Day 92: Korea, South

[opebo]

It was a nice country back in . . . . ummmm, I guess it was 1985 when I was there last.  My favorite memory was staying in Seoul, looking out my window, and watching the S. Korean army doing morning exercises on the rooftops next door to my hotel room.  It was very unique.   

I'm sure it was a lot better than, MODU - it was poorer, and had a more open and tolerated sex industry.  Nowadays it really isn't my kind of place - ridiculously prosperous and fairly prudish.

[opebo]

It was a nice country back in . . . . ummmm, I guess it was 1985 when I was there last.  My favorite memory was staying in Seoul, looking out my window, and watching the S. Korean army doing morning exercises on the rooftops next door to my hotel room.  It was very unique.   

I'm sure it was a lot better than, MODU - it was poorer, and had a more open and tolerated sex industry.  Nowadays it really isn't my kind of place - ridiculously prosperous and fairly prudish.

Yeah, I know . . . people working, making money, living longer . . . it just sucks. 

They work a ridiculous amount here.. similar to the US.  When will people stop being stupid and demand a 30 hour work week?

[opebo]

It was a nice country back in . . . . ummmm, I guess it was 1985 when I was there last.  My favorite memory was staying in Seoul, looking out my window, and watching the S. Korean army doing morning exercises on the rooftops next door to my hotel room.  It was very unique.   

I'm sure it was a lot better than, MODU - it was poorer, and had a more open and tolerated sex industry.  Nowadays it really isn't my kind of place - ridiculously prosperous and fairly prudish.

Yeah, I know . . . people working, making money, living longer . . . it just sucks. 

They work a ridiculous amount here.. similar to the US.  When will people stop being stupid and demand a 30 hour work week?

When employers are willing to pay them for 40 hours of work only doing 30, of course. But seeing as that won't ever happen, you might want to come up with a better plan.

How do you suppose, Dibble, you simpleton, that we ever got to 40 hours a week instead of some other figure, such as all day every day?  The answer is political action.

[opebo]

It was a nice country back in . . . . ummmm, I guess it was 1985 when I was there last.  My favorite memory was staying in Seoul, looking out my window, and watching the S. Korean army doing morning exercises on the rooftops next door to my hotel room.  It was very unique.   

I'm sure it was a lot better than, MODU - it was poorer, and had a more open and tolerated sex industry.  Nowadays it really isn't my kind of place - ridiculously prosperous and fairly prudish.

Yeah, I know . . . people working, making money, living longer . . . it just sucks. 

They work a ridiculous amount here.. similar to the US.  When will people stop being stupid and demand a 30 hour work week?

When employers are willing to pay them for 40 hours of work only doing 30, of course. But seeing as that won't ever happen, you might want to come up with a better plan.

How do you suppose, Dibble, you simpleton, that we ever got to 40 hours a week instead of some other figure, such as all day every day?  The answer is political action.

Does that solve the problem of employers being unwilling to pay for 40 hours worth of work for only 30? No.

Apparently the problem of them not being willing to pay for 80 hours of work for only 40 was solved sometime in the early 20th century.  Naturally employers were just as reluctant then to offer any kind of increased pay or better working conditions, and only did so when they were forced to.

Your economic views are laughable, Dibble. 

[opebo]

Apparently the problem of them not being willing to pay for 80 hours of work for only 40 was solved sometime in the early 20th century.  Naturally employers were just as reluctant then to offer any kind of increased pay or better working conditions, and only did so when they were forced to.

Your economic views are laughable, Dibble. 

Then please explain it to me, oh wise and all knowing one, where exactly the money will come from to pay for the 10 hours of lost productivity per worker every week in order to pay them for those 10 hours of non-work. What magical source that won't destroy profits or cause job losses will generate this money?

I don't see why I should bother, since we have the excellent historical example of the reduction of the work week to fourty hours, from which only benefits flowed. 

Besides, what do you mean 'destroy' profits?  We're talking about redistribution here.

[opebo]

You are vastly oversimplifying things. There were other factors that brought about the higher pay per hour - for instance newly invented machinery allowed higher productivity per hour, but this machinery took more training so wages were made higher to keep good workers from leaving since it took time and resources to train new ones. However in most of today's industries we already have machines and it would be more difficult to bridge the gap in productivity vs time.

That is ridiculous, Dibble.  You right-wingers are always trumpeting the 'high productivity gains' of the last 10 years or so, and the generally high gains under capitalism.  Of course reducing the work week and increasing pay through political action are simply the only way to distribute a little of these gains down to the servile classes.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

The hour requirements would be made to apply to all owners, Dibble, therefore the competitive situation would be unchanged. 

And anyway, if this method of reducing his profits fails to work, we can always simply tax them away and redistribute them to his servants.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Your opinion on this issue is based entirely on your naivety in believing that the status quo - imposed by force upon you by your betters - is the best of all possible worlds.  Try, please, for once, Dibble, to think outside your petty parochialism.

[opebo]

That is ridiculous, Dibble.  You right-wingers are always trumpeting the 'high productivity gains' of the last 10 years or so, and the generally high gains under capitalism.  Of course reducing the work week and increasing pay through political action are simply the only way to distribute a little of these gains down to the servile classes.

The productivity gains were largely due to the mass introduction of computers into the workplace. Since it's pretty much already done, you'd need something else to increase that productivity...quote]

No, during all that time that computers were being introduced and productivity was increasing, the work week was not reduced.  We are long overdue for a 30 hour work week.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

I assure you that all jobs will go to the cheaper, more fully dominated worker, Dibble, anyway.  So the argument that one should strive to be the best slave is hardly an appealing one.
 

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Ah your usual lazy answer to everything - steal as much as you can.

No, Dibble, my tax proposal is no more 'theft' than the orginal 'ownership'.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

It doesn't matter where the rich live, Dibble, it matters where their money is.  They are already above nationality anyway, but their investments - in factories, slums, shopping malls, etc., remain in physical locations, and can be taxed.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Actually no, I'm not at all arrogant.  I have never made any claim of being better than anyone else, or particularly capable.  After all it is you deluded social climbing middle workers who do that, not only betraying your fellow workers, but more ridiculously, your own class interests.  Your hubris is very sad.. or perhaps funny, to a rich.  Certainly convenient.