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Social dialogue and economics
The National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC) recently held their annual summit in Pretoria.
The President, Kgalema Motlanthe, addressed them on Tuesday. His theme was one of social dialogue in the context of the global crisis, and he has 'no doubt' that the government will bring a new set of social agendas to the table after the next election.
The President also touched on areas where we will need to grow and further develop as a nation. The Mail and Guardian looked at his speech and clipped the most relevant points on what our President is thinking in terms of social dialogue and how the country can be bettered for all who live in it. IOL reporting on NEDLAC noted that the President warned 'that ignoring unemployment and job insecurity will compound the country's social problems and retard the growth of the economy'. iAfrica also covered the story and noted that the financial crisis was of 'monumental proportions [and] has important lessons for us all'.
Outside of NEDLAC the business world was moving on, with new statistics showing that the car industry is really starting to feel the effects of the crisis.
Business Times comes in with the shocker of a headline 'Vehicle sales drop 28.3% year-on-year'. This figure was calculated by the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (NAAMSA).
In November 2008 sales of new cars stood at 20 128, just a year ago in November 2007 29 338 new cars were sold this represents a fall of 31.4% month on month. A shocking figure.
The Times reports that General Motors South Africa has committed to no retrenchments in 2009, but with the global car industry as much in danger as the global economy, lets rather hope that people don't lose their jobs, because anything could happen. The Mail and Guardian also looked at these figures, as did the Dispatch, who looked at in terms of the fact that car dealerships across the country are closing down due to the economic situation with around five percent of all dealership expected to have failed by the end of this year.
The effects of the global crash are manifesting themselves here away from the banks but the big picture is that they will affect everyone and everything eventually. Elliot Wave international is a research company that does deep analysis of the markets. The Elliot Wave is a way of predicting long term cyclical trends in the economy and they reckon that this crash will be worse than 1929 and point to us entering a period characterised by a 'Grand Supercycle' wave that threatens to sweep away everything in its path. So batten down those hatches, get your self a savings account, consolidate your debt and hang on tight.