The unexpected convergence of the three big currencies (USD,EUR & GBP) to near parity with each other has made our lives down here just a little bit easier. Just multiply the foreign price by 20 (for the innumerate, double and add a zero!) and that’s about what it’s going to cost in rands. Now all we need is for our leaders to do clever and sensible stuff and pretty soon the magic multiplier could be 10! Unfortunately though, like many elections all over the world recently, our own contest for the presidency of the ruling party and therefor the nation, is squeezing some wholly unsavory characters from the rotting woodwork. If nepotism were a sport at the Olympics we would probably score highly. There are brothers and sisters in law by the Bentley full.
A very strange development is filling the channels of social media (i.e. internet messages exchanged by over-excited self-important but largely clueless interlocutors). Some of those who were calling for the total defenestration (or at least “cancellation”) of anyone who dared question the popular narrative about the covid infection in the past 2 years are now apologising and seeking forgiveness. Say what? Are there people now granting absolution via their optic fiber connections? It is getting more bizarre by the day,
Recall that the US Federal Reserve led most central banks in cutting key interest rates to almost zero as a gesture of compassion to those suffering financial hardship arising inevitably from the actions of other branches of leadership. Think “lockdown”. This never seemed to work on the progress of the infection at any rate and so this year the Fed has been hard at work cranking the rates all the way back up. This week we saw another rise of 75 basis points to 4.0%pa. That a 1500% increase in the cost of this sort of financing since March. Definitely not business friendly!
It is both entertaining and alarming watching the USA preparing for an important election. Firstly, that nation seems to be forever going to the polls as the 4-year political cycle is rather short. But I suppose if you are a wealthy country it doesn’t matter if the electorate spend lots of time bickering and electioneering. However, for all their wittering about democracy and warning each other that the imminent election is bound to be rigged (or at least, will deliver unexpected or unpalatable outcomes for the commentator of the moment ) it seems we could teach the Americans a little about holding elections.
Firstly we have a voters roll which is a simple list of everyone who has bothered to go and register to be a voter. This list imposes a reasonably fair eligibility filter and a count of how many people may be expected to vote. A further sort by geographical region is also now possible, and can be used to specify who may vote where. Absentee and postal votes are strongly discouraged and should not in total achieve a level where they can reverse the outcome revealed by the ordinary walk-in votes.
The polling station process is also simple. The voter presents ID and in return has their name ticked off the voters roll and receives the appropriate ballot papers. Voting consists of making a mark in secret on that ballot paper and dropping it into a ballot box. After the polls close, the boxes are opened and sorting and counting of the individual ballot papers takes place under the watchful eye of multiple scrutineers. Spoilt papers are identified and discarded. The outcome is simply a list of number of votes cast for each candidate . The total number of votes cast and counted should never exceed the number of voters who appeared at the polling station.. The election is now complete . Not a whisper about a malfunctioning or rigged voting machine. Not a single hanging chad.
This very simple process, which now seems obvious even to us South Africans despite our embarrassing past, strangely, seems to baffle the Americans. The seem to expect and demand complexity and controversy. And have constructed a system that richly rewards that expectation. Tidemarks forecasts that this time next week lawyers will be looking for beach front property.
James Greener
Friday 4th November 2022.
