Amidst the hectic gyrations of the global share markets, a quite disturbing announcement was delivered in Washington. This was that administered interest rates would remain close to zero at least until 2013. While this is devastating news for those having to live on savings it is also an admission by the largest central bank that its efforts to get the economy going are puny and fruitless. Many commentators are warning that the USA might be echoing what happened in Japan where share prices and businesses have been depressed and slow at least a decade.
Locally it feels that the number and impact of positive company announcements and economic reports and data have been substantially outweighing the less optimistic ones. Certainly there have been days when the JSE quite deliberately moved up when other markets were losing their grip. However, I think that the outgoing tide is probably the stronger and the rand weakness suggests that overseas money is going home. That is, we have not yet seen the bottom, so in due course some tempting valuations will be revealed and prudent buying will then be in order.
I am ashamed and embarrassed to admit that I did not know that here on the southern tip we had more than one recognized king. Reportedly they all (?) converged on Joburg this week for their first ever meeting with each other. Presumably agenda items will have included the care and maintenance of regal regalia, how to deal with unruly princes, and the terrible cost of appropriate consorts. I don’t think the Swazi king got invited as he would have been tied up ensuring that the “four pillars” of performance required for the disbursement of his R2.5bn loan from SA were in place. The first of these is reportedly that his government needs to undertake “confidence building measures”. What a classic piece of bureaucrat nonsense!
Also in Joburg it was announced that taxis and buses will be exempt from the tolls on the R20bn worth of highway improvements that the city has provided. Whether or not royal entourages and bureaucratic convoys will also be exempted from the impost was not mentioned, but obviously only those vehicle owners with easy to find addresses will be pursued for fees owing. Substantial shouting about and deep dissatisfaction with the proposed tolls has broken out, allegedly on behalf of the poor, who are not, I’d have thought, car owners.
No one would disagree that the health services in SA are in dire need of improvement. Just getting back to the levels and standards of a dozen years ago would be a good idea which the present leaders seem unable to achieve. The proposed National Health Initiative is therefore very unlikely to be a success. The biggest puzzle at this stage is why is it going to be so costly? Presumably just about every doctor, nurse, physio and pharmacist who wants employment is already earning an income whether from private patients or the government, and while increases are always welcome, where else is the money going to go? How many Cuban doctors are we going to be able to attract? Some of the cash could be spent on buildings, equipment and training, but are there not already unspent budget allocations and woeful inefficiencies in those areas? Drugs and consumables are extraordinarily expensive; but even with an increase in the number of professionals surely not that much more can be used up? Not even the most ambitious schemes for larceny, theft and corruption could account for the balance.
The city is filling up with folk wearing green, gold and an air of panic. Tomorrow’s test against the Wallabies is the reason. No further rugby comment can be made except to point out that the Lions are top of the Currie Cup log, unbeaten and probably insolvent.
James Greener
12th August 2011
