Once upon a time, economic and social planning was in fashion. In communist countries this was carried out centrally and imperatively by the state, which controlled all the economy. In Western countries, planning used to be done according to so-called indicative methods: the aims to be reached would be stated, as well as the government's investment envelopes and the incentives it intended to give to the private sector, after which the "market" would be left to determine the actual outcomes. At the time, international trade was burdened with high tariffs, quaotas and import bans.
Following the arrival of Ronald Reagan to the US presidency and Margaret Thatcher to the UK leadership - plus the collapse of the USSR - instead of planning, the call became for free market mechanisms to be allowed to work on their own. It has been said that as a result, with the emergence of globalisation, the living standards of billions of people improved, sometimes in a big way. It's up to you to believe this... or not...
Yet, even if long-term economic and social planning is no longer being done as it used to be, there has been a growing realisation that some form of planning is necessary. People need a compass by which to guide the decisions they take when trying to achieve aims that are billed as essential.
Occasionally a speaker or two emerge to warn about the changes taking place - or have occurred - in the island's retail sector. Generally the issue is raised by those who have been badly hit by such changes, as in the sectors of local distribution and production.
That these would happen had been evident to all who more than twenty-five years ago were involved in the campaign to get Malta to join the EU as a full member. It was a development which altered in a big way the trade parameters within which economic competition happened here. On top of this, then there followed significant changes in the island's demographic, ethnic and commercial make-up. We weren't at all prepared.
The local retail sector ended up dominated by European firms which conduct the procurement and distribution of products over large expanses of territory. No family comcern of small self-employed (as we used to call them) could beat the price-quality combinations these firms were able to establish.
Even if one disagrees with the Ukraine's political and diplomatic stands over the last thirty years, one can still understand how, how much and why Ukrainians must feel they have been betrayed. Over the last 20 years, they found tacit and open backing by the US and European governments for them to resist all pressures by Russia based on territorial grounds, and to join the EU and NATO. If the Russian "bull" were to consider all this as a red flag, there was no need to worry. Americans and Europeans would provide all support needed and the Russians would back down.
As of now, the US administration has changed. It doesn't want the Ukraine any more in NATO, and indeed in the EU. Disagreement has spread between Americans and Europeans. Meanwhile, the Russians have continued to attack the Ukraine with unrelenting brutality. The Ukraine leadership refuses to give in. But those who incited it to adopt the choices it did, may have shown that in practice, they can hardly be trusted.
Following the arrival of Ronald Reagan to the US presidency and Margaret Thatcher to the UK leadership - plus the collapse of the USSR - instead of planning, the call became for free market mechanisms to be allowed to work on their own. It has been said that as a result, with the emergence of globalisation, the living standards of billions of people improved, sometimes in a big way. It's up to you to believe this... or not...
Yet, even if long-term economic and social planning is no longer being done as it used to be, there has been a growing realisation that some form of planning is necessary. People need a compass by which to guide the decisions they take when trying to achieve aims that are billed as essential.
Occasionally a speaker or two emerge to warn about the changes taking place - or have occurred - in the island's retail sector. Generally the issue is raised by those who have been badly hit by such changes, as in the sectors of local distribution and production.
That these would happen had been evident to all who more than twenty-five years ago were involved in the campaign to get Malta to join the EU as a full member. It was a development which altered in a big way the trade parameters within which economic competition happened here. On top of this, then there followed significant changes in the island's demographic, ethnic and commercial make-up. We weren't at all prepared.
The local retail sector ended up dominated by European firms which conduct the procurement and distribution of products over large expanses of territory. No family comcern of small self-employed (as we used to call them) could beat the price-quality combinations these firms were able to establish.
Even if one disagrees with the Ukraine's political and diplomatic stands over the last thirty years, one can still understand how, how much and why Ukrainians must feel they have been betrayed. Over the last 20 years, they found tacit and open backing by the US and European governments for them to resist all pressures by Russia based on territorial grounds, and to join the EU and NATO. If the Russian "bull" were to consider all this as a red flag, there was no need to worry. Americans and Europeans would provide all support needed and the Russians would back down.
As of now, the US administration has changed. It doesn't want the Ukraine any more in NATO, and indeed in the EU. Disagreement has spread between Americans and Europeans. Meanwhile, the Russians have continued to attack the Ukraine with unrelenting brutality. The Ukraine leadership refuses to give in. But those who incited it to adopt the choices it did, may have shown that in practice, they can hardly be trusted.