The real budget ta' rashom
The Labour Party has set up a website called www.therealbudget.com (because now they’ve discovered the internet and there’s no stopping them).
If you think that this is where you’ll find – AT LAST – some information on how Labour plans to run the country post-2013, you’re going to be really disappointed.
The only thing you’ll find on that website – besides hostile-to-government stories taken from Malta Today (natch) and the latest Tweets (sigh) from Joseph Muscat – is a little calculator-thingie that purports to work out, possibly with dear Edward Scicluna’s help, how much money ‘self’ and ‘spouse’ would have saved had ‘Gonzi’ kept his promises.
And you know what? All I could think of as I looked at it in disbelief is what a damned shame it is that there is no calculator on earth which can work out what life would have been like for me had Mintoff not been elected in 1971 and 1976, had there not been an electoral heist in 1981 and had Sant not derailed EU membership in 1996. Just as there is no calculator on earth which can calculate my exponential losses, not only financial, and those of so many others, as a result of the many and varied depredations of those governments.
Now that’s something that doesn’t bear thinking about, and bother a couple of hundred euros here and there in 2009.
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Great Daph, you’re writing to us from the future! (Posted at 9.42 and I’m replying at 9.33). One thing struck me this evening…at 16 we would all have watched the budget and talked about it (more like poked fun at it!) the next day at college.
Spoke to my kids (the 20 yr old and the 17 yr old) and they had no idea it was Budget Day. Good sign? Maybe yes – but they should be made aware of what the 70s and early 80s were like. Please keep on reminding us!
the 70’s and 80’s were the best years that Malta have to be proud off. We had build out of nothing the best social services that the country could offer remembering that we had to pay 43 million depths that we inherited from the nationalist party . We build AIR MALTA , ENEMALTA . B.O.V. MID MED BANK and other thing that is to long to list. Free Schooling and till the age of 16 , Free hospitals , univeristy for everybody not for the choosin’ few , clinics around the island , vote for woman and youngsters at the age of 18.That should you tell you children. another thing , at Least I have a mind and not like you follow the leader. if he leader is wrong I have the guts and tell it to his face , I don’t need the net to do so.
“B.O.V” – ahemm, snatched maybe?
“univeristy for everybody not for the choosin’ few” – are you for real?
Apparently the free schooling and university was of no use to you.
Pancrazio – I talk to you in lengwig u understend. You not build Air Malta, you take it from prajvit enterprise. You not build B.O.V end Mid Med Benk. You take them from prajvit enterprise too.
Get your facts straight, Pancreas, before trumpeting out the fairytales fed to you by your elders.
How do you pay for a depth? And believe you me I am not one to follow the leader!!! Oh, btw (by the way) wasn’t it the Natonalist government who introduced University for all and not for the choosin’ few in 1970?
Weren’t votes for women introduced in 1947 or thereabouts?
My everlasting memory from the 70s is seven months suspension from my workplace for taking sympathy industrial action in the summer of 1977 and being threatened with calling in of mortgages, all employees being declared redundant (except those who had not participated) and amalgamation of banks with a new call for applications for the chosen few.
Yes those were the days, my friend.
Oops typo; “seven months suspension” to read ” seven weeks suspension”.
500 million in the bank and no water in our tanks, electricity outages galore, no computers, no telephone lines available, obsolete Strowger telephone exchanges which not even third world countries would accept as a donation, Mintoff fiddling with the country’s foreign exchange reserves from the House of the Four Winds and failing at a Soros-type speculation with a whopping LM90 million loss, Denis Sammut as Executive Director at BOV imma it-tonn taz’zejt naqas b’hames millezmi !
U hallina pancrazio !
Prositt tassew – ma jistawx ihammruna wiccna dawn in- nies.
Stuff the calculator.
If the country had to calculate the “cost” of the 1971-1987 tragedy plus that of the 1996-1998 shambles it would need an IBM machine the size of the Portomaso Tower to do the workings.
To put it mildly, and politely to Labour, just “f**k off”. Hands off Malta, please.
