Gill Rugo
Member
- Aug 28, 2022
- 30
- 121
The oldest he could be is seven, yet his hands seem to have known more work than mine. Stone by stone, he piles his quota as we fulfill the latest installment of this encounter. My pace, as always, is spoken for as his delicate face, wrinkled with modern slavery, would only remind me how doomed we are. Unfortunately, this little boy is a stone mason on these grounds. As are all he calls kin.
Faith would rather us hope that God has a plan for them, but reality nonetheless dawns: THEY ARE DOOMED, as are we. At play, there are forces—the closest being state—maintaining an order that keeps this family down. Monthly, they generate Tsh300,000 from a truckload of gravel and, provided after all expenses, remain with Tsh10,000 as savings; state strikes again.
You see, the government borrows but doesn't generate enough to repay, so it imposes further taxes. Families like this then deplete their savings, depriving them of capital for entrepreneurship. State then borrows again, and the cycle continues.
Also, there's a hidden transfer of value. Conceptually, the global North relies on a large net appropriation of resources and labor from the global South, extracted through price differentials in international trade. Think of this family as small-scale cobalt miners in the Congo. They'd earn less than $2 for minerals used to make iPhones, which sell for thousands of dollars. Apple workers in America, however, will be paid hundreds of thousands of dollars. Economists Samir Amin and Arghiri Emmanuel estimate this theft to amount to $2.2 trillion a year.
Legally challenging this unfair order is tiresome. Change does come, but after eons and only when those with privilege let it—case study: Apartheid South Africa or colonialism. Asset portfolios that hold a collection of stocks and bonds on all means of production are what make it so. The likes of BlackRock, Vanguard, Morgan Stanley, and Fidelity own corporations such as Disney, Coca-Cola, Apple, Tesla, Toyota, Nestle, Google, Shell, and every other corporation you know.
Competition is usually just an illusion; the money, in essence, flows into the same bank accounts. Such is the cruelty of the civilized world. But in this madness also lies our answer: We simply rig the game with a bank and asset portfolio of our own.
Pulling a bank from scratch would be a nutjob, so let's play this scenario from the already-established National Microfinance Bank (NMB). Say the government was to cede control of all its shares in the $4.7 billion bank; that would place 31% of the bank's shares in the hands of 6 million people. Each person would, of course, own as many shares as they have money in the bank but only possess single-vote power, making us a true democracy. Here on, our 31% profit share would be used to chase majority shareholding.
A bank's job is business, which we will do with considerate interest rates. However, what will set us apart from other banks is our domestic capital retention. From the moment of inception, you export almost half your salary by simply subscribing to Vodacom, DSTV, Netflix, or buying a Pepsi or a Nataraj pencil. In the end, capital immobility prevails within the nation, thus fueling dependency. Our bank would work to guarantee as much generated money circulates and stays within our borders through a set of non-negotiable principles, even if the laws of business dictate otherwise. Along with banking on progressive causes, these will be the most fundamental:
Large-scale industrial investment: With a controlling stake, our first order of business would be buying stock in various industries in the country. A 10–20% acquisition in corporations like AZAM, METL, JAMBO, SIMBA CEMENT, IPP, AIRTEL, and many more would be enough for starters. And to be petty, the acquired stake would sorely belong to workers of that company. Subsequently, this manifests as more voting power, rights, and safety for workers.
Establishment of minimum wage: Central to charity and donations at the international and billionaire level is the pretense that they are as helpless as we are to problems they are source to. The West would happily donate millions to Africa even though their companies leap billions. You should know that for every dollar the West donates, they get 14 dollars in back channels. We shall thus refuse the mercy of donations and request and establish a minimum wage for all companies we work with or invest in. Mo Dewji donating Tsh11 billion via his foundation literally means nothing if he doesn't pay his workers a living wage.
Net zero policy: Climate change is here. What we can do now is just cushion the landing. Bracing for the worst will be focal in how we invest. At all points, the environment should transcend business, with no room for compromise. For instance, the EACOP pipeline will be a juggernaut economically, but on the sustainability scale, the optics change. And for that, the remedy is:
Legal, lobbying, and protesting power: When the River Mara was polluted beyond drinking, state basically ran PR for its shareholders. That was enough to tell you who it answers to first. But an organized bank and asset portfolio that lobbies, protests, and sues power—that being in solidarity across all its companies—would be unchallengeable. Moreover, it would not give them a single target. You could try, but you can't kill 6 million activists.
