We must support policies which tame poverty and unemployment even if they increase inequality. Many people maintain that inequality can always be reduced by making taxes more progressive. But raising taxes for high income earners can result in fewer jobs and more poverty.  Reducing poverty while broadly improving living standards requires increasing productivity. Placing an…Continue reading Thank – don’t tax – the rich

a focus on judging rather than solutions blurs both goals and metrics Today’s young people are programmed to judge. Many older people have been similarly reprogrammed. Going through life with a solution-focused mindset is radically different. Baby boomers grew up in a world where survival pressures had always caused societies to prioritise solutions. Then, with…Continue reading How judging undermines SA

Thirty years ago, the results of our first legitimate election seemed to maximise contentment. This year’s voting could be our last legitimate election and it’s hard to realistically envisage a favourable outcome. It is quite unlikely the ANC will be ‘electorally competitive’ in 2029 without aggressively undermining the basic requirements for achieving a valid election.…Continue reading Should we want an ANC-DA coalition?

Even if investment were to stream into the country, the jobless youth crisis would not be alleviated A recent analysis by German engineers outlined how Eskom’s dysfunctional management structures diverge sharply from international norms. Meanwhile, multitudes of well-supported accusations of incompetence and corruption distract us from unpacking why our political economy is a stark international…Continue reading Why it suits the ANC that the SA economy scorns global norms

Great ape troops rarely exceed a few dozen before conflicts provoke departures. Humans are chatty great apes motivated to align broadly by security and economic benefits. As the Cold War ended, technological advances teamed with economic forces to deliver extraordinary global communication and supply chain networks. Poverty plunged far faster than was thought possible. However,…Continue reading How not to programme humans, Google versus Goodall

Poverty alleviation requires afflicted countries to add value to exports to wealthy countries, instead of prioritising inequality Grievances should constructively inform politics, as fresh options to better align interests flourish alongside today’s highly disruptive changes. Instead, grievances are routinely exploited to stoke political divisions.  While oppression has always featured, our ancestors were threatened more by…Continue reading SA’s problems and solutions lie beyond identity politics

We can’t know how many of our unemployed young adults will be permanently marginalised – yet six out of ten of our 15 to 24-year-old jobseekers are routinely rejected. As it could dismantle a nation’s social cohesion, most governments would treat a youth unemployment crisis half as severe as ours as an existential emergency. Compare…Continue reading Job-creation realities

We are conditioned to be scrutinised by people. Algorithms teaching themselves to second guess us will be an abrupt break with the past. AI has arrived just in time. This era will soon be harshly graded. Despite a concerted power play among elites at various western universities and news organisations to sabotage institutions and traditions…Continue reading How will this era be graded?

When considering South Africa’s motivations for accusing Israel of genocide at the International Court of Justice, we should contemplate the electoral implications of ANC policies permanently marginalising most of our young adults. Have ANC leaders concluded that their hold on power will not survive legitimate elections in 2029? Does this explain their aligning themselves with…Continue reading ANC’s motivation to accuse Israel

The world’s many smartphones can accurately and continuously share their locations. But can South Africans, or those in other lands, make sense of this country’s economic positioning? While holding a globe, it is easy to locate South Africa and to see that no country is as distant from a top-three economy, the US, China or…Continue reading Are we lost? GDP versus GPS