A WEE DRAM
CHRIS GILMOUR: Heavy-handed state participation in the economy does not work
Bad politics can play havoc with an economy and in SA we are certainly experiencing the fallout of such a game. The government has increasingly been pursuing the model of a developmental state, continuing to add large doses of excessive regulation, especially regarding labour, business and credit. It is increasingly influencing and damaging the economy and free market through social engineering and high levels of state ownership conducted through the substantial economic participation of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Such an approach has resulted in even higher unemployment, a weak currency and declining industries, and choked economic growth, which is now in negative territory. The recently released Economic Freedom of the World Report 2018 confirms SA's continuing and devastating slump into shameful territory. Analysing this report at a Free Market Foundation presentation, Neil Emerick, of tourism software company NightsBridge, explains that economic freedom is when individuals ...
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