economics | Terry Bell Writes

Browsing All posts tagged under »economics«

Thuma Mina (send me): to Geneva?

June 14, 2019

At a time when belt tightening is called for and greater austerity looms, South Africa arrives at the International Labour Organisation's 100th birthday bash, with one of the largest delegations. Now there are calls for the public to be given a cost/benefit analysis of what seems to be an expensive junket paid for by working people through one o other means.

A new dawn — or an impending storm

May 31, 2019

It was obvious from the first announcement last year about South Africa's minimum wage levels that they probably signalled storm clouds rather than any pale rays of a new dawn. However it is not only to the labour front that the purveyors of a promised new dawn  should pay close heed.

SA elections – a cry for a real alternative

May 17, 2019

Last week, if nothing else, most workers, employed and unemployed, showed that they are not gullible voting fodder; that they are dissatisfied with what is on offer in the parliamentary dispensation. This applied particularly to those in that important adult age bracket of 18 to 30. Most South Africans are probably more than ready for an alternative political dispensation

Time to shun the financial kakistocracy

April 9, 2019

Institutions such as the World Bank, IMF, the ratings agencies and such private influence peddlers such as the World Economic Forum are often seen as a global financial aristocracy. A more correct term would be kakistocracy since the solutions they offer merely compound the problems created by the system they exist to support.

A citizens’ path to true democrcy

February 2, 2019

Without democratic control over, and the right to recall, elected representatives — these being the “basics” early anti-apartheid unions strove for — the corrupting and monied minorities will continue to have a relatively free hand in manipulating and controlling society.

Davos & the spectre of populism

January 26, 2019

Populism was a spectre haunting the super rich when they met in Davos, Switzerland. this past week. But while this emergence of nationalist, protectionist sentiment does pose a threat to global corporations, it does not threaten the system based on competition and the exploitation of labour. It also carries with it the poison of zenophobia.

As SA elections loom: a call for clarity & organisation

January 13, 2019

It's swings and roundabouts for the workers of the world, with the overall trajectory being fewer jobs and lower pay. This is the reality as the World Bank claims — citing China and India as prime examples — that global poverty is declining; the implication being that the economic system is working. It is not and it is, in fact, becoming increasingly destructive.