really anticipated the magnitude of the crisis but it was clear from the start that no political party in the world acting in good faith was in the privileged position to make that kind of irresponsible electoral promise.
[Daphne – The electoral campaign ended in the first week of March 2008, with the general election. Lehmann Brothers collapsed six months later, in September. I am afraid you are succumbing to the temptation of hindsight, following an example set by your leader. Foresight is a great deal more important, and I think if you were to go through the Labour Party’s electoral programme for 2008, you would find some rather disturbing notions and a recipe for disaster. Please see my reply to H. Mizzi here. For the rest, you and the party you support would do well to stop being so literal-minded and remember that an electoral programme is a five-year plan, and not a one-year plan. What I find most interesting is that the Labour Party should be protesting about this at all, when the vast majority of its supporters – most of whom come from socio-economic group DE – pay no income tax at all below they fall beneath the threshold and don’t declare the rest.]
Lejborist, on 3 March 2008 (one week before the last general elections in Malta), the Dow Jones Industrial Average index stood at 11,893.
It continued to rise to 13,058 by 28 April 2008. On 22 September 2008, it was still at 11,143, as the US government considered bailout intervention.
In the next couple of weeks, as Congress haggled over a USD 700 billion bailout package, the index dipped to 8,451, wiping off a quarter of the market value.
The index plunged further to 6,626 in March 2009 – a 50% loss compared to March-April 2008.
That was how the financial crisis unfolded. So by March 2008, the weather was still sunny, with some clouds on the horizon.
(Information courtesy of Yahoo Finance).
Up to September 2008, everybody and his dog was applying the then fundamental principle that the US government would bail out any large financial institution under the “too big to fail” maxim.
In the week prior to the crash of Lehmann, Paulson and Bernanke were running round in circles trying to find a buyer; Barclays was interested but at fire-sale prices which they got after Lehmann went belly-up.
After the iconic scenes on that Sunday evening of Lehmann employees leaving the building with their belongings in cardboard boxes, the penny dropped that neither the Us government nor the Fed were going to act as lender of last resort.
After this it was “apres moi le deluge”. The spin over effect of that maggot Bernie Madoff and his Ponzi scheme did not help matters.
During the campaign for the last election held in 2008, Lawrence Gonzi admonished the electorate that he was forecasting bad weather in the international economy which would have reflected itself in the local economy.
Irrespective of his foresight, the Prime Minister promised that he would cut income tax in the first year of his current term of office. It is either that he was misled in his foresight or miscalculated his intentions when he stated this promise to the electorate. Whether it was intentionally made or otherwise is still a mystery to us all.
[Daphne – There is the world of difference between foreseeing some bad times up ahead and predicting an international crisis and worldwide deep recession of the sort that, two years later, we haven’t yet emerged from. I honestly don’t think you lot fully appreciate just how bad it is. It is not ‘just another recession’. And not to put too fine a point on it, I am taken aback that you expect Lawrence Gonzi to be globally unique in predicting with accuracy the full scale of the international disaster, but then you are quite prepared to accept that Joseph Muscat needed five years of hindsight and direct experience as an MEP to conclude not that EU membership is good for Malta but that the Yes vote won the referendum. I am gobsmacked.]
Dear Daphne, I fully agree with you that an electoral programme is drawn out for the full five years. But I also happened to be at Triq il Qasam Swieqi under the tent on the eve of the last election when Lawrence Gonzi promised that he will introduce these tax cuts on his first budget.
[Daphne – And imagine what people would have said about his crass irresponsibility if he had done that. Cast your mind back to October 2008, and if you can’t remember, Google some news reports.]
He had even invited the late Dr. George Bonello Dupuis from the audience to support his argument (rightly so) that these cuts will generate more revenue for the Government.
I also attended the majority of the last election`s P.N. mss meetings and Dr Gonzi was already talking about the “mewg qawwi” that was on the horizon, so in my view he had a very good idea of what was going on.
