MANCHIN'S HOME TOWN PAPER

Dan Kurland: Manchin wins, West Virginia loses (Opinion)

By Dan Kurland
22 hrs ago
THE MOUNTAIN STATE’S TRUSTED NEWS SOURCE.
 The Charleston Gazette-Mail.

It seems Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., will get his way on the Build Back Better Act.

He’s won. It appears that Manchin has killed the inclusion of the Clean Electricity Performance Program that would have paid utilities to switch from greenhouse gas-emitting electricity sources, and that Manchin has killed a proposed carbon fee and dividend program that would have increased market pressure on all industries to move from the carbon-based fuels responsible for the climate crisis.

As they say on Let’s Make a Deal — or was it The Price Is Right? — let’s see what Manchin has won.

For openers, he’s successfully torpedoed the president’s upcoming trip to the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Glasgow. At a time when our country so desperately needs to reassert a leading role in world affairs, Manchin has neutered our ability to set an example for others to follow. Manchin has abandoned the moral high ground.

And he has given every other country an excuse to do as little as he is forcing us to do. This is, remember, a global crisis.

Manchin has given credence to the claims that he is more motivated by obeisance to the coal and gas industries than to the health of his constituents; that Manchin, personally, and his campaign’s fundraising, benefit more financially by perpetuating climate change than by attempts to avert it.

He has proven that any individual senator can subvert the collective action of the Senate on the basis of their own interests, rather than the interests of the country as a whole. Maybe Floridians should demand an end to federal taxes for tunnels — the state only has two. Well, three, if you count the one under Walt Disney World.

Coal is dying. It might not be dead yet, and it might yet even scratch out a more limited role in future economies. But the writing is on the wall: Climate change is upon us, and has been for a long time.

The way things are going isn’t exactly going so well for us anymore. Bold action is needed, and soon.

Surely, hope for new training opportunities and new jobs and new investment opportunities might be a bit rosy at this time, but is it really better to do nothing to address a long-term solution?

Manchin has chosen his place in history. Is this really how he wants to be remembered?

Dan Kurland, of Charleston, is an occasional contributor to the Gazette-Mail.

  Key Investor Bails After Learning He's In New Trump Company: 'Not A Close Call'

Trump's new social media company shot up in value, but at least one investor says it's not about the money.

By Ed Mazza
10/22/2021

Donald Trump’s proposed social media company came as news to some of its investors ― and at least one pulled out when he learned his money was now tied to the former president.

“Many investors are grappling with hard questions about how to incorporate their values into their work,” hedge fund manager Boaz Weinstein told The New York Times in a statement. “For us, this was not a close call.”

The newspaper said Weinstein’s Saba Capital had been a major investor in Digital World, a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, formed for the purpose of acquiring another company.

As is common in SPAC arrangements, investors put their cash in before the acquisition target was chosen. When Weinstein learned it would be with Trump’s firm, he bailed.

Trump announced the new company this week, saying it would launch a right-wing rival to Twitter called Truth Social. Shares in the company more than tripled on Thursday, the day after the deal was announced.

One unnamed investor who held 10% of the company told the Financial Times he sold everything as soon as he could.

“The idea that would help [Trump] build out a fake news business called Truth makes me want to throw up,” he said.

It’s not clear if that investor was Weinstein.

Another large investor seemed much happier with the deal.

“When you partner with the right sponsor teams that have a clear vision on their targets, good things can happen quickly,” David Puritz of Shaolin Capital Management told the Financial Times.

Reuters noted the company was founded by Patrick Orlando, who has formed at least four other SPACs and has plans for two more, but so far none have led to a completed deal.

Trading in Trump's new social media SPAC halted due to volatility
Agence France-Presse
October 22, 2021

An investment vehicle linked to former President Trump's social media startup has soared the last two days on Wall Street (AFP/Chris DELMAS)

A new investment vehicle linked to former US president Donald Trump's fledgling social media venture surged early Friday before trading was temporarily halted due to the volatility.

