Garth Theunissen

That we may know the truth is our only solace.

[Garth Theunissen @WriteGarth]

I’ll just leave this here #SARB

[The Knowledge Archivist @KnowledgeArchiv]

"Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents and everyone is writing a book."

— Cicero, 43 BCE

[Dustin @r0ck3t23]

Elon Musk just used a joke to perform an autopsy on the American economy.

Two economists go for a hike. They find a pile of shit. One pays the other $100 to eat it.

They keep walking. Find another pile. The second economist pays $100 back to eat that one.

They stop. Neither man gained a dollar. Both ate shit for nothing.

But on paper they just generated $200 in GDP.

Musk: “That basically would count as a job. This is to illustrate the absurdity of economics.”

That is not a punchline. That is the operating system of the federal government.

Every time a politician celebrates “record job creation” this is what they are describing. Not output. Not value. Not progress. Motion.

The entire bureaucratic machine exists to manufacture friction and then invoice for it.

Compliance layers built to justify the next compliance layer. Oversight committees that produce nothing but the need for more oversight. Consulting firms hired to audit the work of other consulting firms.

Trillions circulating through systems that have never produced a single thing you can hold in your hands. But the GDP number ticks up. So everyone applauds.

The shit gets eaten. The scoreboard moves. Nobody asks what actually got built.

This is why Washington treats AI like a five alarm fire.

AI does not play the friction game. It does not form a committee. It does not schedule a review. It does not file 400 pages of paperwork no one will ever read.

It just solves the problem.

And that is the one thing the machine cannot survive.

The government does not tax results. It taxes the process. The longer the process, the deeper the cut.

AI compresses a ten day workflow into seconds. There is nothing left to bill. Nothing left to tax. Nothing left to skim.

So they will spend the next decade warning you that AI threatens the economy.

What they will never say is what it actually threatens.

The illusion that activity equals progress.

The $200 economy where both men ate shit and called it a job.

The machines are not coming for your purpose.

They are coming to prove that half the economy never had one.

[James Carran @getpaidwrite]

Shorter isn't better.

Don't write: "He was mean."

Write: "He'd cheat a widow out of her last coins, just because he could."

Show, don't tell.

Even if it takes longer.

[Garth Theunissen @WriteGarth]

The Reserve Bank has outlined its plan to replace the prime lending rate https://t.co/QX5oBj3JcP

[George Friedman @George_Friedman]

Why would the US demand that Denmark allow Greenland to become a US-held nation? If it simply wanted what was under the ground, like its rare earths, the US could have just as easily entered negotiations to mine its resources.

Why Greenland Matters: https://t.co/E736MvuUwT

[Garth Theunissen @WriteGarth]

The beautiful, vacuous chaos of Davos https://t.co/FULuwwI4Oh

[Garth Theunissen @WriteGarth]

Why Investec is building a fortress banking unit in Switzerland to service its high net worth clients https://t.co/1TiTkqulvM

[Garth Theunissen @WriteGarth]

“Snow is our oil”: Meet Switzerland’s godfather of snow polo https://t.co/T0L0Ql6BSu

[Garth Theunissen @WriteGarth]

The 2026 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland gets underway today. Here’s a quick preview on what to expect with Investec’s chief investment strategist Chris Holdsworth.

[Garth Theunissen @WriteGarth]

@gregsalterjhb @News24 They’ve entirely passed the buck and referred me back to the banking industry for comment.

[Boring_Business @BoringBiz_]

Private equity firms adding operational value to their portfolio companies

[James Carran @getpaidwrite]

By age 30 you should have deleted Grammarly

[Garth Theunissen @WriteGarth]

@brucebusiness I suspect the chance will be at least one third of the way successful

[Garth Theunissen @WriteGarth]

@brucebusiness I believe the economists call that a “structural constraint”.

[Garth Theunissen @WriteGarth]

@dineshgovender Now consider when each was founded.

[Garth Theunissen @WriteGarth]

Kganyago and his technocrats forget the worst kind of inflation – losing your job

https://t.co/40vrYXhUYu

[Garth Theunissen @WriteGarth]

@incautius @SikonathiM @IvoVegter

[Garth Theunissen @WriteGarth]

@incautius @SikonathiM @IvoVegter You’re complaining about a paywall yet you claim to have read the story, in which case you must have paid to get past the paywall, in which case..what are you complaining about?

[SANEF @SAEditorsForum]

Columns/Editorial winner is Garth Theunissen. Theunissen’s article, “Mr Kganyago, scary inflation isn’t under your bed, it’s in the Union Buildings” The article, deals with the Reserve Bank Governor’s approach to inflation targeting, displays the writer’s knowledge of the subject