Entrepreneurship and Unemployment why is it on a downward slope?

[Martinco]

Cars - they are what they are whether you like it or not - they will become even more sophisticated with the passage of time.

Well........just on the same subject. I was asked by my son-in-law to look at his electric golf cart.

Man ! will you be surprised how sophisticated the electrical circuitry is on these things.

Far too many inputs just to make the motor run, and the number of parameter adjustments can make you dizzy.

[HR-Student]

right on!! education is the only known way to getting what you want, unless you go into politics of course. but otherwise it seems to me that you really do not know what you truly want and giving yourself and others so many excuses about why you just cant move forward in life, and taking this might seem like the easy way out. get your values straight and know what it is that you want and then you will see that it might not even be the course you are taking right now. and btw, do not let school get in the way of your education....

[tec0]

My wife is a qualified heavy current technician - She studied through ESKOM and qualified by studying at technicon and working in the field. I am yet to see an engineer who doesn't need math. You are kidding yourself if you think the best people in ESKOM started with a STD 4 - we dealt with too many qualified technicians & engineers to take such a statement seriously.

Actually this happened a bit before our time. Most of these old greys are between age 70 and age 80 now. Some worked at Duvha till 2004 others only retired after 2006 “as semi contractors” doing critical work. Eskom used to have onsite training back then because there was no N qualifications or anything like that.

My grandfather is one of those lucky few that did have that type of training. So I know it is fact.

As for the academic side, I am useless at it, the numbers just “swim” But in any event some are made more equal than others.

As for cars getting more complicated, it is not a good thing… for two reasons the more speciality items you need the more expensive the product and the more difficult it will be to maintain.

[Justloadit]

As for cars getting more complicated, it is not a good thing… for two reasons the more speciality items you need the more expensive the product and the more difficult it will be to maintain.

I have to disagree with you on this one. To get efficiency, you have to have real time control, and this can only be achieved by using electronics. So the sophistication is required.

I think that electronics is pretty reliable, considering that almost every conceivable item we use today has electronics in it. Take the numbers, they tell you the reliability. How many cars on the road today using sophisticated electronics. With these numbers, there is bound to be a failure here and there. What happens is that we become so reliant on technology, that when there is a failure, we think it is a catastrophe because of the inconvenience it has caused.

If you consider the amount of electronics that are involved in in aircraft, with the number of daily flights there are, how many failures are there.

So yes, whilst you have to have more qualifications to do any servicing of this equipment, it also means that you have to continue learning regularly to maintain the evolution path. If we do not continuously evolve we will become extinct.

[adrianh]

tec0 - I know what you mean about numbers swimming - I could never understand chemistry, it was just too abstract (maybe it would have helped if I actually bothered to learn the rules). Some people are academics and some are not. I don't think that one is better than the other, people are just different. There will always be work for people who are practical and who know how to use their hands. My brother knows everything there is to know about banking but he doesn't know nothing about plumbing (does it make him better than the plumber - I don't think so and he also doesn't think so)

Justloadit - Technology as applied to cars and consumer goods is an issue on its own. I would say that most of the electronics applied to cars is a total overkill. It is done in such a way that the car is unservicable by a non-agent. There is a place for electronics but within reason.

With regards to aircraft - one has to be very careful to quote aviation statistics because the statistics are skewed to favour aviation. Aviation failure rate statistics in comparison to cars are calculated on no of km covered - ok, but if you change te parameter to number of trips unertaken then air travel stats are very very bad. You say that there are few avionics failures (based on what?) Another thing to remember about aircraft is that for every 1hr flown planes spend 5-10hrs undergoing maintenance - cars are quite the opposite - its more like for every 8,000km driven 1hr maintenance.

I think that one needs to be careful of putting too much emphasis on electronic development. The Mig-29 out-flies any aircraft in the same class, not because of electronics, but because of good engineering.

Another thought on electronics & technology - We have once again shown that South Africa will waste huge sums of money on developing products that will never be able to recoup their investment costs, namely the Joule battery car - now there is a waste of money and time. Don't get me wrong, its a great idea (for GM or Ford or Toyouta or or or...) but not for some dingbat and his cousin using taxpayers money!

What is the bottom line

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I think that we should strive to educate ourselves all the time - not only in the fields we like, but also in the fields we don't like. We should keep abreast of technological developments but we should be able to descern the fashionable developments from the really meaningful developments. Yes, its nice to know that my new car's satnav can connect to my ipod which connects to my bluetooth which connectes to my iphone which connects to my ipad via wifi - but will it make any real difference to my life...

[tec0]

The truth is, if you want to get ahead in life you need papers that doesn’t mean a damn thing. Fact qualified employees was responsible for the 2.5 billion rand oops at Duvha, a few years later same scenario only this time it will cost us 3.2 billion rand to fix. Would the same mistakes have happened if they had on job training and certification? We will never know.

