Labour’s ‘strong economy’ is making the people poorer

If the economy is so much stronger under Labour, why are more Maltese families unable to buy their own property? If your paycheque has increased but you cannot afford what you could a decade ago, are you richer or poorer?

The 2022 Housing Affordability Index revealed that even households with a median income could not afford to purchase a median-priced apartment.  Income may have risen, but the price of property has risen faster and much higher.

Under Labour, the majority of Maltese could not afford a median-sized apartment – not a villa, not a semi-detached, not a terraced house – but just a medium-sized apartment.

A household with a median income would only be able to borrow 76% of the money required to buy a medium-sized apartment.  Next year that figure is expected to drop to 72%. If even median-income families can’t afford a property, spare a thought for low-income families.

Owning your property was one of Labour’s electoral battle cries – “Kun sid ta’ darek” (own your home).  Property ownership is the socialist dream. Sadly, the only one of Labour’s dreams that came true is the one about making their buddies richer to continue to pump hundreds of thousands into the Party’s coffers to retain power.

For the rest of the country, the dream of owning their own property rapidly disappears down the drain. Those who already own property won’t be affected. It’s the younger generation who’ll pay the price of Labour’s rabid pursuit of personal profit.

Labour had massive success in widening the gap between the poor and the rich.  Those at the top keep getting richer – those at the bottom even poorer.

More people have to resort to food kitchens, more have to borrow to survive.  If you don’t own a property, your only option is to rent – but rent costs keeps rising.

The prospect of increasing homelessness is with us. But Labour’s happy because GDP keeps rising.

Of course it’s rising. GDP depends on government spending. And boy, is government spending.

Labour maintains an artificial bubble of economic optimism by pumping millions into the economy – millions it doesn’t have and which it borrows.

By spending far beyond its means, Labour manages to create the “feel good factor” – the false reassurance that all is well, the myth that the economy is safe with Labour. It isn’t.

Labour is running up enormous debts.  Robert Abela alone managed to run up more debts than any other of Malta’s prime ministers in his short span in power.

Robert Abela holds the record. The country’s deficit this year alone will approach €1 billion, the national debt a staggering €9 billion.

Labour can’t stop spending.  It has to keep spending to keep the army of hangers-on happy.  It has to keep thinking up new useless projects to enrich its coterie of funders.

It cannot sack its legions of political appointees. Who would keep Labour’s media arm ONE running if they did?

Who would keep ramming Labour’s fiction down our throat if those doing it were deprived of their undeserved manna from our taxes?

The vast number of former ONE propagandists on hyperinflated salaries with expertise allowances, despite a complete lack of any expertise, continues to expand.

Take Ian Borg’s chief canvasser, Jesmond Zammit, who was conveniently transferred to the foreign affairs ministry with a massive “expertise allowance”. The man knows absolutely nothing about foreign affairs.

Seasoned diplomats are tearing their hair out. Instead of picking up his obscene pay and leaving them alone, Zammit pushes them around, phoning them regularly with orders from above. And damaging the country.

That damage is now hitting Labour’s fortress – Cottonera. Residents are up in arms as they are being priced out of their own towns. One complained to The Times of Malta that after being born and bred in the a, he could only live there by day.

Cottonera’s residents can only watch in disbelief as the cost of property explodes. Wealthy buyers with no connection to Cottonera scoop up those properties.

Labour’s core vote is being depleted from Cottonera. Labour’s red a bastion is being dismantled by Labour’s own policies.

Labour’s unrestrained borrowing to sustain its army of political appointees has grown the economy but impoverished the people.

The massive and uncontrolled increase in the number of foreign low-paid workers has led to a significant increase in rental prices.  Properties meant for a family of three or four are rented to a dozen foreign workers, pricing out locals even from the rental market.

Labour wagered that those young, healthy foreign workers would make no demands on the education and health sectors. Most are young, fit men without families. But even when those working men leave their children and wives back in their home country, their impact on the rental market in places like Cottonera is devastating.

Residents are faced with the prospect of having their rent doubled or being turfed out of properties they have rented for years. Roderick Busuttil, who’s lived in Cottonera all his life, saw his rent increasing from €230 to €500 per month. “We were better when we were worse,” he told The Times of Malta.

For those who could afford their own property, Labour dealt another blow. Labour’s obstinate drive to continue to sell passports has seen properties in Cottonera being bought up by wealthy passport buyers. That pushed the prices in the area far higher than anywhere else.

The price per square metre in Cottonera rose by 28% compared to just 10% elsewhere. According to real estate manager Gordon Dalli, a typical townhouse costing €210,000 euro five years ago now costs over €320,000. Any property with sea views, not uncommon in Cottonera, raises the cost by a further €100,000.

GDP has grown. But so has the hardship for the people. Salaries have remained relatively unchanged, but even those who are earning more can afford far less.

Even basic needs, such as a roof over your head, are out of reach.