South Korea's millennials say their lives aren't that different from 'Squid Game' as they face a crisis of mounting debt, unaffordable homes, and dead-end jobs


Cheryl Teh
Thu, October 21, 2021

In Netflix's "Squid Game," 456 desperate South Koreans stake their lives in deadly games, competing for a windfall prize that will get them out of debt. Some South Korean millennials, however, are seeing slivers of their own lives reflected in the drama. Youngkyu Park / Netflix

"Squid Game" is a dystopian nightmare. But South Korean millennials told Insider that it's actually not that far off from their reality.

When Kim Keunha first moved to Seoul eight years ago, his favorite place in the city was a spot near the Mapo Bridge. Then 19, he was drawn to the iridescent lights of South Korea's capital, a far cry from his hometown of Andong, a city in the southern province of Gyeongsang. Kim, who came to Seoul to try to make it as a tattoo artist, would often take strolls across the bridge - at times homesick, most times cold and hungry.

Eight years on, Mapo Bridge has taken on a very different meaning for Kim. Over the last decade, the bridge has turned into a hotspot for suicides, drawing the desperate and debt-ridden to plunge to their deaths in the waters of the Han River.


For Kim, it has become a reminder of doomed, unfulfilled dreams. His biggest problem now, though, is an eye-watering debt of some $40,000 that he chocked up during his time in Seoul.

"I consider myself lucky that I managed to keep my debt under $50,000," Kim said, showing Insider his latest bank statements. "I'm very aware of how much financial trouble I'm in right now, but there's very little I can do to change my situation."

In 2021, the total amount of debt that South Koreans ran up - more than $1.5 trillion - rivaled the country's GDP of $1.63 trillion.

A 2018 survey from the Korean think tank Seoul Institute found that Koreans owe around $44,000 of debt per household.

That's quite a lot, considering the Korean gross national income (GNI) per capita was just US$33,790 in 2019, according to the World Bank.

Kim's experiences reflect the unforgiving realities of life for some young South Koreans. Stuck in dead-end jobs, with piling debt and no real means of buying a home, it's no wonder that these South Korean millennials think of Netflix's hit drama series "Squid Game" as a grim reflection of their own experiences.

"If someone told me that right now, you could gamble your life to have your debt cleared and become a billionaire, I'd do it without hesitation," Kim said. "Though if I'm being brutally honest, the game masters might think my life probably isn't even worth that much."
Young South Koreans are facing an unprecedented debt crisis that is quickly coming to define their generation

South Korea's household debt topped $1.5 trillion this August, reaching record heights and prompting banks to impose higher interest rates to curb reckless spending.

Nora Carol Photography

The Netflix show "Squid Game" tells the tale of a group of 456 down on their luck South Koreans who, facing crushing debt, are tapped to play a series of deadly children's games in an attempt to win a prize of $38 million.

For people like Kim, $38 million is an astronomical sum that he says he would "die for."

Having made little money from being a tattoo artist, Kim cycled through a series of odd jobs over the last five years, taking up employment as a bouncer at a nightclub in the college town of Hongdae, later working extra shifts as a waiter in a barbecue joint in Sinchon. Kim now tries to make ends meet by working part-time at a convenience store after being laid off from his restaurant and nightclub jobs during the pandemic.

Kim, who managed to get approved for four credit cards when he was still employed and working two jobs in 2019, is now struggling to pay off the minimum sum on each card every month. His payments vary based on how much he can squeeze out of his paycheck from his convenience store job, but he tries to make a payment of around $280 to $350 per month on each card. However, he relied even more on the credit cards during a long, eight-month stretch of unemployment last year and saw the little progress he made with repayments get wiped out.

It is easy, even for lower-income individuals, to get credit in South Korea. The country saw a credit boom in the wake of the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis when the Korean government gave tax breaks for credit card payments to boost spending. This snowballed over time, making it easy for today's millennials to get trigger-happy with their credit purchases.

In 2019, it was estimated that the average South Korean had around four credit cards, with credit card use accounting for around 70% of private spending that year.

Add to that the development of quick credit schemes, and you have a heady recipe for disaster.

It's possible for people to secure "jobless loans" now through app-based lenders. One man told South Korean daily newspaper Kyunghyang Shinmun he was able to secure around $3,000 in credit within five minutes, with the promise of 0.01% interest rates for a limited time.

"When your paycheck doesn't cover your basic necessities, you don't have an option but to pay for things in advance using a credit card. Sometimes, I still find myself relying on credit cards to pay for food and transportation costs," Kim told Insider.

Middle-class salaried workers are also falling victim to South Korea's debt crisis

Even salaried workers aren't immune to falling into debt spirals. Some millennials Insider spoke to said they relied on credit cards to tide themselves over through bad financial spots, but saw their debt balloon. Jung Yeon-je / AFP via Getty Images

This debt crisis isn't only hitting lower-income individuals like Kim, who struggle to find work that pays well enough to finance their loans. The gainfully employed are also struggling to pay the large amount of debt they've acquired.

Noh Eun-woo, 25, a sales executive at a beauty store in the Edae shopping district in central Seoul, told Insider that she owes just over $12,000 on her credit card bills, which she considers a "low amount."

"I know people who owe $80,000 to $100,000. My close friend maxed out five credit cards," Noh said. She explained that her debt, which started in the "manageable" range of $1,000 to $2,000, began to accumulate in 2020. This is because her earnings, which were pegged to the commissions she made on the sale of makeup products, took a considerable hit when customers scaled back on buying makeup and facial products during the pandemic.

She admitted that she still splurged on the occasional luxury handbag once every three months, but optimistically estimated that it would take her around two to three years to pay off her debts.

