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I live in the greater Johannesburg area of South Africa, the area I'm in is probably amongst the very highest economic contributors of the country, and while si

I live in the greater Johannesburg area of South Africa, the area I'm in is probably amongst the very highest economic contributors of the country, and while sitting still in traffic there is no where one can look without some advert being in view, it's dystopian and depressing. Even worse though, there is this amazingly fancy huge electronic billboard and then all around it (like most streets here) everything is, if not messy from litter, just generally scruffy, unkept plants / grass, weeds growing on the verge of the road, streets not swept, etc. Technically, the depressing mess is the fault of the local government which is generally incompetent, but considering that they already charge these billboard companies for the rights to show these adverts there, they could just make another part of the deal for the rights is that the billboard companies are obligated to ensure that part of the road is kept neat. It wouldn't be the primary reason for the brain drain here, but definitely just one more reason that people give up on the country. (The reasons why skilled middle-class people are fleeing include: Crime, corruption, constant load shedding (it's been better as of late, but it remains to be seen if it's gone for good), we pay a significant amount of income tax, and then also 15% VAT on practically everything (on top of the import fees for most things). Despite the amount of taxes the middle class pays, government education, healthcare and policing are not to be relied on, so we also need to pay for private versions of those too. The bottom line is we get terrible value for money for the taxes we pay. I consider my taxes to be largely charity to the majority of the population which is in poverty and don't pay taxes, so I do feel absolutely aggrieved with the apathy, incompetence or corruption of our government which results in very little of that money being used where it should be.)

anonylizard 2y ago
Ehhhh.... Why can't the government keep the road neat? Isn't that the government's job? The problem with including a stipulation in the contract, for the private company to keep it neat, is its hard to objectively monitor (Unlike say the money paid for advertising), which will therefore 100% become a way to extort the private companies. The optimal solution will just be 'pay off the government inspectors & spend as little on actually keeping it neat as possible'. People need to understand a government policies is like a software program, its not trivial to just 'add a feature'. An extremely corrupt government, is like hardware that flips bits randomly all the time, so please don't make it do even more things.
beaglesss 2y ago
SA has massive brain drain but still better than many countries producing talent by many metrics. I've looked at the visa process before and it looked as if getting PR is nightmarishly difficult compared to other talent seeking nations like Taiwan or Australia. I don't understand it. If you issued liberal visas and an ak47 to fend off the carjackers id think hard about getting on the next flight. Truly a breathtaking beautiful country and I hope things look up for you soon.

anonylizard 2y ago

Ehhhh.... Why can't the government keep the road neat? Isn't that the government's job? The problem with including a stipulation in the contract, for the private company to keep it neat, is its hard to objectively monitor (Unlike say the money paid for advertising), which will therefore 100% become a way to extort the private companies. The optimal solution will just be 'pay off the government inspectors & spend as little on actually keeping it neat as possible'. People need to understand a government policies is like a software program, its not trivial to just 'add a feature'. An extremely corrupt government, is like hardware that flips bits randomly all the time, so please don't make it do even more things.

beaglesss 2y ago

SA has massive brain drain but still better than many countries producing talent by many metrics. I've looked at the visa process before and it looked as if getting PR is nightmarishly difficult compared to other talent seeking nations like Taiwan or Australia. I don't understand it. If you issued liberal visas and an ak47 to fend off the carjackers id think hard about getting on the next flight. Truly a breathtaking beautiful country and I hope things look up for you soon.