Shares of Digital World Acquisition Corp, which is set to merge with Trump's "TRUTH Social" media startup, surged more than 200 percent before being suspended for several minutes on the Nasdaq.

Near 1435 GMT, shares were up 115.4 percent at $98.01.

Digital World, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), jumped 357 percent on Thursday following announcement of the merger.

A joint press release from the Trump Media and Technology Group and Digital World described the venture as "a rival to the liberal media consortium and fight against the 'Big Tech' companies of Silicon Valley, which have used their unilateral power to silence opposing voices in America."

The companies said a "nationwide rollout" of the venture is expected in the first quarter of 2022.

As president, Trump set the national media agenda with aggressive use of social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

But Trump was tossed from both platforms after he goaded supporters into a violent takeover of the US Capitol on January 6 of this year.

A SPAC is sometimes called a "blank check" company because it is set up with the sole purpose of merging with another entity.

Use of SPACs has soared in the last couple of years amid low interest rates, including on Thursday, when office-sharing company WeWork employed the strategy to go public.

  

Trump's Social Media Platform Could Already Face Legal Issues, After Allegedly Ripping Off Code

The Don has released a beta of his new social media platform and, predictably, it's a knock-off version of an already existing platform.

By Lucas Ropek


The most recent former president’s new social media platform—goofily called The Truth Social—would appear to be sourced from derivative code that could potentially get him sued.

Fresh off his last failed business venture as 45th leader of the free world, Donald Trump has now wandered into his next act: tech mogul. After getting kicked off of Twitter, Facebook, and other major social media sites, the Don recently announced the launch of his own platform—a place where MAGA sensibilities can reign supreme, whatever that might entail.

Much has already been written about the fact that Truth Social is basically a reincarnation of Trump’s first love: Twitter. On it, you can post “Truths” (aka tweets), “Re-Truths” (retweets), and there’s also a “Truth Feed” (Twitter feed). Since Trump’s modus operandi has classically been to take something that somebody else already did, stamp his big, fat, bolded name on it, promise it’s going to be better, and then make it worse, this is pretty much par for the course.

However, it would appear that Trump’s new site is not only unoriginal in concept but also in code. As originally reported by Vice News, Truth Social seems to have lifted its digital DNA directly from Mastodon, the open-source alternative social network known for its focus on user privacy and autonomy.

Similarities in the code were first spotted by early users of the platform, who noted front-end similarities between it and Mastodon. One user even took a screenshot of the HTML of Trump’s new site which shows explicit mention of Mastodon in the code. Mastodon subsequently had fun with this, tweeting out a reference to Trump’s apparent familiarity with their platform:

Think of it this way, if *he* manages to use Mastodon, you have no excuse saying it's too complicated

— Mastodon 🐘 (@joinmastodon) October 21, 2021

Actually, it isn’t all that unusual for other organizations to use Mastodon’s code, because it has a generous open-source policy. Users can create a software “fork,” essentially a modified version of the company’s code for their own purposes, so long as they abide by certain legally mandated stipulations in Mastodon’s terms of service. Somewhat predictably, Truth Social appears to have snatched the code but failed to abide by its terms.

Mastodon leases its software under something called an AGPLv3 license, which basically stipulates that users can use its code so long as they acknowledge where it came from and make the copied or modified code available for public inspection. However, in its own terms of service, Truth Social claims that “all source code” from its software is proprietary, essentially failing to mention that it lifted it from somewhere else.

Speaking with Vice, Mastodon founder Eugen Rochko said that Truth Social’s platform appeared to be “absolutely” based on Mastodon’s code and that it would “indicate a license violation.” Rochko subsequently told Talking Points Memo that his team would lawyer up to consider the potential breach of terms.

