To brighten up your Friday night: here’s a guest post by H. P. Baxxter
Note to people who don’t bother reading titles: this post was not written by Daphne Caruana Galizia. But she agrees with its tone, spirit and content and shares the exact same view.
‘Gejt avvicinat’ (no shit) by various people to set up my party and stand for the European elections. So consider this my political manifesto of sorts.
The passport sales issue has laid bare our most fundamental political values, those things we hold dear.
At the heart of this scheme is one aim: to make money. The problem, it seems, with just about all factions in Malta, is that they start out from the premiss that this is in itself a good thing.
For the last ten years, and especially during the Gonzi administration, money became the measure of everything. Something costs money, therefore it is great. A man makes a lot of money, therefore he is great. The government does something which brings in revenue, therefore it is great.
Gonzi’s people, and he himself, used a few buzzwords again and again until they were hammered into our collective brain. And until they lost all meaning.
Opportunità ghal pajjizna.
Gid.
And the most frequent and most dangerous one: Investiment.
Everything was an ‘investment’. A refurbished garden was an investiment ta’ XXX Euro. A new government agency was an investiment. The resurfacing of a road was an investiment.
Is it any surprise, then, that Joseph Muscat has used the very same word to sell an evil scheme?
No. Because we have completely warped the meaning of the word ‘investment’.
Those government projects described by Gonzi as ‘investments’ were not. They were government expenditure. Spiza. Spejjez tal-gvern. Spiza ta’ XXX Euro.
An investment is an outlay, with risk, the aim of which is to create wealth. A corporation invests in new technology. It invests in expertise. In other words, it pays for that technology and expertise, but only on the premiss that it will get a return.
If the measure of everything is money, then an outlay by the government which does not create wealth is not investment at all.
The money paid – I say again, paid, like you do in a shop – by the passport applicants is in no way, shape or form an investment. It does not create wealth. It does does improve our lives.
Call me quaint, but I hold that wealth is not synonymous with money. Wealth is something else. We used to call it progress.
I condemn Gonzi for poisoning forever the minds of his fellow countrymen. And for never once pointing out where the real wealth, the real gid was created. It wasn’t the glitzy new five-star hotels, which are used by the select few. It wasn’t even the increase in GDP, which in terms of spending power per capita stayed constant or even declined.
It was the standards. It was food safety standards enforced by the EU. It was the cleaner air because of environmental standards. It was the new aesthetic standards painfully enforced by agencies such as Heritage Malta. It was even Kenneth’s Baroque Festival. This, for me, is quality of life. And none of this is about more money in anyone’s pocket.
I hold, too, that money isn’t the measure by which I judge good or evil.
If public revenue were the ultimate good, then why not sell our Gobelins tapestries to a Dubai museum? Why not sell St John’s Co-Cathedral to China? Why not sell all public land to construction tycoons?
Even closer to home, why not shoplift? Or steal and cheat? Or why not sell the family burial plot, seeing as they’re in short supply?
Selling passports is bad. It shouldn’t be done. That’s the end of the story.
The Opposition got tangled up in their own arguments. Because they started from the premiss, the wrong premiss hammered into their brain by the Gonzi administration, that making money is good until proven evil.
So they came up with a list of legalistic objections, when the objection should have been moral. Yes, I believe in that thing called a Moral Code. This goes against the moral code of any sensible, European, Western nation.
They objected to the anonymity clause. And Joseph Muscat removed it.
They objected to the administration of the money paid by the applicants. And Joseph Muscat promised he’d set up an independent fund for that.
They objected to the no-residence requirement. And Joseph Muscat inserted a residency requirement, as defined by the law, albeit the shortest one possible.
Sure, you can still find objections to all of these legal points, and I have. But that’s not the point.
The point is that this is a sale of passports. And the sale of passports is wrong in and of itself.
Some of my fellow countrymen object on the grounds that other EU countries will now emulate Malta and start selling passports. No they won’t. In other European countries, the notion of a moral code still exists. There are things that are just not done.
And even if they did, so what?
The Maltese pride themselves on being different. Araw l-ohrajn, invadew l-Iraq. Imma Malta le, ghax ahna nemmnu fis-sewwa. Araw l-ohrajn, attakkaw il-Libja, imma ahna le ghax nemmnu fil-paci.
Well, there you go. Fhiex nemmnu issa? Fil-flus akkost ta’ kollox.
I believe in economic liberalism with the same rock-solid firmness in which I regard heliocentrism or Pythagoras’ Theorem. As an economic liberal, I don’t want my government to spend money on me. That is neither sufficient nor, in many cases to be desired. I don’t want my government to make more money, and stop at that. I want it to let ME make MY OWN money.
This scheme is so rampantly anti-liberal it hurts me to even think about it. It will not change my ability to create wealth by one jot. It will benefit no creator of wealth except Henley & Partners. It will change the balance of finances, but it will not change the economy.
It is not progress.
Progress is when I can create wealth BY MY OWN SHEER GRAFT.
