'It's the economy, stupid'

By Park Moo-jong

The headline of this column must be still familiar not only to Americans but to our readers as Bill Clinton's triumphant presidential campaign slogan of 1992.

Twenty-six years later in 2018, the quipping mantra made by Clinton's aide James Carville speaks for the aggravating global economy amid a worldwide tension over a trade war ignited by U.S. President Donald Trump.

However, the already old-fashioned phrase best describes the economic situation the Republic of Korea now faces, though the Moon Jae-in administration is definitely reluctant to agree on the recession the majority of people, particularly those in the low-income brackets, experience in their daily lives.

Millions of young people are unemployed, showing the highest jobless rate in decades and working people are barely holding their own, with many people, except for the supporters of the incumbent government, feeling their country is moving in the wrong direction.

Few can deny that Korea Inc. is losing its competitiveness in global competition and the phenomenon is reflected in anemic economic growth.

Yet, the chefs who cook the economy make only unsavory dishes, patting themselves on the back, without knowing what's going on and resisting listening to the one voice of ordinary citizens about the sagging economy.

Common people suffering from the worsening economic debacle say that top aides to President Moon must be certainly intoxicated with their own power they seized.

All the President's men need to listen to the screams of the self-employed persons and to see on the spot what's going on in the market.

I met some owners of small restaurants, convenience shops and taxi drivers dubbed "opinion leaders on the street." They recognized without a dissenting voice that the state of the economy is really serious, no matter what Moon and his top economic planners think.

A 55-year-old woman running a restaurant for nearly 20 years downtown complained that the government seems to be desperate to rake in taxes. "The number of customers is decreasing and sales are going down. But tax is going up. How can I stand it?

She also said, "The prices of ingredients are going up. But it is hard to raise food prices. Another problem is the surprisingly sharp hike in the minimum wage. I had to send an employee home. Soon, my customers may have to serve themselves in my restaurant due to the lack of employees."

A 24-hour convenience store manager agreed. The 60-year-old self-employed man was also critical of the minimum wage. "I have no money to spare for hiring part-time workers due to the higher wage. So, it is impossible to open the store around the clock."

A taxi driver with a career of 30 years argued, "The economy is apparently going from bad to worse. The number of passengers is constantly decreasing. It is the first time for me to experience this kind of situation. It's hard to understand what they are doing now. Everybody knows. Only they don't know."

Many people I met were of the opinion that Moon's people are too much absorbed in their apparent ultimate goal of attaining "peace" on the peninsula through South and North reconciliation following the North's expected denuclearization.

But in reality, the North Korea-U.S. talks are hitting a snag following U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's fruitless visit to Pyongyang last week.

The majority of South Koreans do not believe that Kim Jong-un will give up his nuclear weapons and the latest developments strongly back this. Belief is quite different from hope.

On top of the "certain" crisis of the Korean economy, even the ruling camp members give conflicting diagnoses. Hawkish lawmakers supporting Moon's policies claim that the nation is experiencing the inevitable "growing pains" of a genuine reform of its economy.

But a senior lawmaker, who was a member of a citizens' organization, caused public fury after he said that "people say the economy is bad, but a visit to department stores proves life is worth living."

A 40-year-old housewife with two children from a middle-class family said, "I doubt how such a man with such an idiotic view became a National Assemblyman. Which class of our society can shop at (exclusive) department stores?"

Small- and medium-sized business owners lament that they have lost their courage to do business in their own country due to too many regulations, the hike of the minimum wage and the shortening of working hours to 52 a week.

The ever-intensifying pressure from the government on conglomerates for the realization of a "righteous economy" even makes many owners think of "leaving Korea."

Fortunately, however, it is one consolation that President Moon recently picked a seasoned economic bureaucrat as his new senior secretary for economic affairs in an apparent sense of crisis about the economic difficulties. He also met Lee Jae-yong, the Samsung heir, in India during his state visit to the South Asian country, Monday.

Those in power now have to change their way of thinking, so they can see reality as it is. They should not crow about President Moon's approval rating reaching 70 percent even after one year in office. Their failure is the failure of the people and the tragedy of the nation.

Park Moo-jong (emjei29@gmail.com) is a standing adviser of The Korea Times. He served as the president-publisher of the nation's first English daily newspaper from 2004 to 2014 after working as a reporter since 1974.