For most of us running a household, a business or both, budgeting comes all day, every day. And we don't just budget our finances. We budget our time, what happens and how it happens within that time, we budget our energy, we budget our actions and reactions, and we budget our inadvertent setting of bad examples,  by balancing the sheet with far more good examples.

In short, for most of us mere mortals budgeting in one form or another is the order of the day, and if we don't do it well on any of the basic levels I mentioned , different levels of mayhem will ensue. That mayhem, whether it is total financial collapse, total burnout, starving oneself, or eating oneself  to a heavy death, becoming a couch potato or running oneself into a mycordial infarction, whatever the results of a failed budget maybe, we, ourselves, the creators of the budget and its executors, will have to bear the brunt. And, not just bear the brunt, but fix the brunt, because any mayhem we manage to create, will not stop with us, but will have ripple effects in our children, colleagues , neighbours, employees and so on and so forth.

No individual , business or organisation,  is spared from responsibility and consequences if they mismanage their  budget, except of course if you are a government on a fixed term of office. 

If you were a government you will be allowed to present your budget of what you plan to do with your citizens' money, with all the necessary pomp and fanfare. You will also be forgiven to squander millions of the same citizens' money  on marketing (obviously settling some obligations with direct orders , even in choosing who markets your budget) to  make sure that the people investing their taxes and trust in you are convinced of your  forecasts and plans. But best of all, if you were a government and your budgeting or the lack of it goes berserk, you would only lose face, because the brunt would be borne by the people who entrusted you with their money in  taxes in the first place.

And, if you don't believe me ask the Greeks. 

The Greeks trusted their governments and EU auditors who for years monitored their governments accounts, until , well, you know what happened, capital controls and all.

Obviously, Greece has nothing in common with us except maybe a couple of unproductive political cronies of the party in government put on the public payroll, a few  super  costly government advisors who deliver no results and just a tad of the odd corruption here and there.

For the rest we are completely different from Greece. In fact Greece is down and we are up big time, and even if our national debt is up, our deficit is down cause our GDP is very up!

Tonight, as has become customary at this time of year in our country, our nation is presented with the National Budget document for 2016. Now don't get mixed up with the dates, like the opposition, this precious document is concocted in 2015 , true, but it will be put into practice in 2016, not all of it of course. 70 to 80 per cent of  what is written in black and white on this document will be loyally implimented, and that would be an achievement, and  in addition to that 70 %  of the written, we will get as a bonus of sorts, 300% or so of the unwritten, that is the in between the lines, the white , clear parts of the document, which can  come to us as beneficial developments, destructive primary or secondary effects of  costed measures with uncosted  impacts, or entirely new projects of sorts that sprout out of let's say necessity of the moment for example the 360 million government guarantee to a loan by a private consortium which has so far failed to deliver our new powerstation. These mishaps invariably happen, and not just in this legislature. The previous legislature was equally notorious for the in between the lines. The only thing that has changed  is that the in between the lines are more fascinating, shocking and ultimately depressing in this legislature, like the impending  odz devouring racecourse for instance, or like the 18000 square metres of Zonqor odz we ultimately lost to a  misguided foreign investor.

Therefore, to conclude, I urge you to enjoy the unfolding of the budget document tonight. This government has presented excellent budgets so far , budgets that consolidated, motivated , incentivised, impressed the Eu and gave our country the statistics it needed to render it more attractive to foreign investment.

It all looks great  but I also urge you to think and question what is being forfeited in the process of achieving this statistical heaven.

I ask you to question,

What is happening to our national assets and under what conditions have they or are they being disposed of? ( we see no contracts we do not know)

I ask you to question what is the fate of what's left of our unbuilt and natural environment?

I ask you to question what is happening in and with our institutions like MEPA, the Police Force?

I ask you to question whether our education is producing students imbued with the ethics and values ,  global consciousness and inquisitiveness, as well as the academic achievements, qualities so necessary to bring this nation forward.

I ask you to question why poverty has  been allowed to increase while those responsible for allowing that poverty to materialise receive fat pay checks from  the public purse everymonth.

I ask you to question why abuse in social benefits has been rightfully clamped on while  investigations of rampant  tangible corruption at  different levels  , corruption we are duty bound to prevent ,have not yielded results as yet.

I ask you to think and insist for answers to  these questions and many others while you follow the upcoming  budget debates.

Then when you have thought  about all this with a clear unprejudiced mind, I will seek your advice on whether I should approve this budget with my vote, or whether I should not.