Uneasiness is appearing in all sorts of markets. The price of money (interest rates) in SA is rising while share prices in the US and other big equity markets are sagging – by as much as 10% this year. This is not happening in SA where alarmingly weaker rand is keeping local prices firm. Especially the price of petrol and other fuels. Interestingly, consumers appear simply to be sucking up these record fuel prices. A betting man would have expected commuters to have taken to the streets by now. Crypto currency prices remain – for this scribe – baffling.
A common topic in the markets commentaries is a shrinking JSE where the number of listed companies has been falling significantly and those who survive are suffering from vanishingly low liquidity. Obviously the collapsing GDP, which was entirely due to the lockdown strategies are mostly to blame. It’s extremely disappointing that the levers of power are still in the hands of those who caused this in the first place. They can be easily identified as the elites who have never been required to forego a single pay day since this nonsense began.
Ukraine is a very big country with a surprisingly high ranking on numerous tables about many diverse commodities. In particular, Ukraine ranks first in the world in the production of sunflowers and sunflower oil, first in Europe in arable land area and also Uranium ores. Their population of spectacularly beautiful women should also not be ignored. But presumably it’s the second last of these which attracts Russian leader Putin’s attention. Reportedly it was platinum which was frequently discussed whenever a Brics meeting brought our previous President Jacob Zuma into the same room as Vladimir. And presumably it is that firm friendship which is preventing South Africa from throwing its hat into the ring on the side of Ukraine in the current unhappy spat that is already claiming lives. Really it is a dispute in which we should have no part to play. Not only is this a political observation but if you have seen the amusing video clip of some of our overweight troopies failing to get aboard the transport, it is also a strategic one. We must among few nations where XXXXX…L is a standard size in the quartermaster’s stores.
The Bosasa leg to the corruption story broke only later on in the Zondo Commission deliberations and yet reportedly fills the whole of volume 3 of the report. Now that Judge Zondo has been overlooked for the Constitutional Court, it seems that Volume 4 is now on the way too.
When it comes to admitting to the naughty stuff, SA is champion. And probably incorrigible and unstoppable. Just scratch the surface of a civil service thief and the flow never stops. What an unutterable mess.
Even though retired I don’t have enough time to follow all the sports that now stream across my smart phone screen. Supersport can deliver almost every soccer and rugby and cricket league you can imagine and then in Women flavour! Motorsport comes in a huge variety of power trains and bicycles in many shapes and types of wheel. All of which can be seasoned with the politics du jour for omissions and exclusions. Whew. Not to mention tennis and golf and the Boat Race. And Vice-Presidential Surgery. Among the more prominent sponsors of the particularly costly and risk-rich “sports” are the so-called energy drinks. Do they enjoy an exceptional profit margin? Interesting.
James Greener
Friday 4th March 2022
