President George Abela delivered his New Year’s message on Sunday, and while continuing on the theme of the need for more national unity, he has also joined the chorus calling for a more frugal life.
Dr Abela said that people should go back to the culture of saving, and by saving, he meant putting some money by for a rainy day. Who could argue. We have seen the capitalist system of the West shake and falter and Europe has been dragged into a debt mire that will affect all of us.
This is beyond the eurozone and the euro; the financial crisis affects each and every European country and we are not immune. The President said: “We cannot live in a world of our own and believe that what is happening abroad is not going to hit us… We have to be aware of the situation and think of tomorrow and not just of today. Without unity, we cannot face this tempest. Life is not easy and we always have to fight for it,” he said.
He is absolutely right. Sometimes, we cannot take things for what they are in this country. This publishing house first began to smell the rumblings of impending strife when British mortgage giant Northern Rock was given a bailout. It went under the radar, but the signals were there. Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi also alluded to what was coming in the run-up to the last election, hence, the ‘safe hands’ moniker, which was adopted during that election campaign.
The Opposition leadership of the time pooh-poohed the statements, and said that Dr Gonzi was merely electioneering. How wrong they were. We remember the words clearly, it was a press conference given at the Grand Harbour. His words were: “… but we must be careful, all is not looking calm on the horizon. It is thundering and lightning out there and we must be ready to weather the storm.”
In hindsight, it should have been easy to see, but the whole world was in denial, Malta included. The truth is that Malta has done quite well in terms of financial stability as the whole of Southern Europe crumbled. Italy and Spain have, so far, managed to stave off the financial market vultures, but we are still in danger.
Some say that this is the time to save. Others say this is the time to spend. What Maltese people need to do is find that balance. We must be more careful. We cannot continue to take loans and then wonder how we are going to repay them later. We cannot go and blow every last cent, every month, just because “we can”. Things in the world are going to be even tougher in 2012 than they were in 2011 and people must have a fall-back plan. In the past, we all invested in funds and pension schemes, but these are looking increasingly shaky, as people in Malta have found out to their great cost. People, in general, need to wake up to the fact that nothing, absolutely nothing, is a safe bet any more. Does that mean we should be putting money under the mattress? No, it means that we should all collectively be more informed about what is happening to our savings.
We should monitor our investments and we should always try and put something away… just in case. It might just buy us a few loaves of bread if things turn really bad.