Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1295506
9 OPINION Kevin-James Fenech Kevin is the founder and owner of JOB Search - jobsearch.mt and FENCI Consulting fenci.eu. He is a management consultant and business advisor by profession, focusing on strategy, human resources and recruitment. He has a passion for anything related to business and has written about the topic for over 10 years in most major newspapers or journals I n the words of Ronald Rea- gan: 'As government expands, liberty contracts'. Who would have thought that the novel coronavirus would change the political landscape in both Malta and Europe. Clearly, BIG Government is back; and with vengeance! I am here referring to a gov- ernment that is 'excessively in- terventionist' and intrudes into all aspects of ordinary life. e 21st century's excuse for Big Government is 'pubic health' and sadly people all over the world seem to have accepted this new state of affairs without even whispering an objection. 'e Road to Serfdom' has re- turned. Big Government may seem 'welcome' or 'necessary' right now, as Dr. Fear controls minds and public health scaremon- gering reigns supreme but once the vaccine is ready and COV- ID19 demoted in importance and comparable to influenza, Big Government will need to be reigned back and it won't be easy to do so. e facts are that COVID19 has resulted in a massive re- striction of our individual freedoms, big government spending and collectivism winning over individualism. e consequence of this is our debt shooting-up to €1.1b in 6 months and eventually taxes will need to go up and what we will remain in the post-COV- ID19 landscape is Big Govern- ment. So for all those people who between 2013-2017 com- plained about an American type of free market capital- ism, low taxes and small gov- ernment, be warned that we are about to enter a new era post-COVID19 which seems to indicate that BIG Government is here to stay. e government is already controlling our lives under the guise and belief that public health requirements necessi- tates the suspension and cur- tailment of our liberties and individual freedoms. We are no longer allowed to think like in- dividuals; to exercise our own choices and take responsibility for our own lives. e govern- ment knows best and collectiv- ism is preferred to individual- ism. e government is also em- barking on one of the largest public spending exercises this country has ever seen; it is also changing the size and scope of government intervention. I therefore feel that we are sus- pending free market econom- ics and opting for big govern- ment all because of the excuse of public health. I never thought COVID19 could have such a socio-eco- nomic and socio-political im- pact! I always assumed that small government, low taxes and individual liberty were untouchable (as they were pre-COVID19) but 2020 is a watershed moment! Let's tread carefully or live to regret it. So what's wrong with Big Government? • It crowds out the private sector and undermines competitiveness; e economy increasingly becomes dependent on government spending and this is an unsustaina- ble economic model over the medium / long term; • It steers labour and in- vestment to unproduc- tive sectors of the econ- omy; e beauty of the private sector is 'creative destruction' and this is why only the fittest and the best survive yet when the government becomes an economic player in a mixed economy the tax- payers end-up propping or subsidizing underper- forming or money losing projects and entities; • Big government always leads to a big tax burden and as soon as the over- all incidence of tax grows beyond a certain point, it starts to stifle private in- vestment and growth in the economy which then necessitates even more government spending; • Big government always leads to more debt and large deficits, since big government always spends more than it earns; Big government never is economically sustainable; • Big government stifles creatively, individualism and liberty, which are the building blocks of a free market economy. My advice to politicians right now, at this crucial juncture, is to think beyond COVID19, stop listening so much to Dr. Fear and right-size the gov- ernment (make it smaller) so we have a properly functioning free market economy come the recovery next year which stim- ulates private sector invest- ment and encourages individ- ual freedoms. Big government does not know best! Big gov- ernment stifles competition! Big Government is like heroin; it is highly addictive! I think Ronald Reagan summed up Big Government beautifully and using very sim- ple language: 'Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps mov- ing, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidise it.' Granted in the midst of all the COVID19 infections, deaths and significant economic con- traction especially in tourism, the idea of Big Government is irresistible but once you scale- up to Big Government it is very difficult to right-size and down-size back to 'normal'. My appeal therefore is to plan for 2021 based on an economic and political model which has always worked well for Malta. We succeed as a country when we promote an open and lib- eral economy which positions private sector growth at the forefront and small govern- ment in the background. When we fight for individual rights and freedoms. When we let individuals make choices and we don't try and think for them. When we structure gov- ernment income on a low tax economic model. COVID19 should not be an excuse to bring back Big Gov- ernment. Big government is back 8.10.2020