"Sales are picking up now, so it isn't so bad. But it is true that I won't have any cash on hand," she said, admitting that she probably had a cushion of between four and six months before she was "close to starving and homeless."

Sam Kyungmoon Son, an adjunct lecturer at Kyungwoon University and an independent consultant at management consulting firm Visionwise LLC, told Insider that measures the Korean government is taking, like imposing loan limits, are a move in the right direction. However, Son said, this is just the first of many steps to address the root of the debt crisis.

"Loan limits, if combined with other measures like safety nets for vulnerable people, could help to ease the rate at which debt is snowballing," Son said.

He added, however, that personal debt is likely to continue to plague young millennials.

With higher interest rates imposed on loans over the summer, banks are addressing the growing trend of "bittoo" (borrowing to invest) where millennials attempt to cash in on the latest cryptocurrency or stock market trends, despite the risk of going into even more debt. 

Lee Jin-man/AP Photo

"Seeing loan sharks demanding organs if people don't have cash to pay for their loans is an exaggeration. But the current situation where heavily indebted young people find themselves relying on credit to make purchases beyond their means is a very real problem," Son said.

Son added that it is not uncommon for millennials who are rejected by banks to seek out smaller financial institutions and loan sharks who may charge astronomical interest rates.

He noted as well that the trend of "borrowing to invest," known in South Korea as "bittoo," might be part of the problem, with millennials taking on loans to buy into new investing fads like cryptocurrency, lured with the promise of high returns on their investments.

"They are fully aware of the risks, but do it anyway," Son said. "They see their friends succeeding on a lucky investment and think they can do it too, but it doesn't always work out."

Son added that for many young South Koreans, credit cards and quick loans are seen as "the easiest way to survive."

"One may think it's convenient to get to pay in advance and split up the cost over the next two to three years while hoping to land a nice job to repay all the debt at one go," Son said.

Son added that easy credit and pay-later plans allowed millennials to splash out on luxury items.

It's common for young South Koreans to splurge on branded goods to the point of going into debt, a trend that became even more pronounced with "revenge spending" during the pandemic, Korea's JoongAng Daily newspaper reported.

"This is how debt piles up for South Korea's youths, and it's compounded by the cost of living in cities, student debt, and at times, financial irresponsibility," Son said.

"It is good that 'Squid Game' is getting so much attention," he added. "Perhaps people will learn something from it and realize that those characters could very well be them."
Many Korean millennials live in micro-apartments that are only 150 sq. ft.

Housing prices in the South Korean capital of Seoul hit an all-time high this year, with a 22% year-over-year increase on the average cost of an apartment. 

Allan Baxter / Getty Images

Many Korean millennials live in goshiwons - one-room, dormitory-style quarters containing just a bed and a table. These bare-bones accommodations were initially built in college towns for university students cramming for their examinations to live in for just a month or two, but have since turned into the only housing option many millennials can afford.

Hwang Tae-ho, 28, an aspiring musician who used to bartend at a club in the Hongik University area, lives in a goshiwon that he estimates is around three square meters (about 32 sq. ft.) in size. Hwang cannot afford a conventional housing unit because he doesn't have enough savings to pay the "wolse" - the Korean term for the down-payment needed to secure a rental agreement. This is a rental system unique to South Korea, where tenants give their landlords around one year's worth of rent upfront, then make small monthly payments for the rest of their stay.

"I deliver parcels and work two days a week at a cafe, and it's barely enough to pay for my rent and food," Hwang told Insider. "I find it amusing when foreigners think of the dirty living spaces you see in 'Parasite' and 'Squid Game' as unique or react to it like they've discovered a new world. Lots of people like me live in places like this."

Hwang is right. Around a fifth of single-person households in Seoul live in spaces under 14 square meters (or 150 sq. ft.). The Seoul Institute, the capital's official think tank, also estimated that a third of single-person households live in banjiha (or partially-underground) basement apartments (seen in "Parasite") or goshiwon-style boarding buildings.

Hwang told Insider that he, too, is deep in debt, having racked up around $8,000 in unpaid credit card bills that he has difficulty paying the minimum sum for every month.

"No one would want to live in a goshiwon by choice, but I can't afford a better option," he added.

South Korea's debt-laden millennials say runaway housing prices means starter homes are a pipe dream

Many young South Koreans cannot afford down-payments for rental apartments, and have resorted to living in goshiwons, dormitory-style rooms that can be around three to five square meters in size. Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters

But even for some South Korean millennials who are in a slightly better financial position, Seoul's steep and ever-climbing real-estate prices make homeownership unlikely.

The average cost of a home in Seoul, South Korea, rose by 22% year over year in 2020, the largest price increase of any major city in Asia.

For Seoulites, it now costs a cool $1 million to buy an average starter home. Astronomical price increases have prompted some young South Koreans to hold off on registering their marriages in the hope that applying as a single-income household might help them skip the line and get earlier access to affordable housing schemes.

Kwak Hye-in, 31, told Insider that she spent the better part of her twenties paying off her credit card bills. But now that her slate is clean, buying a home with her fiancé, who co-owns a restaurant in southern Seoul, would mean taking on hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt again.

Kwak, who works as a hairstylist on weekdays and sells handbags at a clothing store in Myeongdong on the weekends, says that they make enough to qualify for a housing loan, but would barely be able to scrape together enough cash to renovate a two-room apartment. In the meantime, the couple is living crammed in a one-room loft called an officetel - an office building unit converted into a studio apartment, which costs them $800 a month to rent.

"Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, we need some savings in case his restaurant requires emergency funds," Kwak said. "Also, it is unlikely that we would be able to afford a decent home in central Seoul. At least, with renting, we can live around 30 minutes from his restaurant and 45 minutes from my workplace."

