Aloft is the social and economic development blog on issues, as well emerging trends, in poverty relief and investment by Whythawk's analysts. http://www.whythawk.com Sun, 11 May 2008 23:55:06 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.whythawk.com/content/view/417/27/ Walking through London a week ago, I was conscious of how much of the city is built on foundations that are hundreds of years old. The London Underground – the world's first inner-city mass-transit underground railway system – first opened in 1863. The underground allows 3 million people a day to get in and out of the city. The benefit to London of such infrastructure is incalculable and has been vastly exceeded by its original costs. At the same time, the miracle of London's current success depends on the continued functioning of the train network.... Analysis - Analysis Sat, 10 May 2008 04:36:50 +0100 http://www.whythawk.com/content/view/416/27/ In an average retail business, overall profit margins can be anywhere between 10% to 20%. That means that the business only makes a profit from four or five days of every month. If a business loses a working day, through power failures, absenteeism or other unexpected acts, it can cause bankruptcy. The only way to make up that loss is through price rises. Small problems can become large corrections. Prices are set on the margins, rather than from any large movement. The more power or influence a particular market actor has then the larger these deviations can... Analysis - Analysis Fri, 02 May 2008 02:36:48 +0100 http://www.whythawk.com/content/view/415/27/ In November 2007, Tiger Brands was fined R 98.8 million for collusion in fixing the price of bread. This was only 5.7% of their revenue; other manufacturers – who didn't fez up in time - face fines of 10% of turnover. This satisfies our natural urge to punish those responsible for causing society harm. However, who exactly is carrying the pain here? A penalty like that does more than take profits away from the company, it also reduces their ability to pay salaries, do maintenance, or make future investments. They can choose to absorb the cost, by... Analysis - Analysis Wed, 09 Apr 2008 01:33:53 +0100 http://www.whythawk.com/content/view/414/27/ Governments do not know anything about competition, innovation or the power of individual investment. The best they can offer is collective blame shedding and the waste of taxpayers' money on populist causes. As Jacob Zuma said in Davos, I’m not certain whether when there has been some shortcomings that we should punish people for that. Once decisions have been taken by a collective, you can’t punish individuals as if they’ve done something deliberate. Without individual responsibility there can be no action. Without action there can be no innovation. Nothing demonstrates the power of open... Analysis - Analysis Wed, 09 Apr 2008 01:29:51 +0100 http://www.whythawk.com/content/view/413/27/ In 1998 the US state of California partially deregulated electricity production and sales. The partially bit is where things came ungummed. The private companies that purchased the right to sell electricity to Californians were constrained in a very unusual way. Their retail price was capped at 6.7 US cents per kilowatt hour, but – should any shortfall arise – they would have to purchase additional electricity at whatever price was demanded. Since this period coincided with tremendous US economic growth, electricity was scarce and prices for bulk electricity reached upwards of 50 US cents... Analysis - Analysis Wed, 09 Apr 2008 01:24:55 +0100