Nostalgia

I often enjoy articles and photos of old Malta. I store them in my iPad album under old Malta along with old family photos taken mostly during the 1930s and a small number from the 1940s.

This particular photo may have been taken on the top of Il-Fortizza, Tower Road, Sliema.

This particular photo (above) may have been taken on the top of Il-Fortizza, Tower Road, Sliema.It is perhaps interestingly suggestive of its time. I wonder if anyone can assist with any information. My mother, Joanne (Aquilina), born in Paola in 1912, is far right.

Edward Hayman ‒ Southampton, UK

Pension pitfalls

In a letter penned by David Spiteri Gingell (‘Pension anomaly debunked, August 16, 2023) in response to an Arnold Cassola contribution, the chair of the pensions’ reform group argued that, in March 2004, the government received a dire report from the World Bank on the adequacy of and sustainability of the pension system.

Gingell states that, by 2040, the ratio between the average pension and the average wage would shrink to such an extent that it would be less than 20 per cent. How the World Bank came to such a conclusion boggles the mind. The following pitfalls stand out:

1. The terms of reference of the reform group were strictly related to future generations of pensioners with changes to existing pensioners being achieved through budget measures. 

How? By weekly budgetary COLA amounts of 58 cents to transitionals (born in 1961 or before) as assigned by the statistics office, as happened during governance by both the PN and the PL? Switchers on the other hand (born in 1962 and thereafter) would surely have none of that. So, this is a case of crumbs for some and attractive dinners for the rest, with both categories paying the same VAT.

2. Who carried out these fine-tuned 58 cents calculations? Mario Draghi, banker par excellence, would be jealous of such budgetary finesse. Was this the work of highly paid executives receiving gigantic salaries from their employer in return for boot licking loyalty? Will the transitionals continue to receive peanuts?

3. The Malta budget for 1977 proposed and carried out a COLA which was partly flat and partly based on a percentage of the worker’s salary. For some reason, this sensible approach was abandoned.

4. Finally, it is of note that there is neither praise nor criticism for the basket of commodities. 

Few people seem to realise that fine and frequent tuning of this variable is necessary for a fair assessment of a fair and, above all, sustainable pension.

Joseph Grech ‒ Birkirkara