Daily Dose of Reality

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clipped from www.explosm.net

Why this country disgusts me - Another absolute shocker

SOWETAN: He said some of the crimes were committed while on bail and that there is no guarantee he might not commit more crimes should the court set him free.

The state further quoted newspaper articles showing that his last release on bail sparked a public outcry.

A fortnight ago, his wife Yvonne Mbatha had to get a lift back home after the couple’s 4.8 IS BMW X5 was confiscated by cops outside court after it was found to be using a licence disc that had expired on March 31 2007.

On the same day about 700 sympathisers rocked up in two buses and 10 minibus taxis chanting: “This man is innocent.”

SHOOT: It's interesting that his relationship was such with the police that he committed some crimes imitating the police, one assumes he got the police lights, badges and uniforms from police officers, and provided them later with a commission for their assistance.

clipped from www.sowetan.co.za SUSPECTED crime mastermind William “Mashobane” Mbatha was branded a liar as shocking evidence of alleged collusion between him and police emerged during his bail application yesterday. The Pretoria socialite made headlines when he was arrested in connection with a string of crimes including car theft, housebreaking, possession of an illegal firearm and tax offences. Apart from subsequently violating his bail conditions, the 36-year-old went on to commit more crimes, the court heard. - He kept a cellphone and two SIM cards in his police cell. - Police at the forensic laboratory in Pretoria destroyed CCTV footage showing a robbery in process involving him. Mbatha was rearrested last month after one of his alleged victims saw his pictures in the newspapers and alerted the police. It was sensationally revealed yesterday that police destroyed the video footage, further strengthening suspicions that the suspected criminal has high-ranking police officials on his payroll.

“Nobody could have predicted. . . .” It’s what you say with regard to disasters that could have been predicted, should have been predicted and actually were predicted by a few economists who were scoffed at for their pains.

Krugman: “We have involved ourselves in a colossal muddle, having blundered in the control of a delicate machine, the working of which we do not understand. The result is that our possibilities of wealth may run to waste for a time — perhaps for a long time.” So wrote John Maynard Keynes in an essay titled “The Great Slump of 1930.”

Freshwater economists are, essentially, neoclassical purists. They believe that all worthwhile economic analysis starts from the premise that people are rational and markets work.

Meanwhile, saltwater economists balked. Where the freshwater economists were purists, saltwater economists were pragmatists. So they were willing to deviate from the assumption of perfect markets or perfect rationality, or both, adding enough imperfections to accommodate a more or less Keynesian view of recessions. And in the saltwater view, active policy to fight recessions remained desirable.

SHOOT: When I studied economics it was hard not to acknowledge the reality beyond the perfect island economy and perfect markets, namely that some countries remain locked in situations where the inequalities in terms of poor versus wealty [expressed as Gini coefficients] particulary in Brazil and South Africa, are dire, and can apparently only be addressed via ethical - note ETHICAL state or other intervention.

clipped from www.nytimes.com

Bay Business Group - Outsourced Bookkeeping and Accounting Services

Are you stumbling around, following the same old, dated, traditional - and especially accounting - business processes? Uh uh.

"I've worked for large companies, and I know the value, and cost, of a strong accounting department. Now that I'm a small business owner, working with my team at Bay Business Group is an efficient and concise way of getting top-notch, full-service accounting support--at price we can afford."-Margaret Blasinsky,M.A.

At a time when everyone is tightening their belts, it makes sense to re-examine some of the conventional things we do. Heard the term business UN-usual? Well during these not so easy times, it pays to try something new, and by new we're really saying cheaper. Cheaper and better. Here's how it applies to Bookkeeping.

That's why you need to try Bay Business Group for your accounting solutions. Bay is a US-based group, active online, and offering the following benefits:

* Web-based accounting services that allow you 24-hour access to financial reports and records [which amounts to Outsourced Bookkeeping]
* A CPA and bookkeeping services specialists for significantly less than having just a bookkeeper on staff
* Accurate, timely and appropriate financial records useful for decision-making
* You manage your business—they manage your books.
* They also have a non-profit cpa section.

In essence the Bay Business allows you to concentrate on your core business; leave them to concentrate on theirs. The service is based on a fixed monthly fee, meaning clients can call anytime, with any question.

To contact Bay Business Group to make use of their accounting solutions, visit this link.