“I do intend to seek legal counsel on the situation,” he told the outlet. “Compliance with our AGPLv3 license is very important to me, as that is the sole basis upon which I and other developers are willing to give away years of work for free,” he added.

When reached via email, Rochko repeated much of the same to Gizmodo. “I believe that as of this time Truth Social indeed seems to be using Mastodon code. If you look at these screenshots and compare them to any standard Mastodon installation it will be pretty obvious,” he said, of the posts on Twitter. We reached out to the Trump Media & Technology Group (the owner of Truth Social) for clarification on the whole situation and will update this post if they respond.

As you can see, the front-end of Trump’s new site looks quite similar to Mastodon:

Trump taking something that was offered freely, exploiting it, and then failing to give due credit sorta seems like the most Trump move ever. I guess we will have to wait to see if Truth Social sprouts wings and becomes some new, seething hub for online horribleness—or whether the site will be strangled out of the gate by various controversies, like a potential lawsuit from its digital progenitor.

'OUR HEROS' BIDEN RAISED THEIR WAGE TO $15 PR HR

‘Nobody cares I have nowhere to live’: wildland firefighters struggle with homelessness

Brian Osgood
Thu, October 21, 2021, 

During his first season as a wildland firefighter with the Idaho Department of Land, Luke Meyer camped out in a decrepit building infested with rodents. It was 2017 and he was a 20-year-old rookie earning $11 an hour. In the rural community where he worked, outside Bonners Ferry, Idaho, housing was scarce and rent was a luxury he couldn’t afford.

Meyers kept a mattress inside a tent on the floor of his temporary home, provided for free by his employer, to prevent mice from crawling across his chest as he slept.

Working his way up the ranks did little to upgrade Meyer’s living conditions. Four fire seasons later – with thousands of firefighting hours logged, a new job with the US Forest Service and fresh certifications to supervise small crews – Meyer was living out of the back of his truck.

“I love this job and the people I work with,” said Meyer. “But is it worth living like this, with so much uncertainty?” The answer, he decided, was no. His last day as a wildland firefighter was 27 August.

At a time when wildfires are forcing communities to evacuate or live under layers of ash and smoke, workers say they are being squeezed out of wildland firefighting by low pay and few options to find affordable housing.

“I’m on food stamps and I live in a shack in someone’s back yard. It’s the only housing I can afford,” said a member of an elite helitack unit with the Forest Service in Arizona who makes $15 an hour ferrying crews into fire zones via helicopter. Previously, he’d lived in a van without air conditioning and once suffered from heatstroke after temperatures rose above 109F.

As climate change drives droughts and extreme heat across the western United States, wildfire season continues to grow in length and severity. Blazes largely concentrated in the American west have burned more than 5.6m acres since January, and nearly 18,000 fire personnel were deployed across the country.

The demand is overwhelming crews that are already stretched thin. With the tempo of work unlikely to let up anytime soon, many wonder if there’s any future in the world of wildland firefighting.

“Every year I question if I’ll come back next season,” said a 35-year-old firefighter with the Forest Service. “If you’re looking to settle down with a home and a family, this career keeps that at arm’s length.”

Chasing overtime

Speaking on condition of anonymity, several wildland firefighters of varying age and rank told the Guardian about their experiences with homelessness and persistent economic uncertainty.

The workforce is dependent on large numbers of temporary and seasonal workers who spend four to six months on the job, often far from family, and are then laid off at the end of fire season. Wages typically hover between $15 and $20 an hour, even for highly experienced wildland firefighters, forcing many to depend heavily on overtime pay to pad their incomes and last them through the off-season.

“I survive by chasing as much overtime as I can,” the 35-year-old Forest Service firefighter said. “Sometimes I’m working 80 to 100 hours a week.”

Several agencies, such as the Bureau of Land Management, say they plan to convert more seasonal job openings into permanent positions, acknowledging the growing demands wrought by climate change and the necessity of providing its workforce with a stable and financially viable career path.

