At least that’s the conclusion of a rationale that argues the practice of marking the value of investments held by companies to market values in financial statements might have exacerbated the current financial crisis. One where investors had to keep marking the declining investments they held down in value to match the market values, whereupon [...]
I’ve come a conclusion: too many people’s egos are bigger than their capacity for rational thought while proper technical understanding and conservative action have been cast aside by smooth talking and the thrill of irrational risk taking recently. This also comes from those with too much leeway over other people’s money and who shout the [...]
Friday saw the first of three debates between McCain and Obama (and next week’s debate with the deputies of each), covering the current financial crisis, Iraq and Afghanistan, Russia and general International Relations. Overall I’d have to say that McCain thoroughly defeated Obama on all but the first topic, in which they were both evenly [...]
Economics alone sometimes cannot solve problems that exist outside of its domain. Unfortunately it appears that many of Zuma’s left wing supporters on the ground are making two mistakes in this regard: one by first believing it can and then another by believing that the hoped for return of an almost 19th century-like form of [...]
This isn’t good. With him go 13 others including Lekota, Didiza and Jabu Moleketi, the man being groomed as his successor.
Johannesburg – Finance Minister Trevor Manuel is among 11 Cabinet ministers and three deputy ministers who have resigned.
Their letters of resignation had been received by President Thabo Mbeki “which, regretfully, he has had to accept”, [...]
The primary crime of Iraq is the fact that it floats on oil. Because we are endowed with several rich minerals, if we don’t stop this unilateral action against Iraq today, tomorrow they will come for us. – ANC deputy-president Kgalema Motlanthe at a march against the looming US-led war on Iraq in 2003.
Motlanthe [...]
I find it bitterly ironic that everytime I go to the Drakensburg, something big happens in our political world. When I left last time, it was March 2003 and coalition troops had just started their invasion of Iraq. Instead of sitting by the TV watching embeds duck for cover in the desert, I was in [...]
It was a sad day for local investigative journalism on Saturday. Deon Basson, one of my favourite journalists, died suddenly.
The last interview with him on his thoughts on journalism is also especially insightful. No doubt Naspers lack of support for him in his defence against Sharemax didn’t help.
I’ll refrain from making some statements about the world we live in post 9/11 and that the much-bandied word ‘freedom’ isn’t ‘free’ and instead suggest that today, if only for today, whether you hate America or respect it, whether you want to see George Bush replaced with Nancy Pelosi or you want to bomb Iran [...]
Today is actually significant. On some level man’s technological capability in the frontier sciences of physics has increased significantly with the inauguration of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). But while I’ll leave Wikipedia and the journalists covering it to explain its significance two groups of negative reactions to it have caught my attention. One coming [...]
Silvio Berlusconi and Muammar Gaddafi have little in common, save perhaps their shared reputation for eccentricity. Last weekend, however, both revealed themselves to be masters of political theatre. Signing a $5 billion “reparations package? for Italian colonialism, the pair lavished praise on the document and each other. Berlusconi described the deal as “a complete and [...]
It would appear the major ‘thing’ to wear in Johannesburg these days is a Palestinian-styled Shemagh, or traditional black and white scarf as popularised by the late Yasir Arafat. What was initially a very distinct symbol of the Palestinian struggle has now been reduced to a simple fashion fad. Unlike the Che shirts, this is [...]
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RvdW on Some Michael-Related Perspective
[L]ocal viewpoints on local/international affairs. That they aren't brain-dead like most local self-confessed 'intellectuals' is a bonus.
- Fifteen Minutes
[I'm] glad to report the arrival of a new blog written by a couple of 'conservative-libertarian' South Africans. Commentary is both well written and prolific and very much worth a visit.
- Southern Cross
[A] great new South African blog. Commentary.co.za brings us libertarian views on South Africa...
- Way South
Probably the busiest (in terms of number of postings) blog is Commentary... They write on everything from politics, sport, time travel and more.
- Fodder
Commentary.co.za is a fantastically well-written site with an indepth insight into South African politics. If you want the lowdown on what's happening in the corridors of power, this is the place to read it. These guys know their stuff.
- Cherryflava
Pompous, geeky and holier-than-thou.
- Gabbahead
