Tag: James Peron

On January 24th Minister Stella Ndabeni Abraham proudly told the public, “We have a responsibility to enforce regulatory compliance in the SMME (Small Micro Medium Enterprises) sector and close businesses that are trading illegally.”

Since the start of the pandemic it’s been a relatively awful period in modern human history. No, it’s not quite as deadly as World War II, or quite as destructive, but it’s been destructive none the less. Sadly, the longer it lingers the more damage it will do.

The Washington Post recently ran an opinion piece by Colbert I. King about immigrants to America and the remittances they send back to family and friends in their home countries. Mr. King was speaking of immigrants to the United States but this holds some important lessons for South Africa as well.

Milton Friedman is one of my favourite people, but I must say I found his 'A Friedman doctrine - The Social Responsibility of Business Is To Increase It's Profits' a little disappointing. The title is not the problem. It is the points he makes and the logical leaps he takes.

President Cyril Ramaphosa recently told the World Economic Forum he intended to break up Eskom’s monopoly over energy. Eskom’s reputation, around the world is one of corruption and mismanagement, so something must be done.

In markets there is inequality of wealth because there is inequality of production. Some people produce more than other people. Not all labour is equally valuable. Structural inequality relies on politics. The state may put roadblocks in front of some people in order to benefit others. This sort of economic inequality relies more on political pull than on productivity.

During a long conversation with a friend while driving from shutting up a house in Italy for the winter and heading back to Germany, he asked what I thought about the economics of Christmas. One thing I always try to do is think of things people much smarter than I have said. To do that, I have to figure out the best way of approaching the topic.

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.

Venezuela is proof of the miraculous impact of socialism. They took a prosperous nation and destroyed it almost overnight. That’s a problem for that other socialist paradise - Cuba.

When it comes to land expropriation in South Africa, you can’t help but think, it’s déjà vu all over again. How things went in Zimbabwe, when President Mugabe desperately resorted to a similar policy, is an important warning to consider.