Category Archives: Resource Based Economy

News - National | 2017-06-27Page no: 1 byShinovene Immanuel

Finance minister Calle Schlettwein

OVER 1 380 finance ministry officials will be required to reapply for their jobs when the proposed state-owned Namibia Revenue Agency is formed.

Finance minister Calle Schlettwein tabled the Namibia Revenue Agency Bill 2017 to pave the way for the creation of the independent agency which will assess and collect taxes.

The agency will not only extract the largest part of the finance ministry's workforce, but a proposed law tabled last week suggests that the new parastatal should be allowed to attract experts by paying more than what other civil servants currently earn.

When he tabled the proposed bill in the National Assembly last week, Schlettwein said 730 officials from the Inland Revenue department and 650 from the directorate of customs will have to reapply for their jobs when the new agency opens next year.

According to Schlettwein, the two departments make up 79% of the total staff at the finance ministry.

Schlettwein told The Namibian yesterday that the finance ministry has a total workforce of 1 740, but the two departments have up to 1 380 workers.

To further avoid compromising on the skills needed for the agency, there will be no automatic transfer of existing staff of the departments of Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise to the new institution, the minister stated.

However, finance officials will be offered the first opportunity to apply and compete for jobs offered at the new agency before the platform is opened up to the public, he said.

As such, arrangements will be made to ensure that the selection process is transparent and adheres to best practices, Schlettwein added.

According to the minister, officials at the finance ministry who fail to get jobs at the new tax agency will be offered positions elsewhere in government, as stipulated in the Public Service Act.

He said some officials at the agency will also be highly paid in order to attract the best talent.

The agency will be exempted from the public service rules and public enterprises remuneration guidelines, he noted.

The 2017/18 budget documents indicate that the finance ministry will spend N$28 million on salaries and other benefits. Schlettwein said the new parastatal will start working next year at a date yet to be announced, adding that there is a need to manage the transition process well to avoid making costly mistakes.

He said for now, a finance ministry and revenue agency task team will finalise the transitional aspects for the establishment of the agency.

This entails further consultations on the operational modalities, the determination of the recruitment process, and proposals for the draft internal policies of the new institution in preparation for the recruitment of the board and senior management of the agency, Schlettwein stated.

The minister said one of the functions of setting up a highly-paying tax body is to catch companies and individuals who are taking advantage of loopholes to avoid paying taxes.

We are a resource-based economy, which comes with the potential for illicit financial flows, transfer pricing, profit shifting and other base-eroding tax planning activities, he said.

Illicit financial flows involve money illegally earned, transferred or used which crosses national borders. Culprits are usually multinational companies and criminals.

The minister said tackling illicit financial flows will require specialised skills, which could not be optimised in the public service due to a lack of skills.

Tackling illicit financial flows will give President Hage Geingob's administration plaudits for tackling corporate and financial cheating.

The real impact of illicit financial flows on Namibia is currently not known, as the government continues to rely on international statistics when commenting on the subject.

For instance, the United States-based think tank, Global Financial Integrity, said in its 2012 report that Namibia lost around N$5,6 billion per year to illegal activities between 2001 to 2010.

The Namibia Revenue Agency will be run by a seven-member board on a three-year term. The board members will be appointed by the minister from experts selected from state entities, such as the permanent secretary from the finance ministry, the commissioner, and five members who will be appointed based on areas of expertise such as taxation, law, auditing and human resources.

A commissioner will be appointed as the chief executive for five years. The chief executive can only serve for a maximum two terms (10 years), but his/her second-term appointment should be based on excellence in performance, and at the discretion of the finance minister.

Labour expert Herbert Jauch told The Namibian yesterday that the government will have to renegotiate with the trade unions to which those officials whose working conditions are set to be changed, belong. He said there was a similar case several years ago when officials from the ministry of works were told to join the Roads Authority.

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Finance officials to reapply for jobs - Namibian

Economics professor Gregg Davis wasnt always interested in economics, though his interest in natural resources began at an early age. In high school, Davis got a job working in a landscape nursery and fell in love with working in nature.

I loved working with living things, he said.

A Columbus, Ohio native, Davis was the son of a stay-at-home mom and the president of a publishing company. Seeking to further explore his love for nature, Davis began looking at forestry programs when he discovered the University of Montana.

He started school in the early 70s to study to become a forester, but he only lasted a few quarters in the program before he realized that, despite his love for nature, forestry wasnt the right fit.

From that point on, he dabbled around in everything, he said. Taking courses in one program and then another, he majored in about every discipline there was.

He eventually landed on anthropology as he was finishing his bachelors degree, though an interest in economics is what brought him back the following fall to attend the graduate program.

