Comments on: The real issues of the day

By: Dee

Dee — Sat, 19 May 2012 13:28:09 +0000

At the fishmonger….and the butcher, the greengrocer the hairdresser and the mechanic, the commonest topic of conversation I encountered of late was Greece and how that is going to affect Maltese banks and our own pockets.

U mela RCC, il-partnership for peace, gay marriages u il-kazijiet l-ohra li mohhom biex jivvintaw tal-Labour u hbiebhom Franco, Jesmond u JPO.

By: Jozef

Jozef — Sat, 19 May 2012 11:27:38 +0000

In reply to silvio.

Actually, Angela Merkel’s decision to wait 18 months is what bought this about.

The sum required, according to Giannino, was 180 billion, peanuts, given the consequences we all face now. Markets tested the solidity of the Euro at its first serious glitch, via the decisions she would have taken.

She took the short term route to benefit her electoral chances, both failed.

Meantime, Berlusconi had managed to sell Sarkozy a sizeable fraction of Italy’s debt to exclude any domino effect, and with Hollande in place, she now finds herself isolated.

By: A. Charles

A. Charles — Sat, 19 May 2012 08:56:31 +0000

According to http://www.thetimes.co.uk, De La Rue will be one of the security printers of the drachma and the Malta factory will be the principal factory to produce them.

By: silvio

silvio — Sat, 19 May 2012 08:47:44 +0000

Without going into whether the Greeks brought this situation on themselves, I still think that the E.U. was too hard on them, especialy Germany and France.

This brings to mind the hard conditions that were imposed on Germany after the first world war. The Germans could not take it any more, with the consequence that it paved the way for Hitler to gain power.

To top it all, these drastic measures were instigated by the European banks to protect their interest, and these the same banks who expected us to bail them out of their problems which were nothing else but the result of their greed.

By: Randon

Randon — Sat, 19 May 2012 07:33:36 +0000

Perhaps this shows that Malta’s decision to join the eurozone was premature.

I know tha a handful of Maltese diplomats living in Brussels may want to brainwash us into thinking how good the euro has been for Malta, but the reailty on the ground (and at the fishmonger) is quite different.

We are now controlled by the Bundesbank and have lost monetary control on our currency. Once again the interests of a very small group of people have superseded those of the majority.

Meanwhile, the British who kept their pound sterling gloat at us ‘have told you so’.

[Daphne – I heard better-informed arguments at the fishmonger’s, Randon. Exactly where do you think we would have been with the Maltese lira over the last few years, and especially now? Britain has retained its pound for sentimental and jingoistic, not economic, reasons. Perhaps you’ve forgotten what a hard time they had only a couple of years ago when the pound plummeted to a one to one basis with the euro and still hasn’t recovered too well.]