Fodder - A blog from the heart of zaLand

Mgoqi – go home

I supported Mgoqi in his court defense of his extended contract as while it may have been all sorts of things it was still a legal contract and as such only a court of law could decide on it.

However he has now lost and been refused the right to appeal (as his lawyers had nothing new to add). Yet now he wants to go to the Constitutional Court! Hopefully they will tell him exactly were to get off.

In short the fat lady has sung and it is time for him to move on.

The global economy

A transcript of an excellent speech by Clyde Harrison looking at the challenges facing the global economy and how things get fudged.

Invasion mistakes

Washington DC (BBC) -- UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George W Bush have made a stark public acknowledgement that they made mistakes in Iraq.

They don't actually admit much but at least they are starting to face reality. Boldly claiming that the Iraqi invasion was all perfect just made them both look like fools.

More US madness

Washington DC (BUSINESS WEEK) -- President George W. Bush has bestowed on his intelligence czar, John Negroponte, broad authority, in the name of national security, to excuse publicly traded companies from their usual accounting and securities-disclosure obligations.

In other words when I am investing in a US company the information I have may not be complete!

In other words I am investing blind!

Personally the point is moot as we haven't invested in the US for a number of years, and now we won't be investing there until they respect financial disclosure.

However the concern is that is just another step in the war on terror that is slowly reducing America to a country that only respects certain rules – the ones that authorities think are not a threat to security. Now security is desirable – but at what stage do people starting asking about the price of that security? First it was detention without trial, then torture, then phone tapping and now companies can do as they wish in the name of security!

Of course the real irony is that this story broke two days before the Enron duo were convicted and Deputy US Attorney General Paul McNulty commented "Lay, Skilling and their numerous co-conspirators perpetrated an elaborate scheme to mislead analysts and investors about Enron's true financial picture.”

Well bad news for the Deputy US Attorney General -  misleading analysts and investors is all about the war on terror.

Zuma biography

This isn't confirmed but my source is very good.

Fred Khumalo has written a, soon to be published, biography on Jacob Zuma.

Khumalo writes a weekly op-ed for the Sunday Times and has recently published his autobiography - Touch my Blood.

Market talk is cheap

The local market (Top 40 or J200) has seen a bout of selling over the last three days closing on Tuesday some 6% off the all time high that was seen last Thursday.

Yet suddenly market commentators are talking about how cheap the market is and the huge discounts you can now get if you buy at the levels. Absolutely crap.

The market closed yesterday at the same level as 11 April 2006 and nobody was calling our market cheap back then. In fact many were saying that things were looking expensive. Further a 6% sell off in three days considering that the market has moved up almost 25% since early March 2006 is hardly a discount.

So as per normal market commentators are talking their book and trying to drum up business by being irresponsible and talking crap. It is no wonder that the person in the street is generally confused and doesn't trust investment guru's.

---

UPDATE: Apologies, the last paragraph got lost when I uploaded this entry. It basically said we have more downside, at least 4% maybe as much as 10%.

Debunking 9/11 conspiracy theories

I am a great fan of conspiracy theories. I seldom (in fact probably never) believe them, but they are great fun and the people who push them are so passionate about them. Of course it is no surprise that 9/11 has generated huge numbers of  conspiracy theories mostly revolving around the US government being involved (albeit some have blamed aliens!).

Recently a website (loosechange911.com) has been pushing the latest conspiracy theory that says it was never American Airlines Flight 77 that smashed into the Pentagon.

Then yesterday the US Justice Department handed over surveillance tapes showing that it was most certainly a commercial airliner smashing into the Pentagon.

Of course the reality is that hard core conspiracy theorists are not going to be convinced by some grainy surveillance tape because of course the US government could doctor anything anyway they liked. But at least it will silence some of the crazies, perhaps?

Banks insist on their right to screw the consumer

JOHANNESBURG (Business report) -- South African banks, under pressure to lower their charges, will probably use higher lending rates to compensate for lower transaction fees, according to FirstRand chief executive Paul Harris.

So basically the banks are saying that if the competition commission does find serious over charging the banks will protect their profits by raising rates.

Bottom line - banks have every intention of continuing to screw the consumer every way they can.

Bush, squashing civil liberties

My inbox has been somewhat flooded with people asking why no comment from me on the latest attack on civil liberties in the US. Bush secretly collecting the domestic telephone records of millions of U.S. households and businesses.

Well frankly with a man with an approval rating barely above 30% who has squashed more civil liberties then one can count (NSA taps, torture, Guantanamo Bay etc.) why is anybody surprised? What is surprising that Americans are allowing this to happen (albeit with his currently approval rating maybe that’s not completely correct).

Zuma gets his positions back

The ANC announced this afternoon that Zuma would be taking up all his positions within the ANC that he had given up when charged with rape. I have to be honest - I am disappointed by this, but I understand the logic.

Zuma was democratically elected to those positions, when charged with rape he stepped aside. Now that he has been acquitted of rape he gets those positions back. The fact that much from his rape trial showed him to be unsuitable to be the leader of a one man band is neither here nor there. His ability to be a leader is not up the the NEC to decide, that's for the grass root voters at the next ANC conference in December 2007.

Of course this ignores the fact that he is facing corruption charges with the trial starting in Jul 2006.