During the Carter Administration, Davis worked for a health systems agency in Helena. Five years into the position, it became apparent that the agency was at risk of losing its funding. Davis decided that it would be a good time to pursue a doctorate degree. He was accepted to West Virginia University with a generous research apprenticeship to study mineral resource economics.

Davis worked in varying professorship positions in Illinois, Louisiana and West Virginia he even did a five-week teaching program in Hong Kong between positions. While teaching, he continued to work on his dissertation, which was on the effects of natural resource extraction. Davis found that when natural resources are exploited and leave the region they originated in, the money, too, leaves the region, and the value added occurs elsewhere.

The John Hopkins University Press picked up his dissertation, which eventually led to the publishing of a book with a forward by Wassily Leontief, one of the kingpins of input-output economics.

After spending five years in West Virginia, a friend told him about a position available at Flathead Valley Community College. Davis jumped at the opportunity to return to Montana, and moved back in 1993.

Davis continued working at FVCC before having a four-year stint in Missoula working on health-care economics for the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at the University of Montana. The position was entirely research-based, studying the affect on economics of the recently-passed Affordable Care Act.

While in Missoula, his wife and two sons stayed in the Flathead. They did the weekend warrior thing for four years before he returned home again.

Davis said its been an exciting time to teach economics, adding that economics is a topic that goes much deeper into common issues and topics than simply the looking at the numbers.

Where we are today, I certainly didnt see that 15 years ago, Davis said. I always knew tourism would be big, but health care just exploded. After the recession that is one of the fields weve continued to grow in and one of the top services we can offer [in the Flathead].

I thought wed always be the community that would have to drive to Missoula for some things, but now you can get just about everything here, he added.

Davis said that in some ways, Montana was lucky in the recession because it didnt have any of the large bank failures the rest of the country was experiencing. But it did have the real estate crash, he added, and the Flathead Valley was at the center of that crash.

Its taken the valley longer than the rest of the nation to get back to peak employment levels, he said, having only just reached the pre-recession level in 2015.

Though he said the valley is better positioned for the future since the crisis.

Compared to even 40 years ago, were transitioning from a natural resource economy to a service economy, which is good because natural resource economies are very boom and bust, he said. A service economy is not at risk as much for a recession.

At the center of the valleys service-based economy are the leading industries of health care and tourism.

He said the valley over the years has grown considerably an indicator of a healthy economy though he cautions growing too fast.

Hopefully well continue to have a steady growth, not robust growth, we dont want it to become a bubble because bubbles burst, he said.

For the Flathead Valley, however, Davis said the biggest struggle, in his opinion, isnt growing too fast, but growing in a way that destroys the valleys many natural amenities.

The greatest struggle this valley has is growth without destroying the beauty, he said.

Though Davis said its challenging to say what the future will bring, he is currently working on a developing leading index to better track the local economy. By surveying local businesses directly every six months, Davis hopes he will be able to pick up on trends faster and better predict where the economy is going.

Looking back on his career, Davis said his degrees in economics are what propelled him into every job he ever had, leading to a 32-year career as a teacher. He never had to hit the streets to find a job, he added.

When I graduated with a college degree that was kind of the Willy Wonkas golden ticket to getting a job, he said. Thats not the case for millennials today.

Though Davis advice to young workers today isnt to skip out on a higher education, but to pay attention to the trends and pick a field that will add value to the economy in the years to come.

Reporter Alyssa Gray may be reached at 758-4433 or agray@dailyinterlake.com.

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Professor talks Flathead Valley economy - Daily Inter Lake

If we looked at countries' natural endowments as a measure of their potential for economic development, very few in Africa would stand toe to toe with Zimbabwe. For ours is one of those rare countries that boast a wide range of mineral deposits and natural potential.

Zimbabwe hosts the second largest platinum group metals as well as the largest high grade chromite resource base in the world on the Great Dyke. A notable global producer of lithium and chrysotile asbestos, the country is also possessed with significant deposits of gold and diamonds.

Add to that the millions of hectares of arable and grazing land, which has historically ensured successful mixed farming and may yet see the country's commercial agricultural sector bounce back to its former glory.

But with a literacy rate that has consistently topped all of Africa, and a massive pool of skilled human resources across all sectors, it goes without saying that Zimbabwe's biggest resource is its people. These are the potential drivers of the country's economic development, if fully harnessed and deployed towards production, innovation and service delivery. However, over the past two decades especially, we've not been spared the exodus of skilled professionals and many others who trekked off to more developed economies in response to globalisation's pull, as well as the push of national economic hardships and political insecurity. Indeed, unofficial estimates claim the country may have lost as much as 60% of its qualified professionals, while up to three million Zimbabweans are believed to have left the country.