I and many other PN voters like me do not like to be taken on these silly rides by our leaders even though we WILL never even contemplate voting Labour.
Could we please acknowledge that there’s a hell of a difference between “mewġ qawwi” u “Grigalata forza 12”?!
Those who really need to be shown the difference, please visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaufort_scale
The page has pictures for the benefit of those suffering from selective attention deficit disorder.
I was there as well in Swieqi when Gonzi said those famous words, but unlike you, I do not now feel that I have been taken for a ride by Gonzi and his crew.
You sound like an intelligent man, so pray, why didn’t you ask Gonzi how he planned to reduce taxes with clouds on the horizon when you had the chance to do so?
And why did you vote PN if the idea was such a bad one anyway. I didn’t hear anyone challenging Gonzi about planned tax cuts in the worst global recession in living memory back then in Swieqi. Probably because nobody foresaw it back then, not even you, in spite of all the talk of black clouds and turbulent times.
A lot of people I overhear arguing about these tax-bands seriously think it will be a 200 Euro windfall per person when in fact, what Joseph Muscat did not explain to these whiners, is that most of them don’t pay income tax to begin with.
“I find most interesting is that the Labour Party should be protesting about this at all, when the vast majority of its supporters – most of whom come from socio-economic group DE – pay no income tax at all below they fall beneath the threshold and don’t declare the rest”
…ghax il-Labour jrid ikun Gvern ta’ kulhadd inkluz ta’ dawk li ma’ jivvotawlux fl-elezzjoni!
[Daphne – Get a grip, David.]
Just to give you an idea of life under Labour: these guys even taxed you for a bogus vote on an emblem.
Taxes are compulsory…voting for the party emblem via sms was not.
Clearly…only 11,178 bothered.
“…ghax il-Labour jrid ikun Gvern ta’ kulhadd”
Well there’s a first time for everything, I suppose. But I doubt that will ever happen – too much hdura.
People do not vote PN because of any pre electoral promises in the party’s manifesto. PN voters are not easily taken in by gimmicks. This is what distinguishes them from the rest of the electorate.
People vote PN because they are confident that the PN in government will give them five years of peace of mind come what may.
The government’s and the country’s performance over the past two to three years against all odds is proof of this, if ever any was needed.
At the risk of rocking both boats, I strongly disagree with this hagiography of Gonzi. The only reason Gonzi looks good is that Joseph Muscat is complete shyte.
Yes, there is a “par idejn sodi” at the helm, but the helmsman is misguided and his crew is no better. Malta is faced with two challenges which suggest contradicting solutions. On one hand, there’s the need to retain competitiveness, which implies low labour costs. On the other hand, there’s the need to create better jobs, which implies better salaries and higher labour costs. Gonzi is taking the easy way out (easy in political terms, and easy because his brain is programmed that way): construction. New projects.
In the end, it’s the construction lobby that’s laughing all the way to the bank, but it’s not creating those highly-skilled, highly-paid jobs tha Gonzi is so fond of talking about. Most importantly, there’s no technology transfer. In other words, we’re not exporting expertise or attracting investment for the development of expertise.
Making up for Europe’s loss of competitiviness by increasing public expenditure has proven to be a bad strategy in the long term.
It’s not like the government doesn’t know what needs to be done. The facts are there. A five-minute chat with Gordon Cordina (switched-on lad, that one) will open anyone’s eyes. Gonzi is treading very carefully in a minefield of vested interests, but the clock is ticking (2020, EU goals, and EU fines – eek!) are around the corner. This is no time for half-measures and comfortable mediocrity.
Gonzi should heed Danton’s phrase (attributed to Frederick the Great, which gives an idea of the “bronze balls” images it conjures):
De l’audace, encore de l’audace, et toujours de l’audace!
How do you assess Smart City? It involves construction. It is a project which hopefully will lead to better paid jobs.
