SUBTLE AND UNOBTRUSIVE

It is undoubtedly true that the Bull is the beast in control of most markets these days. It seems that everyone should be making money from their investments despite the supposed huge and savage blow to the economy by Covid and its cohorts. Nothing is easy to explain. The matter of inoculating the population of the world against Covid-19 is spawning plenty of issues. The simpler ones to understand concern the problems of manufacture, distribution and sale of so much stuff to so many people in so many places. This is undoubtedly a mega project for which collaboration between public and private resources makes a great deal of sense. Unfortunately, many governments including our own, are not yet ready for that and are reluctant to give up the power to control the population that they have enjoyed for more than a year now. The next area of contention is largely a personal one and concerns the debate about the different vaccines that are available. What most of us probably want is a single dose of something that has no nasty side effects, and which would ensure that we can’t be infected by the virus in any of its variants for a very long time. It should absolutely enable us to resume life and visit grandchildren anywhere in the world. The third and thorniest problem is proving that someone has received the treatment and getting officials to accept that they pose no health threats to anyone else. Even the UK Prime Minister has failed this last test by telling an inoculated questioner that they can’t yet go and visit granny. Already (absent the forgery problem) the proposal of a “vaccination passport” is running into difficulties with the civil liberties crowd, who probably have not grasped the extent and power of current facial recognition technology where a computer knows exactly who you are and where you have been. A few months ago, Tidemarks offered a jocular solution to this problem by proposing the use of the subcutaneous ID tags similar to those we use to label our pets. New Zealand are proposing to introduce a subtle and unobtrusive tattoo. Though judging by some of the All Black rugby players, finding space will be tricky. It’s hard to decide whether the bureaucrats who enabled the following press release are providing us, their employers, value for money: “The release of the request for proposal (RFP) documentation for Bid Window 5 (BW 5) of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) has been delayed, the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) has confirmed”. Oh yes? A rather worrying trend of state entities refusing to pay for high tech services rendered can be noticed. Whether this is because there really is no money left in the kitty or it’s simply entitlement culture on display is unclear. Equally concerning is that the response from the defaulting entities like the Police and Eskom that not having the disabled systems would make little difference in their operations. Really? Why did you buy them in the first place? President Cyril is also not averse to playing the ‘we are poor and deserve cheap vaccination drugs” card. Still the government refuses to accept that the only route left meaningfully to reduce its fiscal deficit is to attack the expenditure side. Today’s news is that the taxman has brought Judge Denis Davis onto the payroll to help them track down the tax dodgers. That’s good and fine but I doubt it will have as much effect on the deficit as will firing half the civil servants who drive desks. One also wonders how all those who retained the learned judge in his earlier days to craft avoidance schemes will feel when they find him on the other side of the desk at SARS asking question about where the money is? I must be missing some really good stuff by not watching more cricket these days. Certainly, I have missed that Chris Morris is in such good form that he has set the record for the most expensive player in the forthcoming IPL at R33million.. Good gracious. This even compares with the sort of money the English Premier League stars get to take home. James Greener Friday 9th April 2021