Reply to: Geldof blasts 'sick' eBay sales

$545 000 limousine for President Bingu of Malawi!

How many tickets will it take to pay for this?

News24.com (SA), June 17

Blantyre—Opposition and civic groups are in uproar in the poor southern African nation of Malawi over state plans to buy a $545 000 limousine for President Bingu wa Mutharika while more than one million people face starvation.

“The decision has come at a wrong time when the country is facing serious food shortages,” Nancy Tembo, an opposition lawmaker of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP), was quoted as saying by state television on Thursday.

Malawi, which consumes two million tons of the national staple maize annually, plans to spend $50m to import 300 000 tons to avert famine following drought this year that reduced crop yields by 24%.

Finance minister Goodall Gondwe defended the move to acquire a top-of the-range Maybach 62 made by Mercedes-Benz, saying it “was necessary to buy the vehicle because of its safety features”.

Also speaking on television on Thursday, he said the country would not feel the effects as the payments would “be spread over a period of time”.

Civic groups joined opposition lawmakers in condemning the move.

“It’s something we never expected from the president. That sort of money could buy 45 000 bags of maize,” said Collins Magalasi from the watchdog Malawi Economic Justice Network.

Rafif Hajat, who heads a policy intervention institute, said with 1.3 million people facing starvation, and “excluded from debt relief, we cannot afford such luxury”.

Broken promises of a stringent budget

Mutharika, who took over from his former mentor Bakili Muluzi last year, had pledged to trim state spending, eschew luxuries and fight graft when he came to power.

Muluzi, who ruled for a decade, had drawn trenchant criticism for buying 39 new Mercedes Benz cars for his ministers three years ago at a cost of $2.5m.

About 60% of Malawi’s 11 million people live below the poverty threshold of less than $1 a day in the former British colony, which is also badly hit by the Aids pandemic.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other donors have suspended more than $75m in aid over concerns about overspending during Muluzi’s 10-year tenure.

Another Southern African fan of the Maybach, which has a 550-horsepower engine and claims to be the ultimate in refinement, is the continent’s last absolute monarch, King Mswati III of Swaziland.

In a country which also has one of the world’s highest HIV/Aids infection rates and where more than 65% of the 1.2 million inhabitants live below the poverty line, Mswati has a Maybach for himself and a new fleet of Mercedes for his dozen wives.

(Posted on June 17, 2005)

Re: Shame that ebay backed down really

Wonder if he's had a bath yet this year... wouldn't want to waste all those valuable skin oils.

Re: Shame that ebay backed down really

Why didn't he stick them all on ebay in the first place? They could have made a mint. Istead to dopey fecker gives them away for next to nothing and wonders why people are then selling them on for their true market worth.

Re: Shame that ebay backed down really

what are people actually meant to do with tickets that they don't want anymore? give them to the homeless?

Why not send them to Africa? They could make them into compost or something.

Re: Shame that ebay backed down really

what annoys st bob is that he didn't think about having some system where returned tickets could be resold on ebay thus making loads of wonga for the charity.

what are people actually meant to do with tickets that they don't want anymore? give them to the homeless?

Shame that ebay backed down really

Now of course all the bedbugs can come out and howl at the top of their voices whenever anything is auctioned, there's always some looney who thinks it immoral to sell something.
They should have told BG to FOAD.

Re: that guy

Well it looks like Saint Bob got his way in the end.

I can't see how selling a ticket won in this texting raffle was any different to selling any other prize won in a raffle. If I had won a car in a charity sponsord raffle from a £1 ticket, would I get critisism if I sold it for its market value?

Re: that guy

Well, dear old St. Bob was in full on rant mode on PM on R4 yesterday.

What a twat.

Re: that guy

Just relax, comrade, it's all a bit of fun.

As it happens, yes, the same market forces should apply to the client-agent-contractor chain. Unless you are advocating fixing the price of the resource (contractors) when demand exceeds supply?

Re: that guy

Numpty, the argument is sound. You are advocating for a variety of reasons rigging the market, in effect fixing the value of the commodity at below its market worth. Many people agree that is a sound approach. Most of them ran the economic bureaux of communist countries.

I hear what you're saying, but as a filthy capitalist scum who will be the first against the wall when the revolution comes, I cannot condone it.

Come on, not everything in life should be decided by economics we aren't talking about bread, there was a time you could buy your tickets anytime within the first month, now they can sell out in a day and be on ebay in a few hours this is not a normal market situation. The band et al have decided a price for their product which the fans accept, but now supply is being artificially restricted there is no need whatsoever for these middlemen.

These people (I'm not talking about geldof and africa that's far too emotive) are scum. They are the same people who auction themselves as 'friends' they have no understanding of common decency.

Your pro-arguement could quite easily be applied to recruitment consultants who do actually add some value for their sometimes large cut. The next person who complains about their agent stuffing them I'll point them in your direction and you can explain the laws of supply and demand to them and how it's all perfectly reasonable.

BTW I am as much of a communist as you are evidently a music fan.

Re: that guy

People will always buy and sell things like this because their value to one person is greater than it is to another. The moment this was announced, my first thought was that there would be loads of tickets on EBay. It was obvious really. Geldof may think he is being moral about this but I would say it shows up his stupidity more than anything else. Why didn't he sell the tickets for a proper price and the proceeds could actually do some good. Instead he practically gives them away leading to 100% pure profit.

Re: that guy

I don't buy your arguement

Numpty, the argument is sound. You are advocating for a variety of reasons rigging the market, in effect fixing the value of the commodity at below its market worth. Many people agree that is a sound approach. Most of them ran the economic bureaux of communist countries.

I hear what you're saying, but as a filthy capitalist scum who will be the first against the wall when the revolution comes, I cannot condone it.

Re: that guy

Great. So ffffing what. So someone wants to sell their tickets and someone wants to buy them.

Read some namby pamby sh1t on Ebay from people with comments like '50000 children died man and you're making money off it'

What toss! :rolleyes

Re: that guy

Numpty, what you mean is you had to pay a price above cover for a ticket sometime and you didn't like it. In a free market, any commodity will find its true value. Anything else (like named tickets) is in effect rigging the market.

I don't buy your arguement, the Bands want to sell the tickets to the fans, the fans want to buy the tickets, thanks to the internet some people who don't like music see an opportunity to make money at the expense of the fans. Remember the tickets already have a cut for the promoter, the venue and the agency that sells them. Alot of bands don't want their fans ripped off, see Pearl Jam who buycotted ticketmaster, Michael Evas who has changed the glasto ticjet system to fook up the touts etc.

I do not get stung, because i'd rather not go that give money to some grubby little sh1t, more than I would one outside the venue. Tickets are/were always available from touts for those who wanted tickets desperately enough. Now it's a race against time with these feckwits. Anyway the bands/festivals are latching on so it won't be happening too much longer.

Re: that guy

As the tickets have not yet been issued, why doesnt Sir Bob have each one issued to the name and address of each winner. ID to be produced at event.
Problem solved.

It is his own fault if he didnt see this coming.