The PN had timidly opened the door of liberalism a crack, and then tried to keep it from swinging wide open by repeating the errors of the past, turning liberalism into monopolies, and perpetuating the evil of a nanny state. Public expenditure was lavished on the economically unproductive.
Labour claims it will bring more benefits to the nation by selling passport. It LIES. The sale of passports brings neither wealth, nor talent, nor progress, nor social justice, nor innovation, nor the new 21st century economy. It will not improve the quality of life.
And that, my friends, is what it is all about. The quality of life. Happiness.
Not money. Happiness.
I will obviously not be standing for election or founding a political party because I’m not one to fight lost battles. I wouldn’t get elected, and it would only siphon votes from the Nationalist Party, leading to a bigger win for Labour.
80 Comments Comment
My feeling is that the PN are threading so cautiously because they are afraid of making a mistake. After such a loss as that of the last election, they don’t feel secure enough to say what they really think.
It should not be like that at all. The self-examination and the hurt should be all over by now.
Just handle each situation securely and boldly. Get off the defence approach and ‘attack’ instead.
You are spoilt for choice, given the mistakes and amateur administration of most ministries, not to mention the scheming, lies and manipulation which underlines the whole government.
I am not an expert in the matter, but a thought comes to mind.
If the sale of passports is successful in terms of money brought to Malta, it will be interesting to see how the EU will treat us when we go grovelling for our share of the EU budget which will cover 2021 onwards.
We would have just reaped 1.8bn from the sale of passports so the EU can easily say that budget allocation for Malta can be reduced.
In fact yes that is very much a possibility actually and I see it happening !
I will vote for you any time.
What a breath of fresh air – no, money is not everything.
We need to read and hear more of this.
Thank you, H.P. Baxxter.
This did not brighten up my Friday night one iota.
On the contrary.
Baxxter’s analysis would be understood by, at best, five per cent of the natives.
I am sorry to say that the remaining ninety-five, in their heart of hearts, feel that Joey u l-milbiljuni li ser igib is a smart guy.
‘Irnexxilu jahxihom’ is the buzz phrase doing the rounds.
Let us not believe for one moment that we belong to the so-called West and to Europe.
That is just wishful thinking by the big-headed intelligentia.
We are, for all intents and purposes, comparable to countries such as the Central African Republic. Poor, isolated and historically downtrodden.
Forever grateful for the baksheesh (qamh) and the leftovers (gaxxin) of those more fortunate (monied) than us.
The sooner we all wake up and face the sad reality, the better.
Dear Anthony, I do agree with your point, but let’s not be so pessimistic.
This website is seeing exponential growth in viewership. Why? Because the minority (definitely not 5%) find consolation here.
This is the only place where we don’t feel alone. However we are much more than 5%, I would agree on 30%.
It’s true a lot of those 30% don’t bother to follow up partly because the Nationalists were in government for 26 years minus 22 months.
Things have changed, are changing, but certainly not for the better. They are changing for the worse. It hurts to see the government run the country so dismally.
But seeing others around us defiantly agreeing with this government hurts even more. Let us not fall into hopelessness because we are stronger than we seem.
More people will see the difference between right and wrong, eventually. Most importantly, we have influence. Each one of us has the duty to speak, to learn, and most importantly to inform those who are not reached by media other than Super One and their friends’ Facebook pages.
So stop moaning – that will do no good. Start doing YOUR part by speaking out to everyone you know.
Unfortunately Kevin, Anthony is completely right.
There are people around, who I thought were intelligent, who cannot understand what is wrong with the IIP scheme.
There are people are who still get all excited that the PN lost the election by 36k votes and by the 25% decrease in their future electricity bills.
When you meet these people and hear them speak you realise that the best option for anybody with some sense is to emigrant elsewhere.
I think HP Baxxter has nothing else to do in his life. I guess his addicted to this blog. Nithassru!
Marie, it seems you are as addicted to Daphne as he is, and as indeed we all are. With one difference. The man has brains, you obviously don’t.
HP, you’re our man and yes, there are many of us who share your views. Oh, and by the way, we would all vote for you.
Hear, hear!
You don’t have to be deprived of a life to be addicted to this blog. But you certainly have to be interested in life.
Mur ghannaq sigra, Marie.
It took me all of five minutes to write that, during my lunch break yesterday (hence the unpolished prose). Some of us can multi-task, you know.
If I were you, instead of pitying him I would really try to understand what he has written – maybe, and again maybe, you will finally get it. Then you will realise who needs to be pitied.
Maybe I flatter myself, Hans Peter, but I feel we are cut from the same cloth, you and I.
I am an Anglophile Maltese. I adore everything British, and I honour every miniscule British value and principle.
I, like you, am in utter despair at the Nationalist Party’s complicity in creating the monsters that are Joseph Muscat and his henchmen.
Your moving contribution here has depressed me.
Happily, I have two great allies that will see me through: my stiff upper lip (thank you, England!) and my discount card at Philippe Martinet.
