Why Are Black-Led Countries Doing So Badly?

[Wahalla]

Re: Why Are Black-Led Countries Doing So Badly?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Archie68</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Football support is easy in Africa. I admit there is a sense of &quot;continentilism.&quot; That is very shallow support when there are issues of mass murder and mass rapes going on.

You need to get to real issues to support your point. Can you do that? I hope so. Please (no joke). Seriously. Black solidarity in an hopeful way? Please, give me something. I found nothing myself. Provide some evidence. </div></div>

Football is all you are going to get... and this my seem in coonsequencial but to me it is significant.. I suspect that compare ot Europe this support is more so.. I also suspect that there is a level of historical commonality that is being diluted as the past fifty years receded metropole rule...

The regional blocks and transnational organisation of Africa have high flouting language and popular rhetoric and equally convincing videos of articulate popularist appeal.. but try moving a shirt manufactured between countries through the formal system....
that shallow continetalism is all you can expect..

Continetalism is equally as fragile in Europe or South America.... I think my sense of being west indian is a slightly heavier than a concept of Africanism in practicality...

When one has to give a bribe in Africa it is never to colonialist... when there is an injustice, the judge is African, when there is a coup the new face is African.. I am imbided with the beleif that Africans are equql to all.. yet all leaders of that contient are being let off as to their failure by rationalising that it is all caused by the white man ??????? wow all these africans are simple puppets being manipulated by the ever smart yanki and european cabals????

[johnnycakes]

Re: Why Are Black-Led Countries Doing So Badly?

Generally African nations HAVE either embraced or accepted easily-corrupted multi-party electoral systems and neo-liberal capitalism and thereby ensured their non-viability for the near future.

Poverty, starvation, violence, war, child soldiers, slavery, corruption, disease, lack of infrastructure, illiteracy, despair are the results of accepting these wondrous civilizing products from the Europeans and the Americans (U.S).




.

[Archie68]

Re: Why Are Black-Led Countries Doing So Badly?

Your answer is serious and depressing. I was hoping you would say I was wrong.

So, we are left with millions dead, raped and displaced? Black people have no sense of themselves and the damage we do to ourselves? No sense of brotherhood or sisterhood? No ability to defend ourselves based on ourselves?

I hoped you are full of foolishness.......I feel you are right. Idiots like joncalvin mean nothing at that point. We will die when they pontificate.

All our talk about black people are not believed by Africans; they have internal issues to settle among themselves. It seems logic says they will explore these internal issues with guns and artillery.

I hate the consequence of your words. I cannot deny they are true based on my own experience. It is a sad way to end this.

[Blackstar*]

Re: Why Are Black-Led Countries Doing So Badly?

8 June 2011 Last updated at 18:57 GMT
<span style="font-size: 11pt"><span style="font-family: 'Arial Black'">Hedge funds 'grabbing land' in Africa</span></span>

Hedge funds are behind &quot;land grabs&quot; in Africa to boost their profits in the food and biofuel sectors, a US think-tank says.

In a report, the Oakland Institute said hedge funds and other foreign firms had acquired large swathes of African land, often without proper contracts.

It said the acquisitions had displaced millions of small farmers.

Foreign firms farm the land to consolidate their hold over global food markets, the report said.

They also use land to &quot;make room&quot; for export commodities such as biofuels and cut flowers.

&quot;This is creating insecurity in the global food system that could be a much bigger threat than terrorism,&quot; the report said.

The Oakland Institute said it released its findings after studying land deals in Ethiopia, Tanzania, South Sudan, Sierra Leone, Mali and Mozambique.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black'">'Risky manoeuvre'</span>
It said hedge funds and other speculators had, in 2009 alone, bought or leased nearly 60m hectares of land in Africa - an area the size of France.

&quot;The same financial firms that drove us into a global recession by inflating the real estate bubble through risky financial manoeuvres are now doing the same with the world's food supply,&quot; the report said.

<span style="font-size: 14pt">It added that some firms obtained land after deals with gullible traditional leaders or corrupt government officials.

&quot;The research exposed investors who said it is easy to make a deal - that they could usually get what they wanted in exchange for giving a poor tribal chief a bottle of Johnnie Walker [whisky],&quot; said Anuradha Mittal, executive director of the Oakland Institute.</span>

&quot;When these investors promise progress and jobs to local chiefs it sounds great, but they don't deliver.&quot;

The report said the contracts also gave investors a range of incentives, from unlimited water rights to tax waivers.

&quot;No-one should believe that these investors are there to feed starving Africans.

&quot;These deals only lead to dollars in the pockets of corrupt leaders and foreign investors,&quot; said Obang Metho of Solidarity Movement for New Ethiopia, a non-governmental organisation in Addis Ababa.

