Argentina South Africa
Have you ever met someone who, after getting to know them, you’re left thinking to yourself, “Gawd, it would be good to punch you in the face”?
Well, if that person was a country, it’d be South Africa.
Such a wonderful opportunity, which they’re actively working to destroy, really deserves the worst condemnation. But don’t look to the mainstream media to do that.
On the contrary, in today’s PC-gone-mad-world you point out the obvious and you’ll be hit with more than just a hairy eyeball. Nooo, you’ll have every whacko, banshee shrieking social justice warrior screaming “NAZI! NAZI! RACIST! RACIST!”
Well so be it. Let them shriek. Here goes.
It is said that if you want to know your future look to the past.
That’s an important thing to consider when looking at South Africa and the policies being enacted.
The Land Issue
To understand why land expropriation without compensation threatens to explode the number of bare footed, pot bellied kids with flies on their faces you need to understand the economic value chain.
Last week we looked at our framework for identifying which crisis to buy and which not to buy. In it I alluded to a previous article I wrote on the topic of collateral:
Without collateral there is no trust, and without trust there is no credit, and without credit there is no leverage. And I’m not talking speculative “bet it all on black, sell the schleps another MBS” leverage.
I’m talking leverage of resources. I’ve got a lawnmower, let me mow your lawn, and you’re pretty good at math, so how about you teach my kids some math. That is leverage in its most basic form. It begins with leveraging talent, time, and resources. Africa suffers from many things but a fundamentally and tragically poor system of trust sits at the top and the consequences are that collateral is not created.
Ask yourself why land has any value.
The answer to this lies in what can be produced from the land.
In the case of farming we’re looking at crop yields, type of crops and so forth. In the case of something like commercial real estate or even a single residential house, it’s the utility value of providing shelter and security.
Whatever the asset we look at there is a web of carefully constructed agreements which, when combined, provide a level of trust. The greater that level of trust, the less the risks.
This is one reason why you can pay up to US$10,000 per square foot in Manhattan while the most you’ll be paying in, say, Harare, Zimbabwe will be around US$150 per square foot.
The only reason land and property are considered assets against which an individual’s worth is measured is because they retain value through a legal framework which upholds the right to property ownership.
When South Africa’s ruling party started screwing with the constitution to allow for the taking of land without compensation they began eroding this framework. Currency traders amongst us will know that a currency typically retains or loses its value based on the complex legal, financial, and economic institutions involved in the trading of the currency within that economic system.
Land is no different. In fact, it’s less liquid by nature which brings additional volatility and thus risk. Also, and these dolts in the South Africa’s government fail to realise this, it forms the collateral for a daisy chain of derivatives, including the country’s currency and bond markets.
It’s totally lost on these folks that by attempting to transfer wealth to a certain group in the country, paradoxically, the process by which they seek to do so — a constitutional amendment — will strip land of its value.
It’s like looking at a chocolate cake and saying, “Hang on, the guy who owns it shouldn’t have it, so we’re going to redistribute it with this steam roller. We’ll run over it and then give it to these folks over here.” What’s left of the chocolate cake is now inedible. It has no value.
This process being implemented by the South African government will collapse the very system that allows for any of these assets to have any value at all.
[clickToTweet tweet=”The destructive process underway in South Africa today will collapse the very system that allows for any of the assets in the country to have any value.” quote=”The destructive process underway in South Africa today will collapse the very system that allows for any of the assets in the country to have any value.”]
Now you may be thinking to yourself,“Well, it may not be that bad. After all, they’re just trying to appease a populist movement from an uneducated, illiterate portion of the country, and they’ll not implement it the way you may think.”
And you may be right. But I don’t think so. Indications are it goes deeper, much deeper, and the problems are far more intractable than most would have you believe.
I say this because if we look at what takes place in the universities of the world we’ve a very real indication of some of the trends unfolding. Remember, it was in the belly of the universities in the US that the opposition to the Vietnam war first grew its roots.
Universities have a key role in forming national consciousness and national identity. Always have and likely always will.
Here at our firm we have a number of indicators we keep an eye on which provide some pretty good insights into trends forming and potentially disruptive changes in public opinion, policy, and zeitgeist.
One of these is paying attention to what’s taking place in universities.
And this brings me to South Africa where universities began swinging hard left well over 2 years ago now.
Elections in early 2017 at UCT (University of Cape Town) showed this trend gathering momentum when the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and Pan Africanist Student Movement of Azania (Pasma) swept the board. The ANC-aligned South African Students Congress (Sasco) won just one seat. There was quite literally no conservative and economically capitalist representation at all. Zero. Zilc. Nada. None.
