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Half a million South Korean workers walk off jobs in general strike

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Re: Half a million South Korean workers walk off jobs in general strike

#51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you build roads, you get more traffic. I wonder if the following is true? When you build more apartments you get more density and more inward migration and more concentration of opportunity, until the marginal migrant can't afford or doesn't want to live there. The same sort of people are miserable when there's more density as when there was less, except there's more of them. [NOTE: I mostly agree with you and t…

Not building roads/apartments is not a solution, unless you really want to cosplay middle ages in your country. So you will have to build something , somewhere . Actually, roads and apartments are in counter-balance. More resedential high-rises in semi-walkable distance from business districts and public transit = less roads are needed (but there is still congestion due to bottlenecks). More spread-out houses - more…

Korea frequently tries to decentralize and build new districts and cities from scratch.It just does not work because of korean culture.

Re: Half a million South Korean workers walk off jobs in general strike

#52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't keep your hopes up, in the US military spending will keep eating most of all surplus, but on the upside you'll have the most genocidal nuclear weapons of all countries on Earth!

Most of the tech we have is in some way due to military spending

Maybe spend more on civilian research then. Wouldn't it be cool if the government would spend trillions on researching cool new tech for improving society rather than destroying it?

Re: Half a million South Korean workers walk off jobs in general strike

#53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't keep your hopes up, in the US military spending will keep eating most of all surplus, but on the upside you'll have the most genocidal nuclear weapons of all countries on Earth!

Defense is 10% of gov spending lol, and 0% of the multiple trillions in stimulus that was funded with debt.

>and 0% of the multiple trillions in stimulus that was funded with debt.

Yes? What does that have to do with anything? Did you think that the pandemic-related stimulus package should have gone to defense spending? If yes, please do motivate that - if no, why mention it at all?

Re: Half a million South Korean workers walk off jobs in general strike

#54
post #14

Maybe all these snowpiercer, squid games, parasite narratives are having an effect? Its like all these dystopic, zombie, monster, battle royale movies and shows are just expressing the never ending exploitaion and helplessness around people.

It's a bit like asking if Easy Rider or Apocalypse Now "had an effect" on 60s and 70s counterculture - they were children of their times and they reinforced their narratives.

Re: Half a million South Korean workers walk off jobs in general strike

#56
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In some countries with absurdly high house prices, I think some level of nationalisation of housing is an eventual inevitability. Much like Seoul, places like Sydney are so expensive that unless you already own a house, or are eventually going to inherit one, no amount of hard work or education can reliably get you into the market. Entry level prices within 25 miles of the city are around A$1.5m for a detached house,…

It's worth noting most housing in Singapore is state-owned

It is.

99 year lease, you don’t own it. Can’t get one unless you’re married or over 35. Most people live with their parents until they move out. Lottery system and severely oversubscribed (can take multiple tries to get allocated a place) and once you “win” up to 5 year wait while it’s built (govt isn’t interested in overbuilding again). Lucky folks get one of the super desirable locations and after owning for 5 years sell it for big profit.

Re: Half a million South Korean workers walk off jobs in general strike

#57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He should have namedropped 'Parasite'. It is a drama though.

They did… > Maybe all these snowpiercer, squid games, parasite narratives are having an effect?

Maybe the comment was edited?

Re: Half a million South Korean workers walk off jobs in general strike

#58
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree this would be a bad turn. In the US, it is frustrating to see the poor results produced by the public education system and teacher unions, particularly for K-12 education. The lack of competition and union power has led to an empty incentive structure, where teacher unions regularly oppose having their outcomes measured and don't fear needing to compete with better teachers or schools. Beyond that, organizati…

Public education work in a lot of country (see for example most European country). Teacher also tend to be heavily unionised in other country, as well as having a tendency to be more left-leaning (but that is a veeeryyy big generalization). The issue is not the public education, teacher or union, it's the U.S government(s?) lack of incentive to actually care about those services.

It's the property taxes funding education. Like, if you wanted to reinforce pre-existing class/income divides someplace, you'd fund education with local property taxes.

Re: Half a million South Korean workers walk off jobs in general strike

#59
post #14

Maybe all these snowpiercer, squid games, parasite narratives are having an effect? Its like all these dystopic, zombie, monster, battle royale movies and shows are just expressing the never ending exploitaion and helplessness around people.

I can tell you from personal experience that pretty much every Kdrama show I can think of, has the same narrative of the "Elite" being corrupt and abusing it's power and influence to do what they want vs the middle and poorer classes. Maybe not always as the focus of the story, but it's a common element. And it's not just the popular shows that make it big internationally. I guess it's ingrained into their culture.

I'll name a few shows that come to mind (also recommend them):

Itaewon Class: About a young man fighting the CEO of a mega company after he ruined his life.

Vincenzo: An Italian mafia consigliere/lawyer finds himself fighting against a mega corporation who uses mafia like tactics.

Save Me: A girl who is trapped in a cult is saved by her former classmates. The cult is heavily involved with politicians and other powerful figures (including the police) who keep people who try to go against the cult in check.

The Uncanny Counter: A supernatural show with the main plot involving political corruption that spreads as far as the police, media...

The themes are always very similar, political corruption, corrupted law enforcement and judicial bodies, mega corps getting away with severe crimes by using money, the little people being unable to go after the rich unless they have irrefutable proof and even then... classism and economic inequality.

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