Stand Up! Business

Dec 10 2024 92 ep. 19 mins 71

Stand Up! Business Podcast artwork

Investment banker Mark Barnes and Business Maverick editor Tim Cohen unwrap the news. A new edition of StandUp!Business midweek, every week.

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The year of elections ends mixed, like the best cocktails. Cheers!

Dec 10 2024 20 mins

Remember when Christmas was a day? Then it became a season. Black Friday, you would think, would forever be a day, that day being, you guessed it, Friday. Turns out, Black Friday is now fast becoming a week, and will inevitably soon become a season. And talking of seasons, it has been the season of gambling, dubious state financing, election upsets, struggling governments and regim

Presidential powers are just another brick in the wall

Dec 02 2024 21 mins

Pardon the confusion, but didn’t President Joe Biden say he would not pardon his son Hunter Biden, who was convicted recently on tax and gun charges? Turns out, he did say he would not. But then he did issue the pardon over the Thanksgiving weekend. Entrepreneur Mark Barnes and Daily Maverick Editor at Large Tim Cohen discuss forgiveness and, critically, whether you can forgive y

Creating money and the value of bananas

Nov 26 2024 21 mins

How much is a banana stuck to the wall with duct tape actually worth? Or, to put it another way, have we all gone bananas? Which leads on to the more important topic of the value of money, and that involves inflation. And interest rates. This week entrepreneur Mark Barnes and Daily Maverick Editor at Large Tim Cohen discuss last week's small interest rate cut, whether it was enough

Should we rent out Simonstown for bitcoin?

Nov 19 2024 19 mins

Is it Cop or cop-out; it's hard to tell. The UN’s Conference of Parties (COP) on climate action and sustainability is currently happening in Baku, Azerbaijan - the second time the conference is taking place in a petro-state. Unsurprisingly, it's currently hard to breathe in Deli. But, on the other hand, bitcoin is booming, raising the question of whether SA should rent out Simons

Money buys power; will PPP’s really work? + … ?

Nov 11 2024 22 mins

How is it possible that someone so obviously flawed as a person can become president of the world's most powerful country? Entrepreneur Mark Barnes and financial journalist Tim Cohen (try!) to explain that, and other imponderables, like the global outbreak of oligarchism. Locally we discuss the powerhouse standoff between the City of Johannesburg and Eskom, and ask whether PPP's ar

Elections, elections everywhere: change is gonna come, organised crime and the underground economy.

Nov 04 2024 18 mins

Botswana voters have just done something incredible - they voted out the party that has been running the country for 58 years and which brought about one of the continent’s greatest economic achievements. This is just one of the surprising election results around the world, which includes elections everywhere from Japan to Moldova. And of course, there is the big one this week. E

The medium term budget per capita, D-day for the USA

Oct 28 2024 20 mins

Why is the medium-term budget statement like Johannesburg water supply? This is one of the key questions in our podcast this week, in which entrepreneur Mark Barnes and Business Maverick editor discuss the said budget, some related questions like SA's recent per capita GDP growth, and how it relates to the government of national unity. We also discuss the D-day election in the US,

LIVE RECORDING: The future, the election and the rugby

Oct 22 2024 23 mins

For the first time in front of a live audience, entrepreneur Mark Barnes and Business Maverick editor Tim Cohen discuss the latest turn of events in the South African Rugby Union buyout saga, the twists and turns in the US election and the surprising similarities - and differences - between the state of the equity markets in 2024 with those in the dot com era of 2000. And we take q

Springboks for sale; the forces of nature and technology

Oct 15 2024 19 mins

This week, entrepreneur Mark Barnes and Business Maverick editor Tim Cohen discuss the proposed sale of a stake in the Springboks (skande!) and the politicisation of the weather (double skande!). It turns out the weatherman is not out to get you, but maybe the weather authorities are - particularly if you live in Johannesburg.

Should the PIC split, and the world unite?

Oct 08 2024 19 mins

Entrepreneur Mark Barnes and Business Maverick editor Tim Cohen discuss whether the state pensioners’ fund manager, the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) which now has R2.7-trillion under management, should be split up. Also, does the GNU mean SA will stop drifting into the ambit of authoritarian regimes? And finally, is sports betting a financial risk to sports enthusiasts or