The prices of most industrial commodities
continue to plummet sharply and the companies that make a living from
extracting them from the earth are having a very tough time. The problem with
trying to call a bottom is that Chinese demand is the key factor and we are
learning (although we should probably have guessed) that even if they know the
facts themselves, they are not telling anyone else the truth. The JSE All Share
index is holding up rather well and that is because mining shares nowadays are
making their smallest ever contribution to the overall index.. Smokes and beer
are numbers one and two!
Yet again the proceedings at the National
Assembly deteriorated into near chaos and demonstrated that this is now a
meaningless body in the governance of the country. Ministers and bureaucrats
have taken over the business and dictate how things will be done. For example
it has emerged that the president was unaware that one of his cabinet had
simply withdrawn the operating licence from a mine whose labour policies
displeased him.
There is now a well-worn path to the
courts from the boardrooms and executive suites of almost every state owned
enterprise as a procession of indignant malcontents seek compensation for their
alleged unfair dismissal. If it wasn’t for this case load of aggrieved tax
eaters the judges would have more time to attend to real crimes. The added
insult is that it is the taxpayers who fund the defence of the claims of the
almost always over-compensated departing employee. The nation is getting very
little value for a great deal of its spending.
Socialists believe that they have the
skills to allocate resources. One of their favourite interventions is land
ownership. The most recent report from the state body charged with this task,
however, is that many beneficiaries are now asking for the money instead of the
real estate. Frankly, owning land in some places and circumstances is not
always attractive and this decision is understandable but also it signals that
it is time to bring this land claim program to an end.
Apparently if you know how and presumably
have a suitable internet connection it is possible to watch the TV coverage of
sports events for free. Without making too much of a moral judgment on this
practice it is worth joining a few dots here. TV rights paid to sporting bodies
are a very significant reason why a few athletes and administrators are super
rich. But are we now about to see the next industry to be hollowed out by the
inexorable power and reach of the internet? Taxi drivers, musicians and bond
analysts have all had their lunch stolen by this monster. Why not ball-kickers?
So apparently just about every Olympic
medal winner has probably made use of chemical help at some stage in their
career. Oddly, the people that seem most worried about this are the commercial
sponsors who fret about the damage that could do to their reputations. And of
course those competitors who are “clean” also have a gripe. Fans are seemingly
not that fussed as long as the contest is exciting and punters presumably are
placing bets on who has the better pharmacist! Yesterday’s dismissal of the
Australians for 60 runs before lunch on the 1st day of the Test
makes one wonder if someone mixed up the potions and handed out the dozy pills
to the lads under the “baggy greens”. Fans of the ‘bokke have long known that
the coach of the day is smoking his socks and making crazy selections and
substitutions. We had better wallop the Argies at Kings Park
tomorrow or else save a ton of money and cancel the tickets for the World Cup.
James Greener
7th August 2015 (happy 40th
birthday Charlize Theron)
