Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

truthout.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

181–190 of 260 posts

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

#181

Post by bosie »

bumbada wrote: post #67
ginko wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm not aware of anywhere that attempts to socialise housing has worked well. In Vienna about 25% of the total housing stock is public housing[1]. It's the main reason why rental prices are significantly below other European capitals[2]. [1] https://www.huduser.gov/portal/pdredge/pdr_edge_featd_articl... [2] https://www.statista.com/statistics/503274/average-rental-co...

Not really. The main reason Vienna have rental prices below other European capitals is because it was one of the few cities that actually lost a significant part of its population multiple times. It was the capital of a big empire that was destroyed and they incorporated to a different Empire that also was destroyed. Lots of people left to other cities that were not as bureaucratic looking for opportunities an oversi…

Population size isn't as important as you make it out to be, to be honest. What you need to figure out is sqm usage, which has gone up significantly. In the big empire back then you had 12 people on 30 sqm, now you have 75 year old widows living alone in an 80sqm flat, not moving out as they did 30 or 40 years ago.

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

#182

Post by bosie »

ginko wrote: post #13
barry-cotter wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not aware of anywhere that attempts to socialise housing has worked well. As a teacher and someone who has been a student I'm also extremely hesitant to say that the way education is usually provided [1] counts as working well, whether you're looking at purely economic returns on investment or human flourishing. [1] Not a knock on government provision in this case as demand for education with any real freedom see…

> I'm not aware of anywhere that attempts to socialise housing has worked well. In Vienna about 25% of the total housing stock is public housing[1]. It's the main reason why rental prices are significantly below other European capitals[2]. [1] https://www.huduser.gov/portal/pdredge/pdr_edge_featd_articl... [2] https://www.statista.com/statistics/503274/average-rental-co...

Don't forget the upper bound on monthly rent per sqm on buildings older than 100 (?) years. That plus public housing puts pressure on the market.

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

#183

Post by vintermann »

robertlagrant wrote: post #65
dgunay wrote: 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."

Oh, I'm not so sure about that. Personally I don't want to watch squid game at all, and am only slightly more curious about Parasite.

That's not because I don't sympathize with the politics, on the contrary. It's because I feel like I have enough reminders of what kind of world we live in already. I keep coming back to something Thoreau wrote: I didn't come into this world to fix it, but to live in it.

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

#184

Post by refurb »

strken wrote: post #146
qaq wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 ge…

You're right when you say that the discretionary spending of the ultra-rich doesn't matter, but there are consequences to increasing or decreasing the percentage of capital they control. If you e.g. diluted the S&P 500 by 20% and spread the new shares equally across the global population, it would definitely cause "something of global consequence" to happen, although I have no idea whether it would be world war 3 or…

And what would the S&P500 companies do with 20% less capital? How many people laid off? How many factories shut down?

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

#185

Post by refurb »

qaq wrote: post #116
LightG wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll take the 3 metres, thanks. I hate this kind of framing. People use it all the time. "It only costs 50p per person of the population to maintain the UK Royal Family" ... Pfft, in total there is the potential to do something more significant, more useful, and .... material.

Sure you will but you will never get it though. Because there will be a class of people who decide who should get that extra 3 meters and as my experience growing up in USSR tells me it's ain't gonna be you.

Yup. All these arguments about wealth distribution are typically “solved” by just shifting that wealth to another select group. Of course entirely due to meritocracy - being an expert in Leninism require a certain lifestyle you understand.

I have no argument against policies which support those at the bottom end. But to pretend that an equitable outcome is possible in the long term ignore thousands of years of human experience.

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

#186

Post by throwaway-x123 »

refurb wrote: post #180
throwaway-x123 wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine anger when you live in poverty, you work 9 hours/day (minimum, from workweek in Korea) manual labor, some people at work die or get disabilities in work accidents. As a worker you know that everyone lives from surplus you produce, the food, etc, programmers do not make food. You can only do programming since they made food for you. So as a worker, you know you do something useful, right? So you deiced to talk…

Are you arguing driving someone to suicide is then justified in the struggle for labor rights? I’m trying to understand the point you are making?

I'm trying to explain where the anger comes from. Why do you blame the workers and not the conditions where this anger developed?

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

#187

Post by refurb »

cced wrote: post #95
Tenoke wrote: 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..

Of course! We need to make appropriate carve outs! Just like AB5 in California that banned outside consultants except for a laundry list of hundreds of occupations except ride sharing.

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

#188

Post by refurb »

homo_ergaster wrote: post #103
m0zg wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

“Government involvement” is not a boogeyman that makes everything bad. The UK government is very involved in the NHS. The NHS provides completely free care and gets better public health outcomes than the US with less spending. The source of the problems in US healthcare is parasitic insurance companies that add inefficiencies and siphon resources at every step, and provide no value to people compared to an NHS-type s…

Not better cancer outcomes!

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

#189

Post by refurb »

Cederfjard wrote: post #106
m0zg wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

Do you think healthcare providers could get away with such crazy prices if they had to negotiate with the government, instead of some insurance giant which in turn is bilking some corporation?

Well United Healthcare has more insured members (40M) than Canada does total people (36M). Yet Canada has lower prices. Why do you think that is?

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

#190

Post by refurb »

odiroot wrote: post #85
rodgerd wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

And yet Singapore has low taxes (by some considered even a tax haven) and is not a welfare state. That is by design, LKY having been a big supporter of personal responsibility.

Singapore has low income taxes but high CPF (forced savings for retirement, health, housing, etc) requirements - 20% of gross income on top income taxes. The total take isn’t that low.

And Singapore is most definitely a welfare state - just not a super generous one. Housing, healthcare, education are all heavily subsidized but also very strongly means tested. If you’re truly destitute in Singapore you will have a place to live, free healthcare and lots of government support.

Post reply on HN