Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Tony_Balony]

[mack4289]

We almost made it six pages without an inflammatory post that derails any hope of a decent debate. That must've been a record.

Before you buy the "Africa is one giant hel*hole argument, read this. Not that this negates Africa's numerous problems, but it shows that there are reasons to be optimisitic about Africa.

http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F40812F9355A0C768CDDAE0894DF404482

"In the early 1990s, Rwanda reinforced all the worst stereotypes of Africa: wretchedly poor, torn apart by war and seemingly destined to be an international basket case forever.


Yet now it has become the little nation that could. It is clean, safe and enjoying economic growth more than twice as fast as the U.S. or Europe.

.... Dr. Paul Farmer, the Harvard public health specialist best known for his work in Haiti, is among a growing number of Americans who have begun working in Rwanda in part because it is so well-managed.

[i]''The first time I got stopped by a policeman here, I thought, 'Oh, no! Am I going to get kidnapped, or worse?' '' said Dr. Farmer. ''I rolled down the window, and the policeman said, 'Put on your seat belt.' ''

... Increasingly there are new leaders like Paul Kagame here in Rwanda who are honest, intelligent and capable. President Kagame reads Harvard Business Review and is an African version of Lee Kuan Yew, the founder of modern Singapore. Both are authoritarian, repressive and quirky (Mr. Kagame banned plastic bags to curb litter). Both did wonders for their countries' living standards. And both are blunt.

I asked President Kagame why Asian countries that used to be at the same income level as Africa are now so much richer. He offered one reason that bowled me over: perhaps Asians are today more ambitious and work harder.

''I'm hesitant to talk about the issue of culture, but I have to -- and we have to work on it -- that culture of hard work, that culture of being ambitious and wanting to achieve,'' he said, adding: ''I believe that those values were in Africans, but I don't know what dampened it -- what killed it.''

.... And when African countries have enjoyed stability and sound policies, they have often thrived. Indeed, the fastest-growing country in the world from 1960 to 2001 was Botswana (South Korea was second, and Singapore and China tied for third).

More and more African countries are now following the Botswana model of welcoming investors and obeying markets. Aside from Rwanda, countries like Mozambique, Benin, Tanzania, Liberia and Mauritius are among those trying to build a future on trade more than aid.

... After decades of stagnation, Africa has now been growing solidly for several years, and this year the average economic growth rate is expected to rise again, to about 6 percent. To me, much of Africa feels like India in the early 1990s as it was reforming its economy and setting the stage for today's boom."[/i]

[Tony_Balony]

[contrarian]

Why is it necessary to keep the population growing? There are other ways to keep soms "growth"' of wealth within Korea withoutchanging the essential nature of the country. Sometime in th next few years there will be a slow or fast re-unification of Korea.

That alone should keep the gowth going just to absorb the North's poor and to give them jobs. I think any Korean industrialist would love to build cars or ships with the cheap labour there.

Another way is just to keep people working longer. Keep up the programs to "bribe" Koreans to have more kids.

The world does not need to be some sort of amorphic belnding of various ethnic groups and races. If the people of any area like things the way they are, thay have a right to do so. All of the junk that the average western liberal arts grad believes just may not fit.

[huffdaddy]

[mack4289]

[CentralCali]

[Butterfly]

[contrarian]

A change of lifestyle in a culture may be preferrable to importing a changed culture. The Japanese are facing the same problems eve, worse.

There will be reunification - probably slow and careful. A collpase in the north is still very likely.

[mack4289]

How do you get people to start having more kids? Yeah there's legislation and government programs that can encourage it but none of that is going to change the core reason that rich people don't have more children: there are other ways they'd rather spend their time.

Think about it: the time to have kids is when you're young. But if you're rich (or have at least some money to spare), what else can you do while you're young? Pretty much anything, right? So these are your choices: explore everything that the world has to offer a young person with money or weigh yourself down with a lifelong responsibility (otherwise known as a kid)? No government program is going to change the fact that the vast majority of people will choose the latter.

[CentralCali]

[Typhoon]

We all (Koreans and foreigners working here) need to hope and pray for a long, long well organized reunification process. Like 100 years. The infrastructure needs to be rebuilt in the North. The people need to be introduced to the real world, via the internet and brainwashing needs to be slowed down. Koreans are already up in arms about social bi-polarization. Add the North into the mix and you get an even bigger problem on the front. The problems I have listed are just the tip of the iceberg for reunification. It needs to be a well thought out, planned process. I for one don't believe that Koreans (in general) are capable of doing something like that. They (in general again) are too reactionary and emotional. Reunification will take some serious planning and thought.

[Butterfly]

[The_Conservative]

[Scotticus]