*****************************************************************

                AFRICA FEST 2007 - AUGUST 11, 2007 at WARNER PARK

*****************************************************************

I love this list (it's obvious I don't get out much). Over the years I have received very stern lectures (and that's putting it mildly) from my friends on this list. My favorites are: the reasons why Black America is in the state it's in, all the problems that exist in America, and how America (her leaders, businesses and military) are to blame for not only her own ills, but most of the ills in the world (directly to blame for most, indirectly to blame for all the rest).  I do not and would not attack anyone.  I make observations just as all of you do. My observations are generally regarded as ignorant diatribes and my only hope (help me, Obi-Wan) is to go and live in Africa. Just to reassure you, I will definitely be going to Africa...not to worry.

Just as an aside, though, I may not be a rocket scientist, and I don't live in Zimbabwe, but, how does jailing people (store owners, at that) get the economy moving again? Again, I may not live there, but what do my whereabouts have to do with all the missing capital in Zimbabwe (I don't have it)? Capital earned in a country has to be reinvested back into that country's economy for that economy to grow and thrive. When dollars earned are sent out of the country by the millions, it does affect the economic cycle. 

What else have I learned from my friends here on this list? I will recount my lessons (because I have learned them well). There are two things not spoken of here: the brain drain out of Africa (missing human capital), and the repatriation of African countries from people in the African diaspora. Does 'not speaking of them' make the situations and the subsequent consequences disappear? Not really (just an observation).

Most countries have gone through a hyperinflation cycle at one time or another. The series of bad economic decisions made in Zimbabwe makes the situation worse. 

Back to the article. This is the type of issue I'm talking about. You can't blame the G-8s for this. From a global perspective, perhaps you can blame everyone on the planet for not purchasing enough Zimbabwean goods to keep the economy moving...that, I would accept. In today's market, we have no choice but to try to purchase globally whenever possible.

From the article: "It appears, however, that not even an unchallenged autocrat can repeal the laws of supply and demand. One month after Mr. Mugabe decreed just that, commanding merchants nationwide to counter 10,000-percent-a-year hyperinflation by slashing prices in half and more, Zimbabwe’s economy is at a halt...Manufacturing has slowed to a crawl because few businesses can produce goods for less than their government-imposed sale prices...Zimbabwe’s economy has been shrinking since 2000, buffeted by political turmoil, capital flight and mismanagement, but never has it been in a more dire state than now, business executives say."

...Mr. Mugabe has cast the price cuts as a strike not against hyperinflation, but against profiteering businesses that he says are part of a Western conspiracy to reimpose colonial rule. In that view, price rollbacks are the government’s countermeasure... His June 26 decree, much of which was later enacted into law, was draconian: businesses were ordered to reduce their prices by about 50 percent. Shop owners who refused to comply would be jailed. Stores that closed or refused to restock goods would be taken over by the government. In recent weeks, gangs of price inspectors have patrolled shops and factories, imposing price reductions, sometimes arbitrarily. As many as 4,000 businesspeople have been arrested, fined or jailed, according to the Zimbabwean police...In Plumtree, near Zimbabwe’s border with Botswana, a line of shoppers gathered outside a shoe store last week even before opening hours, said Moses Mzila, who represents the area in Parliament. As the store opened, g
overnment inspectors appeared — and the throng followed them in, buying up stock as it was marked down.

“It’s theft, outright theft,” Mr. Mzila said. “Some of them had big cars, shiny, sparkling double-cabs, and they filled them up with shoes and just drove away.”"

******************************
"In the days before volcanoes were invented, lava had to be hand carried down from the mountains and poured on the sleeping villagers.
This took a great deal of time." 
*** Send email to the list: [log in to unmask] ***
*** Access AAM list archives: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/AAM.html ***