In case you’re unfamiliar with the EFF they’re the “Economic Freedom Front,” a marxist political party headed by this guy.
This is the party who still to this day hail Zimbabwe and Venezuela as the model to follow for a socialist utopia. No really, I’m not making this up.
And yeah, I know there are “luminaries” in the west with mahogany offices who will be brought out onto the MSM to tell you this is actually “positive reform”. And I know it can confuse easily manipulated folks but despite the fact they’ll have a suit and tie on and will be filmed standing in front of a bookcase with very thick and old books they’re actually morons. The lot of them.
But back to Malema.
That his crowd are gaining followers and support in a poor country with a high percentage of uneducated and illiterate people is not surprising. But what should be truly chilling is their rapidly rising support in the universities of the country.
This is where one could have hoped for saner heads to prevail and those who can read to do just that. Read. Read about the complete economic and social train wreck that Marxism brings everywhere it’s been tried, and to then turn around and hammer home a vital message about markets. No luck, though. That’s not happening.
Here’s statements from the two leading student parties referenced above. This from the political commissar for Pasma:
The results in the university are indeed a reflection of the country’s politics. It is not a surprise that Pasma and EFF will be the ones who are leading because general society is moving towards the left and both of these movements can be seen as alternative.
And this from the EFF student chairperson at UCT:
UCT students are beginning to embrace radicalism as an approach that is necessary to effect change, and they are starting to embrace the socialist ideals we carry, which inform our objectives, such as free education and a living wage for workers.
Let me provide you with a recent example.
The University of Cape Town (UCT) is considered one of the country’s top universities. It used to be one of those universities which, when you traveled the world, was recognised in any civilised country and held in high regard. Well, recently a student submitted a dissertation. Below is copied his acknowledgements section:
Acknowledgements
To my mother Nosindiso Mlandu and my cousin sister Ntombizodidi Ndude. Thank you for your support and love. One day the misery we feel under the settler palm shall be return upon them.
To my Advisor Prof Lwazi Lushaba, thank you for the support and the opportunity to continue my studies. May this warm gesture be extended to every black South African who intends furthering their education in the department.
To my friends, particularly Lindokuhle Patiwe and Khululwa Mthi. Thank you for the continues support and love. This thing of university would not be possible without your support comrades.
To my brothers at 8 avenue House, the long nights have finally paid off. Your boy is raising the bar.
To my family in Jozi ndithi “Malifezeke Iphupo Lika Biko”
Lastly, let me thank the Pan African student movement in occupied Azania. Your fight for the total emancipation of Black people will never be forgotten. Izwe Lethu, I Africa!!
ONE SETTLER, ONE BULLET!!
Now, let me first say that if my kids, who are still many years from university education, wrote the above, I’d have clobbered them around the ears and sent them to their rooms for a few hours of English grammar for such poor spelling and appalling grammar.
That this is being presented at a “higher education” level is both indicative of collapsing standards but should also be unforgivable. The student should be ashamed.
But clearly the main issue here is not the lack of obvious grammar or spelling skills. It is the call for genocide of white people in a paper submitted at one of the country’s most “prestigious” universities. If this is not “holy mother of Mary” concerning, then, pray tell, what is?
Turn the tables and for a minute think what would happen should a white student present a dissertation with “one black person, one bullet”. I guarantee you the results would be disastrous. I doubt said person would make it out alive.
So Chris, what then was the response from the university to this racist pig?
Because let’s face it, in a civilized society you’d think that the call for murder based on skin colour would have a student severely reprimanded and promptly expelled while alerting authorities to what is likely a dangerous person to society.
Well, UCT vice-chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng had a different view on things, and this is where white South Africans need to wake the f**k up.
Congratulations. dear son, on completing this paper! I would like to study it at some stage I am proud of you!
Isolated this is not.
Our gig here at Capitalist Exploits is to profit from such folly, so you’d think that the below report, which we put together on South Africa deals with just that.
You’d be wrong, because while we intend to do just that there are some serious issues left unaddressed.
These are issues for the folks who will be living through the repercussions of what looks likely to take place in the country. It is, for this reason, that we put this report together. It is NOT about investment opportunities. It’s about, dare I say it, saving lives.
I realise that may sound bombastic and attention grabbing, and, quite frankly, I really hope that turns out to be the case, but as we say here, hope is not a strategy, and the warning lights are flashing red. Ignoring them is, in our humble opinion, bloody stupid.
Go here to read what we’ve put together and please share this with anyone and everyone you know especially those South Africans who may be sitting there “hoping”.
(No registration required)
-Chris
“Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder.” ― Arnold Toynbee
