Each week Tidemarks resolves not to dwell too much on the social calamities inexorably unfolding around us. And so far, it has failed. The financial and investment world is trying desperately to appear relevant and important, but its signals are even harder to discern in the noise being made by all the rest that is happening. The rand is inching better, and one must thank the exporters who are fighting huge battles in order to get their products delivered offshore. A particularly annoying development is the insistence that any office or even building where a worker tests positive must be immediately closed for differing lengths of time while disinfecting measures are taken. This impediment to productivity, a parameter not recognised in government institutions, is immense.
Relentlessly and pitilessly the Covid-19 infection is spreading throughout our population. However, extraordinarily little beyond this simple observation is at all clear. Now it seems that the reliability and accuracy of the screening protocols and the pathology tests are not grreat – a fact well known to the professionals, but for obvious reasons not shared with those of us who have a tendency to panic or fret. Who has not wondered at the efficacy of that thermometer “gun” that confirms one’s temperature at 32 degrees – the same as the 10 people in the queue ahead? Confusing and unhelpful treatise outline the implication of false negative and positive test outcomes, but merely confirm our suspicions that there is little to do beyond following the simple hygiene and distancing protocols. Trying desperately to look as if they know anything more than this, our leaders deliver cringeworthy lectures on how, for example, airliner air filtration systems work.
It may be dawning on a few ANC employees that working for an organisation that is selling a service for which there is declining demand, and in many cases, downright antipathy, is unrewarding. So much so that their salaries are not being paid on time. Of course a political party has little to sell except patronage and many of their customers are themselves experiencing financial hardship and even questioning whether they want to be seen supporting the party that has effectively abandoned those who it so strenuously claims to support.
When the markets and investment talking heads can get a word in edgeways between the political pundits panicking about the approaching US election, they seems bemused that Tesla, the electric motor car company founded by Elon Musk, the Pretoria boytjie, now has a market valuation greater than Toyota. This is indeed a fascinating fact, but not one that overcomes the simple matter that the amount of energy available in a volume of liquid fuel is way more than that stored in a similar volume or weight of even the best battery technology that Elon and his buddies have so far managed to develop. Perhaps one day this disparity will become either irrelevant or even reversed, but until that happens anyone contemplating a long journey through say the Kgalagadi or even the Karoo would be unwise to choose a Tesla over a Toyota.
Formula 1 returns this weekend, but like most other spectator sports, without any spectators. This may be less important for the atmosphere than the ball sports as the cars themselves are noisy enough, but we will miss the eye-candy items strategically posed around the paddock and grid. It feels as if the changes that have taken place in this motor racing during the Covid-19 hiatus may be greater than in any other. Mercedes Benz signalled its sensitivity to current affairs (and threats to its customer base) by changing the livery of both the cars and the drivers’ overalls to black. The timeless advice to “follow the money” popped up again this week in the news that Cricket South Africa had found a headline partner in Betway, an online betting business. Hollywood Bets is already a sponsor of KZN cricket. Despite the alleged depression, these companies appear to be able to make money. But do remember that bookies are always keenly aware which sporting results will be most or least profitable for them. Just saying!
James Greener
Friday 3rd July 2020