But workers continue to struggle to find affordable housing. None of the federal agencies that oversee wildland firefighting guarantee lodging for all workers. Some locations offer spaces in bunkhouses free of charge or at reduced rates, but employees say these benefits are inconsistent.

A US Forest Service firefighter crew arrives to battle the Caldor in Meyers, California, in August. Photograph: Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images

“I’ve gone from living comfortably in a bunkhouse for a little over $100 a month one season to being miserable living out of my car the next,” said a 37-year-old member of a helitack unit with a decade of experience with the Forest Service who makes $20 an hour.

Another 29-year-old Forest Service worker noted his hourly wages are not enough to afford rent in California. He has spent the season living in a tent next to his car. “Sometimes lodging is provided, but usually, it’s not,” he said. “It can vary dramatically from season to season.”

Other firefighters argue they’re incentivized to live out of their vehicles during fire season.

“I bought a truck because I figured it would open up more opportunities,” said a 23-year-old firefighter with the Forest Service in Montana. “And I was right. People were significantly happier to hire me because they knew I’d be living in a car and wouldn’t need help with lodging.”

Such uncertainty can take a toll on the mental health of firefighters, as well as on loved ones and families. Michelle Hart, whose husband, Tim, died from injuries sustained while parachuting into a fire zone last summer, says that her husband struggled with housing issues for years.

“For three seasons he lived in his truck. He had to pay to park in a field with other smokejumpers,” she said. “Some literally slept in the front seat of their cars. I saw the toll it took on him, and I know a lot of firefighters are dealing with the same issue.”

Those issues, along with other strains that stem from the dangerous nature of firefighting, have a cost that is not abstract for many. “By the end of my second season two of my peers had died by suicide or substance abuse,” said the 35-year-old.

New hope for a ‘fatigued workforce’

With the scope of wildfires becoming impossible to ignore, politicians have started to address how workers are affected. On 19 October, Representative Joe Neguse introduced the Tim Hart Wildland Firefighter Classification and Pay Parity Act with Representatives Katie Porter and Liz Cheney, which would overhaul federal firefighter pay, benefits, and worker classifications. Tim’s Act is named after Michelle’s husband, Tim Hart.

Neguse told the Guardian that the low pay experienced by wildland firefighters was “simply outrageous”. His bill, which is a piece of standalone legislation, would raise hourly pay to $20 an hour, provide housing stipends for firefighters on duty more than 50 miles from their primary residence, extend retirement benefits to temporary and seasonal workers, and expand mental health benefits, among other provisions.

On a recent visit to the western United States, Joe Biden used the spectacle of the fires to promote his $1tn infrastructure bill, which also includes investments in climate resiliency and $600m for wildland firefighters. If passed, it would result in an estimated yearly salary increase of $20,000 for federal wildland firefighters. But with the future of the infrastructure bill uncertain, Tim’s Act may become the focus of legislative efforts to improve the position of wildland firefighters.

But others, such as the advocacy group Grassroots Wildland Firefighters, would like to see the government think bigger in providing housing and healthcare benefits. “We’re happy to see this issue getting more attention,” said Jonathon Golden, a policy adviser with Grassroots. “But we’re seeing a fatigued workforce. There’s been a lack of investment and that needs to change long-term.”

After over a decade with the Forest Service, the 37-year-old helitack unit worker feels pangs of guilt that his family has had to make sacrifices due to the instability of his profession.

“My wife has basically had to shape her life around the whims of the Forest Service,” he said. “When I was living in my car sometimes I just called her at night crying. You start to think, well, nobody seems to care that I have nowhere to live. Maybe this is just what I deserve.”

Report: Far-right WHITE anti-government group grows significantly


 In this April 3, 2021, file photo, Ammon Bundy speaks to a crowd of about 50 followers in front of the Ada County Courthouse in downtown Boise. A far-right group launched the anti-government activist Bundy is rapidly expanding nationwide and making inroads into Canada, according to a new report from the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights. 

