More Worrying News for the Exploited Masses

As I read one article after another, it appears that the economic situation for the exploited masses of the world is getting worse. According to an article published on the Mail Online website (18/06/2008), "Chancellor Alistair Darling...told families to tighten their belts and accept lower pay or risk inflation 'spiralling' to the levels of the 1970s. As average pay rises fell behind the official rate of inflation for the first time, he said it would be 'disastrous' if Britain became locked in a Seventies-style vicious circle of spiralling wages and prices." The same article affirmed that "Traditionally, workers have always depended on becoming slightly better off every year thanks to pay rises above the inflation rate. But research yesterday revealed that they are now falling behind in a dramatic way. For a worker on the average salary of £23,750, a 3.2 per cent pay rise means take-home pay rising by £500 a year. This is only half the £1,000 extra which a typical family face on their annual bill for food and drink alone. And that is before they find the extra money for all the other soaring bills such as power, mortgage and motoring costs."

The turmoil caused by the international financial crisis is clearly also affecting thousands of Maltese individuals. Turning to an article published by the Maltese-language newspaper Illum (15/06/2008), "A survey that was carried out by the MaltaToday newspaper in September 2007 suggested that 37.4% of the Maltese population never go out to eat at a restaurant. According to another survey conducted by Illum nine months later, the percentage of those people who never go out to eat at a restaurant has increased by 7% and has now reached 44.4 %."

I think that these articles are sufficiently clear in their messages and any further comment from my end would be superfluous.

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