Blog | mysite

Search

Contract and conscience.

Jerry Schuitema

Jun 12, 2017
4 min

Contract and conscience.

What happens when the social contract and laws cannot guarantee protection? That memorable aphorism: “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains”, penned by the 18th century French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, relates to another creation of the Age of Enlightenment – the Social Contract. That concept has survived centuries and still remains the cornerstone of our understanding of the relationship between people and power; between citizens and government, and betwe

78 views0 comments

The crux of the turmoil.

Jerry Schuitema

Apr 19, 2017
5 min

The crux of the turmoil.

You cannot be free when you are in debt. April fool’s day on the 1st has certainly lived up to its name. For around it, we have had a few weeks of utter folly – the price of which will be heavy and long lasting. I need not recount the dramatic events here, save to lift out one satirical role play by former Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan. Speaking at one of the Kathrada memorial functions, he took out a Rand coin, dropped it and picked it up again. It was a skit on some poli

12 views0 comments

The goose and the turkey

Jerry Schuitema

Oct 28, 2016
5 min

The goose and the turkey

A big bird view of an economy and government budgets. Each time the fiscus engages in a major exercise like a medium term budget, or the annual budget itself, I am prompted to mix some metaphors involving turkeys and geese. They present a perfect picture of how the government, perhaps all of us, view the economy. Years ago, if you were called a turkey, it could mean anything from being as dumb as they come, to being rather silly. But that’s probably a generational thing, one

34 views0 comments