EDITOR’S NOTE
RON DERBY: Stabilising Eskom is the most difficult and important job in SA
If processes at Eskom are frozen, there’s an impact on growth
We've all been in that debate, or at least heard it, the one where we all pontificate about the definition of a healthy economy. Is it one where the state acts as a stimulant or one where there is a small government that just sets the rules and lets entrepreneurs and big business get on with driving innovation and making profit. Most often used as the best example of capitalism is the emergence of Silicon Valley in the US, where over the past decade the world of technology has become the Master of the Universe, replacing the Wall Street bankers. But it's incorrect to say that the emergence of technology giants such as Google and Facebook that have become this generation's version of John D Rockefeller's Standard Oil was achieved without any state spending. The US government was central to much of the research spend that enabled the domination of these companies. The Chinese have followed that template and have seen their tech titans rise and start to threaten Silicon Valley's suprem...
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