SA sleepwalking to a financial collapse?

[Space_Chief]

I agree, BUT, this is my issue (and one that seems to create some sort of door to personal attacks against me)

I used to love my job, yes and call me a retard for it.
But, as time went by, and I got shafted by politicians in companies i.e. those who put personal greed before the product and getting a great one to market, I basically decided why should I kill myself anymore, especially when you work your balls off and all you get is 4% increase for the year. It got to a point where I basically rode the gravy train, and I couldn't be bothered

The issue is that you were probably working exceptionally hard. With your current disillusionment you're still competitive and more than adequate. There's no need to have people who sacrifice too much, just people who do a solid 8 hours (or what ever it is or however it's measured at your work), that's all.

 

[bokdrol]

I was chatting to a Chinese lady the other day. She is a full professor who has family investing in SA. I remarked that there are many Chinese investors here and she said it is an investors' paradise for them because South Africans are lazy and drink too much, so it is easy to take over and make money. I was so ashamed but that is the perception she has. And frankly, I don't see much to refute her opinion.

 

[Sonic2k]

The issue is that you were probably working exceptionally hard. With your current disillusionment you're still competitive and more than adequate. There's no need to have people who sacrifice too much, just people who do a solid 8 hours (or what ever it is or however it's measured at your work), that's all.

You know, you are making sense today...

That is my biggest issue in life, and what contributes to the sad state of affairs in this country. Everywhere I go I see the effects- they disappear, 4 days off work, drop the rest of the team, then come back Monday morning looking like a million dollars. No questions asked (and no questions dare get asked for fear of the race card coming out)

 

[wombling]

I disagree with the question posed: "SA sleepwalking to a financial collapse?"
It is sprinting like an Ethiopian chasing a chicken.

 

[raind33r]

I disagree with the question posed: "SA sleepwalking to a financial collapse?"
It is sprinting like an Ethiopian chasing a chicken.

Agree, sleepsprinting...

 

[MrGray]

I always feel exactly like this when I return from a trip to Hong Kong or Singapore and even Thailand. Never been to Japan but imagine it's much the same, magnified. Those countries are utterly focussed around commerce and production. Silly ideological debates about "whiteness" or colonialism are so irrelevant to their pragmatic approach to everything they would just laugh at and ignore anyone who whined about it too much.

For those peoples, work is life. I'm not sure if it's healthy or not, but they're incredibly successful as a result. In many cases, though, the long hours are somewhat misunderstood as work is extremely social - usually the family business and the home are merged into one. The entire family is organised around their business and very often lives on the same premises, eating their meals communally, kids doing homework, etc while the business carries on in the background. Factory and office workers operate in much the same way, there are few boundaries between work and private life and it all seems to merge into a continuous industrious/social effort.

South Africa is a million miles from this kind of work ethic, in fact, more like a billion. And when you see it for yourself you generally have the epiphany that Africa simply can never achieve what those societies have achieved. Hong Kong is like living inside the Bladerunner movie - possibly a dystopian future, but way in the future, nonetheless. Coming back to SA is like time travelling back to a primitive era. Clowns bickering about who stole what, which statues should be on display, constant electricity outages. It's frankly a joke in comparison.

 

[etienne_marais]

I always feel exactly like this when I return from a trip to Hong Kong or Singapore and even Thailand. Never been to Japan but imagine it's much the same, magnified. Those countries are utterly focussed around commerce and production. Silly ideological debates about "whiteness" or colonialism are so irrelevant to their pragmatic approach to everything they would just laugh at and ignore anyone who whined about it too much.

As I have it the Japanese are actually very aware and preservative of their culture and identity, if that extends to concepts of ethnicity and even race I don't know.

 

[noxibox]

You also have to consider that Heystek has a financial interest in a collapse and recovery. I don't disagree with him though that the ANC government is focussing on and bickering over petty nonsense, and are favouring party loyalty and personal loyalty to a liar and thief over doing what needs to be done to turn things around. Not that those things are unique to South Africa or even Africa.

I used to love my job, yes and call me a retard for it.
But, as time went by, and I got shafted by politicians in companies i.e. those who put personal greed before the product and getting a great one to market, I basically decided why should I kill myself anymore, especially when you work your balls off and all you get is 4% increase for the year. It got to a point where I basically rode the gravy train, and I couldn't be bothered

But then you should be able to understand why some people stop caring to the point of not even working.

I disagree with the question posed: "SA sleepwalking to a financial collapse?"
It is sprinting like an Ethiopian chasing a chicken.

So not heading that way?

As I have it the Japanese are actually very aware and preservative of their culture and identity, if that extends to concepts of ethnicity and even race I don't know.

They have historically been extremely racist. I haven't kept up with things, but a decade or so ago it was quite normal for officials, and some newspapers, to blame everything on foreigners. The Chinese were most commonly the scapegoats.

And when you see it for yourself you generally have the epiphany that Africa simply can never achieve what those societies have achieved.

That's the equivalent of taking the Greeks and generalising it to being representative of Europe. There's a lot going on in Africa. And certainly quite a few black South Africans have an attitude problem, expecting welfare instead of being entrepreneurial as is happening in some other African countries. Yes, there's chaos all over Africa, but it would be impossible to predict how that'll pan out. It's not true that Africa got that way all on its own either. It's also convenient to ignore Asian countries that are hell-holes and police states. Or the not too distant history of Western Europe and current Eastern Europe.

I was chatting to a Chinese lady the other day. She is a full professor who has family investing in SA. I remarked that there are many Chinese investors here and she said it is an investors' paradise for them because South Africans are lazy and drink too much, so it is easy to take over and make money. I was so ashamed but that is the perception she has. And frankly, I don't see much to refute her opinion.

The Chinese and even Africans from further north are making business in South Africa too because they don't fear the uncertainty. Where South Africans go wrong is in blaming foreigners, the same mistake every country makes, instead of recognising that no-one handed those foreigners their little shop or worked on it for them.