HP, whereas I agree that the construction industry must not become too dominant – see what happened to Spain – in Malta, it remains an important creator of jobs and a source of revenues to government. It employs various skills and is an important distributor of income/wealth.
To be fair, I think the Gonzi government intervened in the construction industry to keep the industry busy as property was expected to go into a lull during the financial crisis.
In itself, this was a crisis management, which should provide the industry with cash liquidity in a period when property is not being liquidated at previous rates. At the same time, it drives the economy.
Any Keynesian economics adopted by PN governments in Malta has usually been carried out this way. This has the added advantage that a couple of years later, the country is still benefiting from the real assets created.
If you are including the powerstation extension as part of the government’s construction projects, I believe that was in response to an urgent need to add power capacity.
I agree with H.P. Baxxter that Gonzi and the PN in general do not deserve this hagiography, irrespective of whether the alternative is valid or not.
For starters the economy still depends too much on the construction industry. If the government were to build the right conditions some of those investing in the construction industry now might find it more attractive to invest their money to in high-end industrial sectors such as IT and Pharma. Therefore, in my opinion, the idea that we should depend on the construction industry is not a wise one.
There is also two missing pieces of legislation which in my opinion could lead to a healthy, meritocratic and competitive business environment: regualrised political party funding and a proper and effective whistleblower act. These do not cost money but are not very popular with politicians. On the other hand, the present unregularised situation may be costing us a lot of money.
I’ll try to briefly answer every one of you.
Maryanne:
Smart City is being touted as a creator of c. 7000 high-quality jobs. Fine. But the devil is in the detail.
Is there a timetable? What sort of jobs will it create? What sort of salaries are we talking about? Salaries in IT are already slowly decreasing, as the job market becomes saturated with programmers (or developers, as they like to call themselves). If all that Smart City will do is to employ run of the mill boilerplate programmers, then sooner or later their bosses will outsource the work to South East Asia (Malaysia is to programming what Bangladesh is to Nike footballs).
Employers are seeking the lowest possible qualifications which will cover the job. That tells us something which should have us worried: They’re not planning on doing any R&D, contrary to Gonzian rhetoric.
In short, therefore, Smart City will only preserve the status quo, no more no less. Some might argue that this is in itself positive. I think not.
Ciccio2010 (fantastic nome-de-plume!):
Those “real assets” do not create wealth unless they’re used for something. Most of our capital projects only create low-paid jobs: cleaners, receptionists, waiters, plasterers, labourers, that sort of thing.
The only way – and I emphasise ‘only’ – that Malta can increase its GDP per capita from the current 78% of the EU average, which is the government’s stated goal, is by a restructuring of the job market. The proportion of unskilled jobs must decrease drastically. Now the construction industry is putting the brakes on that restructuring by employing a mass of low-skilled labour. True, it is keeping people in employment, but it is neither creating exportable products, nor is it penetrating the hi-tech R&D sector which we desperately need to strengthen.
On the subject of energy needs, since the environment and the economy are inextricably linked, note that very few construction projects include serious energy-saving designs. The flaccid argument of “but solar panels are expensive” is complete rubbish. Other stuff is just as expensive, but Maltese importers are inflating prices up to 200%, and if that’s too expensive, then the government should bypass these scoundrels and look to foreign firms. I’m sure this can be done within the current legal framework.
dudu:
I’m with you all the way on the party funding bit.
On the subject of investment in the construction industry, we’ve had foreign firms seeking to invest in Malta knocking on Maltese government doors only to be rebuffed. And they were even proposing ultra-useful stuff such as re-using building waste to make bricks, or recycling glass for road surfaces, or cleaner quarrying technology. But the Maltese developers/quarry owner’s cartel has a stranglehold on government contracts. Note that I’m not hypothesising; I’m reporting what I’ve been told by these investors.
This is where the issue of party funding is linked to our national economy.
