Another Monetary Policy Committee meeting, another interest rate hike. The sixth in a row. Clearly something has really spooked the good folk of the committee. The repo rate now stands at 6.25%pa, just 50 basis points below the level we were getting used to when China sort of announced that the cat may have been let out of the bag as far respiratory disease infections go. Our omniscient MPC duly knee jerked the rate all the way down to 3.5%pa and no one can even today say for sure how that helped. We seem to be in a pretty bad place anyway.
Or maybe not. President Biden’s throw away declaration this week that the covid pandemic was over, apparently based on his observation that “everyone seemed to be doing fine” was welcome as well as startling. The truth is that at any given time in the past two years mostly everyone was indeed doing fine! But that did not prevent our leaders from conducting internationally co-ordinated social experiments on just how compliant and obedient citizens could become. Joe’s remark was therefore a surprise and drenched in irony and conflicts with the fact that his government has not relaxed any of the public health guidelines and regulations relating to Covid. There are, however, midterm elections looming and Joe is frantically managing public awareness about all kinds of public concerns. There’s nothing to be gained from reminding voters how devastating to the economy the government’s handling of the pandemic turned out to be.
Just in case anyone forgets our own official responses to the virus included periods when sales of tobacco and alcohol were enforced. This measure had of course no basis other than to demonstrate ministerial powers and was the brain child of Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma who, terrifyingly, is being touted as a strong candidate in our own mid-term elections to select a leader for the ruling party. The suspicion that she personally benefitted enormously from the subsequent black markets in these products has not yet been quashed.
Eskom must be nearly unique among organisations in that it is using a huge price increase of its product to cover the revenue shortfall caused by not having enough product to sell. Contrast that with military and ceremonial outfitters in the UK. 4 billion of we proles watched transfixed as a cast of tens of thousands on stages all across that soggy island displayed a never-ending variety, number and styles of uniforms, costumes and props that had obviously been waiting for moment when the Brits had very sadly to bury a monarch. King Charles III himself had days when he appeared to change his outfit almost half a dozen times. Forget about technology folks. The new big thing is the rag trade. And trinkets and badges to pin on them. It was indeed a never to be repeated spectacle. Sad but unique and amazing.
It’s a long time since Kings Park was a sell-out, as it is for the test against the Argentinians tomorrow. This is something of a surprise, especially among long time season ticket holders at the Shark Tank who in protest at the way they were treated in the covid years did not renew their tickets this year. And now will have to watch from home. The ‘boks have a slight chance of claiming the Rugby Championship trophy for 2022 if they win by a sufficient margin. The emergence these days of the Touch Judges as vocal and powerful components of rugby needs to be treated with caution. It immediately increases by 200%. the possibility of there being a biased or false call. And it results in lengthy on field conferences which are dreadful. Except for egregious incidents of deliberate attempts to harm the opposition these guys (and girls) should stick to identifying where the ball goes over the line! People like me who don’t bet on sports outcomes are obviously not the fans being targeted by the promotors of the ever-increasing number and formats of many sports which require players to chase a ball. The explosion in the numbers of advertisements for and sponsoring deals by betting shops confirms how far out of touch I am with public demand. Curmudgeons however are increasingly wary.
James Greener
Friday 23rd September 2022