Yong Kwon, a finance and markets expert at the Korea Economic Institute of America, told Insider that the current housing crisis has its roots in the South Korean government's removal of regulations on mortgage borrowing and other checks back in 2014.

Kang Jun-Koo, finance professor at Nanyang Business School

"The intention was to increase people's purchasing power which policymakers hoped would not only move homeowners who bought their property at the peak of the market in the mid-2000s to sell, but also incentivize property developers to build more housing units," Kwon said. "In effect, the current boom in the housing market is the end result of the previous government's intentional effort to raise home prices."

The consequence, Kwon noted, is that young people are struggling to buy starter homes, with the crisis being particularly severe in metropolitan Seoul.

Kang Jun-Koo, a finance professor at the Nanyang Business School in Singapore's Nanyang Technological University (NTU), told Insider that the housing crisis was so pronounced because millennial home buyers in South Korea have, historically, heavily relied on borrowing to purchase their homes.

The typical interest rate for home loans in South Korea stands at around 2.5%. However, "as the interest rate increases in the future, they are likely to face huge debt repayment burden," Kang noted.

Kang said the relative dearth of apartments in city areas also contributed to millennials' housing struggles.

"The lack of supply has increased the home (apartment) price in Seoul by almost 93% since 2017, which makes it very difficult for young Koreans to buy a starter home," Kang said.

He added that one way to combat this would be to either supply high-quality apartments in the Seoul metropolitan area or make more apartments available for rent at a reasonable price. He noted, however, that serious debt and significant income equality would likely continue to plague Korean millennials' chances at getting on the property ladder.

"The central bank has increased its benchmark interest rate for almost three years to help curb the country's household debt problems and a rise in home prices," Kang said. "The increase in interest rate from 0.5% to 0.75% in August already imposes a heavy interest payment burden on the average South Korean, and this will intensify as the central bank increases the interest rates."

Unemployment among Korean twentysomethings is nearing 50%

Going to a prestigious "SKY" university - the equivalent of an Ivy League college - doesn't exempt South Korean millennials from working punishing hours and facing the same problems with debt. 

Lee Jae-Won/Reuters

Sarah Son, a lecturer in Korean studies at the University of Sheffield's School of East Asian Studies, told Insider that the debt crisis and squalor seen in South Korean cultural exports like "Squid Game" paints only part of the picture.

"Some of what we saw in 'Squid Game' and 'Parasite' resembles real life for many living on the edge or in the depths of debt, and the impact this has on relationships and one's position in society. But like any fictional depiction, it is only showing part of a larger story," Son said.

She noted that job insecurity, for one, was a pain point for Seoul's millennials.

A 2017 report from KDI Focus found that unemployment rose at an unprecedented rate among South Korea's young workforce.

"Korea's youth unemployment rate has rapidly ascended since 2013 while total unemployment remains little changed," their research found. "The youth unemployment rate of high school graduates has been maintained at a stable level thanks to the growing number of service jobs. However, a rapidly rising number of college graduates are unemployed due to the slow creation of professional and semi-professional jobs."

As South Korea's young people continue to pursue education, the job market has failed to catch up.

In July, the Korea Herald reported, only 58.6% of people in their 20s and 75.3% of people in their 30s were employed.

And more and more employers are pushing forward temporary rather than permanent contracts because they're cheaper for businesses, Son explained.

"However, it leaves employees feeling insecure and improperly compensated, and has been a large part of this 'Hell Joseon' conversation where young people claim they feel so much pressure on all sides," she continued. "It makes chasing the 'Korean dream' of a good university, and a stable, reputable job seem impossible."

"I can see why a lot of baby boomers call millennials the give-up generation. It's because we have no time to do anything other than work," management consultant Jung Seung-ho, 34, told Insider. He referred to the colloquial term "n-po se-dae," often used to describe those in their 20s and 30s who have abandoned numerous essential pillars of adult life - dating, marriage, starting families, owning a home, and having a solid career.

"It's hard to not give up and lose hope about fulfilling at least one of those things," Jung continued. "I was fortunate enough to have gone to Korea University, but I still have a housing loan and three credit card bills to pay for every month."

But it's not all doom and gloom for some who still see beauty and hope in the drudgery of their debt-filled lives.

Hwang, the musician, hasn't stopped chasing his dreams. In his goshiwon room in Hongdae, he still writes and records snippets of pop songs on an electric keyboard he keeps stowed away under his makeshift desk. He wants to buy a new keyboard and microphone once he's paid off his credit card debt. He hopes that people will hear his songs on the radio someday.

"I think Seoul is a city filled with a lot of opportunities, even without being born rich or going to a [prestigious] university," Hwang told Insider. "Life might be like a 'Squid Game' with very few winners and lots of losers, but who's to say I can't be one of the lucky ones?"

THE RELIGION OF THE 1%

The backlash against effort to raise taxes is ‘almost religious fervor,’ says Commerce secretary

Ben Werschkul
·Senior Producer and Writer
Thu, October 21, 2021, 

One of President Biden’s oft-repeated promises from the campaign trail and his first year in office is that he will raise the corporate tax rate.

The rate stood at 35% until the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act slashed it to 21%. That was too much, Biden and other Democrats have said over and over. The Biden campaign promised to move it halfway back to 28% and the numbers bandied about this year have often hovered in the mid-20s.

The United States has the 85th highest corporate tax rate in the world (with a combined federal and state statutory rate of 25.77%). Countries like Ireland – with a corporate tax rate of 12.5% – are known for their very business-friendly tax environments, while many developed regions like Asia (with an average tax rate of 20.06%) and Europe (19.99%) also provide lower-cost options for businesses.