Just enjoy your cornetto.
yeah you cunt . you’re right because we left 500 million in the bank of Malta plus other enterprices that gave us more money and this shitty party that you are so proud of is going to leave us with billions of Euros in depth. Have a life if you know hat that means
“500 million in the bank” – and a friggin s**t hole for a country
“billions of Euros in depth” – in metres?
Control your language, Pancreas. Losing your cool and resorting to vulgarities does not leave one with a good impression of New Labour.
p.s. Pancrazio, ‘debt’ is spelt, D, E, B, T. And here’s your comparison of EU economies, spot the eurozone small economy improvers…
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_PUBLIC/2-22102010-AP/EN/2-22102010-AP-EN.PDF
500 million in the bank? In whose name, may I ask?
Didn’t the Ginger Wonder promise us he would back away from the usual mud-slinging and grotesque bombastic propaganda of times past? Well, here we go again – only this time on the internet.
And the elves and trolls are already promoting this drivel on the comments section of timesofmalta.com
Only this party has enough resources to waste creating a website such as this. Compared to the UK budget the Maltese budget is like a mere formality for a low risk economy like Malta. Some London councils have lost £100 million each in funding, some of them providing services for a population the size of half of Malta. (You have to compare like with like, and therefore comparing Malta with UK is largely stretched even if you consider that UK deficit is practically almost 4 times as Malta and that the UK is about to fire the size of the Maltese population in its public sector). L-aqwa r-realbaġitt!
why not compare the wages with the UK. as well
It’s very easy to compare Malta to the UK. Just think of the increase in VAT just imposed in the UK, the wage freeze there, the British government’s promise to slash public sector employment by 50%, so on and so forth.
Why not mention that Fitch has just upgraded Malta’s financial stability rating and Bloomberg (not Malta Today or Super One) has announced that in the Eurozone only Malta’s and Germany’s economies are growing at a healthy pace.
How dare some people compare today’s Maltato the pig-sty we lived in the 70s and 80s.
Daphne. I thank you for your intelligent blogs.
“why not compare the wages with the UK. as well”
Why not compare rent? For example – a 50 sqm studio flat in London with the equivalent in Sliema or Valletta?
Pancrazio. Honestly. It’s purchasing power you have compare, not just wages.
In London, a young professional who is not living with mama and who earns £35K a year owns 0% of his/her home and instead rents a room in a shared flat for something like 200 pounds A WEEK (just for a room). This young professional doesn’t have kids, doesn’t have a car, and maxes out a stack of credit cars for a weekend away or a ‘major’ purchase like a laptop.
What do you expect employers in Malta to do? Raise wages and salaries without raising the price of what they sell, so making a loss and ending up by going bankrupt so that everyone is out of a job? Great idea.
Maltese family: 100% ownership of home, minimum 2 kids, pays off bills, yearly holiday, some savings for the tieġ tat-tifel u t-tifla, libsa u party tal-preċett qas jitwemmnu, restaurant is-Sibt, two cars, then we’re broke…. maybe. U l-għaġeb u l-qrid ta’ l-iskantament.
The figures above mean the following:
Maltese population = 2 councils in London, which lost £200 million, which at the current exchange rate (euro to £) is £10 million more than Malta’s -3.8% deficit.
Imbagħad tiskanta kif il-Maltin jitilgħu Oxford Street u jniżżlu kull ma jaraw.. u jikkawżaw delay ta’ l-ajruplan għax il-hand luggage ukoll faqgħuh.
I’m not anyone’s political fan, just in case you’re wondering.
Visions of Labour’s Finance Minister Wistin Abela – “It-tonn taz-zejt rahas b’centezmu u erba millezmi.”
Kont se nghidlek x’taghmel bihom il-millezmi Sur Wistin.
Wistin Abela came to mind when I heard Joseph Muscat commenting about Air Malta, in reply to the budget speech.
Joseph Muscat was not yet born when Air Malta was “born” out of private enterprise.
I liked this about the real budget – complete with the hanging jaw.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMyoOTHzgPw
I wonder, did Joseph Muscat have a copy of the budget speech much earlier on than we did? I am asking this question as his post-budget comment was basically a written speech. Or was this written days, if not months ago?
Medidate gente, medidate.
