As with everybody else, my attention this week was taken up by the budget and the US elections. Having followed the US elections as they unfolded and from listening to the speeches made as it went along, I could not notice that, at times, the election went personal, digging about a person’s past and trying to get mud stick on the wall.
Happily, people do not care too much about this. It will only attract your own audience, alienate friends and prove more harmful to those saying it.
I make reference to this as hopefully persons who may imagine that this strategy pays off, even in Malta, is wrong. Filth cannot ever be right.
The Americans have found a new president in Barack Obama, a straight talker, clear and sincere. A popular person, who at his first bite came out tops.
I remember a speech delivered, not so long after our March elections, that a popular person will not make a good politician. How about telling it to the new president?
We must care about these elections as the whole world depends on America’s action or inaction and Malta, being part of the world, gets affected too.
The ups and downs on the financial markets triggered by the collapse of banks in the United States, confirm all this.
I often make a comparison, especially once we are in the sneezy season, that when America gets a common cold, Malta gets bronchitis.
The world, especially our trading partners in Europe, is moving slower, growth stands at nil, everybody seems to be waiting for something. That waiting, which can go on for long months, is recession.
As soon as people wake up again, and everyone gets their motor started, the world will start moving again.
Our own budget was a subject of discussion these days, each searching the plus and the minus for his own family. We do sometimes lose track of the global picture and really focus only on our personal budgets. Maybe that’s human nature. As a budget, I believe that reaching the target of a balanced budget being postponed by a year is proof that this government, again, took the side of the people, rather than its paper objectives.
The people, the economy and our lives needed a something to lean on. It found it in this budget, and notwithstanding realistic charges of water and electricity, (we all have to realize that saving energy, benefits us), we have a year of transition, waiting for that sleeping world to wake up again, and create business.
We will see, in the course of next year, reforms to local councils, rent reforms and others that affect many people. On top of this, we must take care of our industry and our tourism sector – both generators of jobs. In war times, not so long ago, like the Yugoslav war and the gulf war, Malta benefitted, or did not lose clients, in terms of holiday arrivals. We offered the perfect solution to tour operators at that time – to sell Malta more aggressively. I am sure that this will happen, and our increases in tourist arrivals will continue to grow. Holding on is important. It’s like a ride in a plane, that sees a few air pockets here and there but ultimately the government, as pilot of this plane, will get us to the wanted destination.
It’s far better than not getting on the trip, or having a crash landing. That means we would be stuck in the past, notwithstanding promised new beginnings.
Robert Arrigo is a Nationalist MP