Now, amid opposition to tax hikes from both Republicans but also moderate Democratic Senators like Kyrsten Sinema (D., Ariz.), the latest twist is that a higher corporate rate is likely to fall out of economic package entirely.

The White House reportedly told Democratic lawmakers this week that the proposed hike is unlikely to make it into the final bill.

The constantly evolving plan appears likely to leave the rate at 21% and focus instead on other things like a corporate minimum tax and increases on wealthy individuals to pay for the bill, which is likely to include less than $2 trillion in new spending.

The opposition among some lawmakers – all Republicans as well as some moderate Democrats – to raising taxes on wealthy individuals is "almost religious fervor," said Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo at the 2021 Milken Institute Global Conference this week.

President Joe Biden speaks at an event at the Electric City Trolley Museum in Scranton Wednesday. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

While nobody wants corporate taxes to make companies uncompetitive, Raimondo said she's heard from many business leaders that a 25%, 26% corporate tax rate "is absolutely in the realm of what they could live with.”

‘We have to come to our senses’

Raimondo said “at some point we have to come to our senses” on tax policy simply to pay for the priorities lawmakers want.

Corporate taxes may be off the table but other revenue generators like a corporate minimum tax, tax increases on the wealthy, and possibly what’s being described as a more modest version of the wealth tax championed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, are still reportedly being discussed.

During the conversation with Yahoo Finance’s Andy Serwer, Raimondo pivoted away from corporate taxes to these other potential income sources, noting that we currently have “about 60 large profit businesses in America last year that paid nothing in taxes,” an issue that would be addressed by a corporate minimum tax.

“I've heard almost unanimously,” she said of her conversations with business leaders, that “they would not oppose increases in income taxes on high earners. They understand that we need the revenue to make investments.”

Ben Werschkul is a writer and producer for Yahoo Finance in Washington, DC.

People share the text exchange with their manager that inspired them to quit



Rheana Murray
Thu, October 21, 2021, 

People are sharing stories about the moment they decided to quit their jobs, sparking a conversation about bad bosses and our society's obsession with work.

Many snapshots of purported text message exchanges between employees and their managers have recently gone viral across social media. They run the gamut from the boss who demands an employee work a bartending shift on their day off, to another who calls an employee "a victim" for not coming into work the day after their father died, also on their day off.

The texts highlight just how overworked, mistreated and fed up employees are — and how many of them simply aren't willing to deal with it any longer.

One person's sign-off? "Mail me my check. I quit." Another one: "I won't be in tomorrow or ever again." Yet another? "I think I'll just go work at one of the dozens of places hiring around here."

Related: The pandemic inspired many American workers to leave their comfortable, stable jobs.

It's impossible to know just how many of those exchanges are true. But according to Doreen Ford, a moderator of Reddit's increasingly popular anti-work subreddit, the online forum where many of the posts originated, that's not really the point. The point is that they could very well be. Everyone has a story about a terrible boss, right? And while the anti-work movement is no doubt niche and radical, interest in its philosophy has been growing since the pandemic began.

The anti-work subreddit is a place "for those who want to end work, are curious about ending work, want to get the most out of a work-free life, want more information on anti-work ideas and want personal help with their own jobs/work-related struggles," according to a description on the website.

A year ago, the subreddit had 175,000 subscribers, Ford said. As of press time, it had 773,000. A public website where Reddit provides statistics about subreddits shows that the anti-work forum is among its fastest growing communities. Think of it as the total opposite of hustle culture.

Related: Could the pandemic really force our busy-is-better society to slow down?

Ford, 30, became interested in the movement several years ago and is the creator of the website AbolishWork.com. She is a dog walker in Boston — yes, she works.

"Most people in the anti-work community work," Ford told TODAY. "The issue we're trying to address is that a lot of people have to work in jobs they don't like and don't get paid well enough, under people they don't like working for, in this system that rewards abuses of power and unfair disparities and hierarchies. The issue here is that we all live under capitalism."

Ford said that while the surge of recent interest was surprising, it also makes sense at a time when people are re-assessing what they want out of their lives — and their jobs.

Related: Workers across the country are demanding better pay and working conditions.

This period of the pandemic is being called "The Great Resignation," given the record number of Americans quitting their jobs. In August, a record 4.3 million people left their jobs — the highest number in a data set that goes back to December 2000 — according to the Labor Department. The exodus was led by food and retail industries, whose workers are among the lowest paid.

Labor actions have also been on the rise. Workers from numerous companies and across various industries are demanding better pay and working conditions, like employees from Kellogg's and John Deere who are on strike.

Yet one expert told TODAY people should be careful not to confuse those actions with the anti-work sentiments of one corner of the internet.

"What's happening right now is pro-work," said Sylvia Allegretto, an economist and co-chair of the Center on Wage and Employment Dynamics at the University of California, Berkeley. "Most people want to go to work. Most people love their jobs. These are people who are passionate about what they do, but they're saying, 'Enough is enough.'"

She said the pandemic was a catalyst in many ways, particularly for the working class, to wake up to the growing inequities in our country.

"Workers have seen where all their hard work is going — not to them, but to those at the very top. We're the richest country in the world with the highest degree of inequality, and it's just gone too far."

A cascading teacher shortage threatens Kansas and the nation. Here’s what’s happening



The Kansas City Star Editorial Board
Fri, October 22, 2021, 

Everyone in every walk of life should be alarmed about a future in which the education system is hemorrhaging teachers and other school staff.

In Kansas, teacher vacancies rose 62% in the past year. The COVID-19 pandemic has plenty to do with that, but vacancies had already reached a peak of 815 in 2019. There were more than 1,200 this fall.

