6 October 2008
column
Johannesburg — THE funny thing about crises is that they always seem to happen when leadership is poor. A cynic might even suggest the coincidence is not coincidental.
Consider the US. Its financial crisis is happening at the end of the term of perhaps the worst US president in half a generation.
George Bush's economic policy worsened the crisis through the simple expedient of reducing income and increasing expenditure, not normally known to be effective financial management.
Tax cuts are seldom a bad idea, but his cutting taxes toward the top of the financial tree applied relief where it was least needed.
For a Republican to endorse such a massive increase in spending is a betrayal of his party's principles. His inattentiveness seemed charming at one point and endearing to ordinary people. Now it just seems inept.
The one person you would expect to be on top of the problem would be British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who spent what seemed an eternity at the helm of the UK's public finances, where he seemed perfectly at home.
Yet he seems strangely befuddled by national leadership, and his response to the crisis seems wavering.
The problem of leadership is of course apposite locally. The change of administration suggests we are going to have three presidents in the space of a year. You have to hope that the ANC is taking note carefully of what is happening internationally, and that it digests the issues accurately.
President Kgalema Motlanthe has made an excellent start by di ssociating himself from the notion that budget surpluses are somehow evil.
But will his successor be in a position to be likewise fiscally conservative?
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