Editor's Desk
Cast your eyes north and learn how not to integrate a region
- Editors Desk
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- Daniel Steinmann
- Hits: 143
The entire Euro economy is held hostage by its smallest member, the puny state of Greece, a contributor of around 2% to the overall cake. Not only has Euroland been hijacked by its smallest member, it has lived with this malaise for the past two years. In the meantime, European equity markets hop up and down like ping pong balls whenever some official claims, a solution has been found, and hijacker responds by saying: That is not so, we first need to consult the rest of the Mafioso.
Put simply, the Greek farce is sentiment driven, and that happens to the detriment of everybody else.
It is understandable that the Greek Parliament is playing for time. It is also understandable that the Greek public keenly plays its own part in this comedy. Everybody with a whisker’s wit in that dim little republic realises the end of the road is nigh.
Read more: Cast your eyes north and learn how not to integrate a region
Another call for the construction of weirs in the Cuvelai Delta
- Editors Desk
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- Daniel Steinmann
- Hits: 181
Climate change is in vogue as the world’s current most pressing problem. That is, if one can overlook, or for the time being, ignore the financial ails besetting Europe and the US. The impact of climate change will be just as dramatic and severe, over the long run, as a meltdown in Euroland.
For the average Namibian, looming defaults in Europe, stagnation and unemployment in the USA, and decelerated growth in China and India, are but a shimmer on the distant horizon. Although we are undeniably affected by what happens in these lands, the notion of a few dollars more, or less, for a carat of diamonds, or a pound of uranium, is not seen as life threatening. To us, it only matters if the mine makes a sufficient profit (or not too big a loss) so that it can continue paying salaries and taxes. How the big enterprises keep their doors open, and how they manage to balance the books, do not keep their average employee awake at night. It is only the CEO and the top management, worried silly over profit, that lies awake wondering why their performance bonuses have evaporated.
Read more: Another call for the construction of weirs in the Cuvelai Delta
Poverty Hunger Disease Violence Ignorance Negligence Decay
- Editors Desk
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- Daniel Steinmann
- Hits: 515
Take your pick from the headline list. These words are frequently used by non-Africans to stereotype Africa. And to bolster this image, the statistics shout just as loud against us. The entire continent, home to almost a billion people, contributes only about 2% to world GDP. So roughly, 17% of the world’s population only manage to add a meagre 2% to its combined economic output every year.
But Africa is an entirely different place to Africans. We the people that live here and are children of this soil know an Africa that is vibrant, progressive, eager, friendly, caring, complex, competent, and most of all, developing at an unprecedented pace.
Why then, are there two starkly conflicting views of exactly the same place?
Read more: Poverty Hunger Disease Violence Ignorance Negligence Decay
If you can't say it at home, just go to Davos
- Editors Desk
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- Daniel Steinmann
- Hits: 352
The five-day World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland drew the usual crowd from the G20 countries spinning their usual fluff on all the ails of the world’s economy and, in some cases, the world’s politics. The media at large gave it extended coverage, also as usual.
But, there were several voices in the mainstream media, criticising the entire event. Some of these were mild but astonishingly, there were several pieces on the WEF severely criticising the meeting, its delegates, its deliberations, and its resolutions.
It seems from the outside, the WEF is nearing its natural death.
What with the existence of the formal G20 platform, various UN agencies, and a host of other international meetings, the WEF has probably become obsolete as a boardroom for the rich and powerful. In the United States, the World Economic Forum has been discredited at grass roots level for many years. What is going on in the minds of the US political establishment I do not know, but I wonder if they have not asked themselves, exactly why do they still bother to attend the Davos meeting. They see the same crowd often enough. For Europe, the same argument applies.
The lack of consensus is a flashing red light signalling uncertainty everywhere
- Editors Desk
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- Daniel Steinmann
- Hits: 451
Next week’s edition is dedicated to forecasts and expectations for this year. This is somewhat a
dangerous undertaking. It is also best not left to the views of a single person mostly due to the pervasive uncertainity of where this year will lead us.
The editorial team is asking those that we deem knowledgeable to present us their views as it relates to their sector or industry. What has transpired so far is that there is a wide spectrum of viewpoints and they are at odds on many crucial economic aspects. Until about two years ago, whenever we polled anything from five to twelve individuals, there was consensus among most. The economy is relatively small and not very complicated. This holds true for both the private and the public sector. Also, as we are such a small population, there is substantial lateral interaction between players in very diverse industries. In short, we talk to each other and we do that often so the level of information available of what’s happening in the other guy’s business, is surprisingly high.
Around the middle of 2010, I was visited by a survey team from the World Bank doing their regular country survey and profiling.
Read more: The lack of consensus is a flashing red light signalling uncertainty everywhere