May I also add, in reponse to all three of you, that we are facing crippling EU fines in 2020 if we do not decrease our CO2 output by some 30%, and we’re nowhere near to reaching those targets. If I were the PM, I’d be shitting myself. Perhaps that’s why Gonzi sometimes looks worried. If he’s thinking about these problems, that’s a good start. But thinking alone achieves nothing. Action requires resolve.
You should not forget that the main capital infrastructure projects of the last 20 years included the new airport, the expansion of the freeport, the Delimara power station, the reverse osmosis plants, the university expansion and the controversial Mater Dei hospital.
Are you suggesting they are not employed in good commercial or social use?
Insofar that the government budget permits it, there is nothing wrong for the government to inject cash into the economy during a financial crisis through infrastructure projects. The US and Australia have used this method in the current crisis. It is better than giving handouts.
I am amazed how, at the same time of declaring our ”Gvern fallut”, the MLP is expecting GonziPN only to give and give again.
If the MLP boasted of being a ‘partit socjalista’ because of the introduction of social security benefits, then GonziPN would have to be called, ‘partit socjalista estrem’ with all the benefits the under-privilidged enjoy.
It is, now, indeed, that you are cared for, from the cradle to the coffin.
You know, Tonio Fenech could have slashed income tax easily. All he had to do was to cut welfare spending or raise VAT as well.
Ara kemm ndumu nisimghu fuq kif GoNEziPN sar bla qalb, imbaghad.
That is in fact the most sensible form of taxation – indirect taxes. It would make sense to have VAT at 25% and income tax at 15%.
The more money you spend, the more taxes you pay – fair and just.
@david – people vote PN also because there is no opposition to vote for so they choose the lesser of two evils. Sad but true!
With so many Nouriel Roubinis within the PL ranks it is just unbelievable that the MLP in government is synonymous with unemployment, economic stagnation and lack of vision.
While the restless natives fight over spare crumbs, the bureaucrats upstairs increase their budget by 6%.
But not to worry. Soon, it’s not just member states’ coffers they’ll be nicking but the pockets of 500 million EU citizens too. Let’s call it federal tax: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/8086113/EU-plans-for-direct-tax-would-lead-to-British-referendum.html
But the future looks bright. The gurus are telling us that EU economic central planning should copy the Chinese 15-year plans: http://euractiv.com/en/priorities/chinas-2020-policy-trumps-eu-plan-says-innovation-guru-news-499144
And last but not least, our security, l-ahwa. Ghax haw’ hafna tirruristi jigru mas-saqajn… Nottu wari. The EU will force airports to install naked body scanners starting next year: http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/business/8475101.Firm___s_EU_approval_for_anti_terrorism_scanners/
And while you’re at it, why not google “naked body scanners” – and throw in “underwear bomber”+truth into the pan. You might strike some gold.
kev, I always carry my secret weapons in my underwear.
Hmmm… so you’re one of those who call it a ‘secret weapon’ eh?
I was under the impression that you’re a “bureaucrat upstairs” yourself, Kev.
Not at all, Baxxter. I even avoid brushing shoulders with them if possible. The belly of the beast still contains all sorts, even if most are on a career trip. A remnant of democracy, perhaps, before this place becomes a People’s Congress.
Perhaps you avoid brushing shoulders, but I bet you’re licking your chops when that monthly pay cheque is due.
Kudos to you for landing a cushy job, Kev, but let’s be grown men and stop being hypocrites, shall we?
If that’s how you see it Baxxter, so be it. In that case I will soon be giving up this “cushy job” to return to half-witted Lilliput. Clearly, you don’t know how an activist’s mind works.
Naked body scanners in the EU:
http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/imported/eu-in-disarray-over-body-scanner-rules/66780.aspx
Anybody demanding an increase in wage/salary should be bound to declare what he would give to his employer in return.
