The US Federal government has been forced to shut down non-essential services and furlough around one third of its employees as of 1 October 2013. The partisan infighting in the US Congress means that once again it has failed to pass a formal annual budget, legally requiring a mass shutdown of government services until the [...]
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The SARB and Reforming the Structure of the Economy
By Gareth B In recent months, SARB Governor Marcus has become more outspoken regarding the need for more action to be taken with regards to structural reforms, typically meaning action governmental policymakers should take to enhance the growth and employment prospects of the economy through legislative reforms. Back in June of this year, the Governor [...]
An Open Letter to the Minister of Economic Development from 2010
The following is an open letter addressed to the then- Minister of Economic Development for South Africa, Ebrahim Patel, written by IFP MP Mario GR Oriani-Ambrosini. The letter was written in 2010, and covers the problems of, and potential ways to reform, the fractional reserve banking system in South Africa. This letter is presented for the sake [...]
Bitcoin: Humble Harbinger of Monetary Revolution?
By Gareth B The prodigious frenzy of speculation in digital currency Bitcoin has taken the financial press by storm in recent weeks. Much has been written on whether the currency, and the decentralized network crucial for its production and transference, could ever become widely understood and broadly used enough to ever qualify the quaint digital [...]
The Failure of BEE in Five Steps
By Piet le Roux Supporters of Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) argue that BEE promotes economic development, reduced inequality, social upliftment and other good causes. Actually, over the last decade, since the adoption of the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Bill in 2003, the true main goal of BEE was the redistribution of capital according to artificial, [...]