Great Britain’s government-run health care system, the National Health Service (NHS), has long considered limiting coverage for people with illnesses deemed to be lifestyle-related. In 2005 the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), NHS’s guiding body, advised that smokers and obese people be refused health care. Now NHS
South Africa faces an electricity crisis which is costing the economy billions. The new power stations, Medupi and Kusile, will not be completed on schedule or within budget. Mines, manufacturers and other businesses, shopping malls, property developers and others are being forced to limit their operations and curtail expansion.
When
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) PISA study details and ranks the reading, mathematics and science skills of 15 year olds in each member country every three years. But even more important than ranking school systems is knowing how to make them better, says the Economist.
That is the
What entrepreneur or company would ask customers to buy less of its product and, at the same time, promptly increase prices? That dubious distinction goes to Eskom. Eskom has increased its prices to improve the supply and distribution of electricity, yet pays large companies to buy less of it through
The saying, If it aint broke dont fix it is not one that can be applied to SA education and healthcare. Much of the states provision of healthcare and education is broken and government, with the best will in the world, cannot fix it. In SA, as far as our
Health care policy in SA continues in limbo as we await the National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme. Although no official documents on the NHI have yet been released, Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan, has already begun to lay the foundations. In his February budget, he made provision for two major initiatives:
A new study, requested by G-20 leaders last November, fingers biofuel subsidies as among the leading causes of agricultural price shocks. According to the report, “between 2000 and 2009, global output of bioethanol quadrupled and production of biodiesel increased tenfold,” a spike which “has been largely driven by government support
The task of rapidly reducing unemployment in SA is vitally important. People are suffering. Communities are unravelling. Violence, a symptom of deep-seated unhappiness, is escalating. Government has got to act before the situation gets seriously out of hand. Has the time not come to restore dignity to the unemployed? To
The case for free trade is much broader than the one that trumpets only export potential. And it is more elegant. The most principled case for free trade is a moral one: voluntary economic exchange is inherently fair, benefits both parties, and allocates scarce resources more efficiently than a system
Its time for Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan to again walk a tightrope as he tries to balance the countrys books. On the one hand, he will be under pressure from those on the left to substantially increase government spending on social welfare. On the other, there will be those hoping