Note: The above review is a paid for endorsement.

Cellphone bills in South Africa are due to drop early next year

The high rate of interconnection has been hot on the agenda over the last few weeks, with local alternative telecommunications companies and parliamentarians calling on the regulator or the competition authorities to put a clamp on the costs.

Today's announcement will be a boon for the smaller industry players that have much riding on ICASA's interconnect decisions. Some have argued that the current rates have made it impossible to compete effectively in a big business-dominated industry.

The regulator previously balked at the idea of regulating what is effectively a commercial agreement between operators. However, following mounting pressure from industry and a personal visit by Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille, the move is not surprising.

In July, De Lille laid a complaint with the Competition Commission over the high cost of mobile phone calls and asked the commission to investigate if the dominant players are acting anti-competitively or are guilty of prohibitive practices.

SHOOT: Good news, at last. The question is, by how much will these prohibitive costs be cut?

clipped from www.itweb.co.za [ Johannesburg, 8 September 2009 ] - The Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) says mobile operators have agreed to drop the termination rates by the beginning of February 2010. According to a report released by the authority this afternoon, following an urgent meeting between it, the operators, and the Internet Service Providers Association this morning, operators have agreed to begin a process that will see lower interconnect rates. “After deliberations, the meeting resolved to embark on the industry-led process to reduce termination rates, with ICASA exercising an oversight responsibility,” the report explains. It is still unclear by how much the rate of interconnection will be cut, and the regulator did not indicate whether it had specifically quantified the rate drop. Operators have agreed to have the new contract agreements in place by the end of December, with full implementation of the new rates as soon as February next year.

Antidepressants are drugs that help you feel better, even happier

It's not only trials of new drugs that are crossing the futility boundary. Some products that have been on the market for decades, like Prozac, are faltering in more recent follow-up tests. In many cases, these are the compounds that, in the late '90s, made Big Pharma more profitable than Big Oil. But if these same drugs were vetted now, the FDA might not approve some of them. Two comprehensive analyses of antidepressant trials have uncovered a dramatic increase in placebo response since the 1980s. One estimated that the so-called effect size (a measure of statistical significance) in placebo groups had nearly doubled over that time.

It's not that the old meds are getting weaker, drug developers say. It's as if the placebo effect is somehow getting stronger.

SHOOT: Their effectiness is something like religion; if you believe it is true, it works, and it works depending on how much you believe it is true, but ultimately, guess where the read medicine comes from? Inside you, you last place you want to look, or feel.

clipped from www.wired.com Behind the scenes, however, MK-869 was starting to unravel. True, many test subjects treated with the medication felt their hopelessness and anxiety lift. But so did nearly the same number who took a placebo, a look-alike pill made of milk sugar or another inert substance given to groups of volunteers in clinical trials to gauge how much more effective the real drug is by comparison. The fact that taking a faux drug can powerfully improve some people's health—the so-called placebo effect—has long been considered an embarrassment to the serious practice of pharmacology. Ultimately, Merck's foray into the antidepressant market failed. In subsequent tests, MK-869 turned out to be no more effective than a placebo. In the jargon of the industry, the trials crossed the futility boundary.

Gold breaks through $1 000 for the 3rd time in history - here's why

SHOOT: I remember reading recently that economists see gold hitting $2000 or $2200.
http://freundinvesting.com/2008/12/01/gold-to-2000-by-2009-citigroup-thinks-so/

How, why? Because of dollar weakness, and right now the Rand is at its strongest levels since May 2008. The world is becoming increasingly weary of the petrodollar, and the currency which many of the world's currencies are traded against. Thus gold is seem as a hedge against losing further value, something one anticipates China, who holds trillions in US treasury bills, will move increasingly towards as the dollar deteriorates in sync with the US economy.

clipped from www.fin24.com Johannesburg - Gold rushed through the key $1 000 an ounce mark early on Tuesday morning on a weaker dollar and inflation concerns. This is the third time the precious yellow metal has ever breached the $1,000 an ounce mark and analysts said it is likely to see further gains. The first time gold touched this key psychological level was in March 2008 and it last traded at more than $1 000 an ounce in late February this year. Gold was bid at $996.65 an ounce at the London open on Tuesday and by 09:09 was trading 1.05% or $109.45 higher at $1 004.45 from a close of $994 an ounce.