In the UK where I live, estimates put the total population of the Zimbabwean community at 400,000 that's about four times the size of a micro-state like The Seychelles. The sheer determination of my compatriots to carve out a space for themselves in their adopted home and get their pound of flesh was the single most inspiring factor that led me to found the Zimbabwe Achievers Awards in 2011.

The awards body was to serve as both a celebration of those small, significant steps of success that Zimbabweans were making as they worked their way up the UK's socio-economic ladder, as well as inspiration and motivation towards even greater achievements. In the seven years of our existence, we've gone from celebrating small community businesses to awarding professional architects delivering multi-million dollar projects across Africa. We've recognised cutting edge tech-start-ups worth millions, freight services serving global markets, and healthcare companies servicing huge government contracts.

Collectively as the Zimbabwean diaspora, we've consistently remitted billions of dollars back home over the years and compelled the government to pay attention to our net contribution to the economy of our home country. Dollarisation has helped cut off the forex black market, ensuring that all remittances go through the official channels. However, remittances are only a fraction of the diaspora's capacity to contribute towards national socio-economic development. To illustrate the limits of remittances to achieve broader community transformation, a case study from Bangladesh is worth referring to. About 95% of all British-Bengalis trace their origins to Sylhet division in north-east Bangladesh. The region receives around US $1billion in remittances every year from expatriate Bengalis in the UK alone and should, in theory, be the wealthiest and healthiest part of the country.

However, as The Guardian reported, "Sylhet has worse literacy and school enrolment rates than all other regions, child malnutrition rates are well over the WHO emergency threshold of 15%, fertility rates are the highest in the country and expectant mothers are more likely to die during child birth in Sylhet than any other part of Bangladesh."

And the reason for this discrepancy between the high volumes of remittances and the overall state of the community is that remittances are transferred to individual households rather than to charity or community development. As the Zimbabwean diaspora, we also find ourselves locked in this phase of financial contribution and have yet to fully inhabit our economic potential by broadening our investment beyond the family to achieve wider developmental impact.

At the Zimbabwe Achievers Awards, we have spread out from our UK base to all major diaspora centres South Africa, USA, and Australia. Through this community vehicle, we've networked with both individual professional Zimbabweans doing great things in their careers as well as entrepreneurs, businesses, social enterprises and philanthropic organisations.

Throughout the networks we've built, the one pulsating passion that courses through all of us is a deep-seated desire to contribute towards Zimbabwe's socio-economic development and make a difference. We've formed partnerships with corporates based in Zimbabwe that are at the forefront of kickstarting the country's brain gain by employing experienced Diaspora professionals and bringing them back home.

This is a trend that we fully support and as we believe that Zimbabwe's critical professional skills are indispensable in the reconstruction of the country after decades of economic lethargy and the loss of much needed human resources. Innovative human resources companies need to step up and start engaging the diaspora labour market to harness key skills and bring them back home, as has happened elsewhere across the world.

In China, for instance, huge numbers of professionals who left their country to study and work, have returned. These so-called "sea turtles" have brought back desirable skills, invaluable networks of international business contacts and innovative ideas to energise the economy.

India, too, has enjoyed a significant brain gain in recent years, with scientists returning home to take advantage of the relative strength of the Indian economy and growing opportunities there. By 2013, according to the scientific journal publishers Elsevier, India had become a net importer of productive scientific talent.

But that does not just happen home governments need to communicate clearly that expatriates are wanted and needed back home. Policymakers need to understand the diaspora and incentivise its involvement in the country's development. Emotional ties alone do not cut it - governments can actively do away with obstacles and create opportunities for diasporas to engage in economic development. Governments must be on their front foot if they are to harvest real benefits from their diaspora.

Even more importantly, the role of the diaspora as investors is very much under-appreciated within our own Zimbabwean context. One of the most prominent examples of diasporas investing in their home country is that of the Chinese. Between 1985 and 2000, the Chinese diaspora accounted for 70 per cent of China's foreign direct investment, which helped fuel the country's rapid economic growth over this period.

There is need for the Zimbabwean diaspora itself, the corporate sector back home as well as the government, to work collaboratively to facilitate diaspora investment. Apart from sending money to families, many in the diaspora do not have the information they need to make decisions about investment, nor do they know what investment opportunities are available.

There is need for mutual encouragement to organise better to facilitate this investment. It is very feasible for health professionals in the UK, for instance, working with government facilitation, to invest in a state of the art hospital that can provide world class medical care and save the country millions in dollars that are spent towards health tourism to India, South Africa, Singapore and other popular destinations.