U xi nghidu ghal ‘kavalli fiz-zalza’, Rover? Flok bott bil-hut u ftit zalza passabbli, spiccajna b’bott mimli zalza mhallta bl-ilma u bicca demb ta’ huta li lanqas il-qattusa tieghi ma kienet tasal biex tiekol.
Il-prezz veru rahas minn 7 centezmi ghal 6c8 imma il-kontenut ma kienx jiswa zewg millezmi.
Haga tal-ghageb, ghoxrin sena wara xorta il-Labour baqaw bil-mentalita’ tal-h*xi. Kull ma gara biss li bdew isiru hi-tech u bil-magiks – bhal nghidhu ahna wiehed jivvota ghall-emblema u jsib ruhu membru tal-PL u 7 euro ifqar milli kien, minghajr ma jar – alumenu sakemm jircievi il-kont tal-mobajl.
I advise you to read the small print (if any) before using the tax calculator on the Labour Party’s innovative new therealbudget.com website.
For all you know, they might be using this to scam a few euros off you, too.
At this rate, I’m surprised they haven’t auctioned off Anglu Farrugia’s moustache, Toni Abela’s trimmings and Muscat’s American-paedophile-in-Bangkok goatee.
I’m quite sure it’s a trick to collect demographic statistics on the salaries across the Maltese islands by using the unique internet address (IP address).
…or maybe it didn’t come to mind after all.
A friend sent me this link. Will this be the legacy of the new PL post-2013?
https://www.devere-group.com/news/Germany-and-Malta-best-euro-zone-economies.aspx
“Germany and Malta best euro-zone economies:
Brussels-based research institute the Lisbon Council, recorded that Germany and Malta, the euro region’s largest and smallest economies respectively, are the best-performing economies amongst all euro-zone countries, as they stand alone in boosting their competitiveness and fiscal sustainability in the past five years.
Every other euro country has slipped into its worst economic health, according to a scoreboard of debt, labour, productivity and trade, published today by the research institute.
“Virtually all euro-zone countries still face a massive task in getting their public finances back in order,” Michael Heise, Allianz SE chief economist and principal author of the study, said in a statement. There is a need for improvement in the fields of structural competitiveness and productivity, he added.
Greece, the trigger of the debt-shock that rattled the euro, ranks as the economy most at risk. Portugal, Spain and Ireland trail along, amongst the high-risk economies.
European governments are said to be planning to set up a similar scoreboard to keep an eye on economic imbalances, in order to prevent a repeat of the debt crisis. “
Had they seen an interview done by a TVM reporter in a bar yesterday, they would have given a better picture. A woman who was having a drink there said that the cost of living was ‘increasing every single day’. Cough up the cash, dear prime minister, because we have a right to dress stylishly and go to bars every single day of the week (even Monday evenings). Stuff the recession.
I Believe that you are nuts. To compare us with Germany must came of ot the Funnyfarm that is in Attard. if the UE did not help greece the euro would have collapsed and that would be a big blow for the PN to boast that we are better now that we joined the EU Zone. Better think properly if you have a mind of your own and don’t do like the sheep , think for yourself
Did you understand the article, pancrazio? They’re not comparing Germany to Malta.
Had we not joined the Eurozone we would probably be trading in sheep now, not euros.
Greece did not collapse, nor did the Euro and hop hop power puff girl Mrs Merkel helped them out. Greece lied about their figures through their teeth then couldn’t accept a 5% pay cut for doing f*** all, so instead they wreaked havoc and ruined market confidence in themselves. Lack of vocabulary.
And read the whole thing first ”the euro region’s largest and smallest economies respectively”
ara vera mandkomx xtamlu ta…
fuck you daphne
There goes another bitter (new) Labourite losing his cool.
I can not believe that you are such a nasty bitch when you wrote that finally the lobour found internet. I also wouldlike to remind you that the labour party gave you the right to vote, equality between sexes , children allowance for your children and the right to go to the university . free schooling , free hospitals and the right of being human amongst other things. Now you tell me what that piece of shit of that party that you support gave you or other woman . I do agree that we make some mistakes but we were better off then than we are now.
Regarding the budget , I thought that Mr. Fenech was reading the bible. Everything look like heaven when we are living in hell.
