Opinion • February 15 2004

The economy, stupid

From Naxxar skyscrapers to potential leaders of the Nationalist party, Saviour Balzan rests his case

I am told that the Hilton tower is 23 storeys high and that occupancy is well below expectations. I am now told about a proposal for a 42 storey skyscraper at the Trade Fair grounds in Naxxar has been submitted by the owners of the grounds.
The idea is outrageous and leaves me without words, let alone expletives.
But more on this in the weeks ahead, when I promise warfare if necessary against a phallic proposal that is not only outrageous, but diabolical.
Now to my favourite subject, the leadership question. A good friend of mine pointed out to me that last Friday’s Business and Finance column in The Times clearly written as a reaction to two opinion articles penned by Lou Bondi and Roger de Giorgio with the title: ‘The end of an era.’ In The Times the article carried a somewhat different title: ‘The continuation of an era’.
The column was written by a respectable and valid opinion maker who happens to be the chairman of Air Malta, Lawrence Zammit. Zammit had this comment to make about the next potential leader of the Nationalist party: "Anyone that promises or proposes dramatic change does not know what he is talking about."
Strong words which do little to veil his preference for his future leader.
Mr Zammit, who some months ago pronounced himself in no uncertain terms on the need of change at Air Malta, the company he runs, found difficulty in seeing change necessary at the political level.
C’est la vie, they say.
I have problems believing all I read. But I do believe that in the end, winners and losers are made not out of reasonable judgement but out of unreasonable perceptions. Mr Zammit knows this and he is also very attuned to surveys and polls.
But that is besides the point, because in these last few days, the men and women who believe that their particular candidate is the best choice have been waking up and saying the things they have never before said in public.
Which brings me to Mr Zammit’s last commentary: "…the new PN leader…shall also be responsible for determining the country’s economic agenda and will therefore influence the business environment."
What I think Mr Zammit could have said and that none of the three contestants have had the gall to say is that at the end of the day all this talk of ‘valuri’ in the morning and ‘valuri’ at night will not create jobs.
“It is the economy, stupid,” as Bill Clinton put it, but everyone is scared stiff to say it.
This is what the future of this country is all about - jobs, ideas and economic vision. If you ask me the choice for those 850 councillors should be simple.
If, on the other hand, we are talking of sustaining the status quo and happy faces in certain quarters then yes, Mr Zammit is perfectly right, let us have more of the same conservative stuff unbelievably dubbed centre-left and good luck to all us.