BF2S Forums First World Problems

Larssen wrote:

Not reading anything out the ordinary here compared to capital cities all over the west. The differences are subtle and somewhat cultural, at most, materially there's a lot of similarities.

I never understood the obsession with cramming styles of learning popular in many asian countries. Doesn't make for smarter kids.

it's the presidential election today.

i don't have any hot takes on the party system (my background reading has stalled somewhere around the park era), but i did read today a nice little economic tidbit:

your average working korean household (i.e. a married couple) would have to put their entire combined income for 19 years together in order to afford a first property. that is, their combined income from those 50-60 hour/week jobs with minimal holiday, sick pay, etc, and some of the worst working conditions for women in the entire OECD (lowest relative pay, lowest glass ceiling, etc.)

that's how out of whack it is.

'the differences are subtle and somewhat cultural'.

Last edited by uziq (2022-03-09 02:29:56)

it's not actually. there's no reason why housing should be that unaffordable.

specific policies were put in place by korean govts in the last few terms which encouraged rampant property speculation and a huge bubble. lending was cheap and access to it was very lax. almost every middle-class family ended up taking on 1-2 extra apartments for rental/speculation purposes. the property market is ridiculously overheated and, as elsewhere with highly marketized economies, hoovered up by predatory landlords/rentiers.

doesn't have to be that way. korea has mastered the art of building apartment developments in bulk.

policies or inducements can be put in place, especially post-covid and post-remote working, to move away from this recent trend of (re)concentration in metropolitan centres. most city centres were bywords for crime, desertion and general dilipidation for several decades in the last century; now they're prime real estate. these trends have little to do with population levels and everything to do with population movements, social trends, work patterns, etc.

if it was tied to population growth/overpopulation, you'd see a pretty clear correlation between population size, population density, and property prices. well, that doesn't explain at all why property has quadrupled in value in the last 20 years (koreans are not known for their high-birthrate fecundity). ditto with property prices in places like london. a house in the east end hasn't doubled in value since the 1990s because the population has skyrocketed. dumb take. property in london has got more expensive because the market is open to an (increasingly disconnectedly) rich, international market, more increasingly interested in repopulating the centre and surrounding zones, which pushes regular-earning locals out to the peripheries and satellite towns.

korea has high population density, sure, due to the mountainous terrain, but they build up (majorly) and they're accustomed to living in compact, multi-generational apartments, rather than expecting large suburban spreads. it's not like the population itself is a sole driver of property prices.

your obsession with overpopulation is creepy. go and have a kid and chill the fuck out.

Last edited by uziq (2022-03-09 05:07:37)

uziq wrote:

my gf smokes when she's drinking, and that basically gives older men of a certain generation free license to come up to her and tee off, saying she looks like a prostitute, etc.

Well thats hilarious because when I've been out with actual snuggle professionals no-one has said a word.

Erm, never met a trafficked woman, and you'd be amazed at the calibre.

In most countries Korean is about the bottom of the tree.

Last edited by Dilbert_X (2022-03-14 05:50:03)

Correction: "close enough" to southeast Asia.

Penguins are pretty close to the Arctic, too.

I would be mortified if I was a john and that activity got out. So it's actually pretty rattling to me to hear someone talk frankly about it like that, but maybe I'm just the sweet summer child.

I have never had sex with a hooker because I am afraid of diseases. I have fondled a handful of strippers. Could have gone to the backroom and did whatever with them too but I am afraid of diseases.

i have never had sex with a hooker because i can't imagine why anyone would want to share an intimate moment with someone who could not care less about you. never been that lonely or desperate.

uziq wrote:

i have never had sex with a hooker because i can't imagine why anyone would want to share an intimate moment with someone who could not care less about you. never been that lonely or desperate.

I don't know dude. I come home from work, get high and sit around for a few hours. It would be dope if I could get someone to come over and give me a bit of head without needing to invest in a relationship with that person.

Hunting isn't hard either but I would still rather just buy a cheeseburger now and again.

The culinary class is doing an Irish luncheon in recognition of St. Patrick's day.

There is something I have to say about this: Irish food isn't very good.

Irish people. Wonderful people. Some of the best people. Such interesting history. So much history. And so Catholic. So so Catholic.

Irish food though... it's not very good folks. They call it soda bread but it doesn't have any soda. They call it corned beef but there isn't any corn.

Every time I buy something from a low-level website I get bombarded with personalised spam for weeks.
Tired of this shit.