The problem is threefold: More teachers are retiring, more are leaving the profession and fewer are entering it.


Experts used to be able to pinpoint various academic disciplines seeing a shortage of teachers, such as math, science and special education.

“But now it’s in every area, and growing in all areas,” says Kansas National Education Association President Sherri Schwanz.

Twenty teachers just handed in their retirement paperwork in Lawrence, Schwanz says. “This is October. That’s a huge number.”

Good working conditions and relationships with administrators have led to stable teacher levels in Debra Hotujac’s district. But the Blue Valley Education Association president cites the profession’s overall “low pay in comparison to careers requiring similar levels of education,” as well as long hours, the growing needs of students, discipline problems, lack of input in decision-making, “and community members addressing Board of Education members/administration/teachers in disrespectful and aggressive ways.”

Quality schools the lifebood of a community

The teacher shortage has become so acute that a coalition of the Kansas National Education Association, Kansas Association of School Boards and United School Administrators-Kansas has partnered with an Emporia State University professor to drill deep into the root causes — first with an ongoing, comprehensive survey of educators and staff in every school district in the state.

“Quality schools and professional teachers are essential to the strength and growth of our communities and our state,” says Dr. Bret Church, the associate professor of school leadership at ESU who is leading the effort. “They not only influence the workforce but they also, in many towns in our state, are the lifeblood of that community — as well as, in some cases, the largest employer.”

Emporia State used to compile a teacher supply-and-demand report, Church says, but no longer does. He hopes the survey he has initiated, which goes much further than an inventory, will be performed every other year going forward. Regardless, he has contracted with an expert in industrial organizational psychology to make sure the data is turned into actionable steps to stem the education exodus.

“I think we’re very confident that we’re going to be able to get data that can actually contribute to changes in behaviors or strategies,” he says. “I know that this is not data that we have had, in the form that we’ll have it, in Kansas before.”

The unprecedented survey, which is open until Nov. 19, measures factors affecting teacher morale and satisfaction, including salary and benefits, the health of relationships inside and outside schools, access to technology and society’s view of the profession. It also will find out how many teachers are eyeing retiring, moving, entering administration or just leaving the profession in the next three years.

It’s no secret that teachers increasingly are unfairly under siege from parents and school board members and candidates on such thorny political issues as mask-wearing and how race and history are taught. It’s wearing teachers down — as has the back-and-forth between in-person and remote learning, the fluctuating COVID protocols, and fundamental distinctions in teaching techniques for in-class and remote learning.

Underlying the pandemic’s challenges is the preexisting dearth of students trickling into teaching. On that count, Church has already been working on nurturing partnerships between higher and secondary education in order to funnel more interested high schoolers into university and even community college education classes.

It’s imperative we all care about this, and get a handle on what’s happening to our education system. It will determine the kind of society we have.

This concerned coalition, and this survey, are a very good start.

Deere gets temporary injunction limiting striking worker picket line -Iowa court


FILE PHOTO: U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack visits striking members of the UAW in Ankeny

Thu, October 21, 2021, 4:55 PM·1 min read

(Reuters) - An Iowa judge has granted Deere & Co, the world's largest farm equipment maker, a temporary injunction against striking union members who trespass on the company's Davenport Works facility or block its entrance and exits.

The union workers' activities were "unwarranted, impermissible and unlawful," Marlita Grave, Chief District Judge of Iowa's Seventh Judicial District wrote in a Wednesday order.

While the injunction does not entirely forbid the strike, the judge limited the number of picketers to no more than four at each gate of the facility.

When asked for a comment, Brian Rothenberg, a spokesman for the UAW union that represents the workers, said the union does not discuss ongoing legal matters.

THAT'S WHY THERE IS A STRIKE NOT TO LET THE PLANT FUNCTION
Deere in a statement said the injunction was put in place to provide safe entry and exit to the facility.

"Deere & Company was granted (the order) to maintain a safe environment for all our employees and contractors – including those reporting to work and those exercising their right to strike," the company said in a statement.

The ruling is the latest step in a fight over pay, benefits and better working conditions, with Deere employees joining thousands of other U.S. workers who have gone on strike in recent months.

It also comes in the middle of the U.S. corn and soybean harvest season, at a time when farmers are struggling to find parts for tractors and combines.

Earlier this month, Deere and the UAW reached a six-year collective bargaining agreement after weeks of negotiation on wages and other benefits, but 90% of the union's workers voted against the deal.

(Reporting by Tina Bellon in Austin, Texas and Ben Klayman in Detroit; Editing by David Gregorio)

A half-mile plastic-trapping device in the Pacific caught 64,000 pounds of trash - including a fridge, mannequin, and toilet seats

Aria Bendix

Fri, October 22, 2021, 

Workers with The Ocean Cleanup empty plastic onto the deck of one of the organization's vessels. The Ocean Cleanup

• The Ocean Cleanup, a nonprofit organization, launched a device into the Pacific Ocean to remove plastic.

• The device brought back 64,000 pounds of trash in two-and-a-half months.

• The organization found a mannequin, refrigerator, and toilet seats among the debris.

In the middle of the Pacific Ocean, around 1,200 miles from shore, sits a giant vortex of trash known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The site is home to more than 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic - the largest accumulation of ocean plastic in the world.

Over the summer, a nonprofit organization called The Ocean Cleanup ventured into the patch to test out a new device it had built. In essence, it's an artificial floating coastline that catches plastic in its fold like a giant arm, then channels it into an attached funnel-shaped net. Two vessels tow the entire contraption through the water at about 1.5 knots (slower than normal walking speed) - enough for the ocean current to push floating garbage into the net. Once that net fills with plastic (every few weeks or so), a crew hauls it up out of the water and empties the garbage onto one of the vessels.