Hello weekend, hello the Medoc.
These are very valid comments which few will however understand, much less appreciate. That is where the misfortune lies.
The IIP will, until the going is good, most certainly bring in money to fill public coffers, but it will most certainly not create wealth.
To the extent that Henley and Partners allow some crumbs to be gathered by Maltese service providers operating in the financial services sector, the programme will admittedly give a boost to profit and loss.
But this is going to be artificial, and short term.
There is also the risk it will detract effort and resources from bread and butter work which is more reliable and profitable in the long term, and which is where real growth and stable wealth creation potential lies.
Once the bubble bursts, as it is surely bound to now that an EU endorsed precedent has been set, disappointment and insecurity are bound to set in.
Baxxter is right. The Citizenship 4 Sale scam will not translate into happiness, even if it may bring money. Which is why it will be the cause of the downfall of Joseph Muscat’s Reich.
Joseph Muscat thinks he can buy people’s happiness and well being by spending his way to the next elections.
The electorate is more complex and sophisticated than that.
The more money Muscat controls, the more mistakes he will make, the more injustices he will cause, and the bigger and more numerous his enemies will be.
Joseph Muscat is buying his own End. And the end justifies the means.
I would not over-estimate the sophistication of the Maltese electorate.
As noted on more than one occasion, the majority of electors are Labour/Mintoffian in spirit and sentiment. They may abstain or cross vote out of spite or disillusionment but they will eventually go home to Labour. Through Mintoff’s death, Muscat made sure the Mintoffians were “in”. Even the tal-pepewho voted for Mintoff originally in 1971 (and then lived to regret it) came out of the closet and began talking admiringly about him again, conveniently airbrushing the interim period.
Promises of lower electricity bills and VAT refunds (i.e. short-termist thinking; il-but l-ewwel u qabel kollox) were enough to entice quite a large proportion of other voters.
Pity. This sort of vision is something that is fundamental for our island. I’d have voted for you. Regardless, well said HP.
Gazzetta tal-Gvern ta’ Malta 19,204
Nru. 118
ISMIJIET TA’ TOROQ F’MALTA
BIS-SAĦĦA tal-poteri mogħtija bl-Artikolu 22 tal- Kodiċi tal-Liġijiet tal-Pulizija (Kap. 10), il-Ministru għat-Trasport u l-Infrastruttura ordna li t-toroq speċifikati fl-ewwel kolonna ta’ din l-iskeda għandhom jiġu msemmija mill-ġdid kif speċifikat fit-tieni kolonna tal-istess skeda msemmija.
No. 118
NAMING OF STREETS IN MALTA
IN exercise of the powers conferred by Section 22 of the Code of Police Laws (Cap. 10), the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure has directed that the street specified in the first column of the subjoined schedule be renamed as specified in the second column of the schedule.
TRIQ L-ISQOF CARUANA in ŻEBBUG MALTA, changes to TRIQ FRANS SAMMUT, KITTIEB, ĦASSIEB u STUDJUŻ (1945 – 2011).
U kemm qegħdin sewwa! MALTA TAGĦNA LKOLL.
Kieku tafu xi tbatija tinholoq meta jinbidel l-isem ta’ triq u jinghataw in-numri l-godda.
Hudu per ezempju ragel pensjonant li jircevi il-pensjoni mill-Awstralja, kif se jaghmel biex jircievi il-pensjoni fl-indirizz tieghu, jew rendikonti minn banek barranin.Minbarra li jrid imur ibiddel il-kartata’ l-identita , assikurazzjoni u ma nafx kemm il-haga ohra.
Min jaf kemm residenti se jidghulu lil dan il-hassieb u kittieb?
I suggest renaming Testaferrata Street to Individual Investment Plan Street.
Far from brightening my Friday, Baxxter has depressed my weekend. According to his comments, I hate to think what lies in store for our children.
Eżattament dak li ili naħseb jien. Għall-uliedna u għalina wkoll fuq kollox biex fi xjuħitna nkunu nistgħu nistrieħu mhux ntartqu qalbna fuq il-futur tagħna u ta’ wliedna li qed nimmaġinah se jkun agħar minn ta’ żmien żgħożitna fis-sebgħinijiet. Evviva l-iswitchers.
U prosit lilek HP.Baxxter
HP Baxxter, I declare you a Knight of the Order of St John. You’re a crusader fighting against the infidels.
A round of applause. You nailed it.
Amen to that. Prosit, my sentiments exactly.
Every time I read or listen to news or articles regarding the sale of passports I start humming to the tune of this song .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlPjxz4LGak
“Now that aint workin that’s the way you do it.
You play the guitar on the MTV.
That aint workin thats the way you do it.
Money for nothin and your chicks for free.
Money for nothin and chicks for free.”