@pancrazio
I take it you are new here. I suggest you read the archives and find some older blog entries where we have beaten to death the topics you have brought up: university, free schools for all (Jew b’xejn, jew xejn), children’s allowance and all the other nonsense that you are so proud of.
Your comments are entertaining and you do your party proud.
Sur Pankrazju, jahassra, kemm ser iddum tirrepeti listess hmerijiet. Din il-litanija smajnija kemm il-darba. Isma minni, hares harsa madwarek u iftah ghajnejk, imbaghad tkellem.
Something is awfully wrong with that calculator.
I was under the impression that earners over €19K would benefit from the reduction.
So how can someone earning 9K save €77 in taxes per year? http://www.therealbudget.com = xejnsew.com
The other awful thing with that calculator is that it fails to calculate how much you’re worse off on alcohol and tobacco now. Guess the Monday binging youth would have been mildly interested. Shame they did not of think of that, on second thoughts, given the quality of alcohol some bars dare serve.
Daphne,
Your comments are again a classic example of showing how biased you are against the Labour Party irrespecdtive of whether the present administration is harmful to the nationa or otherwise. In biref, you are more concerned to discerdit the Labour Party rather than be rational and feel the suffering of people already in the poverty line (if not under). You should be more concerned in honouring your religious beliefs, if you have any, and stop being a nuisence to whoever tries to oppose the Goverment. If you are securetly being nurished by the Nationalist Party to give a helping hand you should say so becoause you are truley a boring figure to the Maltese Nation.
I’m really beginning to think this pancrazio guy is a fake – can you really be this stupid? Talk about ‘new Labour progressives’ shooting themselves in the foot.
What ‘hell’ are we living in? Have you ever seen (unbiased) statistics, published by Eurostat? (nothing to do with GoNziPn, might I add).
Let me make it easy – in 2009, we placed 8th (out of 27) with our deficit to GDP ratio
Our debt (or depth, as you like to put it) as a percentage of GDP is almost HALF that of Italy or Greece (around 65% vs. 120%).
Our GDP per capita (i.e. our wealth on average) has actually increased in 2010, when many other Europeans have seen their wealth fall.
Some countries are having to freeze wages. Can you imagine that here in Malta? I shudder to think what Tony Zarb would have to resort to then.
Thank your lucky stars that we have escaped virtually unscathed by the WORST economic crisis since 1929. We still got our beloved COLAs (what a farce), most people kept their jobs, more money was made on the whole, and income tax and VAT stayed as they were. There was no mass-firing from gov. departments and there was no need to allocate our taxes to bail out the banks.
Please, visit http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_PUBLIC/2-22102010-AP/EN/2-22102010-AP-EN.PDF
and see for yourself.
Admittedly, it is not the-real-budget-2010-viva-l-labour.com but it’s almost as credible.
ara vera int ma tisthijx min alla miss daphne. mela ghax komda int u dawn lintamati li komentaw komdi bhalek jien minijx komdu jien gej min familja tal haddiem u ghalina partit wiehed hemm il maltla labour party
[Daphne – Anke jien gejja minn familja tal-haddiema, real man. Ma trabbejtx f’xi familja tal-benestanti. U naghmlu mhatra li jien nahdem izjed u ghal hinijiet iktar twal milli taghmel inti u certament milli jaghmel sid il-Labour Party Joseph Muscat. ]
The real disappointment is you – Daphe Caruana Galizia. You being an anti-Labour perverts to fundamental ideas of socialism where most of the held is needed. You are one of the persons in Malta who couldn’t care less about those in need.
Personally I figure you as an anti-Maltese and your main concern is to discredit the Labour Party with no heart felt cristism. You are not the only person who can write English and the time is ripe for you to vanish from the scene and pose as an archangle to the Nationalist administration.
The real disappointment is you – Daphe Caruana Galizia. You being an anti-Labour perverts the fundamental ideas of socialism where most of the help is needed. You are one of the persons in Malta who couldn’t care less about those in need.
Personally I figure you as an anti-Maltese and your main concern is to discredit the Labour Party with no heart felt cristism. You are not the only person who can write English and the time is ripe for you to vanish from the scene and pose as an archangle to the Nationalist administration.