There is a very interesting story in MaltaTday about two government ministers who currently don’t own any property. I don’t know about the surgeon, though it looks very suspicious. What I do know with more clarity is the story of Chris Bonnett.
Chris Bonnett admitted, implicitly in a rather Soviet propagandistic way that his family couldn’t afford to buy property, yet. He didn’t admit that outright but instead accused the Opposition of classism. The problem, here is that Chris, who is devoted to his party religiously, can’t come up with the honest admission that the property market is broken because his party can never be as bad as to do him any wrong, even from a macroeconomic standpoint. This is why his comment was very Soviet-like – “I have the right to make my own choices in my glorious republic”, but it’s not a choice, really, your republic has just left you out of the property market. And it’s very damning of the property market that a newly-elected government minister couldn’t afford a property.
There is another fascinating aspect to this story. Unlike his friends and party colleagues from his generation like Charlon Gouder (tuna lobbyist and Joseph Muscat’s lawyer) and Jonathan Attard (Justice Minister), Chris in character, and lifestyle remained in tune with his traditional Labour values and didn’t seek to enrich himself with direct orders and government contracts. I’m not saying he received none, he served in various roles but there is a huge difference between serving out of idealism and engaging in widespread corrupt and rent-seeking activity like his friends did. Jonathan and Charlon raked in contracts to the value of hundreds of thousands of Euros and became rich from the back of the taxpayer. Chris Bonnett, in contrast, remained poor because he wasn’t selfish and corrupt.
I remember Chris Bonnett well and I know what I’m talking about. He was always a total idiot who followed and militated the Labour Party with an effervescent religious devotion and never had any critical thinking abilities, yet, somehow, he never lost track of his core and religious socialist principles.
Incredible how things change. Back then we always thought that Chris Bonnett may have had a good chance of getting ahead in the Labour Party, simply for his strong devotion to his party and its ideals. It’s the corrupt opportunists like Jonathan and Charlon who got ahead instead. And despite my lack of sympathy for Chris Bonnett, these things just make me even angrier and more convinced of how important it is to cut the shit out of these corrupt goons and boot them out of power. Let the bloody corrupt idiots starve so that the Chris Bonnetts can have a better chance.
I would like to understand this though. Bonett declared savings in the region of 52k, and a 17k loan (for a car, perhaps?). If someone who has 52k saved up cannot buy at least an apartment these days, then how will my daughter ever enter the property market? Isn’t 52k a good enough stepping stone to obtain a loan and start climbing the property ladder?
Good point. His savings and loan are very realistic for his age, history and career. And I also think it’s still difficult for him to find a decent property even with the amount of savings he has.