Politicians are all dreamers and nothing but dreamers. Just drive through Marsa, Msida, Gzira, Birzebbugia and most of the south of Malta and start working out the average ratio between us locals and Arabs/ black Africans and start worrying. I hate to think what the situation will be like in 5 years time . This is a problem now and politicians should be concentrating on how to help these good souls get a better life in mainland Europe and leave us in peace.
[Daphne – I couldn’t give a rat’s ass about the average ratio of ‘us locals’ to ‘Arabs/black Africans’, Kevin. It’s the Maltese who worry me. Far too many freaking subliterate savages. The ratio of those to civilized people is frightening.]
Agreed, but at least sub literate or not they have families and our blood and values. I prefer one sub literate Maltese to foreign sub, sub, sub literates
“our blood”: What blood? Just brush up on your Maltese history and you will understand that no 100% Maltese blood exists or ever existed. It’s been a free-for-all.
It’s the genes which worry me most, Kevin.
Traits are inherited and so are IQs.
About time we have some foreign genes in the mix and stop all the inbreeding which has turned this country into a haven for morons.
“our blood and values”? F*ck your blood and values.
Kev, let’s do a deal. I will worry about the number of foreigners when the level of manners of the average Maltese surpasses that of your average Somali or Eritrean. Until that happens I would happily see Maltese deported and foreigners flown in.
Low IQ, a highly aggressive (or passive-aggressive) bent and a poor sense of future-time are dominant in the Maltese gene-pool, making for a mass of semi-literate or sub-literate savages.
Add to the mix their unrealistic belief that they are owed something by the Europeans and you have a very scary situation.
Unfortunately Malta’s future looks very bleak.
Dear Baxxter,
I agree with you – not money but quality of life, self respect and happiness. When you possess something that someone wants to buy, and you deny him the pleasure, that thing becomes priceless. Unfortunately for us this government has just stripped us of something we thought was priceless.
I had a conversation yesterday with a Labour supporter who is married to a Thai woman. He says he is quite happy with the scheme and he sees it perfectly normal for a rich guy to purchase a passport while his wife has to wait for 5 years to be naturalized. L-aqwa li s-sinjur ihallas.
[Daphne – Oh for heaven’s sake. You’re talking about a man who bought a wife, and you’re surprised that he thinks it’s all right to buy a passport? Or that his mail-order bride has to wait five years to become a citizen, while he’s perfectly OK with those who buy their citizenship waiting only one year? This has nothing to do with whether or not he supports the Labour Party. This is a man who clearly thinks everything can be bought: women, passports…]
But you take it too hard on Gonzi – for me Gonzi has always been synonymous with job creation and better quality of life.
As regards the “economically unproductive” – the sad fact is that they have a vote and they have families too.
The ugliest thing about the latest twist of the citizenship scheme is that the ‘Neo Maltese’ will be roaming about Europe, but they will be voting for Labour regardless of our conditions and quality of life here.
My feeling is that history will repeat itself and the PN will only be electable once PL wrecks this country and our reputation to pieces.
Lawrence Gonzi was the best of a rather mediocre lot – there really wasn’t anyone else who could have been PM. That says a lot about the quality of the Maltese political class in the decade from 2003 to 2013.
That’s why I’m hard on him.
I’ll add something else. The younger generation of politicians, the Kevin Plumpton/Karl Gouder generation, makes me break out in shivers.
Why is it that the higher they rise in the party, the dumber they sound, the more conventional they become, and the more like the older generation?
I know that politicians have to pander to the masses but for heaven’s sake. And where is the passion? They all sound like lawyers, or like a cheap pamphlet. Labour’s people, on the other hand, have passion by the bucket – the wrong sort of course, and dumber than the dumbest Xarabank, but they seem to speak from the heart whereas the Nationalists sound like me at a job interview.
It must be a Maltese disease. Consider the fiery Norman Lowell. The only Imperium Europa candidate so far, who must be around thirty, has all the fire and spunk of a wet mop. And these are the radicals.
I’m not asking for them to churn out “proposals”, that other buzzword of Maltese political spiel, or to constantly invent new ideas. But an acknowledgement that we – meaning the entire world, for there is a world outside this rock – are at the cusp of history would be nice, and a plan to follow would be nicer still.
They sound like municipal council officers in some nondescript small town, and perhaps I ask too much of them, for a small town is what Malta really is, for all our delusions of statehood.
That’s the easiest question.
Irrational grassroots passion made up for the self-loathing and obscurantist remains of what was once the borghesia.
Because that’s what both were at the time, to date imprisoned in both descriptions. Monsinjuri the first, red-nosed inbred colonels the others.
And if we want to discuss which language to use to define the term, you’ll agree the split’s still there.
As long as it remains, there’s no other interface with the majority of the population other than Labour.
Baxxter, you’ve just described a small town called Gainesville, Texas. So small, but thinks big. Really like it.
Thing is, no one but them know of it.
Can it be that there is some important detail in the agreement which our prime minister is hiding from everybody?
My guess is that the European Commission is obliging our government to pay an amount of money for every passport issued under this scheme, maybe VAT.
