View previous topic :: View next topic |
Author |
Message |
Steelrails

Joined: 12 Mar 2009 Location: Earth, Solar System
|
Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 8:58 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I don't know if I'd say Korail has wasted "vast amounts of taxpayer money". Every large business and operation is going to have its products and concepts that turn out to be busts. The U.S. Military has a couple projects every decade that turn out to be colossal wastes of money, that doesn't mean I don't think they're the best military on the planet and would want to subcontract them out to the Canadians or Chinese.
Is Korails service reasonably priced? I'd say so. Does it deliver good service? KTX generally runs on time. They offer plenty of trains. The cars are clean and reasonably comfortable. I wish they worked out their reservation system and made it less labyrinthine. But generally I'm satisfied. There's nothing there that would make me scream for people to be sacked
Quote: |
By all logic it would benefit Koreans to actually let French or German companies take over. |
Which company? Let's have a name and a history to look at before we automatically anoint them as being a panacea to the problems of Korail. The Germans make good stuff, but then again a Shamwow is still a Shamwow, German or not.
The rail is touchy, because in time of war or crisis it could potentially be of vital importance to national defense, and having it in the hands of nervous foreign holders might not be the best idea. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
atwood
Joined: 26 Dec 2009
|
Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 9:51 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Steelrails wrote: |
I don't know if I'd say Korail has wasted "vast amounts of taxpayer money". Every large business and operation is going to have its products and concepts that turn out to be busts. The U.S. Military has a couple projects every decade that turn out to be colossal wastes of money, that doesn't mean I don't think they're the best military on the planet and would want to subcontract them out to the Canadians or Chinese.
Is Korails service reasonably priced? I'd say so. Does it deliver good service? KTX generally runs on time. They offer plenty of trains. The cars are clean and reasonably comfortable. I wish they worked out their reservation system and made it less labyrinthine. But generally I'm satisfied. There's nothing there that would make me scream for people to be sacked
Quote: |
By all logic it would benefit Koreans to actually let French or German companies take over. |
Which company? Let's have a name and a history to look at before we automatically anoint them as being a panacea to the problems of Korail. The Germans make good stuff, but then again a Shamwow is still a Shamwow, German or not.
The rail is touchy, because in time of war or crisis it could potentially be of vital importance to national defense, and having it in the hands of nervous foreign holders might not be the best idea. |
But the government has expressed dissatisfied with Korail's budget and service problems, so I'd be inclined to go with their opinion rather than those who use the train(s) now and again.
One could make a good case that trains, as a major source of transportation, are a national security issue. So I doubt the Korean government is planning on turning Korail over to a foreign company. More than likely the fear that such a company might attract foreign investors who would demand Korail run a tighter ship (Mix those metaphors!) is what's behind those posters. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
Weigookin74
Joined: 26 Oct 2009
|
Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 9:53 pm Post subject: |
|
|
jvalmer wrote: |
atwood wrote: |
Besides, from what I can gather, privatization hasn't worked out so well in the past and instead of improving service, etc. has had the opposite effect. |
Like the electricity privatization in Alberta. They claimed prices would go down. But now Albertans pay like the 3rd highest prices in North America. What a farce that is. I hope Korean voters can convince their government to halt their privatization drive.
Anyways, provide links to these posters. |
I'll agree with you on private power, but the rails like CN which were privatized years ago got rid of drain on public finances and busted the lazy unions. (The CN shops had workers who would not do too much work during a shift for fear of being beaten up by co-workers after work. True story.)
My opinion is that if government wants to go private with power and sperate the deliverers from the suppliers, they should build enough generation capacity before doing it. Power plants. Years ago prices shot up in California doing the same thing as Alberta because they hadn't built any plants in years due to ridiculous environmental Naziism. Alberta not as bad as that, but need to create over generation of power and to regulate the price because it's a monopoly.
Privatizing the rails and other things are no big deal. We privatized a lot in Canada and it never hurt the average joe and prob kept taxes from going higher.
Still the private sector has more ownership in Canada than many other countries, though we were tranding towards socialism years ago. It does depend on where you live as the further east you go the more socialist and more the government intrudes and the further west you go the more capitalist you go. The federal government doesn't intrude too much and decentralizes to the provinces in most areas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Index_of_Economic_Freedom |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
atwood
Joined: 26 Dec 2009
|
Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 11:15 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Weigookin74 wrote: |
jvalmer wrote: |
atwood wrote: |
Besides, from what I can gather, privatization hasn't worked out so well in the past and instead of improving service, etc. has had the opposite effect. |
Like the electricity privatization in Alberta. They claimed prices would go down. But now Albertans pay like the 3rd highest prices in North America. What a farce that is. I hope Korean voters can convince their government to halt their privatization drive.
Anyways, provide links to these posters. |
I'll agree with you on private power, but the rails like CN which were privatized years ago got rid of drain on public finances and busted the lazy unions. (The CN shops had workers who would not do too much work during a shift for fear of being beaten up by co-workers after work. True story.)
My opinion is that if government wants to go private with power and sperate the deliverers from the suppliers, they should build enough generation capacity before doing it. Power plants. Years ago prices shot up in California doing the same thing as Alberta because they hadn't built any plants in years due to ridiculous environmental Naziism. Alberta not as bad as that, but need to create over generation of power and to regulate the price because it's a monopoly.
Privatizing the rails and other things are no big deal. We privatized a lot in Canada and it never hurt the average joe and prob kept taxes from going higher.
Still the private sector has more ownership in Canada than many other countries, though we were tranding towards socialism years ago. It does depend on where you live as the further east you go the more socialist and more the government intrudes and the further west you go the more capitalist you go. The federal government doesn't intrude too much and decentralizes to the provinces in most areas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Index_of_Economic_Freedom |
The problem with both of your posts is that I was writing about privatization in Korea, not Canada. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
jvalmer