But let’s point back to the mismanagement of trade. Fact, that there are two very large companies operating in our aria and there wilders and mechanics never had formal training and or certification. When those workers applied for it they were turned down and the boss’s family member got the training. The Basic truth is, the more skilled an unqualified person is the better for the company because he/she pays them half “if not less” for the same work that a skilled person can provide.

Eskom, is running around making sure that majority only applications are accepted “Fact” as shown by Carte Blanche “a document leaked out stating that no minority will be employed by Eskom” already this shows the ill found attitude nurtured by Eskom.

R***k Engineering is a bit more lenient but in the end the alcoholics are calling the shots there, so again mismanaged opportunities as you must please the drunk first before you get a chance at getting your trade. This rings true for C******s and H******d as they too have individuals that helps only particular individuals for particular reasons. A***o has the same recruitment system.

The rest of us can sink. So go to the pub and get enlisted but if you do the things the right way you will never see that trade.

[Dave A]

I think tec0 makes a strong point here:

But let’s point back to the mismanagement of trade. Fact, that there are two very large companies operating in our aria and there wilders and mechanics never had formal training and or certification. When those workers applied for it they were turned down and the boss’s family member got the training. The Basic truth is, the more skilled an unqualified person is the better for the company because he/she pays them half “if not less” for the same work that a skilled person can provide.

And it's not just a few big companies - I suspect failing to put people who are actually already doing the job through certified training in order to keep payroll costs down is pretty wide spread.

[tec0]

I personally know two very gifted welders and when I say gifted I mean truly gifted as they can work on almost any surface “including aluminium” the one is much like me not very good with the math thing. The other will pass if given a chance but the company has no intention in sending him.

And let me state that this isn’t a little company…

[Pap_sak]

From the retail side, opening a shop here is much, much easier than opening a shop in the UK - which to be honest, could be called hostile in the extreme. In fact, as long as you have a little cash on your side, opening a shop here is incredibly easy, especially if you do it as a sole prop. As for cars, would never take my car to an authorized dealer...I do believe in cheap cheerful cars AND cheap cheerful mechanics though! Technolgy for me is great! As an example, last week a mine in Zim sent an order to there procurement office in JHB. I (in the Western Cape) give them a price and get the items made in Durban, which once made will be sent direct to JHB. All done and paid for without a single phone call.

Lekker!

[SententiaSolutions]

Interesting thread.....I emigrated to the US in 2005 and relocated back to S.A. in 2009. There are startling social and economic disparities between the 2 continents that requires further discussion.

The anatomy of the US economy is modeled upon a single premise. Free trade....Yes....Free trade. The founder of economics Adam Smith proved and theorized that buyers and sellers in the marketplace would gravitate towards equilibrium (measured in currency). Without any external impediments, such as Governments, the "invisible hand" would work to attain equilibrium in the market place, ultimately setting a price that would benefit both the buyer and seller. Bureaucracy in S.A. is an impediment for consumption (think about legislatures on customs, excise, Vat etc...). Purchased from the US, A 46" Samsung 3D LED TV would leave you with an out of pocket expense totaling approximately $1,500; the equivalency in rands would be R10,500 (at an exchange rate of R7.00). The retail price for this electronic wizardry in S.A. is a whopping R30,000. An increment in excess of 185%. This price incorporates custom charges averaged at 20%, excise tax in the range of 5-10%, Vat of 14% and mark-up by the retailer. Impediment, no doubt (See Headlines...3D TV's produce NO sales). Please note that I am not advocating that these taxes produce no benefits, after all the proceeds are “meant” to subsidize the disadvantaged population. Due to the intensity of malfeasance, bribery and corruption in S.A., unfortunately most of these proceeds never reach the intended recipients. "New News is Old News".

Corporate governance is arduous and administratively burdensome. I mean it takes an average of 2 weeks for Companies to be registered (FYI - As of May 1, 2011, Close Corps no longer will be registered). In the US, companies are registered in no less than a day. By liquidating control (through the absence of government regulation) there is a generation of 1) proliferated and stupendous intellect and 2) improved GDP (a metric for determining a country's performance). The Bill Gates’, Zuckerberg’s, and Warren Buffet’s are the production of open source free-trade. By legislating ever more suffocating rules, the would be entrepreneur is precluded from engaging in efficiencies of trade. For the insidious few the many have to suffer. A pervasive impact trickles to the economy as the would-be entrepreneur forfeits his/her dream never understanding his/her potential and never having the opportunity to produce more human capital (employment). Fortunately though there are no would-be entrepreneurs, right?