Likewise, a lot of the infrastructural projects in Zimbabwe can also harness the investment and participation of diaspora-based engineers, many of whom are members of diaspora chapters of the Zimbabwe Institute of Engineers. Many other types of diaspora investment, such as collective investment in community projects through hometown associations, can be fully explored and practical steps towards facilitating them taken.

Clearly, there is a lot of unexplored potential in the Zimbabwean diaspora, and a strong relationship needs to be fostered between the diaspora and the government as well as the corporate and charity/philanthropic sectors. To this end, ZAA International will be hosting a Zimbabwe Economy Forum in Dubai from 21-24 September this year to explore these and other key issues concerning our national economy.

One of the projects I hope to launch at the forum together with partners like Vavaki Architects is a holiday housing complex in the great Victoria Falls that Zimbabweans in the diaspora can buy into. This falls firmly within the greater vision to see a Victoria Falls that will be a leisure and tourist hub of the region, complete with state of the art facilities to complement its world heritage natural offering.

Conrad is Founder of Zimbabwe Achievers Awards and can be contacted via Conrad@cmgmedia.co.uk

Link:

Zim's biggest resource for economic development is its people - Bulawayo24 News (press release) (blog)

APRIL is the cruelest month, so said the famous poet TS Eliot. But one wit remarked that June marks the end of May.

Who would have expected that British Prime Minister Theresa May would lose her majority in Parliament in the June election, which was supposed to strengthen her hand in negotiating Brexit with the European Union? This expectation reversal was as big a shock as Brexit or Trumpism. May may have found her Ides of March in June.

In sharp contrast, unlike earlier in the year when everyone was worried about France falling to populist rule under Marine le Pen, a fresh centrist candidate named Macron won, and was rewarded by a handsome legislative majority to carry out his promise to reform France.

In Bangkok this week to refresh memories of July 2, 1997, I was struck by how history seemed to rhyme in 10 year cycles. Next month would mark not only the 20th anniversary of the return of Hong Kong to China, but also the 20th anniversary of the Asian financial crisis, when the baht was devalued.

2007 also marked the 10th anniversary of the US subprime crisis, which together with the European debt crisis, caused a decade of low growth for the advanced economies. Initially, investors hardly noticed the tremors from the subprime crisis.

On July 19, 2007, the Dow Jones Industrial Average touched a record high of 14,000. After an adjustment in August to 13,000, the index dropped below 11,000 on September 15, 2008, following the Lehman failure. It fell to a record twelve-year low of 6,547 on March 9, 2009, recording a 53.2% drop over this period.

Similarly, the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index also crossed the 20,000 milestone on December 28, 2006 and rose to the all-time peak of 31,958 on October 18, 2007. A year later, it lost 66.6% to a low of 10,676 on October 27, 2008.

Ten years later, both indices have once again touched record highs, with the Hang Seng recovering past the 26,000 mark this month, whereas the Dow hit a record peak of 21,528 this week. Because this rally is essentially tech driven, even the Nasdaq index has surpassed its 2000 tech bubble peak of 5,048 to hit a new peak of 6,305 on June 2, 2017.

These market gyrations suggest that another consolidation may be reached sometime soon, except we do not know the exact timing and the trigger.

All we know is the there are many risks out there, including policy uncertainties from whether the Fed would continue to raise interest rates, the sudden re-appearance of inflation and possible geopolitical or natural disaster events.

So far, market worries about Chinas high leverage issues seem to have receded with the stabilisation of US-China relations and better performance at the growth level.

All in all, the markets have priced in so far almost all the Brexit and Trump fears and did not react too much to the recent normalization of Fed interest rates.

The stark reality is that no one knows for sure whether we are in over-priced territory or bubble zone.

The US economy appears to trundle along in reasonable shape, with unemployment numbers reaching new lows. All we do know is asset prices are at record highs, financed by historically high debt and abnormally low interest rates.

In this zone of radical uncertainty, we are no longer sure that the GDP indicator reflects the true state of the economy. GDP measures the old resource-based economy well, but does not capture growth in a data-digital economy.

No economy reflects this contradiction more than China, which has shifted from being the largest assembler of the global supply chain towards a consumption and service-driven economy. Both consumption and services crossed the 50% of GDP levels, moving closer towards an advanced country pattern where consumption and services account for roughly 60-70% or more of GDP.

If China succeeds in this historic transition, with the old resource-consuming industries, like coal, steel, energy, being phased out, even as the new internet economy trims the inefficiencies in the current Chinese distribution system, then China could break through her middle-income trap. But one recalls that South Korea achieved OECD status in December 1996, only to fall into the Asian financial crisis in 1997/8. Mexico did the same in 1994.