The device, which the group calls "Jenny," recently collected nearly 64,000 pounds of plastic over the span of two-and-a-half months. Then a crew hauled it to shore for recycling.

The team found some strange items among the debris, including a mannequin, refrigerator, and toilet seats.

"Toilet seats are very, very common at the Great Pacific Garbage Patch," the organization's founder, Boyan Slat, said at a press conference on Wednesday.

He called the patch a modern-day archaeological site.

"Most of the stuff we collect is fishing gear - that has the highest probability of actually making out to the garbage patch to last there," Slat said. "So you see a lot of buoys and crates and nets, but we also see some stuff that clearly comes from land. We see things like toothbrushes. You see handles of umbrellas. We see toys."

A plastic bottle collected by The Ocean Cleanup's "Jenny" device. The Ocean Cleanup

The garbage patch is accumulating plastic over time as more enters the ocean from storm drains, canals, or rivers. Wind can also carry trash from landfills or garbage bins toward the ocean.

The Ocean Cleanup has built a fleet of catamarans to remove plastic from rivers before it reaches the ocean, but Jenny is its flagship invention. It's the first device that has proven capable of cleaning the garbage patch - an ambition many scientists previously deemed impossible.

Starting Thursday, The Ocean Cleanup announced, it plans to start removing plastic from the garbage patch routinely, rather than as part of a technology test, as it had done thus far. Slat estimated that 95% of the plastic items Jenny catches can be recycled. The organization hopes to partner with consumer brands to turn the trash into recycled products, then funnel proceeds back into the cleanup efforts.

The Ocean Cleanup came close to failure

A haul of plastic collected by "Jenny." The Ocean Cleanup

The Ocean Cleanup has set itself an ambitious goal to remove 90% of floating ocean plastic by 2040. But until recently, it struggled to develop a device that could actually make headway on that.

The organization launched its first attempt at a plastic-catching device in 2018, after five years of research, but the prototype broke in the water. A newer model, released in 2019, did a better job of collecting plastic, but The Ocean Cleanup estimated that it would need hundreds of those devices to clean the world's oceans.

So scientists and engineers began to question whether the group could deliver on the tens of millions of dollars it had acquired in funding.

"From the very beginning we had a lot of doubters and, honestly, I think they were kind of right about that because we really didn't know what we were doing those first years," Slat said on Wednesday. "Honestly, I, too, doubted many times whether we would ever make it, ever get to this point. We had so many close calls. We almost ran out of money a few times. We had these tests that kept failing."

The Ocean Cleanup's new plastic-catching system, "Jenny." The Ocean Cleanup

Jenny, however, showed promise almost as soon as the device entered the water. During its first two-hour test, it collected 220 pounds of plastic. Slat said he started to feel optimistic after the third test, when his team texted him a picture of a mountain of plastic Jenny had captured.

"I still get goosebumps just thinking back about that moment," he said. "I don't think I've ever been happier."

At peak performance, Slat added, Jenny could probably collect around 4,400 pounds of plastic per day. But there are 220 million pounds of plastic in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. So The Ocean Cleanup estimates that it would need about 10 Jennys to clean up 50% of the patch in five years.

Slat acknowledged that his team has only made a tiny dent so far - but it's progress, he said.

"It's really hard to imagine that all that stuff just used to float out there in the middle of the ocean, 2,000 kilometers offshore," Slat said. "It still would have floated out there 10 years from now, 50 years from now, probably even 100 years from now. This stuff is so persistent."

'MAYBE' TECH

Fort Worth to Dallas in 20 minutes? Here’s the plan for rapid transit in North Texas


Fort Worth to Dallas in 20 minutes? Here’s the plan for rapid transit in North Texas

Jess Hardin
Thu, October 21, 2021, 4:15 AM·3 min read


In two decades, folks traveling between Fort Worth and Dallas likely won’t have to think about traffic congestion, construction or varying toll prices.

Getting to Dallas might take about 20 minutes, according to a study on high-speed transit.

The North Central Texas Council of Governments, with the help of engineering firm HNTB, spent a year answering the question: What would high-speed transit in the Metroplex look like?


The team came up with a proposal to run high-speed transit along the Interstate 30 corridor and narrowed possible technologies to high-speed rail or the hyperloop, a system of tubes through which a vehicle can travel almost without friction.

The team has been sharing the results of the first phase of its $15 million study at public meetings throughout North Texas.

“We can’t just build our way out of congestion,” said Brandon Wheeler, principal transportation manager at the Council of Governments. “We can’t just add lanes to freeways.”

Linking Fort Worth and Dallas

In the past year, authors of the study evaluated 43 routes connecting Fort Worth, Arlington and Dallas. They determined the I-30 corridor was the most direct and least disruptive.

The study also evaluated five train technologies and identified high-speed rail and hyperloop, which have similar infrastructure characteristics.

High-speed trains, already in use throughout Europe and Asia, and can travel up to 250 mph. The hyperloop is expected to reach 650 mph.

“It sounds strange, but we’re talking about technology that 20 years from now will be an afterthought,” said Dan Lamers, senior program manager at the Council of Governments.
‘Gateway to Texas’

The study also offers proposals for transit stations, which will act as “mini downtown areas,” featuring hotels, apartments, restaurants, offices and retail, Lamers said.

“The development that will be able to occur around the stations is immense,” Lamers said. “These are stations that are the size of airport terminals ... They’re able to be built in a downtown urban environment.”

These stations will be critical because the high-speed Metroplex connector could link to other high-speed transit projects, like the Dallas-Houston high-speed rail line being developed by Texas Central. If TxDOT’s Texas-Oklahoma Passenger Rail Study comes to fruition, it would connect here, too.