Facing the barrel of the West's militaries, most have found it the better part of prudence to bow to their will. While the reasoning has been just, temptations have seen the West create hegemony in all aspects of the world. Yes, they hold all the past and present money, but they do not own the future. This is how we win. We untie our future money from the present. We give our kids leverage that when they are 100 million in 2050, they are not cheap labor for the West.
Faith would rather us hope that God has a plan for them, but reality nonetheless dawns: THEY ARE DOOMED, as are we. At play, there are forces—the closest being state—maintaining an order that keeps this family down. Monthly, they generate Tsh300,000 from a truckload of gravel and, provided after all expenses, remain with Tsh10,000 as savings; state strikes again.
You see, the government borrows but doesn't generate enough to repay, so it imposes further taxes. Families like this then deplete their savings, depriving them of capital for entrepreneurship. State then borrows again, and the cycle continues.
Also, there's a hidden transfer of value. Conceptually, the global North relies on a large net appropriation of resources and labor from the global South, extracted through price differentials in international trade. Think of this family as small-scale cobalt miners in the Congo. They'd earn less than $2 for minerals used to make iPhones, which sell for thousands of dollars. Apple workers in America, however, will be paid hundreds of thousands of dollars. Economists Samir Amin and Arghiri Emmanuel estimate this theft to amount to $2.2 trillion a year.
Legally challenging this unfair order is tiresome. Change does come, but after eons and only when those with privilege let it—case study: Apartheid South Africa or colonialism. Asset portfolios that hold a collection of stocks and bonds on all means of production are what make it so. The likes of BlackRock, Vanguard, Morgan Stanley, and Fidelity own corporations such as Disney, Coca-Cola, Apple, Tesla, Toyota, Nestle, Google, Shell, and every other corporation you know.
Competition is usually just an illusion; the money, in essence, flows into the same bank accounts. Such is the cruelty of the civilized world. But in this madness also lies our answer: We simply rig the game with a bank and asset portfolio of our own.
Pulling a bank from scratch would be a nutjob, so let's play this scenario from the already-established National Microfinance Bank (NMB). Say the government was to cede control of all its shares in the $4.7 billion bank; that would place 31% of the bank's shares in the hands of 6 million people. Each person would, of course, own as many shares as they have money in the bank but only possess single-vote power, making us a true democracy. Here on, our 31% profit share would be used to chase majority shareholding.
A bank's job is business, which we will do with considerate interest rates. However, what will set us apart from other banks is our domestic capital retention. From the moment of inception, you export almost half your salary by simply subscribing to Vodacom, DSTV, Netflix, or buying a Pepsi or a Nataraj pencil. In the end, capital immobility prevails within the nation, thus fueling dependency. Our bank would work to guarantee as much generated money circulates and stays within our borders through a set of non-negotiable principles, even if the laws of business dictate otherwise. Along with banking on progressive causes, these will be the most fundamental:
Large-scale industrial investment: With a controlling stake, our first order of business would be buying stock in various industries in the country. A 10–20% acquisition in corporations like AZAM, METL, JAMBO, SIMBA CEMENT, IPP, AIRTEL, and many more would be enough for starters. And to be petty, the acquired stake would sorely belong to workers of that company. Subsequently, this manifests as more voting power, rights, and safety for workers.
Establishment of minimum wage: Central to charity and donations at the international and billionaire level is the pretense that they are as helpless as we are to problems they are source to. The West would happily donate millions to Africa even though their companies leap billions. You should know that for every dollar the West donates, they get 14 dollars in back channels. We shall thus refuse the mercy of donations and request and establish a minimum wage for all companies we work with or invest in. Mo Dewji donating Tsh11 billion via his foundation literally means nothing if he doesn't pay his workers a living wage.
Net zero policy: Climate change is here. What we can do now is just cushion the landing. Bracing for the worst will be focal in how we invest. At all points, the environment should transcend business, with no room for compromise. For instance, the EACOP pipeline will be a juggernaut economically, but on the sustainability scale, the optics change. And for that, the remedy is:
Legal, lobbying, and protesting power: When the River Mara was polluted beyond drinking, state basically ran PR for its shareholders. That was enough to tell you who it answers to first. But an organized bank and asset portfolio that lobbies, protests, and sues power—that being in solidarity across all its companies—would be unchallengeable. Moreover, it would not give them a single target. You could try, but you can't kill 6 million activists.
Facing the barrel of the West's militaries, most have found it the better part of prudence to bow to their will. While the reasoning has been just, temptations have seen the West create hegemony in all aspects of the world. Yes, they hold all the past and present money, but they do not own the future. This is how we win. We untie our future money from the present. We give our kids leverage that when they are 100 million in 2050, they are not cheap labor for the West.
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