Metrics versus the real world

Morningstar DBRS is a globally recognized independent credit rating agency that evaluates the creditworthiness of corporate and sovereign entities, financial institutions, and structured finance instruments.  

Malta, as we know, has been awarded a very high rating and the bugles were out on Saturday trumpeting the good news.

DBRS is a credit agency that marks metrics, a professional set up like all the others that look at data and then feeds data into an equation and voila out comes a rating.  

The metric that is produced is comparative and therefore one can deduce whether one country is better off than another country.

But they ignore the realities of normal folk.

The economists and data analysts in Toronto are surely detached from the realities on the ground. Beyond the remarkable data which underscores a tiger economy, the truth is the DBRS rating has a serious problem with its radar when it comes to indicators that are not traditional economic indicators. 

Okay, there are some things such as the generous subsidies that are flagged but not much else. The dirt, the waste, the building spree, the claustrophobia, the third-country nationals’ overdependence, the tourist tsunami, the sky rocketing pricing and the inflation and the loss of trademark Malta.

Economic success in numbers and affluence is not an index of well-being or quality of life or happiness.

The metrics that never come into play are the basics: the health and education wait time; the dependence on private health care to circumvent the long queues and waiting time at state hospitals. 

And then there is the lack of faith in the primary and secondary state school system, coupled up with the dependence on private schools with tuition fees running from €7,000 to €10,000-a-year per child. 

And after that the reliance on private tuition which raises that contribution even so much more.  A service utilised by all the parliamentarians in the ruling party.

We are just skimming the surface here, then the big bomb: the purchase of property. A two-bedroom apartment, no frills or thrills stands at a price of just around €300,000 to €350,000. And after that the mortgage fees.

The abysmal public transport system or lack of it, makes the ownership of a private car a must, and if the car is not a second-hand car, then a budget of €20,000 is the expected reasonable sum for a small decent looking vehicle. 

And after that, welcome the traffic conundrum. A permanent gridlock that leads to endless journeys for short stretches of even four kilometres.

The cost of living is yet another weight on the budget of one person or a family unit.  Everyone knows what it costs to make a purchase at a leading supermarket chain or a small grocer.

Beyond the financial outlay, there are the simple chores in life. 

The idea of going for a walk with friends in an untainted and pristine spot in the countryside, of swimming in clean seas, of finding some peace and quiet in the countryside or on the periphery of what used to be a village.

There is nothing unusual anymore; electricity cuts are the norm as are polluted bays, the impossibility of finding a parking place next to your home or your workplace. 

The Maltese and Gozitan village, the communal habitat is also no longer existent, and that is now replaced by a conurbation of apartment after apartment block creating a monotony that brings with it a new dimension to our life - a life riddled with depression, sadness and mental illness.

Of not being able to open the bedroom windows for a breeze and to be forced to close the windows due to the all-night music from open air clubs or festivals or fireworks more reminiscent of a bombing spree.

The fact that a building collapses, a firework factory explodes, a worker falls and dies at a construction site is the norm rather than the exception. Murders in Malta are also the norm now. 

Of a planning authority that is a rubber stamp for unbridled development.

And of an economy that to feed itself depends on thousands of imported workers who in turn need accommodation, transport, utility services, health and education. 

A vicious circle that knows no end.

Of a Malta that was once so authentic and beautiful that it was known not for its metrics but for its uniqueness.  

Metrics over uniqueness.  That is a choice. 

The DBRS analysts and those that embrace it believe that Malta should become a Dubai. To some the most beautiful city in the world and to others the epitome of unsightliness and artificiality. A place fit only for people without a soul.

It is time to speak out, data and records do not make us feel better, they accentuate the politicians’ belief that we are living in Shangri la. And Shangri la as today’s survey shows is not for many of us.