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