All countries go through growing pains, especially what Austrian economist Schumpeter called creative destruction. This transition creates massive winners and also losers.

We see this pattern being reflected in the mixture of top Dow Jones index component companies, whereby the leading tech stocks are being priced to win, whereas the old energy, manufacturing and distribution companies are struggling to maintain their market share.

Given these radical uncertainties, history is replete with the rise and fall of nations, as well as the rise and fall of companies. It teaches humility in forcing us to think holistically on the broader trends, whilst sorting out the signals from the noise.

Emerging markets in Asia today are facing what is called a middle income trap whereby they need to break through a pain barrier to rise to advanced income status. Advanced and aging economies countries like Britain and Japan face the opposite, a high income trap where if major policy mistakes are made, a rich country may slide into stagnation and possible lower income levels.

Ultimately, demographics and geography determine destiny. Asia may face many growing pains and a complex operating environment from disruptive technology and excessive competition, including geopolitical rivalry. Western analysts disdain for Asian demagogues are now being haunted by their own demagogues.

Basically, in the midst of these complex transitions through mega-trends, there is also a governance transition.

The millennial generation is rapidly taking over in terms of consumption lifestyle, innovation and governance style. History suggests that it will not be a bloodless transition.

Despite all such noise, we should do well to remind ourselves that Asia is still where there is still demographic and technological growth. Lets see whether the next market adjustment will stall or disrupt that growth trajectory.

Happy 10th and 20th anniversaries! And Selamat Hari Raya to all my Muslim friends!

Tan Sri Andrew Sheng writes on global issues from an Asian perspective.

Original post:

May into June - Business News | The Star Online - The Star Online

April is the cruellest month, so said the poet TS Eliot. But one wit remarked that June marks the end of May. Who would have expected that British Prime Minister Theresa May would lose her majority in Parliament in the June election, which was supposed to strengthen her hand in negotiating Brexit with the European Union?

In sharp contrast, unlike earlier in the year when everyone was worried about France falling to populist rule under Marine le Pen, a fresh centrist candidate named Emmanuel Macron won, and was rewarded by a handsome legislative majority to carry out his promise to reform France.

In Bangkok this week to refresh memories of July 2, 1997, I was struck by how history seemed to rhyme in 10-year cycles. Next month marks not only the 20th anniversary of the return of Hong Kong to Chinese rule, but also the 20th anniversary of the Asian financial crisis, when the baht was devalued. This year also marks the 10th anniversary of the US subprime crisis, which, together with the European debt crisis, caused a decade of low growth for the advanced economies.

On July 19, 2007, the Dow Jones touched a record high of 14,000. It fell below 11,000 on September 15, 2008, following the failure of Lehman Brothers, then fell to a 12-year low of 6,547 on March 9, 2009, recording a 53.2 per cent drop over the period.

Similarly, the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index rose to an all-time peak of 31,958 on October 18, 2007. A year later, it lost 66.6 per cent and fell to a low of 10,676 on October 27, 2008.

Ten years later, both indices have once again touched record highs, with the Hang Seng recovering past the 26,000 mark this month, while the Dow hit a record peak of 21,528 this week.

These market gyrations suggest that another consolidation may be reached sometime soon, except we do not know the exact timing or trigger. All we know is that there are many risks out there, including policy uncertainties from whether the Fed will continue to raise interest rates, the sudden reappearance of inflation and possible geopolitical or natural disasters.

The stark reality is that no one knows for sure whether we are in overpriced territory or a bubble zone. The US economy appears to be trundling along in reasonable shape, with unemployment figures reaching new lows. All we do know is that asset prices are at record highs, financed by historically high debt and abnormally low interest rates.

In this zone of radical uncertainty, we are no longer sure that GDP reflects the true state of the economy. Gross domestic product measures the old resource-based economy well, but does not capture growth in a data-driven digital economy. No economy reflects this contradiction more than China, which has shifted from being the largest assembler of the global supply chain towards a consumption and service-driven economy. Both consumption and services crossed the 50 per cent of GDP level, moving the country closer towards an advanced-country pattern where consumption and services account for roughly 60-70 per cent or more of GDP.

If China succeeds in this historic transition, it could break through its middle-income trap. But one recalls that South Korea achieved OECD status in December 1996, only to be hit by the Asian financial crisis in 1997-98.

Given these radical uncertainties, history is replete with the rise and fall of nations, as well as the rise and fall of companies

All countries go through growing pains, especially what Joseph Schumpeter called creative destruction. This transition creates massive winners and also losers. We see this pattern being reflected in the mixture of top Dow Jones index component companies, whereby the leading tech stocks are being priced to win, whereas the old energy, manufacturing and distribution companies are struggling to maintain their market share.