Joined: 06 Jun 2003
|
Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2013 2:25 am Post subject: |
|
|
atwood wrote: |
The problem with both of your posts is that I was writing about privatization in Korea, not Canada. |
Privatization in all countries have mixed results. It isn't going to guarantee better service for customers like you seem to insinuate. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
atwood
Joined: 26 Dec 2009
|
Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2013 4:53 am Post subject: |
|
|
jvalmer wrote: |
atwood wrote: |
The problem with both of your posts is that I was writing about privatization in Korea, not Canada. |
Privatization in all countries have mixed results. It isn't going to guarantee better service for customers like you seem to insinuate. |
That's not what I insinuated at all. I merely stated that my post referred to Korea and not Canada. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
Waygeek
Joined: 27 Feb 2013
|
Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2013 6:30 am Post subject: Re: Xenophobic KTX posters |
|
|
jazzmaster wrote: |
US army |
Very much justified in this case. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
aq8knyus
Joined: 28 Jul 2010 Location: London
|
Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2013 8:01 am Post subject: |
|
|
The same objection was raised against the building of a homeplus near hongdae.
Considering the beaming pride and economic benefits that flow from Korean companies expanding into foreign markets, it is a little frustrating that the left in Korea remains so fervently xenophobic. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
mr_thehorse
Joined: 27 Aug 2013
|
Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2013 7:08 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Popocatepetl wrote: |
Steelrails wrote: |
Well, if people feel that an industry is vital to their national interests and that having it taken over and purchased by a foreign agency represents a threat to the well being of the state is that xenophobia? |
What if that foreign agency does a better job?
Korail has done nothing but waste vast amounts of Korean taxpayers money.
For example they've built large numbers of faulty trains and then had to scrap them before even putting them into service.
By all logic it would benefit Koreans to actually let French or German companies take over. |
They should let Hong Kong MTR run their system. Those people run a slick operation there. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
Steelrails

Joined: 12 Mar 2009 Location: Earth, Solar System
|
Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2013 11:18 pm Post subject: |
|
|
mr_thehorse wrote: |
Popocatepetl wrote: |
Steelrails wrote: |
Well, if people feel that an industry is vital to their national interests and that having it taken over and purchased by a foreign agency represents a threat to the well being of the state is that xenophobia? |
What if that foreign agency does a better job?
Korail has done nothing but waste vast amounts of Korean taxpayers money.
For example they've built large numbers of faulty trains and then had to scrap them before even putting them into service.
By all logic it would benefit Koreans to actually let French or German companies take over. |
They should let Hong Kong MTR run their system. Those people run a slick operation there. |
Bah. Why settle for an imitator when you could get the real thing? Let Mussolini run the trains.
It's only because of the liberal slime media that him and good people throughout history like Benedict Arnold, Rob Ford, Marion Barry, Nero, Ghengis Khan, and Emperor Palpatine have had their reputations smeared.
It's time for some revisionism. Bring back the Moose and have him fix the trains.
Last edited by Steelrails on Wed Dec 18, 2013 7:02 am; edited 2 times in total |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
mr_thehorse
Joined: 27 Aug 2013
|
Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2013 1:05 am Post subject: |
|
|
Steelrails wrote: |
mr_thehorse wrote: |
Popocatepetl wrote: |
Steelrails wrote: |
Well, if people feel that an industry is vital to their national interests and that having it taken over and purchased by a foreign agency represents a threat to the well being of the state is that xenophobia? |
What if that foreign agency does a better job?
Korail has done nothing but waste vast amounts of Korean taxpayers money.
For example they've built large numbers of faulty trains and then had to scrap them before even putting them into service.
By all logic it would benefit Koreans to actually let French or German companies take over. |
They should let Hong Kong MTR run their system. Those people run a slick operation there. |
Bah. Why settle for an imitator when you could get the real thing? Let Mussolini run the trains.
It's only because of the liberal slime media that him and good people throughout history like Benedict Arnold, Rob Ford, Marion Barry, Nero, Ghengis Khan, and Emperor Palpatine.
It's time for some revisionism. Bring back the Moose and have him fix the trains. |
lol |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
mayorhaggar
Joined: 01 Jan 2013
|
Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2013 8:10 pm Post subject: |
|
|
mr_thehorse wrote: |
They should let Hong Kong MTR run their system. Those people run a slick operation there. |
MTR can stay in the black year after year because they own and manage a huge number of apartment complexes in HK, which is where a lot of their revenue comes from.
Maybe sell Korail to Lotte or Samsung, they run a lot of apahteus... |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
atwood
Joined: 26 Dec 2009
|
Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2013 8:14 pm Post subject: |
|
|
mayorhaggar wrote: |
mr_thehorse wrote: |
They should let Hong Kong MTR run their system. Those people run a slick operation there. |
MTR can stay in the black year after year because they own and manage a huge number of apartment complexes in HK, which is where a lot of their revenue comes from.
Maybe sell Korail to Lotte or Samsung, they run a lot of apahteus... |
The same goes for the Tokyo subway system. But who's to say Korail doesn't have a lot of real estate as well and is either mismanaging it or hasn't developed it profitably? |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
dairyairy
Joined: 17 May 2012 Location: South Korea
|
Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2013 12:40 am Post subject: |
|
|
Jake_Kim wrote: |
U.S. Congress blocked the takeover bid by CNOOC for Unocal in 2005.
Such a clear example of American xenophobia, wasn't it? |
Been losing sleep over that, too? Haven't we all? |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
jazzmaster
Joined: 30 Sep 2013
|
Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2013 3:00 am Post subject: |
|
|
Has anyone, with the exception of Major Hagard, actually seen the poster yet? |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
|