I am not an economist and don't pretend to know much about economic theory. I am, however, able to make some observations based on what I've seen in Korea over the past 2 months and compare it with the economy back home in California.
The most notable economic differences can be seen walking into a grocery store. The grocery stores here are large and similar in many ways to American stores. There is one very pronounced difference (other than the items offered for sale.) In the Korean stores there are employees every where you look. They are there to offer help in bagging items, weighing the produce, selecting the meat, provide samples of their products and performing a myriad of tasks. In one store they periodically play music as the employees all stop what they are doing, smile and make cute hand gestures along with the music for several minutes as a show for the customers. Not surprisingly, the products are more expensive than comparable products in the U.S. I suspect one reason is that you are paying a higher price for all the additional labor. From reading the local news, I get the impression that the unemployment rate in Korea is very low. Everyone seems to have a job. Most of the jobs, I suspect, are relatively poorly paid. Still, everyone has the dignity of providing for their own needs. I see very little evidence of poverty in Korea. They have only recently offered a national retirement system similar to Social Security. Koreans traditionally retire at age 60. They cannot begin collecting Social Security until age 65. They still retire at 60 and cover the expenses of the years until 65 with savings and help from their families. So far, I've only encountered one person on the streets of Pohang (a large blue collar town near the university) asking for money. Contrast this with the U.S. where most employers concentrate on lowering labor costs in every way possible. We have lower prices, but pay a terrible price in unemployment and a welfare state that seems to be growing every year. I wonder if it wouldn't be worth paying higher prices in the stores if the rewards were more dignity and less poverty. Perhaps (and now I'm just dreaming) it would be a zero sum game since the higher prices could be offset by lower taxes resulting from the savings through providing less public assistance.
Another major economic difference between the U.S. and Korea is the amount of industry in Korea. I have yet to run across a product that is not manufactured here in Korea and usually exported to other countries. Those of us who are old enough, remember a time when products manufactured in Korea were perceived to be of inferior quality (I'm thinking of the early cars). That is no longer true. This is a very industrious hard working people. They care about quality and take pride in their work. I had a watch repairman work on my watch which I managed to break shortly after we arrived. It was broken, as it turns out, beyond repair. Because he could not fix it, the repairman refused to charge me for his services despite having spent considerable time trying to fix the watch. Susan had a similar experience with a translator who could not translate a document after an hour or two of trying. He refused payment and recommended another place to have the work done. In the U.S. you would be charged up front for opening the watch with no promise of a favorable result. Simply put,there seems to be a higher work ethic in Korea. Pohang is known around the world as the home of Posco, one of the world's largest steel manufacturers. Korea has the industrial base to support their manufacturing industry. Contrast all this with going into a Walmart in the U.S. Not long ago it was possible to go into Walmart and not find a single product in the entire store that was manufactured in the U.S. I assume they have been embarrassed to the point where that is no longer true. Still, that speaks volumes about what has happened to our country. it is unsettling for the U.S. to be so dependent for it's needs on the hard work of others in other parts of the world. We complain about our dependence on oil from the Middle East. That seems to be only one relatively small area of our dependency.
One final thought from the perspective of the family economy. Although I have traditionally handled our family finances, I gave up that role in Korea. Too many problems with the won, conversion tables, banks, understanding the Korean labels on products, reading the account information on the internet and dealing with their more complicated (and versatile) ATM machines. It is traditional in Korea for the women to handle the family finances. Not surprisingly, our family budget has benefited from the change. Susan is much more careful with the budget. When I broke my watch, I lobbied for a clock in our apartment. The cost (about $25 U.S.) was too great and Susan wouldn't pay it. I was happy to arrive home yesterday and find a new clock Susan found for only $5.00. I suspect when we head home we may find Susan continuing in her role - especially if she finds out about the 18th century commentary I just bought on line and shipped to our family home in the U.S. paying for it through our U.S. savings account.
Sorry for the largely gloom and doom nature of this posting. It may however, be something worth thinking about in casting our votes in the upcoming election.
Ken Chinn
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