The future of motoring is confusing. With the internal combustion engine being phased out and electric vehicle manufacturers led by Tesla all the rage, we can only dream what we’ll be driving in a decade or two. Christopher Mims who works for our partners at The Wall Street Journal has taken a close look at where the mobility sector is moving and concludes, that Apple will be a huge factor. His introduction is republished below, with a link to the in-depth piece.
- While his car business is going swimmingly, Elon Musk is feeling a lot of heat on social media after becoming more circumspect on crypto currencies – spearheaded by an appearance as the guest host of the US’s mass Saturday Night Live TV show (above). When pushed by other cast members Musk admitted hyped-up crypto joke Dogecoin was “a hustle”. Now he’s being pilloried by former fans for losing them money. Click here for Elon’s hero-to-zero story in The Wall Street Journal.
- On the local scene two big stories for the coming week, both from the Official Opposition. First is the DA’s court challenge to the ANC’s noxious policy of Cadre Deployment – ie rewarding often unqualified party loyalists with jobs paid for by taxpayers. Click here for the story. The second focuses on the ANC’s funnelling of more taxpayer money to socialist Cuba. Click here to read Kobus Marais’s hard-hitting piece on Politicsweb about the SANDF’s R1bn purchase from Cubans service providers while the local defence sector is imploding.
- There’s more disturbing detail emerging about the Covid-19 pandemic. Including how mortalities appear to have been fuelled rather than moderated by lockdowns: countries which imposed them most harshly appearing to have suffered most (ie Peru and others in South America). Related stories from three impeccable sources:
- The WSJ has a global exclusive this morning exposing how, in November 2019, three staffers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology became sick enough with coronavirus symptoms that they went to hospital. The evidence supports an idea previously dismissed as a conspiracy theory, that Covid-19 may well have escaped from the laboratory. Click here for the story.
- Using its own models, the latest cover story of The Economist claims that global mortalities from Covid-19 is at least double and probably triple the official number of 3.5m. You’ll need to buy the print edition of register at Economist.com for your three free articles a month. Once in, search for “Counting The Dead.”
- Also supporting the pandemic-deaths-higher-than-reported thesis is SA’s Medical Research Council. Its latest weekly report on excess deaths (click here) is aligned with The Economist’s numbers, estimating SA’s pandemic-related deaths at 160 048 – almost treble the official 55 800 number.
- Ending on a happier note, 50 year old Phil Mickelson last night became the oldest man to won one of golf’s “Majors”, his 6-under-par total just enough to beat Louis Oosthuizen and Brooks Koepka. Click here for the heartwarming piece in today’s WSJ.
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PS Two webinars coming up that you will probably want to join. The monthly BizNews Global Share Portfolio update is tomorrow at noon. For Premium members only – click here to register. And on Wednesday, our 12J focus is on the Pearl Valley Hotel, one of the most popular of the tax incentive-qualifying options we’re featuring. Super entrepreneur Adrian Gardiner and colleague Deon Lewis will unpack its attractions, also at noon. Open to all. Click here to attend.
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