How prepared is the Maltese economy for the bad weather that could arise?

It is a question that should often be made, without this being taken to necessarily signal that we are descending towards some historic pessimism, or that we shall be giving right of way to whoever would like to assume the role of Cassandra.

For it is true that over time, the Malttese economy has shown resilience, not always straight off when needed, but quick enough to pre-empt a crisis from reaching disaster levels. Still as the Maltese dictum goes: Best think about what can go wrong, so that what can go well will stay around.

The approach is kickstarted by an understanding of what could cause the bad weather, and whether its push could come from inside, outside or both. On that basis, one then proceeds to see how the bad weather could develop and to identify the methods and manoeuvres that decision makers will have at their disposal in order to react.

Such a process is regularly conducted by all countries and corporations that operate successfully. I understood this when I was recently invited by a quite well established company to see how they built their long term forecasts of the potential disruptions that could arise in the future for the security systems they run to protect the financial payments that they carry out all over the globe.

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THOSE ON THE DOWN TO GO DEEPER

With the spread of inflation plus the sentiment of insecurity that Putin’s war in the Ukraine has brought with it, the economic situation of European citizens, in Malta too, has been dealt a blow. Some will be able to absorb its effects, others not.

It is already clear though that probably the worst affected will be those who are already not so well off. They lack the income necessary to enable them to come to terms with price rises and it is not sure that the available social security systems will be enough to help them cope.

I was surprised recently by reports carried by the Bild newspaper about how German old age pensioners are feeling like they’re close to being overwhelmed.

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THE FRENCH LEFT

I cannot remember ever having seen the French left so broken. And still at the same time, there are so many “leaders” around who while having minimal backing (as demonstrated by electoral results) still expect that they should get their own way. This is truly a big pity, not least because the French left traditionally has been the great promoter of social and economic policies that showed how France could modernise while sustaining social justice.

It seems like that ideological thrust has been lost, or perhaps it has been subsumed into a pro-European drive which  allows no space for the development of political discourse that directly adresses the experiences and aspirations of the French people.

Added to this then, there has been the fact that (perhaps because of the pro-European emphasis) the policies presented by the left have hardly seemed to be different from those of the right  -- with the exception of when they tangled with “green” issues, where however the Green party or parties would have the upper hand.

Still, I cannot (do not want to) believe that the French left is on the verge of extinction.