In other words the Commission justifiably wants to be a partner with our Government in this trade of Maltese/EU passports.”il-partnership wasal!”
This may explain why the number of passports to be sold will be “calculated” and increased.
Maybe this is my wishful thinking.
I can’t come to terms with the residency period being so low and yet acceptable for the EU.
I am also at a loss to understand how Reding and the Commission collapsed like a wet paper bag. For me this is a “peace in our time” moment for the EU.
Prosit H. P. Baxxter!
If only there were enough Maltese people with your same of thinking. We wouldn’t be in the terrible situation we are in now.
Can anyone imagine what would happen if instead of Mugliette, Mc Gills hired Austin Gatt?
http://www.maltarightnow.com/?module=news&at=Jesmond+Mugliett+konsulent+ta'+McGill's&t=a&aid=99853949&cid=19
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bTDhUB-W-k
Henley and Partners had made it quite clear that there is no requirement of physical presence at all – simply “holding” a residence status for 12 months would qualify – as if they were the spokesperson for the Government:
https://www.henleyglobal.com/index.php/citizenship-malta-citizenship/
Citizenship is granted to suitable individuals and families who hold resident status in Malta for a period of twelve months immediately preceding the day of issuing of the certificate of naturalization.
This self-serving entrenchment to govern is absurd.
The so-called “12 months residence” is really a sham even to rookies, so the Opposition should not rest their case. For instance, UK has very clear legislation requiring minimal physical presence inside the country for both the maintenance of the residence status as well as for Citizenship application.
As a starter, the applicant is required a 183 days per year of real physical residency in the UK – just to maintain the temporary residence status (not even permanent yet) – which they call a “leave to remain”.
After 5 years of this temporary stage and adherence to the minimum physical presence (183 days/year X 5 years), one can move on to apply for permanent residence status – “indefinitely leave to remain”.
For citizenship, the requirement is even higher – 270 days/year X 5 years plus a life in the UK test – including language proficiency, social ties, etc.
Try comparing this with the Malta requirements.
Perhaps the Opposition should take the Labour Government to the European Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights for this abuse – self entrenchment – resulting in procedural unfairness to the current and all future opposition and a violation of the rights of all voters
This is such an unfair appraisal of Dr Gonzi by Mr Baxter. So unfair that I did not bother to read it all .
Dr Gonzi , indeed undead undertook some of the most bold projects under his premiership . Most notably in education health . and infrastructure .
Education : several projects at the university , new state schools and colleges which outdid even private schools . Commencement of works on the new MCAST campus
Health: a new state-of -the -art hospital , even better standard than the private hospitals .
Infrastructure : power generation including a new power station , interconnector to Sicily , new road network , restoration of Malta’s fortifications ,Maghtab regelation . Valletta regeneration , new Houses of Parliament . MITA.
Scaling down of the dockyards (which cost the PN thousands of votes ) , a modern bus service ( true the selected contractor had its failings ) .
Yes indeed these were INVESTMENTS ghal uliedna and not mere “spejjez” .
What cheek Mr Baxter to credit Dr Gonzi with some gardens .
Admittedly these projects had EU funding , but the funds were certainly put to good use !
Dr Gonzi did have his failings , such as not doing any cabinet reshuffles in both his legislatures , and not removing Paul Borg Olivier from General Secretary of the party , who left the party bankrupt ( ultimately it was Dr Gonzi’s responsibility )
Mr Baxxter , please shove your new party up your derrière .
It is shocking that you have joined the Dalli / JPO / Hal -ghaxaq scum .
Daphne , I am indeed surprised that you endorsed Mr Baxxter’s piece of rubbish .
Well said and very true. But the Nationalists did this intentionally when in office, I claim, at the risk of the Maltese becoming excessively materialistic. The end justified the means.
Fenech Adami wisely used the ‘money no problem’ politics when in office specifically to buy into the soul of the Labour voter. He managed to steer that vote away from that lurid and stingy Mintoff and his bloody socialism of the 70s.
He secured enough terms in office and returned Malta to a strong democratic foothold, within the EU. Gonzi consolidated his politics.
It is now time to revisit our values.
If you think Eddie Fenech Adami won those elections because he spread government money around, you’re mistaken. He won because his whole political plan was directed towards one outcome: to make Malta part of the Western World once again.
That is why, despite the fact that the money and quality of life was spread among everyone, half the people still voted for the other lot. After 2003, the Nationalists thought they were home and dry – that Malta was now European, so the fight was no longer about Western values. They were wrong. It will always be. Mintoff is still alive and active.
Of course I’m being “nekitif”. You can’t be anything else when the governing class is trying to turn your country into a North African sheikdom.
My friends, we only have to look south at the Arab Spring. The Arab youth wanted to live like the their Western peers. They failed. Will we?
More than half actually did vote for Labour in 1996 and almost blew up our EU membership and western world aspirations.
