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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

#91
post #34

Meanwhile in the US John Deere is cutting off health insurance to strong arm them into ending the strike. Allowing employers to control health care is not a good idea.

> Allowing employers to control health care is not a good idea.

Not that I disagree, but I'd like to point out that you're effectively advocating for all other employers to "cut" healthcare as well.

As someone who pays my own (and my family's) healthcare to the tune of $16K/yr for a really shitty plan, I'd also say that _who_ pays is probably not the primary concern here. If it cost one third what it does now (which is what it cost just 20 years ago, before government got more "involved"), a lot of people would be able to afford it out of pocket without entering de-facto indentured servitude.

The primary concern, instead, should be how much this shit costs, as well as the fact that the costs are _still_ rising.

And this concern can't be addressed until we force hospitals to publish prices, allow people to buy healthcare across state lines, and force US Big Pharma to treat the United States more favorably than they treat, say, Europe.

Note that given the high levels of corruption in our government, and the high cost of doctors and nurses ($300 for a 10 minute consultation? GTFO, not even lawyers charge this much), I do not think that piping another few trillion per year through the government is going to improve matters in any way whatsoever.

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

#92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This usually boils down the the chicken and egg problem of infrastructure and jobs. In Korea, the majority of the population is within the Seoul area, so most of the jobs are there and all the infrastructure to support them is concentrated there. Sydney and Melbourne are much the same in Australia, and the results are the same, where as soon as you leave these centres, there are no jobs or infrastructure available. A…

Then you will just have different classes: "people who have the public apartment" and "people who don't, and have to stay out of opportunities". The inequality: still there.

From "not being able to afford" to "stuck on a waiting list for an indeterminate time" heh

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

#93
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So many of their recent films with worldwide acclaim are about rampant classism and economic inequality. Even as someone not super in touch with Korean social sentiment, I still get the feeling that Koreans are getting super fed up with their status quo. Might not be "having an effect" so much as "reflecting the way they feel".

Given most people are not super-wealthy, popular shows are much more likely to have been sympathetic to that view. No one wants to watch a show that says "Actually things are pretty good compared to how they were, and still improving, and while there are a few really rich people in the world, it wouldn't change your life for the better if they didn't exist."

Do you have any idea then number of people and the volume of resources that go to servicing the wealthy? Yes, I think we'd be doing better if there were fewer extraordinarily wealthy people. They aren't necessary to work together to achieve economies of scale, but they sure are fucking expensive.

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

#94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Do you have some history of technology sources to back up this claim? Because even radar was first developed for the civilian setting before the military boosted its development tremendously to solve their WW2 related needs. I think a much better theory of technological development is that the military mainly funds engineering development of existing technology and doesn't stumble into truly new inventions faster tha…

Silicon valley and western semi conductor supremacy was build by US military spending in ww2, 1950s and 1960s. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTC_RxWN_xo

Its was only in the late 1970s that wallstreet got their money into silicon valley. Given the channel I did not do any fact checking and just assume the presentation is historically correct.

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

#95
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why couldn't you be a programmer? Does your code stop working if workers have better protection?

Presumably it takes away many more flexible opportunities if you can't freely freelance.

Surely we can be a bit imaginative and allow freelancers the ability to do this without forcing everyone to be labeled as such..

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

#96
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.

How is „Parasite“ supposed to be left-wing? I honestly fail to see how it can be interpreted that way.

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

#97
This gave me good laugh, the Bolshevist paper unironically named "Pravda". Recommended reading: Robert A. Heinlein - "Pravda" Means "Truth"

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

#98
post #95
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Presumably it takes away many more flexible opportunities if you can't freely freelance.

Surely we can be a bit imaginative and allow freelancers the ability to do this without forcing everyone to be labeled as such..

No, this implies you will have to register as freelancer/self-employed and pay socsec tax.

Makes me wonder, what overall tax burden is in Korea. Can they afford raising it to 65-80%?

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

#99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given most people are not super-wealthy, popular shows are much more likely to have been sympathetic to that view. No one wants to watch a show that says "Actually things are pretty good compared to how they were, and still improving, and while there are a few really rich people in the world, it wouldn't change your life for the better if they didn't exist."

Do you have any idea then number of people and the volume of resources that go to servicing the wealthy? Yes, I think we'd be doing better if there were fewer extraordinarily wealthy people. They aren't necessary to work together to achieve economies of scale, but they sure are fucking expensive.

Do you? Do you really think you can magically turn raw materials + work needed to build a super yacht into something of global consequence ? Or a Pollock painting will magically turn into a 1000 homes? Or that 1% consumes significantly more food? Most ultra-rich sh*t is immaterial to struggles of regular people. Even if 1%ers consumes extra 300 square meters of real eastate if you divide it across the 99% you will get an extra 3 square meters. It's immaterial.

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

#100

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,…

And yet Tokyo does not have this problem despite growing 50% in population over the last two decades. If you make building housing illegal prices rise. Demand and supply are going to meet somewhere and if you restrict supply prices will rise. If you restrict it more they'll rise more or faster. Compare San Francisco, Seattle and Houston in a US context. The more you restrict supply the more prices rise.

The demand for black-market money concrete sugar cubes to store investment money far outstrips the actual need and thus there is no market anyway.
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