Given these radical uncertainties, history is replete with the rise and fall of nations, as well as the rise and fall of companies. It teaches humility in forcing us to think holistically about the broader trends, whilst sorting out the signals from the noise.

Emerging markets in Asia today are facing the middle-income trap, whereby they need to break through a pain barrier to rise to advanced-income status. Advanced and ageing economies like Britain and Japan face the opposite, a high-income trap where a major policy mistake could cause it to slide into stagnation and possible lower income levels.

Ultimately, demographics and geography determine destiny. Asia may face many growing pains and a complex operating environment from disruptive technology and excessive competition, including geopolitical rivalry. Western analysts disdainful of Asian demagogues are now being haunted by their own demagogues.

Despite all the noise, we would do well to remind ourselves that Asia is still where there is demographic and technological growth. Lets see whether the next market adjustment will stall or disrupt that growth trajectory.

Happy 10th and 20th anniversaries!

Andrew Sheng is a distinguished fellow at the Asia Global Institute, University of Hong Kong

Excerpt from:

How will Asia fare in the next market adjustment? - South China Morning Post

A Resource Based Economy is a proposed system where goods and services are available to all who need them, not just the select few. There is no need for money, credit, barter, or any other system that relies on debt and servitude. Our current capitalist system allows (and encourages) certain individuals to amass great amounts of wealth, leaving much of the rest of the world in abject poverty. A recent study has shown that the 62 richest people hold the same wealth as the poorest 50% in the world (http://www.abc.net.au/news/factcheck/...). How can anybody morally justify this?

Clearly, our current system is not working. Sure, many of us in the West now have smart phones, cheap fast food, clothing, and 24-hour shopping, but is this really what we want from society? At what expense does this all come? By now we have all heard of the underpaid and under-appreciated workers in Asia who are responsible for producing our clothes, shoes and electronics. They work in hot and crowded factories, barely getting enough money to pay for their families food, let alone being able to save anything. We might be living it up in the West, but they certainly arent. Our current system is inherently exploitative. It benefits the few at the expense of the many.

Jacque Fresco is an American futurist who has been around for quite a while hes almost 100 years old! He has always pushed for a society that doesnt try to take, take, take all the time, but instead shares its resources with all its inhabitants. He believes that the Earths resources should be declared as the common heritage of all people. Why should a baby come into this world with no access to clean water, because a group of rich guys dont want to give anything away for free?

Jacque believes that greed is simply a result of our current system. Think of a group of cows in a field that have plentiful grass. They dont go around fighting each other over whose blade of grass is whose. Of course not theres enough food for all! However, as soon as the farmer holds out a single carrot, cows will push and buck one another in order to get to it. Why? Because the carrot is now scarce. Our current capitalist system relies on scarcity. That is, if something is scarce (for example, an iPhone 6S Plus), then people will do whatever it takes to get one. Of course, many of our resources and products are not scarce, its just that the companies what us to think that they are scarce so that we hand over our hard-earned money. If we knew that we could just use a 3D printer to print ourselves an iPhone, then why would we line up for ten hours to pay $1200 for one? Companies use many psychological tricks to make us think their products are scarce so that we freely give them our money (https://www.businessinsider.com.au/ma...). Its a big scam that can be done away with in our future society.

Jacque has recently released a film called The Choice is Ours (https://youtu.be/Yb5ivvcTvRQ). I watched it last night and enjoyed it immensely. The first half talks about the problems with our current system and the dire need for change. It tells us about the history of the financial system and how it has been designed to benefit the ruling class. Laws, prison sentences and other punishments exist so that our rulers can maintain control. The second half of the film proposes a workable alternative to this madness. It aims to achieve and maintain a more humane society for all using technology and automation. A financial, money-based system will no longer be needed. A resource-based economy which efficiently shares and distributes the worlds resources will take its place.

The Choice is Ours has guest appearances by Jacque Fresco (Futurist, Industrial Designer, Social Engineer, Founder of The Venus Project https://www.thevenusproject.com/), Jeffery A. Hoffman Ph.D (Prof. Aeronautics & Astronautics MIT, Former NASA Astronaut), Henry Schlinger, Ph.D., BCBA-D (Prof. Psychology CAL State University), Abby Martin (Journalist & Host The Empire Files), Karen Hudes (Economist, Lawyer, World Bank Whistleblower), Erin Ade (Reporter & Host Boom Bust), Paul Wright (Founder & Director of Human Rights Defense Center, Editor of Prison Legal News, Author), Dylan Ratigan (Author & TV Host The Dylan Ratigan Show), Mark Jacobson, Ph.d (Prof. Civil & Env. Engineering, Stanford University. The Solutions Project), Erik Brynjolfsson, Ph.D (Prof. of Management-MIT Sloan School of Management, Dir. MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy, Author), Lawrence M. Krauss, Ph.D (Foundation Prof. School of Earth and Space Exploration, and director of Origins Project, Arizona State University. Author A Universe from Nothing), Paul Hewitt (Author Conceptual Physics), and Roxanne Meadows (Co-Founder The Venus Project).

