Global financial crisis - what does it mean to you

[TooFastTim]

I reckon that they're more valued/higher paid and consequently more popular than they were 20 years ago.

The reasons I gave are why they are more valued and higher paid than they were twenty yrs ago.

[Marc.com]

Don't get me started on management graduates...As Marc has said management degrees are a great addition to an engineering degree (my opinion here) bloody useless without that engineering degree.

I would say that a management only be offered as a post graduate degree should be stacked on top of a practical degree and it is irresponsible of schools to offer management undergrad programs as most lead to a continuation of working at Burger King after graduation. Remember the competition for good management positions is very fierce, new graduates are having to compete with top performers already in industry who are much older and know how to play the game.

Anyway never understood why being a mechanic is so undervalued, they are one of the trades that we all need at some point and it is quite highly technical in my view. The workshops sure as shit are not shy about the hourly rate.

[Davy123]

my lad served his 4 year apprenticship as a panel beater, he got a huge wage jump from £5.75 an hour to £6.05 ..he now works at a recycling plant for £10 an hour ...go figure

[wmc83]

Young people do have a point about poor paying aprentiships when I started in 91 I got $185 in the hand per week. The first year apprentice at work takes home $270 a week lucky he lives at home.

when you look at what sparky's and plumbers get and the minimun amount of tools you need

Hmm I can speak for sparkys but heres a few items in a small plumbing company's tool kit

jet rodder. $15-$25k
Electric eel. $5k
Cheap pipe laser $5k
Electric roll grover $5.5k
5t combo with shitty truck $180k
Just to name a few.

[Nathan S]

my lad served his 4 year apprenticship as a panel beater, he got a huge wage jump from £5.75 an hour to £6.05 ..he now works at a recycling plant for £10 an hour ...go figure

That's madness.

[VMX247]

my lad served his 4 year apprenticship as a panel beater, he got a huge wage jump from £5.75 an hour to £6.05 ..he now works at a recycling plant for £10 an hour ...go figure

That's madness.

Totally agree on the madness..The Aust government does'nt look after our own apprentices as much as they look after our boat people-did I just type that !! yes , but its true..
The TAFE and school system part of our apprentice is very poor compared to others training.Oh well !! they'll bring the tradies in from OS.  :'(
cheers A

[Davy123]

the local mcdonalds were paying £6.50 an hour for counter staff..but a fully qualified panel beater was £6.05...the final straw was a word from the manager at the garage  ' if you stick in son by the end of the year you might get £6.25'......arsehole

[EML]

The difference will be when the building industry falls arse over -again- and those in the building trades will really suffer-again.
The problem we as mechanics will have is that then no-one will be able to pay for their car to be repaired-again.

[shorelinemc]

as a sideline the building industries get the help from the gov ie 1st home buyers ,build a new house even if you are an investor we will give you money-propping up the builders,farmers get the same handouts when times are tough drought etc.but if you are in others industries you get nothing apart from rent increases,epa increases etc

[EML]

good point Rob. we have asked for compulsory cat convertor testing to get sales up but it is judged 'un-vote winning' and goes on the back burner along with yearly RWCs and most other things we would like.

[Marc.com]

as a sideline the building industries get the help from the gov ie 1st home buyers ,build a new house even if you are an investor we will give you money-propping up the builders,farmers get the same handouts when times are tough drought etc.but if you are in others industries you get nothing apart from rent increases,epa increases etc

Yeah farming gets supported in ways that no other small business benefits from, there has always been farm subsidies, I think it is very much a protected industry because we have this whole thing about being able to produce our own food. The EU spends about 30% of its budget on agricultural programs / subsidies.

[Mike52]

Yeah farming gets supported in ways that no other small business benefits from, there has always been farm subsidies,

I was a farmer Marc and I never saw any of these subsidies.
I saw loans where the interest was deferred for a couple of years.
I saw donations of food from some really nice people in the cities .
I was offered the dole by the government but had to look for a job to get it.
Farms are interesting things , just because you have no income doesn't mean you have no outgoings and the work never stops.

But I wasn't going to talk about farms but the number of lower priced bikes on Ebay not attracting any bids.
Sign of the times?

[mx250]

Just sold our farm in Switzerland   the other day . For the 25 Hectares ,  the government used to pay 75 k/ pa just in subsidies. Dont know how much longer they can sustain those amounts . It did hurt to see it go for all the memories but on the other hand I feel it was best  to move it , before the market fully  drops . Because without the subsidies you can just about deduct the last Zero on the value .

I didn't know the Swiss were up to these tricks and distortions. My sister is married to an Italian living in Umbria Italy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umbria

People here complain about the Nanny State but on their small traditional farm they are not allowed to change anything. The vista is considered part of the Italian heritage.  The farm house is the same outward size and appearance it was 100 years ago. The fields and stone fences have to remain the same. Even what they are allowed to grow is regulated (In summer a crop of sunflowers look different from a crop of water melons in colour and texture from a distance). 



http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/UmbriaPanorama.jpg

Of course this is all very inefficient but it is offset by a raft of 'cultural grants' of one type or the other. And of course all of this is contrary to one international Free Trade agreement or another.

France does the same, the US and Japan as well. And you wonder why these countries are deep in hock. Even without Greece and the eurozone, and without the GFC these countries have a lot of painful microeconomics and infrastructure changes they have to go through if they want to stay competitive (have reasonable standards of living and full employment).

[lukeb1961]

I didn't know the Swiss were up to these tricks and distortions.

Almost every major country does this or similar. It is probably insane in the longer term to forego your heritage and your ability to feed your own  people, in the name of profits. Russia drops $10+ billion per year minimum, Europe drops a massive €57 billion on subsidies to farmers and fishermen. The USA, that great centre of capitalism, subsidises primary industry directly to the tune of some $20 billion per year, however the total in grants and subsidies is supposedly an amazing $180 billion per year. Anybody who has to deal with China knows that everything is wrapped in protectionism of some form and they are pouring in funding for infrastructure and tax rebates to the tune of $20+ billion per year. Korea? $21 billion. Turkey punts 8% of GDP to its farmers.

What of Australia? Second from the bottom.
Who is indeed wide-open and truly on the 'level' playing field? - urm.. guess - New Zealand!

Luke

[tony27]

Guess who suffers due to it as well, whoever thought the big players would follow NZs lead in dropping subsidies & import tariffs either had rocks in their heads or knew what would happen & stood to gain from it