Hands up if you drive your car to queue up and fill your tank on the night before a petrol price increase? Congratulations, you're a hedge-fund trader. Depending on the circumstances, you could also be called a profiteer, hoarder, speculator or a capitalist.
What you are doing is to price future risk into your current financial situation. You have been told that future prices will be higher; best then to stock up now and gain, at the very least, a short-term benefit.
Imagine, though, that the situation was different and that – while you may know that the petrol price will change – you have no idea whether it will go up or down or by how much. That becomes real speculation with some people buying, some refusing to purchase and everyone finding out only after the price changes.
That is where people's confidence about the future, and analysis of recent trends, comes into play.
For 28 years, the Zimbabwean ruling party, Zanu PF, has campaigned using the same old slogan, "We liberated this country."
Thank you very much for your efforts, now liberate us by stepping aside. We have been sovereign for 28 years, but we are still in the bush fighting a war; only this time against our own liberators.
Zanu PF has lacked a serious challenger to the presidency for over a quarter of a century. The only promise of a real challenge, in Morgan Tsvangirayi and the MDC, was just another fizzled attempt to ruffle Mugabe's feathers. Lacking a credible leader, the challenge of the MDC was short lived. Tsvangirayi can gather the sheep but he's not going to lead them to the meadows.
The country needs a leader who can do more than just threaten violence, call for election boycotts and urge a hungry population to stay away from their jobs.
There are few moments at which business executives may safely weep and earn nothing but respect and admiration. One of these is at the opening of a new manufacturing plant.
At a cost of R 1.2 billion, and taking two years to build, the new PG Glass float line plant in Springs is their second line, and only the third in the whole continent of Africa. Chairman Ronnie Lubner, speaking at the official launch, was – momentarily – overcome by the magnitude of what his family-owned business has achieved.
CEO Stewart Jennings, equally passionate, demanded of Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka – a guest at the proceedings - that she look to government policy regarding economic policy support to encourage further such large-scale investments. Manufacturing, at 16.3% of GDP, has a significantly larger impact on employment and economic growth than mining, at 6.5%. "So," asked Jennings, "why is it that the financial press only concentrates on mining?"
