Tag: Free Market Foundation

The latest iteration of the NHI Bill has confirmed what South Africans have known for more than a decade: that taxes will need to rise to fund the government’s unworkable and unfeasible NHI scheme. During these dire economic times, the NHI tax will be the final nail in the coffin for cash-strapped consumers struggling to make ends meet.

Labour unions are undoubtedly the biggest obstacle to any positive reform, not because this particular group of individuals is somehow more evil than the rest of us. It is simply a rational response to the particular set of incentives that union bosses are faced with.

Access to more data is vital for economic growth and education. Young people spend more and more time on mobile devices - the fewer regulations and the more competition we have in SA, the more they will be enabled to access a whole universe of educational resources. The government can either aid in empower young people by letting go of control over data, or it can inhibit a real, transformative, empowering process by bumbling from spectrum allocation ‘deadline’ to ‘deadline.’ The choice, and unlimited potential, are clear: massive pressure must be put on government to get radio spectrum allocated.

The people of Africa have been subjected to multiple injustices, slights, and violence. The list of things inflicted on Africans is endless and has no modern equivalent, except for Asia in geographical terms and the Jews in ethnic terms.

A small group of naïve billionaires in the United States are lining up begging for higher taxes on the super rich. I say naïve because they itemise a whole list of problems they imagine can be solved with this additional tax. The whole thing reminds me of the history of foreign aid in Africa.

Will the state policy of social engineering through the centralising of post-school admissions create fertile ground for the growth of quality private education?

President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered his second State of the Nation Address (SONA) on 20 June. The speech was filled with rousing language as well as conciliatory offers to work together with members of the opposition. Unfortunately, no new details of his ostensible reform agenda were released, including details of how his dream for South Africa will come about.

When young Americans grow up, rarely do you hear them being excited about going to study in Europe when they leave school. Why would they be? They have world-class universities and immense opportunities at home. It is not uncommon, however, to speak to young South Africans who are keen to leave this country either for extended periods or indefinitely.

Stats SA’s April Statistics of Liquidations and Insolvencies paint a very grim picture. The number of business liquidations increased by 53.1% between April 2018 and April 2019. The number of insolvencies increased by 30.1% between March 2018 and March 2019.

The latest GDP numbers show that the South African economy declined by 3.2% for the first quarter of 2019. This comes after President Ramaphosa announced a R50 billion stimulus package in September 2018. Since that stimulus followed on a decade of stimulus spending instituted since the 2008 global economic crisis, we must now ask whether Minister Pravin Gordhan’s decision to choose stimulus over austerity was the right one.