The Malta Independent
Children are special.` I should know, as I was the youngest of fourteen. When it comes to children parents act abnormally. The most hard-headed become soft, the powerful become powerless, and parents who count their cents when it comes to personal spending, loosen their purse on expenditure related to their children`s well-being, health and education.
`When former Minister of Finance Bonello Dupuis was once questioned about the rise of the public debt (which at the time was much less worrying than it is today) he retorted that the debt will be paid by our children and their offsprings.`
Marketing gurus know it. So much so that broadcasting rules prohibit advertising that instigates children to make pressure on their parents to buy them this or that.
The PN know it too!` For 15 years they have been managing this country as if tomorrow never comes. They have consistently solved the problems for today and let tomorrow to take care of itself. When former Minister of Finance Bonello Dupuis was once questioned about the rise of the public debt (which at the time was much less worrying than it is today) he retorted that the debt will be paid by our children and their offsprings.
Fifteen years where achievements were measured by how much and how fast government could spend tax and borrowed money.` In the only instance that government tried to take credit for bringing in revenues, the famous Lm100 million each year from the EU so solemnly promised in the 1998 election campaign, the government fell flat on its face.
And we have come to a stage where spending, even if it were possible, is no longer a curing solution as it has started to threaten the stability of our financial structure.
` Having lost control of the way we should manage ourselves the government is placing the EU accession project as a cure to all our ills, a means to save us from ourselves`
Fifteen years of laissez-faire leadership has brought the economy to a pitiful state where public debt is huge and growing, fiscal deficit is out of control in spite of our being heavily taxed, inflation is higher than our competitors, GDP is contracting, FDI is nowhere in sight, business optimism is at its lowest and useless subsidies continue to suck away the life-blood of our economy.
Having lost control of the way we should manage ourselves the government is placing the EU accession project as a cure to all our ills, a means to save us from ourselves, to impose upon us the discipline which has been shunned and eroded over a long period of reckless governing.
And like true marketing specialists, because the project is unsaleable on its own intrinsic properties and on the shoddy record of the sales person presenting it for our approval, the PN has to turn to the sentimental trump card of our children.
The PN`s slogan `a choice for our children ` is nothing but an invitation to take leave of our senses and of the tangible facts proving their incompetence, and to let the sentiment take over our decision making process to go for EU membership to save our children from ourselves.
We do indeed need to take a choice for our children. A hard choice where we agree that economic growth comes from work and investment and not from spending, excess consumption and club memberships.
A choice where we would bequeath our children with a strong and vibrant economy so that in their own good time they can take a smart decision about our future relationship with the EU.
Children are special.` I should know, as I was the youngest of fourteen. When it comes to children parents act abnormally. The most hard-headed become soft, the powerful become powerless, and parents who count their cents when it comes to personal spending, loosen their purse on expenditure related to their children`s well-being, health and education.
`When former Minister of Finance Bonello Dupuis was once questioned about the rise of the public debt (which at the time was much less worrying than it is today) he retorted that the debt will be paid by our children and their offsprings.`
Marketing gurus know it. So much so that broadcasting rules prohibit advertising that instigates children to make pressure on their parents to buy them this or that.
The PN know it too!` For 15 years they have been managing this country as if tomorrow never comes. They have consistently solved the problems for today and let tomorrow to take care of itself. When former Minister of Finance Bonello Dupuis was once questioned about the rise of the public debt (which at the time was much less worrying than it is today) he retorted that the debt will be paid by our children and their offsprings.
Fifteen years where achievements were measured by how much and how fast government could spend tax and borrowed money.` In the only instance that government tried to take credit for bringing in revenues, the famous Lm100 million each year from the EU so solemnly promised in the 1998 election campaign, the government fell flat on its face.
And we have come to a stage where spending, even if it were possible, is no longer a curing solution as it has started to threaten the stability of our financial structure.
` Having lost control of the way we should manage ourselves the government is placing the EU accession project as a cure to all our ills, a means to save us from ourselves`
Fifteen years of laissez-faire leadership has brought the economy to a pitiful state where public debt is huge and growing, fiscal deficit is out of control in spite of our being heavily taxed, inflation is higher than our competitors, GDP is contracting, FDI is nowhere in sight, business optimism is at its lowest and useless subsidies continue to suck away the life-blood of our economy.
Having lost control of the way we should manage ourselves the government is placing the EU accession project as a cure to all our ills, a means to save us from ourselves, to impose upon us the discipline which has been shunned and eroded over a long period of reckless governing.
And like true marketing specialists, because the project is unsaleable on its own intrinsic properties and on the shoddy record of the sales person presenting it for our approval, the PN has to turn to the sentimental trump card of our children.
The PN`s slogan `a choice for our children ` is nothing but an invitation to take leave of our senses and of the tangible facts proving their incompetence, and to let the sentiment take over our decision making process to go for EU membership to save our children from ourselves.
We do indeed need to take a choice for our children. A hard choice where we agree that economic growth comes from work and investment and not from spending, excess consumption and club memberships.
A choice where we would bequeath our children with a strong and vibrant economy so that in their own good time they can take a smart decision about our future relationship with the EU.
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