It is usually those who are the least productive and those who never bothered to work hard and use their initiative to better their situation, whocomplain the most and expect things to fall from heaven into their laps.
The rest hardly ever complain and will compete with those where production costs are cheaper, with much less difficuilty. Furthermore they are never made redundant, no matter how bad the situation is.
I am not of the opinion that the prime minister is taking it easy because he has no real Opposition or because the PN is the better of two evils.
This government has made life seem so easy in comparison to other countries, during the world economic crisis, that there are those of us who just can’t fathom why a promise hasn’t yet been kept.
I don’t understand why the media dont ask Joseph Muscat what the real budget would be had we stayed out of the EU.
I entirely agree with Baxxter. But what can you do with certain level of the Maltese population, stop the construction industry? We have more jobs of cheap labour such as wardens, security guards, etc.
However, many people are seeking such jobs cause of their low level of education and this is due to the previous Labour governments. Even in certain tenders, these are awarded to the lowes bidder, so how come the government expects that these people get well paid.
I know of tenders that awarded to bidders with an hourly rate that not even the minimum can be paid so they have to cater for the contract with part timers or illegally employed employees. On the other hand yes it is true that people with IT cerificates are low paid too. But I wonder why the government itself is forking out very high wages to certail people, like for example at the Malta transport.
It has come to my knowledge that certain people with very low level of education are being paid 66,000 Euros a year in the enforcement section. I can’t for example understand why people working within the same government authorities are being paid more than the ministers themselves, and some of them even more then the Prime Minister. To me this is crazy, and I believe that the government should lead by example. I think this attitude in itself will not help the PN in the next general election.
To start with, it is not true that the people seeking jobs with low skill requirements are low-skilled. It’s just that they’re the only jobs available. I invite anyone to look at the ETC job list, and perhaps visit an ETC job centre. The people queueing to sign on for the dole are no longer the plaster-bespattered louts. I should know, being in that queue myself with a fucking PhD (no unemployment benefits for me however, I hasten to add).
Then there’s the issue of excessive salaries. What can I say? When some spotted curly-headed wanker is appointed CEO and gets 40k a year plus benefits for doing jack shit, and when his qualifications and experience are equal to mine, it pisses the hell out of me. We’ve got university lecturers (in the engineering faculty, if you must know) who can’t even spell. Can’t even bloody spell. And Masters graduates with a desperately-needed specialisation in 16th-18th century arms and armour who teach art in bloody primary school, because some dilettante got onto the Palace Armoury’s payroll forty years ago and hasn’t moved since.
Gonzi drives me up the wall when he talks of “opportunitajiet”. The only “opportunità” is the one you can grab on the strength of your connections.
Now I know Daphne will take issue with my rant, because she believes in making your own luck. I have nothing to say in my defence.
If you obtained your Ph.D. to find a better job, perhaps you should have carried out a supply-demand survey on the local job market and found out which Ph.D. enhances your chances of employment. Or else you could apply for a job overseas. If your specialisation is science-based, buy the New Scientist. There are literally thousands of jobs, some of which I can’t even pronounce.
Every time I come across this extremely immature idea that people go to university to improve their “employability” I feel like banging my head against the thickest and hardest wall I can find.
It’s no wonder people complain about university being a glorified secondary school, if it churns out people thinking like this.
I am sending out gazillions of applications overseas. Back when I was growing up, university really increased your chances of employability. Things started changing around the mid-90s.
By “science based” you mean biochemistry. That’s the only area of research that’s flourishing at the moment.
Baxxter, you seem to me an inteligent and well educated man. The real H.P. Baxxter should certainly be proud that you have used his name as your nom de plume.
As you must already know, he had no luck in his early life, so instead of becoming a lawyer as he had hoped he became a musician and moved on, and blamed no German politician for his missed opportunaties.
This is getting out of point. Anyone who wants to add anything to the discussion should write to me on tuni.soluzzjoni@gmail.com
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