Please enjoy the film.

Originally posted on Daily Rant Australia on February 8, 2016 by Andrew.

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Resource Based Economy - YouTube

The issue of extreme income inequality in South Africa remains unresolved. Persistent high rates of income inequality impact negatively on political inclusion, social cohesion, and crime. Using the US CIAs most recent GINI index estimates of income inequality, South Africa is ranked second worst behind Lesotho. Countries with a GINI index closer to zero, like Sweden (0.25) and Germany (0.27), have a more equal distribution of family income than countries like South Africa (0.63) and Haiti (0.61). The GINI index paints only a partial picture because a low score does not always indicate a healthy economic situation. The GINI index for Pakistan, for example, is 0.3 but most Pakistanis have much lower incomes and less economic mobility than South Africans.

Countries with a GINI index closer to zero, like Sweden (0.25) and Germany (0.27), have a more equal distribution of family income than countries like South Africa (0.63) and Haiti (0.61). The GINI index paints only a partial picture because a low score does not always indicate a healthy economic situation. The GINI index for Pakistan, for example, is 0.3 but most Pakistanis have much lower incomes and less economic mobility than South Africans.

Is it possible to achieve wealth, high economic mobility, and income equality within a society? In a functioning market, financial profits or losses signal to firms and people, whether their goods and services are in demand. Consequently, for this signalling to work in an unhampered market, income cannot be distributed evenly. But, if people and firms are equipped with the skills and knowledge to consistently adapt to new markets, better levels of equality can still be achieved.

In the modern world, income and wealth generation are based more and more on knowledge and information. The need for workers to acquire a range of skills and to continuously adapt these skills underlies the learning economy. Productivity is driven by tapping into new ideas, innovations and technologies on a global scale. A process that relies heavily on ICT.

South Africa ranks 88 out of 175 countries on the International Telecommunication Unions ICT Development Index, despite having high rates of mobile phone penetration and high secondary school enrolment. Ranked first on the Index is South Korea, a remarkable achievement for a country that was one of the poorest in the world 50 years ago.

Few countries have embraced the knowledge economy as much as resource poor South Korea. The countrys 15-year-olds are consistently ranked highly in reading literacy, maths and science scores in PISA tests. The working population is highly educated and unemployment is low. The country scores 0.3 on the CIAs GINI index despite having the second lowest public social spending (10.4% of GDP) amongst the OECD countries.

A strong emphasis on the importance of education, secure property rights, an independent and efficient judicial system, a competitive private banking system, and an excellent ICT sector have helped South Koreans to prosper. The country has moved from rags to riches at an astonishing pace. Intergenerational income mobility is high, and South Koreans are wealthier than South Africans when comparing every income group, from the poorest to the billionaires.

Policy makers can attempt to distribute more income from the abundantly rich to the poor to lower inequality, but this cannot be done on a global scale, and it is a strategy that views the size of the wealth pie as being limited. Economics is not a zero-sum game. In a resource-based economy, your potential wealth is restricted by finite resources. In a knowledge-based economy, your potential wealth is unrestricted.

Raising taxes on high income earners or creating capital movement controls will often have the opposite of desired effects. In todays connected world, skills and businesses are mobile and wish to operate in an unrestricted business environment. Many South African entrepreneurs are choosing to move to other countries because it is difficult to take businesses beyond the incubation phase into a global market.

Mark Shuttleworth, another local tech entrepreneur who now lives in the Isle of Man, believes that exchange controls prevent small South African businesses from building global operations. South African tech entrepreneur Vinny Lingham, who now lives in California, believes that a lack of competition and Telkom are stifling the ICT industry.

South Africa needs to raise and, ultimately, remove the glass ceiling that bureaucracy has placed on entrepreneurship and our information society. Capital movement controls should be lifted and a more competitive ICT industry established. The ability to move capital freely will also attract foreign investment. South Africa should fully privatise the telecommunications sector and relax regulations and the spectrum bottleneck preventing expansion and new entrants.