Ideally, this network of high-speed transit will connect the 80% of Texans living in or near the state’s five largest cities.

“You’ll be able to, without a second thought, go from Fort Worth to Houston to see an Astros game and not have to worry about finding a place to stay overnight,” Lamers said.

Ultimately, with the inclusion of DFW Airport, the Metroplex could be “the gateway to Texas from the world,” Lamers said. And vice versa.
Transit study, part two

The project is about 15 to 20 years from completion, said Lamers.

The authors have hosted more than 130 public meetings.

“It’s been our philosophy to involve folks early and often,” Wheeler said. “We don’t want to get somewhere along the way, where someone says, ‘Hey, how didn’t I know about this?’”

Public engagement will continue in the study’s next phase. You can sign up to receive meeting notifications and project updates at nctcog.org.

The second phase of the study will navigate some of the more challenging regulatory requirements for the project, like the National Environmental Protection Act.

This process “will consider the impacts to any group you can think of,” said HNTB Deputy Project Manager Chris Masters.

During the second phase, expected to last about two years, the team will develop financial and project management plans.

So, will this project actually come to fruition?

“I think it can,” said Masters. “It just requires some money.”

New twist in the tale of those escaped zebras: animal cruelty charges


LAUREN LANTRY
Thu, October 21, 2021

There's a new twist in the tale of those zebras -- still on the loose in Maryland since escaping two months ago.

Earlier this week, authorities filed criminal charges of animal cruelty against Jerry Lee Holly, after three of the zebras got away from his 300-acre farm back in Prince George's County outside Washington.

The charges included depriving the zebras of "necessary sustenance," inflicting "unnecessary suffering or pain" and a failure “to provide [a] Zebra with nutritious food in sufficient quantity, and proper shelter while said animal was in his charge and custody,” according to legal documents obtained by ABC News.

PHOTO: Zebras that escaped from a private farm in Prince George's County, Md., roam free in an image made from video shot in September 2021. (WJLA)


The charges come after one of the escaped zebras was found dead in a field after getting caught in an illegal snare trap, within feet of the enclosure where Holly’s 36 other zebras are held, according to the documents.

MORE: Group of zebras evading capture in Maryland

"The animal should have been seen or heard while it was dying from being caught in the snare if the caretaker had attended to the zebras in the fenced enclosure," the court filing said.

Earlier this week, another zebra was found dead, this time within Holly’s zebra enclosure, authorities said. It had been dead long enough to develop rigor-mortis before authorities were called, the documents said.

PHOTO: Zebras that escaped from a private farm in Prince George's County, Md., roam free in an image made from video shot in September 2021. (WJLA)

These instances are "sufficient circumstantial evidence of neglect to warrant a criminal charge," the filing said.

It noted that the zebras pose a threat to the community and themselves.

“The zebras at-large are a public nuisance. The animals are dangerous, and serve a risk to persons approaching them, and a risk to drivers on the public roadways. Zebras running at large are by County code declared a nuisance and dangerous to the public health, safety and welfare," the filing said.

ABC News reached out to Holly for comment but got no immediate response.

The saga of the escaped zebras has been bewildering. Originally, five zebras were reported to have escaped, but then the number was corrected to three.

Now, after the tragic snare trap incident, the number of escaped zebras is down to two. The latest effort to capture the two remaining zebras adds yet another twist to the story.

Two zebras have been placed in a corral, which is supposed to attract the two fugitive zebras with food and companionship.

D.C. assistant police chief says she was told to 'have an abortion or be fired'


Ben Kesslen
Thu, October 21, 2021, 

The assistant police chief in Washington, D.C., one of 10 Black women who filed a class-action lawsuit last month against the city alleging widespread discrimination, said this week that as a cadet she was told she had to get an abortion to keep her job.

“My choice to have a baby was personal, and it should’ve been mine alone and not for an employer ultimatum,” Chanel Dickerson said Tuesday at a community meeting. “I was told I had to have an abortion or be fired from the MPD cadet program.” She said she was 18 at the time.

Image: Chanel Dickerson (Courtesy Temple Law)

It was unclear what happened afterward, but Dickerson has been with the department since 1988, according to the department's website.

Dickerson and the other former and current employees of the Metropolitan Police Department said in the lawsuit filed in September that they were discriminated against because of their race and gender, and that the division in charge of addressing harassment is run by a man who has expressed hostility toward female officers and tried to discredit women who have come forward.

“I understand the dire consequences to me participating in this lawsuit,” Dickerson said at the time, adding she has been subjected to repeated sexual harassment in her tenure as an officer.

Another lawsuit was filed this week by three Black women, all former cadets, alleging abuse and retaliation.

The women in the initial lawsuit allege that they had each complained to superiors and the equal opportunity department multiple times about unfair treatment on the basis of their race and gender but were ignored.

When they reported the discrimination claims, they faced retaliation and in some cases were forced out, they said in the lawsuit.

The Metropolitan Police Department did not respond to a request for comment Thursday about Dickerson's claim.

It said previously in a statement that it could not comment on pending litigation but "is committed to treating all members fairly and equitably throughout our organization."

Human Sacrifice Is the Gruesome End to This Cult’s Creepy History


Clinton Pickering
Wed, October 20, 2021, 

via Facebook

MONTEGO BAY, JAMAICA—The 144 men, women and children summoned to church, robed in white, found themselves witnessing a macabre ritual of sacrificial death and facing the long arms of police and military personnel.

The hellish nightmare played out in the Jamaican city of Montego Bay on the night of Sunday, Oct. 17, in contravention of a government decree that, with a few exceptions, there should be no movement islandwide in keeping with ongoing efforts to contain the spread of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic. If anyone saw this coming, they had kept it secret. Even some police officers were among the church’s congregation, the city’s Police Commissioner, Antony Anderson, said in a press briefing about the incident.