However, not all companies named in the report accept that their motives are as suggested and they dismiss claims that their presence in Africa is harmful.

One company, EmVest Asset Management, strongly denied that it was involved in exploitative or illegal practices.

&quot;There are no shady deals. We acquire all land in terms of legal tender,&quot; EmVest's Africa director Anthony Poorter told the BBC.

He said that in Mozambique the company's employees earned salaries 40% higher than the minimum wage.

The company was also involved in development projects such as the supply of clean water to rural communities.

&quot;They are extremely happy with us,&quot; Mr Poorter said.

BBC © 2011

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13688683

[Blackstar*]

Re: Why Are Black-Led Countries Doing So Badly?

[Blackstar*]

Re: Why Are Black-Led Countries Doing So Badly?

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black'"><span style="font-size: 11pt">US universities in Africa 'land grab'</span></span>
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Originally published by the Guardian UK



John Vidal and Claire Provost

Wednesday 8 June 2011 20.18 BST



Harvard and other major American universities are working through British hedge funds and European financial speculators to buy or lease vast areas of African farmland in deals, some of which may force many thousands of people off their land, according to a new study.

Researchers say foreign investors are profiting from &quot;land grabs&quot; that often fail to deliver the promised benefits of jobs and economic development, and can lead to environmental and social problems in the poorest countries in the world.

The new report on land acquisitions in seven African countries suggests that Harvard, Vanderbilt and many other US colleges with large endowment funds have invested heavily in African land in the past few years. Much of the money is said to be channelled through London-based Emergent asset management, which runs one of Africa's largest land acquisition funds, run by former JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs currency dealers.

[Blackstar*]

Re: Why Are Black-Led Countries Doing So Badly?

Jamaica Gleaner Online


Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ) is recruiting consultants to package a number of tourist attractions and beach parks for divestment on behalf of Urban Development Corporation (UDC), which is shedding non-core assets.

The bank said the consultants would determine the model of divestment and oversee the valuation of the assets.

The list of park properties includes Dunn's River Falls, Laughing Waters Restaurant and Beach Club; Green Grotto Caves, in Discovery Bay, St Ann; Two Sisters Cave in St Catherine; and Reach Falls in Portland.

The beachfront properties include Long Bay Beach and Bluefields Beach in Westmoreland; and Fort Clarence Beach in St Catherine.

It is unclear whether UDC's preference is to sell or outsource the management of the properties under lease.

&quot;The selected consultants will be required to undertake a detailed analysis of the financial performance, prospects and structure of each of the assets and advise on the options for structuring the privatisation offer package in line with the general objectives set out by the Government of Jamaica,&quot; the bank said via email.

The DBJ said the consultants would be required to recommend the best divestment modality; package the assets for divestment and identify suitable operators and/or developers for the local attractions.

&quot;The DBJ, in contemplating these privatisation transactions, expects to achieve an outcome which contributes to competitive, sustainable economic activity and development, through commercially viable operations,&quot; said the bank.

[email protected]

[Wahalla]

Re: Why Are Black-Led Countries Doing So Badly?

BS:::: A fundamental question... why is the jamaican goverment sellinng these assests ? Are they being run efficently ????? Does the goverment have the capital CAPEX to invest in them to maintain and improve..

I ask because I dont know not to have an argument....

[Blackstar*]

Re: Why Are Black-Led Countries Doing So Badly?

Wahalla, you should be the consultant for the UDC.

What bothers me about the divestment is that based on past experience one or both of the following situations are likely to arise:
- Jamaicans will no longer have access to these public assets (unless they are wealthy or guests of a private establishment).
- Foreign owners will snap up the assets.

So my issue is that black-led countries like Jamaica have no problem selling valuable assets to foreign interests. Yet let either of us try to go and even buy a little bungalow in Bangkok...

[Wahalla]

Re: Why Are Black-Led Countries Doing So Badly?

I dont believe that governments can develop then run a efficent buisnesses..

.I am yet to see one....

I would suspect that a private buisness would take these buisness increase the entrance fees...reduce inefficency by reducing staff...Goverments cant do that without poltical impact...What we probably have is goverment subsidy year after year, with no end in sight. That is not sustainable....

Now before u all shoot me.. what is the function of these buisness to create jobs or to create value ????? they should do both.. but the only way the goverment would sell an asset is because it is costing more than it is earning...

The goverment has subsidiesed nearly every single buisness in Jamaica by susidies.... (including the bauxite by reducing taxation). The subsidies come from loans principally from local banks, that will charge high interests that local buisness men cannot compete.. Nor does it given incenstives to banks to lend to weath creating or value adding enterprises. Thus the weath creating capacity is gradually being reduced....

