BC I rest my case and promise to pray for you…

BC, with you people (average Maltese) it is very difficult to explain this one fact: that your life is largely of your own making, not your government’s.

It would be useless, I suppose, to tell you that no matter how much success and wonderful ‘opportunitajiet ghaz-zaghzagh taghna’ Malta creates, my life will still be f**ked. I was born poor and it’s likely that I’ll die poor and unsuccessful.

But I know that no government will ever change that. So that’s no reason for voting one way or another. I do know, however, that Labour f**ked up this country, starting from the 1950s, whether it was in government wreaking havoc, or in opposition f**king up what were meant to be the best years of my life with the likelihood of never getting into Europe.

So I’ll do everything I can to keep Labour from getting into government. If that means I’ll have to vote for PN, then so be it.

So f**k PN, but f**k MLP even more.

Point 1- Why are you so sure that Labour MPs will take the pay rise as well? Maybe the fact that that an independent and impartial committee will be estalbished which will have the discretion to determine MP’s wages.

Point 2: Economy- Not that sector which through criticism will win PL the election for sure but still to be desired, especially in the field of govt expenditure because what we are forgetting is that this is teh last year, the year when a lot of projects will be finsihed due to election approaching, so govt debt will accumulate at a much higher rate.

Employment- where are the proposed 5000 jobs of smart city which arguably was the main factor/project which won gonzipn the election

Tourism- a lot more could be done, however the latest reaction by teh govt to Labour proposal of creating a Minister specifically for tourism is one which highly agreed on

EU funds- rather than EU funds, I would mention the euro, and think about it Joe,,,,maybe SAnt wasn’t that foolish after all

IT- wasn’t expecting this to be mentioned but OK– Smart City x inhi sabiha uwx—tal genn

Freedom- ma tantx fhimtek but F.DEbono, Democracy, Oligarchy,,,,says it all just watch Bondi+

Education- at last, that one sector where the govt has spent millions of Euros and for that I applause since I believe Education should be one of the main pillars of every govt…..BUT…no results…I don’t want to mention the lack of results but just 2…think about the education reform and the whole collapse it is creating to the education sector and the fact that lately a report didn’t even c;assify Malta University in the top 1000 globally…what a fiasco!

Xi sottospecchio ghandhom, nahseb.
http://www.freewebs.com/johninduratur/photos/INDURATURA/IMG_0037.JPG

Franco Debono does not distinguish between importance and urgency. What is important to him is important, full stop, and that makes it urgent.

It may have escaped your notice, but the impact of economic decisions tends to be immediate. That makes them urgent in a way a monomaniac like Franco Debono could never understand.

BC wake up and try understanding what PL is offering beyond the thoroughly beaten, envy laden pay rise – I am sure you know that Muscat will be taking it just the same when he is in office, and that many on the PL have taken and are already enjoying a double pay check.

Your, mine and the nations well being is the result of macro policies and anyway you try to interpret fact this administration has done a great job be it economy, employment, tourism, EU Funds, Information technology, freedom, education. It’s these things I look at when deciding who to vote for. What is Muscat offering boq! All I have heard so far is the medieval concept of living wage (which he thinks is novel) and a substantial reduction in utility bills. Both these would drive Malta into the proverbial wall.

I mean look at this internal problem the PN has. If Franco was able to understand the mechanism of working within a team, the whole issue would not exist – it would be a positive contribution to further increase the performance and grey matter gap between the PN and PL.

Also taking into consideration that economics at university is studied by a very low amount of students….that’s what is missing

I guess from most of your comments on this blog not just this article, you have well built a reputation as being a PN supporter or at least ahighly satisfied with the PN in government. on the other hand, you are not taking into consideration a lot of facts. PN uses this Xarabank language as you desrcibe it on TV, I guess because it is the only way how 90% of the population will understand such economic crisis, even though it isn’t the ideal language. Also taking into consideration that economics is studied at university level and considering that it involves rather tough concepts and theories to udnerstand, that is the only language how the Maltese society in general would understand.

You are not taking into consideration, that the laymen do not go on BBC.com everymorning to check how today will affect tomorrow but rather let the news explain it to them. Regarding the pay rise….are you stipulating that once Gonzi last Saturday removed the pay rise, then it is no longer ‘the high performing govt’ you protrayed it to be?

Debono’s thinking is that if he says it, then it must be right.

If I remember correctly months ago it was reported that the police had strongly objected to the coming into force of regulations allowing a person being interviewed by the police to be accompanied by a lawyer.

The reasoning is that in so doing, the police are less likely to solve a criminal case.

This would undermine the rights of the victim and his/her family. Debono talks about the rights of alleged criminals but nobody talks about the rights of victims.

[Daphne – What Debono says and what the police argue back is irrelevant in this case. There are rulings of the European Court of Human Rights. We are not reinventing the wheel here. People have the right to a lawyer during interrogation. As the victim of Anglu Farrugia’s interrogation methods, I can give you a firsthand account of the risks and dangers of being interrogated in those conditions without access to a lawyer, and this when you are innocent. It was only through chance that I remembered something I had read somewhere – that statements signed under extreme duress are not valid (especially when they are written by the investigating officer and full of lies).]

There are always two sides to an argument. On each issue, Debono acts and behaves as if there is only one side of the argument.

BC, remove your blinkers and stop thinking I am a PN supporter or worship Gonzi, because I don’t.

Done? Good. Then we can proceed.

PN’s big mistake these last four years has been in trying to use the language of people like you – the Xarabank language.

Complex mechanisms for financial crises become “mewg” and “maltemp”. Positive GDP growth becomes simply “success”.

Metaphors are beloved of the Maltese, and they will be PN’s downfall. Because they fail to explain anything.

When facts are complex and nuanced, like this latest downgrade, it’s no wonder everyone goes off on weird and wonderful tangents.

Economics is perhaps the hardest field in which to construct paradigms. The butterfly effect. Nonlinear behaviour. Chaos theory and all that. Yet it’s being presented to the electorate in kitchen-table language.

Let me tell you something which no ones dares to whisper: Malta will never achieve an AAA rating. Never. Because there’s no way an overcrowded island, 27 km by 14, out on the Southern edge of Europe, can ever produce enough wealth and sustain it.

Never mind governance. It’s the laws of nature. We rejoice in our independence, then let us face the consequences.

Once we have that firmly in mind, we can begin to understand what’s going on. Including why Germany (a huge country of 80 million people, with a huge industrial base, enormous land borders, a thousand-year history, a population density with plenty room to breathe) gets to keep its AAA rating while we are stuck with AA2.

Want to raise that rating a notch or two? Then give up all those handouts which are economically unproductive, including stipends, social benefits, children’s allowance, benefits for single mothers, subsidised water and electricity, and all the comforts we have accumulated over the years. Give that money to R&D, the only long-term creator of wealth in Europe.

But then I expect we’d hear no end to the electorate’s whining.

Was that 500 Euro pay raise wrong? In a country where wages are so abysmally low, yes. In a parliament where qualifications and skills are so poor, yes. In a high-performing government, no.

Is that 500 Euro raise related in any way to our credit rating? Absolutely not.