But the Nationalist party knew too well that some Maltese would not conceive or digest the EU pre and post accession reforms and an electoral price would have to paid at some stage.
The early signs came with the 2008 meagre majority which could have been a defeat were it not for the Sant factor.
There is no disorder with these Maltese. They are just like spoilt brats. They want the best of two worlds.
Cheers. You’re good. I’ll vote for you.
Dear Baxxter, I believe that in trying to frame the amoral nature of Muscat and his band of sorts you have exaggerated when drawing parallels to the previous PN administrations. Muscat is really a reincarnation of Mintoff, with the difference that he is a better below-the-line operator.
I also think that in general the spend (financed by proper political and economic decisions) of previous Nationalist administrations is to be considered as investment. It was a genuine and necessary effort to build a nation following the dark ages that ended in 1987.
Did the PN manage to complete the economic and cultural transformation that would have possibly make (allow) the Maltese to appreciate the finer things of life? Unfortunately no.
That said, you will still get my first preference.
Thanks, Baxxter. The fact is we now equate our birthright citizenship to money. It has a price. It is wrong. It’s a pity..
Muscat’s crass opportunism, as in New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/01/world/europe/give-malta-your-tired-and-huddled-and-rich.html?_r=0
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-02-01/news/malta-never-had-industrial-policyminister-tells-italian-counterpart-3839033345/
Oh dear.
Is he not the expert in “gentleman’s clubs”? What have we had since 1964, Malta Development Corporation and Malta Enterprise. And sundry Ministers for Industry of all hue? Reinventing the wheel.
Better let ir-ragel tat-tifla ta’ Bagaollu (i.e. Edward Zammit Lewis) do the talking.
Where is that Cabinet reshuffle? The honeymoon is over already.
I agree on all points with Baxxter.
Money is the new god. Money is our new social asphyxia -m`hemmx irgulija u nahseb li qatt ma kien hawn. Haxi taht in-nazzjonalisti u haxi taht il-laburisti. Survival of the fittest on a grand scale.
Joseph Muscat is doing what Dom Mintoff and his rogues did in 1981 with their gerrymandering. The only solution is to strengthen the Nationalist Party.
This time is not the districts but “imaginary” voters.
In a democracy the government will be judged by its performance and not (only) by its projects. For all the money spent by the Nationalists it was the perceived performance that swayed the voters ultimately.
Did anyone really care that Dr Gonzi negotiated 2.5 billion euros? That we had a state of the art hospital? That our university was bursting with students? That the seas were pristine?
One only needs to look at the oil rich states that have plenty of money and projects – but are the people any happier?
The goalposts have moved significantly since the 1970s when you could shut people up and make them your dedicated slaves with a plot tal-gvern, and the end of this term’s contest will be an interesting one indeed.
Prosit, prosit, prosit, Baxxter.
This needs really wide readership.
Having read your post, I do not agree that spending money to upgrade the country is not investment.
EU funds was all about upgrading and we were investing. Those who came from all walks of life and made millions because the PN opened up the economy for them – all is well with that and good luck to them – did not give a toss about the burning on Maghtab, the rotting fortifications, the inadequate road network, the raw sewage dumped on our coast, etc.
In Malta, these things have to be taken care of by Government because, unlike on the Continent, the private sector will not invest.
So in some ways, the ‘cash for citizen’ if invested into the public goods will bring investment. However, my biggest worry is that this cash will have no strings attached.
Unlike EU money, this money will go to the selected few. This cash will be used to have a selected number of heavyweights trample on our democratic principles. This is what is most scary about this money to me. Its being earned dishonestly and it will definitely be spent dishonestly.
Karl, you are so very right. When comparing funds from passports to those from the EU, Joseph Muscat noted that the former will come with no strings attached. This implies that he will use them first and foremost to win votes and not in the best interest of the country.
What a depressing dissection. Even more so because Baxxter’s ‘right on the money’.
ECONOMIC LIBERALISM!
Shout it from the rooftops. Thank you, H.P. Baxxter.
Nobody ever dares mention the term in this paternalistic country.
Do you know Baxxter, you’re not that different from the core that make up the Nationalist vote of today I would say.
At a time when the Nationalist Party is revisiting and underlining its core values, what you state is also the voice of those many who have come together under the Nationalist Party and perhaps who were not there originally.
The Nationalist Party to me has one major defect: the continued effort to glorify the Italian faction of the war period and to rewrite that history. Sometimes, where there is disagreement, there is a need to make a conscious decision to move forward with that problem in place.
The rest has been in the right direction.
When change occurs, the naming process – even “environmental standards” – is not immediately evident for brand new terms. That’s why they appear under the old, until they gain enough recognition and usage to earn themselves a new name and develop into sub-categories of their own. Even aesthetic standards aren’t immediately noticeable as lacking across a spectrum until the damage is starkly irreversible for a lengthy period.
Then there is the problem as we know that the sub-literate will only understand what they have a feint grasp of in their own special way. It may have seemed that language needed to be simplified, but that can be counter-productive. It tends to validate the sub-literate and not make them acutely aware of the widening gap. So as to make regular catch-up possible.
