Reporter's notebook 'Having money isn't everything, not having it is'
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki / Korea Times file
Hong's approach is more compelling
By Lee Kyung-min
“Havin' money's not everything, not havin' it is,” go the lyrics of the popular song “Good Life” by American rapper Kanye West.
I don't know much of his work other than a couple of catchy songs, but I can't think of any other sentence that better encapsulates the hardship experienced by low-income people whose lives are becoming tougher by the day due to COVID-19.
Sales at many small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have nosedived over the past few months. Minimum wage workers were the first to be pushed out of a job. Those lucky enough to avoid being outright laid off were instead put on forced unpaid leave. Bills are coming in, but those living paycheck to paycheck have no money. Soon, they will be out of water, gas and electricity, which may be of less concern than having no food.
When Deputy Prime Minister Hong Nam-ki announced measures for a “disaster income,” March 30, a key part of an economic relief package set up to help those hit by the coronavirus pandemic, he made it clear that the primary objective was to help the underprivileged who have lost their income or seen it substantially reduced.
Bolstering consumption and offering a broad relief to the public at large came, he added, only second and third on the list of objectives.
Had the plan been implemented as intended, the envisioned financial assistance of up to 1 million won ($813) would have helped low-income people for whom utility fees and food are a considerable burden, immensely.
According to 2018 data from Statistics Korea, the bottom 10 percent spent over 80 percent of their income on simply maintaining a living, while the same expenses accounted for only around 10 percent of the income earned by the top 10 percent.
The bottom 10 percent spent over 28 percent of their income on housing and utility bills, with nearly 27 percent on food. About 13.4 percent was needed for healthcare spending including prescribed medicines.
By contrast, the top 10 percent spend less than 5 percent of their income on food, 3 percent on utilities and 2.7 percent on healthcare.
Under the initial plan proposed by Hong, who doubles as finance minister, only up to the bottom 50 percent would be eligible, an idea those in power viewed as lacking “strategic foresight” and therefore should be dismissed.
At a high-level consultative meeting among the ruling party, the government and Cheong Wa Dae, March 29, Hong was reportedly railroaded at the last minute by two representatives, whom remained adamant that at least 70 percent or up to 80 percent of Korean households should be given the benefit.
Clearly at play was two former lawmakers' political calculation that highly volatile public sentiment amid the economic downturn could sour fast.
They seemed to have paid little attention to how best to help the most vulnerable, to whom everything in life is about not having money.
Equally dismissed were fiscal soundness concerns over mounting government debt set to rise faster given the issuance of treasury bonds, a plan formulated to counter the economic fallout of the U.S.-China trade feud, way before the new coronavirus hit the country.
When I heard how Hong asked during the March 29 meeting that his opposition to the revision be preserved for the record, I somehow thought he was the only one in that room that had a full grasp of where Kanye West was coming from.
Perhaps the other people in government and at Cheong Wa Dae should heed the lyrics of the song. If they truly deserve to be where they are, their view of life needs to change … just a little.