#BudgetSpeech2025 is talking about more state rather than less. We should trust them to spend the money wisely despite 30 years of evidence to the contrary!

My view - @ourDA used the budget to try to push through the radical reforms this country needs to get the economy going. They realised as a coalition member they would be tarred with the performance of the government, so they needed to make a stand early. I can't see them staying

Graph from the South African Institute of Race Relations on the breakdown of political party support based on Income. The @ourDA is polled as having the most support by the very lowest income group which talks to socio economic issues dominating over identity politics.

Should have read ‘F you!!’. R130 and tastes like dish water. I’m going to miss decent coffee while I’m in the US!

linkedin.com/posts/jpduples… #BCIGlobalConference

Red and yellow areas have raw sewerage going into the rivers Dave Wallace

Deputy finance Minister - debt itself is not bad, but it's what you are doing with it. Yup!

Growth lowered, borrowing levels increasing and the jokes are rolling - Get serious! #Budget2025

R41bn of unspecified tax hikes (Hoping for help from SARS) in 2026. The budget cuts are not dramatic. #Budget2025

This is not a finance minister who has seen the errors of his ways. Talking about a spending budget. #Budget2025

I love how the finance minister talks about the poor conditions and resources of the government hospitals as if it someone else's fault or a circumstance they have inherited.

The budget in 1 chart #Budget2025

lnkd.in/d5RxgRaE My thoughts on the #SARB meeting tomorrow. Spoiler alert, they should cut!

Spot on from John Authers this morning

Links golf hits differently. Official photographers have taken more than 20,000 photos at The Open so far this week. I scanned through them all to pick the 25 best. Enjoy 🧵

Bessent says rates should be lower by 150bps. Is this classic game theory? Fed doesn’t deliver they provide scapegoat. Ramping up the rhetoric probably makes the governors more inclined not to cut. If they cut you can’t blame them?

The Fed is being bullied into being more hawkish than it would want to be. Trump has set them up as the scape goat for any slowdown, so they need to try and ensure it doesn’t happen. This requires them to err on the side of looser rates.

The world's first hard drive, the IBM 350, was introduced in 1956. It was leased to companies for $37,600/month (adjusted to 2024), weighed one ton, and held 3.75 MB, about the size of a small PDF file.

“What do you do if you are driving in the fog? You slow down.” Great line by Jerome Powell reacting to government shutdown data absence.

Develop world investors hate their gov debt. Looking for alternatives gold, crypto, credit and EM debt. Lower inflation and current EM govt fiscal discipline luring them in. These mkts are smaller than Develop world gov debt and so moves are exaggerated in both directions.