Positive change forward involves stepping into new territory all the time. The gap gets people clutching for what they are more familiar with. The result now is that the only manner in which they envisage closing that gap is quick access to dirty money.
What you have outlined here is the spirit of that Nationalist core today. Just because that name too is couched in old terms doesn’t mean that the Party itself has remained there. Just because deceit propelled Labour forward, it doesn’t mean that all that the Nationalist Party has done is insufficient. It was very good, but not enough. When is it ever?
The ones who believe that there is a purpose to pure toil as contrasted with viced earnings, that when that toil is based on admirable values, one is left with a feeling that there is a contribution to the well-being of others.
Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained are based on those very principles.
Well-being is hardly a bought commodity.
Happiness is what doesn’t happen under Labour, vice does: repeatedly.
A worthy fable is also “The Labourer And His Children” by La Fontaine.
I think you’d come into your own within a community not solo. You don’t seem to be that sort of person. Whereas you may think the party you want does not exist, it’s also up to you to make the right move in the right direction to help shape it.
Have you spoken about this to the Nationalist Party? I’m sure you’d get your fair share of votes for the EP elections.
Your mind’s in the right place.
Words without action, although motivational and important in awakening or shaping a spirit – remain just words.
You don’t even need to appear/ materialise for your electoral campaign to take place. The one word would be sufficient. Afterwards would be a different story.
You already have a certain amount of exposure and a following. Use it. The time is ripe.
You mean I could be a candidate on the PN list without my name or face appearing anywhere? Unlikely.
Lève-toi, marche, regarde.
Wouldn’t this be a now or never moment?
Baxxter, jien qrajt u irrealizzajt li ghandek ruh li thoss. Jien persuna li nammira hafna l-kultura Ewropea. Bhalek nemmen fil-valuri, dak li jaghmilna bnedmin u nazzjon sod.
Meta nsiefer ninduna u nhoss li ahna il Maltin neqsin minn dawk il-pedimenti sodi li jaghmluna nazzjon serju. Mhux kullhadd imma l-generazzjoni li tiela hija generazzjoni li qieghda iggib tfal li mhumiex jircievu dak li l-genituri suppost jaghtuhom, imhabba, serjeta, edukazzjoni, valuri tal-familja.
Dawn huma l-bazi ta’ socjeta b’ sahhita. Minghajrhom lanqas tista tohrog barra ghax ser tiltaqa ma xi hadd li ser jabbuza minnek ghax ma jimpurtah xejn mid-drittijiet tieghek.
Kull ma jrid hu li taghddi tieghu, u ghalieh li jaqbzek jew johodlok dak li hu suppost tieghek huwa dritt tieghu.
L-artiklu tieghek jesponi l-moffa li dahlet fis-socjeta Maltija. Il-huta minn rasha tinten, u meta jkollok mexxej bhal ma ghandna, nuru kemm il-poplu ghandu arma perikoluza li hi d-demokrazija li qatt ma hadmet ma l-injorant. Tintuza biss biex taqdi l-finijiet moqzieza tal-hazin u tigi imcahhda lil dawk li ghandhom ikunu protetti fis-sewwa.
Il-flus saru l-valuri tal-lum. Issa anke r-religjon mill-iskejjel ta l-istat ser jitnehhew, ghax it-tfal qed jigu imhegga sabiex ir-religjon ma tibqax tiddomina hajjithom.
Jien nemmen u nibqa nemmen li s-sewwa jirbah dejjem, ghax il-hazin dejjem qered lilu innifsu.
Consider a young person in Malta working to earn his first car. When he reaches that milestone he will love that modest car and care for it with pride.
Compare with a young person who has been gifted his first car by his parents. There isn’t that same attachment and pride. If it’s a fancy car, there’s an element of showing-off, but that fades as the model ages and smarter cars are on the market.
The same principle applies to any first things that people buy – it’s actually how it’s acquired that matters most and give the object ‘value’.
Maltese people are not immune to that feeling of pride and appreciation of true value – and the happiness in its truest form that it derives because self worth is tantamount to feeling happy – it’s just that they can’t see it for what it is. Why?
I’m not sure, however as a mother of young children experiencing the educational psyche of schooling in Malta, I’m sensing this lack of vision – insularity? – takes root from there.
I would like Dr. Muscat to bear one thing in mind as he blunders forward with his roadmap: that young man who works hard to earn his first car. I don’t know if Dr. Muscat worked for his first car, but somehow I have a feeling it was given to him.
[Daphne – It must have been. He said in an interview that the most expensive thing he ever bought was a handbag for his wife.]
In any case, it would be worthwhile for him to reflect on those days when he had his first car because it is still relevant. How did he treat his car? How did he feel when his friends got better cars? Did he ever get rid of his first car? How did he feel about it?
