Chasing the Dots

For decades Africa, the whipping boy for the North, has been vilified as corrupt and incompetent with nonexistent “governance” abilities.

In short, Africa is deemed incapable of running its own affairs. Sure, this is true in some countries! But now we are seeing reality exposed.Those who have criticised and plagued us with evangelical development consultants, experts and conditionality have screwed up big time; guilty of the failures that we are accused.Tables are turned, may they enjoy their depression.I landed at London City Airport at end August, adjacent to that Mecca of the financial world, just before financial Ebola set in.Its opulence and arrogance in full swing.The media priority? Chip operated cat flaps and electric shocks from plastic grass.But internal pressure was building.The fun was about to begin.Northern Rock and Bear Stearns cop-outs were distant memories in transient social memory.Then blood started squirting from orifices and in mid-September, Lehman Brothers went belly up; the start of spectacular mega billion failures and bail-outs.Political leaders and City dudes sprang to defend their greed and exposed inability to act.It quickly became obvious that the crashing house prices, their debt instruments and excessive credit creation, spawned in the US, had created an uncontrollable monster; at least they realised this.This led to “confidence-building” campaigns, multilateral meetings seething with bonhomme; parades of financial experts, retired bankers and economists – the architects and colluders in the apocalypse; and the miraculous appearance of trillions of dollars of taxpayers’ money.The problem was no one knew how much was owed, by whom, to whom and when; and still don’t.The press slowly escalated the market rhetoric: an adjustment, a correction, a sell-off, a meltdown, and yet to come, a bloodbath.The word “recession” was avoided through definitional mumbo jumbo; “depression” was squashed by the editors.Then the blame game came.The consumer had decided to cease discretionary spending as they knew the game was up! The “real economy” kicked in.Back on planet Earth the real impact is becoming obvious.The wise – who listened to their financial advisers and wise bankers, acted responsibly and saved, lost half their money.The irresponsible get bailed out.Falling customer demand and loss of credit mean job losses, human misery, social instability and rising criminality.Parallels to the 1929 market crash are irrefutable, as is the fallout.Survival is a basic instinct.Where are we now? Money velocity is near zero as banks corral their “assets” to pay off unknown future liabilities.The “Combined Code on Corporate Governance” and Cadbury, Hampel and King with their Audit and Risk Committees have failed to improve the quality and effectiveness of Boards of Directors who are guilty of gross negligence.Jail should revive governance.That “globalisation” in an ever-growing market benefits many, a slowdown forces national priority up the agenda and makes mockery of “co-operative and coordinated action”, a fatal flaw.The conjoining of mortgage, insurance, credit agencies, retail banking with investment banking may have seemed efficient but the loss of firewalls between operations removed traditional safeguards – marketing and short-termism ruled over sound heads.Regulation from outside is discredited; the new style will be equity participation and people’s representatives on boards of directors (limited tenure) in key businesses.Politics and democracy have failed the proletariat! Greed, soapies and reality shows have induced apathy on the unsustainable road to continuous growth.The return to realistic price to earnings ratios, tangible assets, un-engineered company accounts, 60% off stock markets and 40% off house prices, will signal recovery.Marx predicted “the bourgeoisie would forge the weapons that bring death to itself” (Manifesto).The body remains alive; the post-mortem is in process.Namibia be warned.The political indecision , duplicity and intolerance, the ignorance, arrogance and greed are visible here.Black Hummers with personal number plates are indicative.act now.The world has a bumpy ride ahead.csmith@mweb.com.naSure, this is true in some countries! But now we are seeing reality exposed.Those who have criticised and plagued us with evangelical development consultants, experts and conditionality have screwed up big time; guilty of the failures that we are accused.Tables are turned, may they enjoy their depression.I landed at London City Airport at end August, adjacent to that Mecca of the financial world, just before financial Ebola set in.Its opulence and arrogance in full swing.The media priority? Chip operated cat flaps and electric shocks from plastic grass.But internal pressure was building.The fun was about to begin.Northern Rock and Bear Stearns cop-outs were distant memories in transient social memory.Then blood started squirting from orifices and in mid-September, Lehman Brothers went belly up; the start of spectacular mega billion failures and bail-outs.Political leaders and City dudes sprang to defend their greed and exposed inability to act.It quickly became obvious that the crashing house prices, their debt instruments and excessive credit creation, spawned in the US, had created an uncontrollable monster; at least they realised this.This led to “confidence-building” campaigns, multilateral meetings seething with bonhomme; parades of financial experts, retired bankers and economists – the architects and colluders in the apocalypse; and the miraculous appearance of trillions of dollars of taxpayers’ money.The problem was no one knew how much was owed, by whom, to whom and when; and still don’t.The press slowly escalated the market rhetoric: an adjustment, a correction, a sell-off, a meltdown, and yet to come, a bloodbath.The word “recession” was avoided through definitional mumbo jumbo; “depression” was squashed by the editors.Then the blame game came.The consumer had decided to cease discretionary spending as they knew the game was up! The “real economy” kicked in. Back on planet Earth the real impact is becoming obvious.The wise – who listened to their financial advisers and wise bankers, acted responsibly and saved, lost half their money.The irresponsible get bailed out.Falling customer demand and loss of credit mean job losses, human misery, social instability and rising criminality.Parallels to the 1929 market crash are irrefutable, as is the fallout.Survival is a basic instinct.Where are we now? Money velocity is near zero as banks corral their “assets” to pay off unknown future liabilities.The “Combined Code on Corporate Governance” and Cadbury, Hampel and King with their Audit and Risk Committees have failed to improve the quality and effectiveness of Boards of Directors who are guilty of gross negligence.Jail should revive governance.That “globalisation” in an ever-growing market benefits many, a slowdown forces national priority up the agenda and makes mockery of “co-operative and coordinated action”, a fatal flaw.The conjoining of mortgage, insurance, credit agencies, retail banking with investment banking may have seemed efficient but the loss of firewalls between operations removed traditional safeguards – marketing and short-termism ruled over sound heads.Regulation from outside is discredited; the new style will be equity participation and people’s representatives on boards of directors (limited tenure) in key businesses.Politics and democracy have failed the proletariat! Greed, soapies and reality shows have induced apathy on the unsustainable road to continuous growth.The return to realistic price to earnings ratios, tangible assets, un-engineered company accounts, 60% off stock markets and 40% off house prices, will signal recovery.Marx predicted “the bourgeoisie would forge the weapons that bring death to itself” (Manifesto).The body remains alive; the post-mortem is in process. Namibia be warned.The political indecision , duplicity and intolerance, the ignorance, arrogance and greed are visible here.Black Hummers with personal number plates are indicative.act now.The world has a bumpy ride ahead.csmith@mweb.com.na