Less bureaucracy, and a strong focus on ICT and education will help South Africa to embrace the information age and create new wealth opportunities for everyone. Better equality can be achieved without discouraging businesses and entrepreneurs. Taxes that redistribute income are difficult to implement fairly, administratively intensive, expensive, and open to corruption. We should focus more on implementing policies that uplift the poor, rather than trying to tackle inequality with taxes. If there is not enough pie for everyone, make more pie.

Luke Muller is an independent economist.

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Op-Ed: Tackling inequality in the information age - CNBCAfrica.com

NEW DELHI: India and Iceland may establish direct air connectivity by next year, which will provide a fillip to the tourism sector of both the countries.

Ambassador of Iceland to India Thorir Ibsen made the announcement during a media interaction here today. He said an Iceland-based private carrier might provide the services.

Ibsen said tourism, apart from renewable energy, was one of the biggest contributors to the Nordic country's resource- based export economy and India's share in it had risen steadily over the last three years.

"The two countries may have direct air connectivity by the fall (autumn) of 2018. A private Iceland carrier may start operating," Ibsen told reporters at the Foreign Correspondents' Club.

Ibsen, who took office in September 2014, said India's share in Iceland's tourism sector might not reflect in terms of absolute figures, but it had increased by about 50 per cent over the last three years.

He informs that trade between the two countries stands at around 60 million US dollars, with India's share being nearly one-third of the total, which can be "much more".

Although India and Icelands's political relations date back to 1972, it was only in 2006 that Iceland established its embassy in New Delhi.

The embassy's jurisdiction also includes Bangladesh, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Nepal, the Seychelles, South Africa and Sri Lanka.

Presently, one has to fly via Europe to reach the Nordic country.

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India-Iceland direct air connectivity likely by 2018 - Economic Times

Emma Okonji

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Experts have raised the alarm over possible threat to ICT development in the country, following what they described as network incompatibility to the current Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6).

They spoke at the international capacity building and enhancement workshop on IPv6, organised by the Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), in collaboration with African Network Information Centre (AFRINIC) in Lagos recently.

The experts warned that except network operators in the country align and migrate their networks to IPv6, the ICT sector would suffer major setbacks.

President of ATCON, Olusola Teniola, said the need to migrate to IPv6 was long overdue. He expressed the displeasure of ATCON members who are not particularly happy that majority of networks in Nigeria are not IPv6 compatible, which he said, posed serious threat to the Nigerian ICT development.

Stressing the importance of IPv6 to ICT development, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Professor Umar Garba Danbatta, said IPv4 addresses have been exhausted, and in order for the internet to continue sustaining its growth, IPv6 addresses are needed.

While the exhaustion of IPv4 addresses is a global phenomenon, the need for IPv6 is even more urgent in Nigeria being the fastest growing ICT Industry in Africa and beyond. IPv6 will enable an enormous increase in the number of internet addresses currently available under IPv4, Danbatta said.

According to him, the current generation of IPv4 has been in use and has supported internets growth over the last decades. With the increased use of mobile devices including wireless handheld devices, the increasing popularity of cloud computing and the emergence of the Internet Of Things, which connects everything like appliances and vehicles to the Internet, the need for IP addresses becomes even more prevalent, Danbatta said.

The Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Dr. Isa Ali Pantami, said advanced countries have moved from natural resource-based economy to knowledge-based economy and that it was achieved through massive capacity development and implementation of information technology (IT). These countries have not only been able to develop IT, but have also utilised IT in the development of other social economic sectors of their countries, so that these sectors can generate wealth. I am optimistic that this can be achieved in Nigeria, with the implementation of NITDAs mandate and the implementation of issues raised at the IPv6 workshop, Pantami said. According to Teniola, the Nigerian ICT sector could no longer afford to take the back seat in the global ICT development. To leapfrog the adoption of IPv6, ATCON has taken a further step to involve NCC and NITDA to further lead the campaign for the adoption of IPv6.

The dividend pervasive broadband may be farfetched if as an industry or a country we are not working towards broadband meeting with technology. As we all know that when Internet of Things (IoTs) take their place in our country, an individual may need more than ten IP addresses to enjoy the benefits that come with IoTs, Teniola said.

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'Network Incompatibility with IPv6 Poses Threat to ICT Devt ... - THISDAY Newspapers

Financial Post

Entrepreneurial employees increasingly buying in to ownership of traditional resource-based companies Financial Post Entrepreneurial employees increasingly buying in to ownership of traditional resource-based companies ... It involved the sale of a school for heavy-equipment operators earth graders, bulldozers, mining equipment, the bedrock of Canada's economy.

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Entrepreneurial employees increasingly buying in to ownership of traditional resource-based companies - Financial Post