If there's one issue about which I sympathise with the aims of the Trump administration in the US, it's the importance Trump attaches to manufacturing industry, both in terms of the national interest and by way of the need to safeguard the norms of living and the jobs of workers in manufacturing. (The question of whether he is doing so in an effective, realistic and coherent manner is another matter though.)
To the contrary of Trump's assertions, in the ways by which the world's economic and commercial sectors are globally organised, the US enjoyed and still does the major advantages. At least in the financial, internet, communications and technological sectors which happen to be the fundamental columns of modern economies. But it is also true that while service sectors have become dominant, Amerian manufacuring at home has receded: jobs and investment have migrated to countries which are well protected against foreign competition or which have low wage structures.
It is hardly wise for any country to let its home manufacturing disappear or weaken excessively, including the skills and organizational knowhow that manufacturing needs to thrive.
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LOCAL PLANNING
One doubts how much serious planning is really being done in the day by day running of localities. Not for the first time, contiguous streets or streets that are connected together for traffic purposes among others, are closed for one reason or another (mainly construction and trenching works, but not only) which results in huge inconveniences for citdizens. The traffic jams, parking places are slashed significantly and air pollution is reinforced and spreads. To make matters worse, some street closures happen repetitively and arbitrarily.
The problem isn't just the usual one - lack of enforcement, but also as well that of a lack of coordination and planning between the organizations involved, at both local and frequently as well the national levels.
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THE INCONVENIENCES OF TOURISM
What has been occurring in other European zones where a high tourism intensity prevails, will inevitably occur here too. The changes which such an intensity brings about in the everyday lives of people provoke unease and anger. Up to now in Malta, we haven't yet reached the stage where street protests are held plus unofficial but popular action taken to give visiting tourists offence and make them regret they came, so less of them will arrive. But no doubt we shall be getting there, perhaps soon.
According to some measures, Malta's tourism intensity is among the highest... if not the highest in Europe. Actually and according to the plans that have been published as of now, while tourism is the island's strongest economic motor, the expectation is that its relevance will continue to grow. If there is already disaffection with the impacts of the sector, that disaffection is likely to greatly increase.
Such a reaction cannot be simply ignored, nor can it be completely relieved. The first approach would be hazardous as it risks allowing the discontent to reach explosive levels. The second is impossible to attain as a target. Still for sure, a plan can and should be laid out of concrete steps that can be taken to mitigate the problems that are causing citizen disaffection with tourism.