The church of the self-styled “Prophet to the Nations,” proclaimed as His Excellency Dr. Kevin O. Smith, has been operating for many years under his Pathways International Kingdom Restoration Ministries. A copy of his biography obtained by The Daily Beast identifies Smith as “former crown Ambassador of the Throne of Nubia Sheba, globe traveller to over 100 countries worldwide and Yeshu’a Hamashiach end time Prophet to the Nations.”

In Facebook posts on Sunday, Smith had warned his followers of an incoming “flood” and instructed them not to take their cell phones to church that evening, but one member’s disobedience might have prevented a massacre. The police disclosed that it was an errant female follower who was overwhelmed by the sight of another young lady being killed in front of the congregation that caused her to leave and call the police.The Pathways Christian Cathedral, approximately a mile from downtown Montego Bay, became the scene of a deadly confrontation when police and army personnel responded to the call.

Stephanie Lindsay, head of the Jamaica Constabulary Force communications arm, told The Daily Beast that “from the police standpoint, we’re currently investigating a case of double murder and three counts of wounding.” A third death that occurred during the face-off with police is under investigation. Lindsay added that “the leader of the congregation along with others are in police custody as the police try to decipher exactly what transpired.”

While Lindsay couldn’t yet provide details about the circumstances of the fatalities, one female congregant who spoke with the Jamaican Observer on the condition of anonymity said that she was waiting to enter the church when she witnessed another woman’s throat being “slashed” inside. “When I saw blood and the young lady fell, I said ‘This is it for me,’” she told the outlet, adding that she escaped with a teenager after seeing two other members leap over the property’s fence in the midst of the chaos. Another anonymous escapee, who was reportedly inside the church when the “ritual” commenced, told Jamaica’s Gleaner she witnessed a “senior” church figure stabbing members after being told they’d be embarking on a “heavenly journey.”

The Horrors of Growing Up in a Pedophilic Sex Cult

Merline Lewin, a Montego Bay resident who lives a stone’s throw from the church, was in shock over the ordeal. “It is traumatizing. It traumatized me so much I’ve not been sleeping or eating well. I’ve not left home to do no business because of what is taking place,” she told The Daily Beast.

Two days had passed, but she remembered what happened that Sunday night vividly. “It is so shocking to know that this man came up here almost three and a half years ago, and the first time I spoke with this man, he told me he is going to put this community on the map. I didn’t know what he meant by that.” She said she continued to communicate with him on social media, including Facebook and WhatsApp, until about a year ago when the cows, goats, pigs and fowls Smith had allowed to roam freely in his churchyard sparked tension between them.

Lewin said she found it very unusual for Smith to keep all of these animals at the church he built in a residential community within the city. “I asked him why didn’t he carry them to a country area? He said it was safer here for him.”

According to Lewin, Smith also was seeking to purchase land next door, situated between his church and a Yahweh church, which itself was embroiled in a major tussle with police two years ago over children taken from their homes to stay at the church.

In his biography, Smith is also described as “an ordained minister of the Gospel at 17 years old and at 18 years old, he was ordained the National Evangelist for Canada by his Bishops. His dedication to the work of God coupled with his humble disposition was the catalyst that set in motion his meteoric rise as God’s mouthpiece and prophet to the nations.” He claimed a church membership of 800.

Smith had allegedly built rooms in the back of the church and “had children over there, young people with babies come over there and live,” Lewin said.

The dramatic event last Sunday night was somewhat reminiscent of the Jim Jones saga in the U.S., with police having to commandeer their way into the church amidst opposition and an exchange of gunfire that sent church members, clad only in white gowns, and children scampering for cover, says Lewin.

While the police try to unravel what might have been taking place at the church behind a chin-high wall, Milton Ricketts, who, though not a member of the church, says he knew Smith well after having lived in the same community as him, told The Daily Beast the unfolding drama wasn’t surprising to him.

“This man, not only has he done this despicable thing, but it has been going on for years,” Ricketts said. “And the people have been brainwashed, including the children, and they have been taught things which are unscriptural and they have suffered damage in their soul.”

Ricketts told The Daily Beast he had been hearing strange tales about Smith’s attitude of “self-importance.” “I observed it myself, he likes to have people bowing down before [him], to be subservient,” said Smith. Even to serve him water, “they would have to take the knee and he had to be addressed by his preferred title, Crown Bishop at all times.”

Why Do We Believe in Cults? Hint: It’s Not Brainwashing

Ricketts and Lewin said that congregants were told how much money they needed to offer to Smith, who allegedly raked in thousands from his followers.

Referring to the tight hold Smith had over his congregation, Ricketts told The Daily Beast: “I do know he has caused splits in families, serious split to the extent where I know of a family where the kids were estranged from the parents. The parents were excommunicated from the church and the kids never spoke to the parents again.”

Ricketts, a devout Christian, said he is deeply concerned for the psychological well-being of the children attending what he preferred to call Smith’s organization, rather than a church. “These people come and Satan sets them up in what he calls a church, which is a smokescreen; it was from day one a cult,” he said.

Ricketts claims the children’s minds have been warped and that “their emotions are not what they ought to be.” “Some seeds have been sown deep, deep in the recesses of these children’s minds,” he said. “And they might not germinate right now, but they are going to produce the truth one day.”

All the adults taken into custody have been charged for breaching the country’s Disaster Risk Management Act, under which government’s sets out COVID-related security measures. The female members have been released on bail, and the 14 children involved have been taken into custody and are now wards of the state.