For those of you unfamiliar with the series that has been described by the Guinness Book of Records as the highest-rated TV drama of all time, Breaking Bad is the story of a chemistry teacher, Walter White (played by actor Bryan Cranston), who finds out he has terminal cancer and uses the last remaining months of his life to make sure that his family is financially secure when he dies.

He does this by teaming up with a junkie, Jesse Pinkman (played by Aaron Paul), with whom he starts producing top-quality meth and selling it to pushers at exorbitant prices. I will not go deeper into the story to avoid spoiling the thrill for those who are still watching it.

What I will say is that the main character is a man who, on the surface, is an affable person, dedicated to his students and his family, and who seeks to give his wife and children a solid future that he knows he will not share with them because he will soon die. But he is seeking his family’s well-being by producing drugs that could potentially harm thousands. The contrasts in his character are demonstrated when he is first of all livid when a student wants to bribe him to obtain a pass in an exam, but then has no qualms is letting someone die because this death will suit his purposes.

This Dr Jekyll and Mr Hide sort of personality – and I use the Breaking Bad comparison only to explain the differences between what the government thought fit to say on Monday and what it did not say, and not for any other reason – came to mind while I was working on the budget during the course of this week.

There is a big chasm between what was stated by the Finance Minister during the budget speech and what is really included in the financial exercise that the government has announced. The people have been told the better part of the budget as it affects them – and there are many good things – but what will hit them negatively was kept hidden away in complicated tables that the minister said “should be taken as read”.

And so, on the surface, the budget is good, with the promise that the energy rates will go down as from March to be kept, with no new taxes to be introduced, with stipends to increase, with initiatives taken by the previous Nationalist government (such as income tax cuts and the bonus for elderly people) to be continued, and so on.

But, under the surface, there are more questions than answers; there are hidden extra expenses for the population at large and, even worse, there is nothing at all to show the government’s plans to continue generating employment. The fact that Prof. Scicluna did not even reveal the amount by which the price of cigarettes will rise or give details of the new payment structure for car licences, are just two examples to show that the government wanted to keep information away from its listeners.

That, the next day, the European Commission came up with a totally different economic scenario for Malta than that described by the Finance Minister is a matter for serious concern. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat was quick to downplay the EU’s estimates by saying they were based on pre-budget projections, but the excuse given does nothing to alleviate the concern.

Government expenses continue to spiral upwards, and the budget does nothing to find ways of controlling this. The fact that social services costs have reached nearly €1 billion is a good indication that no effort is being made to reduce abuse of the system. Too many people live off the contributions of others or, worse, add social benefits to the amount they earn in the black economy while portraying themselves as poor and needing help. But this government – very much like the previous one in this respect, I must say – is not planning any serious effort to combat the abuse.

One contradiction that stood out in the budget speech is that whereas Labour spent years criticising the previous administration for what it said were its shortcomings and wrong policies, the successes of which Prof. Scicluna boasted last Monday were brought about by the Nationalists. I mention tourism and financial services, two sectors of the economy that have grown exponentially, and for which the Labour government can take no credit.

But there are no plans for new projects other than those that were initiated by the Nationalist government and, more importantly, nothing about what the government intends to do to generate employment. The results we had over the summer, with the increase in unemployment figures going as high as 13 per cent during months that are traditionally good in employment terms, have already raised the alarm. And yet the government did not feel the need to come up with initiatives aimed at providing new job opportunities: both for those who will lose their job because of the natural turnover and for those seeking their first one.

The only money-generating idea that the government came up with was the citizenship scheme, which has more cons than pros and which will dampen Malta’s reputation in the international sphere. It is a scheme that has drawn criticism from all quarters other than those of the government. Selling Malta in this way – that is, without a guarantee of investment by those willing to apply – is certainly not the best way forward.

I will close by making another reference to Breaking Bad. In spite of his double life, viewers feel affection and sympathy towards Walter White. Only time will tell whether this will also be the case with the budget, the effects of which on the population are still to be felt.

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