Friday 14 November 2014

NO GRAVITY ON A COMET OR IN PARLIAMENT

It is puzzling and even rather tiresome how the government keeps trying to seek out presumed malfeasance in various private industries. The state has returned to fret about the alleged collusions in the construction industry half a dozen years ago. Of course when large sums of money are involved not everything is squeaky clean and misuse of public trust and funds does need to be exposed and punished. However, as the industry has wearily explained so many times, the capacity and resources of the nation did need to be allocated carefully in order to meet the expectations of hosting the Soccer World Cup. The JSE data confirms that the industry did enjoy a fourfold increase in earnings in the years before 2010. Shareholders and employees of those companies did benefit. But presumably someone important feels that he or she did not and so the witch hunt continues.
The ironies, however, are ceaseless. Many of the stadium location and design decisions were forced on the nation by FIFA, an organisation that must rank as one of the most corrupt and compromised on the planet. And closer to home our own parliament erupted into a violent uproar when the ruling party refused to allow any opposition to the idea that the nation deserves a president who fails to notice or even be curious when hundreds of millions of rands worth of renovations take place at his private home.
Only serious students of the political scene are able to explain the significance of the rupture between NUMSA and COSATU.  The confusion was compounded when one newspaper referred to the event as a “rapture”. For most of us, this all has much the same import as the news that the bowls club has expelled the croquet club because the members of that section were becoming a bit raucous after tea and threatening to damage the greensward. At its heart the issue is presumably about power and then undoubtedly money. Union leaders can depend upon the reliable cash flow of subscriptions which are deducted automatically from each member’s salary. It would be interesting to see just how numerous union membership would be if employees each month had to prioritise their union subscription against their other spending needs. Unions – and their overarching federation bodies – would truly have to fulfil a need in that worker’s life before he saw any reason to send off the money.
Only politicians and bureaucrats could believe that there will be any real impact from the imminent implementation of the driver’s licence demerit system. There is already a raft of regulations and laws which are ignored and not enforced. A great pity because our roads are very unsafe places these days. What’s the betting that the first drivers to be slapped with a demerit don’t have valid licences anyway?  
The most poignant remark to be aired about the comet landing event this week was a plea to “Jacob and Angie[1]” to at least fix the schools so that our children could learn to read. Deep Space Flight Dynamics could come later. Watching real rocket scientists at work was a deeply emotional experience. It was only when prodded by their fussing and anxious PR staff that they reluctantly faced the cameras and explained to the public – their paymasters – what was happening. Everyone was simply anxious to return to work and apply their enormous personal skills and expertise to the team effort. What a contrast to what is happening elsewhere in the world where ignorance, dogma and superstition are being celebrated and died for.
After last week’s comment about national sides winning went so badly awry it is best I say nothing today.

James Greener
14th November 2014.


[1] President Jacob Zuma and Education Minister Angie Motshekga

Friday 7 November 2014

MEDAL PLAY



Central Banks would appear to be a close-knit lot. No sooner had the US Federal Reserve stopped buying its own government’s debt with freshly minted dollars, when their opposite number in Japan started to do it. This seemingly never ending flow of crisp new money pouring  into the financial systems tempts investors to believe that stock market prices are underpinned and so they set off on another buying frenzy. This is very pleasing for the governors of those banks who can point out to the political decision makers that: “See, everything is just great!” Meanwhile the debts mount – but no one seems to mind. Paying them off will be someone else’s problem.
Quite correctly there has been scant hysteria so far about the announcement by one of the self-important rating agencies that as of last night it has moved SA down a notch on their ludicrously lengthy scale of credit worthiness. However, they also adjusted their outlook on the country from “stable” to “negative” and that deserves notice. Reasonable people will not dispute that view. The tax man published his survey of his “clients” this week and without drowning readers in statistics it can be noted that SA is a nation in which most citizens enjoy representation without taxation. While historically the converse of this has often triggered a violent response, in our case the heavily taxed are seeking quieter unostentatious remedies.
It is unlikely that economic growth and higher employment will return to this country until we are offered a government which doesn’t feel capable of interfering at every level of human activity. Furthermore, we need leaders bold enough to reject the race-based cadre-deployment policies that have plagued this nation for about a century. There are talents, skills and drives aplenty, just leave them alone to find out what works.
A typical example of how socialists fail to understand what investing is about appeared in a report prepared by three parliamentary researchers. After surveying cases of Foreign Direct Investment world-wide they reached the indignant conclusion that the money foreign companies invested can be overtaken by the remittances they send abroad. That, dear researchers, is the point! When you invest, as opposed to donate, you expect not only one day to get your money back but, also to get a return on that money. Frankly, the foreign firms are not that interested in that politically correct stuff like job creation and skills transfer unless they can see how it could make them more profitable. There is nothing wrong with this attitude. After all it creates economic activities that were not there before and, guess what the result is? Employment and taxes happen, and all that remains for you, the government, to do, is to stamp their passports and get out of the way.
A really alarming flyer was delivered to the house recently. Under the banner “You Deserve Better” three local political activists quote a quite terrible national crime statistic and urge the Durban municipality to do something about it.  Quite right too. We do deserve better. The puzzle is that the flyer is published by the present ruling party. Are they suggesting its time to vote for someone else?
National police commissioner Phiyega is surely busy sketching designs for a new medal. This one will be for officers who are attacked while lunching and first recipients will be the two members of her force who, while stopped at a roadside stall purchasing snacks, were robbed of their weapons and locked in the back of their own van. Another benefit is that it will undoubtedly soon  join the rack of undeserved other gongs that she sports on her chest.
Isn’t it fun to watch our national sides winning? Especially against the antipodeans. Any word on why the Aussie T20 side are dressed to look like All Blacks? Certain voices suggest that Ireland at home will not be easy for the ‘boks tomorrow. It’s such a late kick off it will not be easy to be fully alert to be able to watch.
James Greener
7th November 2014