Philip Copeman's Blog (75)

My response to Johan Fourie, Economics Lecturer of Stellenbosh University:



We were all disappointed in the firing of South African Finance Minister, Nhlanhla Nene. To date he seems to have done little wrong in handling a really difficult situation that he has inherited. However we do not all share the despair of your blog, "…

 Thomas Piketty, author of Capital in the 21st Century, belatedly lands in South Africa to the rapturous applause of the socialists. Not since Keynes has an economist had such a rapport with the "guardians of the poor". The idea that you can improve the world by taking away resources from the productive and giving it to the non productive, who will then "spend" us to a bright new future, has always had universal appeal to the 99%. Piketty is their 21st Century Poster Boy.…

The Koran, Soldiers of God and Cartoonists

I just spent an interesting few hours reading the Koran - looking for quotes that would set the believer off on quests to destroy cartoonists and deli shoppers. The result brings up quite…

First Law of Capitalism is that Capital compounds cumulatively.



K(t+1) = K(t) *(1+r)



or



K(t+n) = K(t) *(1+r)**n



For example if you start with R 100 and can double it with r = 100%, you will have R 200. If you can do that 10 times you will have over 1000 times the amount you began with.



(1,2,4,8,16,32,64,128,256,…

Arguably this is the best book this year on the South African Economy and is a must read for any Azanian student of the dark art of economics. The Missing Piece is worth the read simply for the revisionist summary of the last 20 years. Anyone that has tried it, knows how difficult it is to collect comprehensive data from multiple sources on the SA economy. Lings integrates the data from a number of public sources and gives us a very clear statistical picture of the changes…

Mala Mala - willing buyer ,willing seller, willing donation?

The Land first, the rest shall follow

As member of the PAC with an above average interest in the Land Issue, I am trying to understand the following analysis of the Mala Mala Land Restitution settlement. Does anyone have any information to…

Stepping stone jobs are jobs like Car Guards, Waiter, Cleaners, Caddies, Personal assistants, seasonal agricultural labor. Talented young people start these jobs very early age and at very bad pay, do them for a few months and them move onto other jobs .(I started doing these jobs when I was 13). These jobs are not so much about earning revenue as about learning the way the employment process works. Be polite to a customers even if they are wrong, always reporting on the outc…

African Democratic Socialism!

Hardly are those words out,

When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi

Troubles my sight -

or in the words of Founder of…

Anyone familiar with the microeconomic concept of marginal analysis, knows that as you increase a fixed factor, the marginal cost of getting the same output keeps increasing. It is no different in politics.



Keep adding money and eventually the price becomes too high. Has that moment arrived for the poor parties?



It is simple to keep buying votes. You just…

Luddites were 19th century artisans who protested against machines taking over employment opportunities. This is not unsimilar to the conditions we find ourselves in today, where employment opportunities are disappearing even as growth continues. This leads to corporate consolidation and the Rollerball Economy is…

Blaming economists for your personal financial predicament is like blaming physicists because you dropped a brick on your foot.



I recently dealt with an unemployed youth who's dispair causes him to blame economists for promoting capitalism. However it is mistaken thinking to believe that economists create the world we live in today. The world economy is created not by economists, not even by capitalists, but simply but the insatiable greed of consumers who seek better and cheaper…

Blaming economists for your personal financial predicament is like blaming physicists because you dropped a brick on your foot.



I recently dealt with an unemployed youth who's dispair causes him to blame economists for promoting capitalism. However it is mistaken thinking to believe that economists create the world we live in today. The world economy is created not by economists, not even by capitalists, but simply but the insatiable greed of consumers who seek better and cheaper…

I often get criticized for supporting the concept of gated communities. The argument is that gated communities create social divisions. However, they undeniably create wealth. I recently got a a whole lot of "let them eat cake" comments when I advanced the need to promote gated communities to create property wealth.

Unless you follow my blogs and get into my writing, I come over initially as heartless and unsympathetic. As someone who favors neo capitalist solutions, I seek…

When thinking of a business or political strategy, the natural inclination is to use and modify campaigns that have already run in the rest of the world. Africa is different. It is difficult to comprehend just how young the population of Africa is, it is easier to think of Africa from the historical perspective of a disadvantaged begging bowl. Yet by shifting economic resources in favor of this demographic distribution lies one of the greatest opportunities…

The study of economics is how we allocate limited resources to satisfy unlimited wants.

Let me explain why I detest the neo liberal position:

In South Africa we have a bloated civil service. At 3.2 Million people, more work for the SA Government than the US Federal Government. We run a deficit of 25% of tax collection. Government workers are pandered by theft from the private sector and theft from the future. This is the inevitable course of classical (worker)…

I grew up in South Africa in a racist dictatorship. I have spent most of my adult life trying to rid ourselves of this scourge. Listening to Home Affairs Minister Naledi Pandor and an experience while helping a client this week, confirmed that we still live in a racist dictatorship.

Immigration into South Africa is…

The idea that "Land has been stolen" and is…

The Poverty of Nations

We rarely hear, it has been said, of the combinations of masters, though frequently of those of workmen. But whoever imagines, upon this account, that masters rarely combine, is as ignorant of the world as of the subject. Masters are always and everywhere in a sort of…

In a trade war, he who shoots first wins, instead South Africa plots visa revenge. Game theory gives us a better way.

For those of you that have not followed this story or those that don't travel…

Any WBS Graduate would stand up with alarm on hearing the recent events surrounding the falling student numbers and management resignations at WBS. The reason? WBS Graduates have much of their Capital tied to the…