Necessarily, given the times we’re living in, great attention is being given to the uncertainties that are accumulating. In “normal” times, many of the changes that occur are well understood, so that one has an idea regarding where they could lead to.

But when a crisis develops like that of  the corona virus, which is not spreading according to some scenario that one could foresee, it is not possible to find a clear logic for how the situation could change. What might happen at a later stage also gets scrambled in new uncertainties.

In the economic sector, this gives rise to acute dilemmas. Despite the uncertainties, people look forward to quick and effective solutions. Yet, how can one be sure that measures being proposed could lead to an improvement or to a stronger position from which to overcome the arising difficulties?

To be sure, in the eurozone, there is an added complication. The protective structures being established to contain crises are half done. And there is disagreement regarding how they can be completed... a disagreement that has held up important decisions.

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FREE MARKET RULES

It’s been a longstanding refrain. The market knows best. The overriding doctrine that says there’s nothing like free trade to solve... basically... most problems, has been drummed into our heads. The state should restrict itself to activities that ensure the free market functions according to its own sweet rules. Whoever believes otherwise belongs to the dinosaurs.

Yes but then, what happens at times of crisis?

For myself, I quickly understood that the corona virus pandemic would make necessary vigorous state action to help enterprises survive. However I did not expect that so swiftly, so many private sector chiefs would declare that unless government immediately stepped in massively, they would collapse.

This did not happen just in Malta.

It seems there are limits, are there not? – to how best the market knows?!

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DOG DAYS

Big gloom as you face who knows how many days during which you must remain cloistered in the same place.

Now, if there wasn’t the command, you still would have done it in a “natural” way – spent the same days in the same place, that is – and you wouldn’t have noticed. But once it’s become obligatory, it’s a different ballgame.

Worse: there’s the point that you have to do it because of your age. Now, we all live in the illusion that we’re younger than the age we show on our ID. It’s usual to pretend you do not feel the burden of the years that you’ve lived and that But it is there, present... even if the illusion remains. Then some upheaval occurs, like the one caused by corona virus, with the new commandments it has led to... and reality again intervenes to tighten the screw.