The sad thing is that a local buisness man with access to Jamaican banks cannot compete wiht international buisness men with access to international banks..

Here is a buisness model and a weath creating scheme... Borrow 20 million euros.. at say 1 point over national bank rate.. in the UK that is 1.5% .... Go to Jamaica deposit this into a high interest account. go the goverment.. offer to buy the buisness in question at 20 million euro.. then take the buisness plan, to another bank get a loan at a rate at lower than the high interest rate using the buisness as colateral.. fire half the staff increase the price of entrance.. Do superfical improvements and then live off the itnerest of the initial 20 million....


Goverments happy they get tax on your income and the cost of the asset..But u probably could negotiate a tax break for 5 years. Tranches of payments...

Bank 1 is happy it has forgeien exchange

Bank 2 is happy it has to gaurantee 15% to enterprises to satisfy its charter, it has the gaurantee of the deposit in the first bank...And it can calim that it is lending money at a lower buisness rate and thus reduce its tax liability. further it has a gauratee of a loan against a high profile buisness...

u are happy u have an asset... devaluation of the Jamaican dollar will reduce the actual amount u pay the goveremnt.. u are making weath.

the forgien bank is happy. It will calim a tax write off against the local goverment as developmental loan...


All u do after 5 years is claim back the cost of minor improvement at current value.. a tax write off in Jamaica. (previously u claim the cost of the buisness againnst ur buisness in the UK or europe as a cost, a tax write off...and the cost of any improvement that u claim as u do them.. Then reclaim this against the Jamaican goverment after the initial tax holiday!)

the loser is the Jamaican tax base, the jamaican popualtion.

Nice work if u can get it...God I love P&amp;L resposnsibity! Now I wont tell u how not to payback the initial 20 million loan!

[Wahalla]

Re: Why Are Black-Led Countries Doing So Badly?

mi sen u mi 5 pager.. u nuh read hit yet... sorry bout deh formating...some feed back...

[Blackstar*]

Re: Why Are Black-Led Countries Doing So Badly?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Wahalla</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><span style="font-style: italic">mi sen u mi 5 pager.. u nuh read hit yet... sorry bout deh formating...some feed back...</span> </div></div>I printed it to read on the way to work then I forgot it was in my bag - will definitely get back to you.

[Blackstar*]

Oh my, Wahalla, it seems I never got back to regarding the document you asked me to read. Me shame...

[Wahalla]

Oh my, Wahalla, it seems I never got back to regarding the document you asked me to read. Me shame...

nuh worry mi cyan memba wha mi sen u !

[Wahalla]

I cant find the other thread...so I will post this here....

Isabel dos Santos: 'First African female billionaire'

Isabel dos Santos is relatively shy despite her successful business career
Continue reading the main storyRelated Stories

• Angola's Jose Eduardo dos Santos
• Ten years of peace but at what price?
• Angola's Chinese-built ghost town

Isabel dos Santos, the eldest daughter of Angola's president, has become Africa's first female billionaire, US financial magazine Forbes has said.
The 40 year old's shares in several Portuguese firms, including a TV cable company, and an Angolan bank put her on the billionaires' list, Forbes said.
Her first venture was a restaurant in Luanda called Miami Beach, said the magazine that tracks the world's rich.
Most of the population in oil-rich Angola live on about $2 (£1.25) a day.
Angola is striving to tackle the physical, social and political legacy of a 27-year civil war that ravaged the country after independence from Portugal.
Continue reading the main storyIsabel dos Santos

• Studied engineering at King's College in London, where she grew up with her mother
• Opened Miami Beach restaurant in Luanda at the age of 24
• Owns 28.8% share of Zon, a Portuguese media firm, worth $385m
• Owns 19.5% of Portuguese bank Banco BPI, worth $465m
• Owns 25% of Angola's Banco BIC, worth an estimated $160m
• Alleged to be a 25% shareholder of Angolan telecom firm Unitel

Source: Forbes magazine

The conflict ended in 2002 and Angola has since emerged as one of Africa's leading oil producers and fastest-growing economies.
The family of President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos - who has been in power for 33 years - controls a large chunk of that economy.
"When you tease out the ownership and controlling interests in Angola it reads like a Who's Who of family members and party and military chiefs," Peter Lewis, an African studies professor at Johns Hopkins University in the US,told Forbes.
Correspondents say Ms dos Santos is a relatively shy public figure despite her successful business career.
Since setting up her restaurant in the capital, Luanda, in 1997 she has become an influential businesswoman in Angola and Portugal.
With a 28.8% stake in Zon, she sits on the Portuguese media company's board and is its largest shareholder, Forbes said.
She also sits on the board of Angola's Banco BIC and is reported to have a 25% share of the bank, the magazine reported.