Anna Micallef (Paying the price – TMID, 28 April) states that the public is “already paying the price” for having elected a Nationalist government. She was referring to the recent increase in food prices, including milk.

I should warn Ms Micallef that she has not seen anything yet! Prices around the world are soaring, sometimes doubling the former prices. Dairy products, flour, pasta, vegetables, oil based products including margarine are going through the roof.

Governments can do very little to alleviate the problem since this is the result of not enough supply and too much of a demand.

One basic culprit is the price of oil. One has to understand that oil by-products are vast and touch all aspects of day-to-day life. As an example, oil affects the delivery price of every item, locally produced and more so if imported. Bio-fuel was thought to be a solution to high oil prices and farmers were encouraged to produce more corn and offered higher prices for it to be converted to fuel. The result is obvious. More and more acreage is taken away from the food chain in order to produce fuel. Lower supply even at the same demand creates higher prices. Other oil by-products include plastics and packaging materials.

The oil producers’ greed plus the quirks of mother nature have put tremendous pressure on the supply and demand equilibrium and unfortunately no government has a direct influence on it.

All governments strive to keep the public happy because in so doing it helps them stay in power, but there are things beyond any government control.

Ms Micallef should shed the “island mentality” of wishing to be in an isolated privileged niche. That would only be possible if we enjoyed the luxury of raw materials, oil production and enough agricultural acreage to be self-sufficient in the production of fresh fruit, vegetables and cereals. Such is not our destiny and while I empathise with her regarding the rising cost of everything, I can assure her that her pain is shared by millions around the world.

I am a pensioner myself and therefore very much on a fixed income and I too have to learn to expect a little less here and there in order to stay within my means.

I live in one of the richest countries in the world, a leading oil producer, a leading wheat exporter, and extremely rich in mineral deposits of all kinds. Funny enough it rarely crosses my mind to blame our minority government for the price of flour which has doubled in the last two weeks not to mention other basic commodities which are shipped from one end of the country to another or imported from around the world.

I wonder whether Ms Micallef would be complaining Labour had won the election? I can assure her that she would have found the going as difficult if not much worse since the financing of a cut in the water and electricity surcharge would have meant much higher direct and/or indirect increase in taxes.

Joe Martinelli

London, Ontario

Canada