The point is, the Maltese nation will treat and value the free handouts in the same way a young man treats and values his first car, depending on how he got it in the first place. We fast lose interest in the first car that was given to us; we get rid of it and forget about it.
But the one we worked for, getting rid of it, even if it’s an old banger, can be physically depressing. Like the George Cross on our flag, that car would be so much more than metal, oil, bolts and spark plugs; it would be symbolic of our self worth, our dignity our courage even. Our fight, our fire to excel and achieve. We never forget the first car we worked for.
Dr Muscat, if you don’t give us the incentive to achieve things on our own steam – to value that fire in our loins above all other things – then your handouts will mean absolutely nothing to us and like spoiled children who were given their first car we will quickly forget your gifts and we will never be satisfied.
Spot on H.P. Baxxter. 100% spot on. Could not agree more.
Baxxter, the paradigm shift you mention requires symbols and icons.
Nothing beats these to turn the vocabulary you used into wants. Perverse it may sound, but who’s to say a liberal economy shouldn’t employ the same instruments to spread these?
Post industrial design is looking into the merits of individual production as a means to decentralise power and its abuse.
Be it energy, products, ideas, even wealth itself. The concept of distribution of wealth is turning into an open platform for sharing and interchange of its production.
Call it Social Linux. It’s not a coincidence that the richest regions in Europe are also the most advanced in technology and its use as well the ones who always understood what wealth is about: Westphalia, Emilia, Austria, in other words Mittel European.
We’ll talk.
I had my Eureka moment when I saw that the Nordic countries are top of the list in innovation, top of the list in public trust, top of the list in press freedom, bottom of the list in corruption, bottom of the list in income inequality, and also the officially the happiest countries in the world.
And that they do not have the highest GDP per capita, and are surpassed in that category by some of the world’s worst dictatorships.
That just about sums up the facts that helped form my manifesto.
Another great article by Baxxter.
Too bad such in depth comments are only read by the converted and a few who are not, but who are bent on spinning anything close to the truth.
The only investment worth making today is in the Labour Party. Some folk call it corruption.
My my, what an eye-opener H.P. Baxxter.
Spot on and unmistakenly heart-felt and passionate dissertation of a state-of-fact.
I see no hope nudging over the horizon for this fair isle – not for, at least, another 10 years.
Baxxter, by your same “moral” argument Malta should not have not made itself the i-gaming capital because gambling is morally wrong. i-gaming is today an important part of the Maltese economy, with a large expatriate base with a good multiplier effect.
Malta could have expanded its residency scheme to include eventual citizenship, without any road-shows in Miami before it was even made law.
PN governments, including those of PM Gonzi, created the right legal set-up for niche activities such as company domicile for taxation, maritime, i-gaming and more recently, aviation. But they never shouted about the billion plus euros ALREADY collected from these activities.
Indeed when Der Spiegel ran an article about German companies paying tax in Malta, the authorities held their breath. Fortunately there were no negative repercussions.
As to blaming Gonzi regarding investment versus “spejjez”, I think this is a rather inane remark. I consider the one billion euros of EU funds spent on the university, new state schools, sewage treatment plants, power station, interconnector, restoration of fortifications, Valletta regeneration, Maghtab rehabilitation, road network, oncology hospital, as very sound investments, not spejjez.
Capital expenditure certainly cannot be termed as “spejjez”. Spejjez refers to recurrent expenditure or running costs. Perhaps you can brush up your economics terminology rather than accuse Gonzi.
Perhaps you can brush up your English vocab instead of extolling Lawrence Gonzi. Words have precise meaning, and in “capital expenditure”, the clue is “expenditure”. Spiza or nefqa I you like, but not every nefqa is an investiment.
So go ahead and vote in favour of the IIP if you think it’s the same as igaming regulation.
Baxxter’s comment cannot be faulted to the extent that the quest for money has nothing to do with genuine investment or happiness. He is also correct in criticising politicians of both hues for getting carried away in their quest for money.
However, I would caution those who find solace in criticising the Maltese in a general way, to be more discerning. I do not think that the Italian, French, Greek, Spanish, Belgian, Dutch, American or indeed British electorates have shown any greater maturity than the Maltese in their choices of governments over the years.
After all, it was the Maltese electorate that drove Mintoff and his party out of office for over a quarter of a century and supported Fenech Adami in his quest for EU membership.
Yes, unfortunately it was the same electorate, as it evolved over the years inspired with new values, most of them copied from abroad, that decided to vote for a change last year.
The electorate is made up of human beings, irrespective of its nationality. It has its weaknesses. It can be fickle. When it is not faced with an obvious danger that it must fight against, it tends to slip back into a mind-set of complacency that makes it vulnerable to temptations of greed and self-gratification.
Politicians of calibre should be leaders, inspiring for the better, and not accomplices in promoting human weaknesses.
Dear H.P. Baxxter, you are right on all points. If only you were a politician, we would surely see progress and be taken seriously in all aspects, unlike the prime minister and his sort. I would vote for you any time.