(Darin Oswald/Idaho Statesman via AP, File)


REBECCA BOONE
Thu, October 21, 2021

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A far-right group launched by anti-government activist Ammon Bundy is rapidly expanding nationwide and making inroads into Canada, according to a new report from the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights.

The quick growth happened despite legal problems faced by some prominent People's Rights leaders, and continued even as some of the organization's Facebook groups were removed from the social media platform. The organization has grown by roughly 53% in the past year in large part because of continued anti-public health sentiment, according to the report.

People's Rights started in deep-red Idaho, which remains one of the least-vaccinated states with only about 43% of its population fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The group now includes activists in 38 states, according to the report.

“I think the report underestimates their overall strength, because they've also built out alliances with a range of groups from the Tea Party to the Proud Boys and anti-vax groups,” said Chuck Tanner, IREHR's research director. “In certain places they are able to mobilize at levels that make an impact on policy.”

People's Rights started in 2020 amid a wave of backlash against public health measures taken at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Started by Bundy — who is best known for leading a group of armed activists in the occupation of an Oregon wildlife refuge in 2016, and now is one of many candidates running in Idaho's gubernatorial race — the group frequently staged protests at public health districts, state Capitol buildings, schools and public officials' homes. The IREHR report analyzed internal membership data from the People's Rights network.

Bundy did not immediately respond to phone and email messages left by The Associated Press.

Last year, the organization had just under 22,000 members nationally, according to a report by IREHR and the Montana Human Right's Network. Now it has grown by roughly 53%, according to the new IREHR report, with more than 33,000 members including nearly 400 official leaders in 38 states. It also includes more than 100 members in Canada — largely in Ontario — even though most of its political ideology centers on fringe interpretations of the U.S. Constitution and Christian nationalism, according to the report.

“We noticed three or four months ago that they started having Canadian provinces listed on their website. It's not big, but it's kind of strange,” Tanner said.

People’s Rights is still mostly focused in the northwestern states, particularly Idaho, where Bundy lives and roughly 17 out of every 10,000 are members, according to the report. Most of the growth has been around COVID-19-related activism, said Tanner.

“There's been rapid growth in places that didn't have very many members to begin with, but there's also been significant growth in areas that we know are really organized on the ground, like southern Washington and central Oregon," Tanner said. "They've really built this COVID-denial activism, and as a group are playing an outsized role in the attack on public health measures to address the pandemic.”

Prominent members of the organization have faced serious legal woes. In Idaho, Sean Anderson dropped from a leadership role after he was sentenced to 18 years in prison for his role in a police shootout last year.

Another prominent People's Rights activist, Pam Hemphill, is facing several federal charges after prosecutors said she took part in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Hemphill has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Earlier this year, Bundy was convicted of trespassing and obstructing officers after prosecutors said he refused to leave a closed room at the Idaho Statehouse following protests that were attended by hundreds, including many People's Rights members.

That hasn't seemed to slow the organization's growth, Tanner said. The organization has promoted extreme political concepts including state secession and the repeal of the 14th, 15th and 19th Amendments, Tanner said. The People's Rights website calls on members to be ready to defend themselves and others against government officials.

“What People's Rights does is spread really radical ideas about overturning civil rights in the United States,” Tanner said. “This is a broad-based, anti-Democratic and bigoted social movement.”

But Joe Lowndes, a political science professor at the University of Oregon who researches conservatism and right-wing movements, said it's not clear if the organization's growth will have staying power in a post-pandemic world.

“People's Rights were kind of early adopters of the anti-mask, anti-vaccine movements, and they've been able to build through that to push this vague, conspiratorial, anti-government idea,” said Lowndes. “But it's hard to say how that's able to sustain itself in the long run. I can't see that there's much staying power beyond the issue of the pandemic, unless it's kind of that general, apocalyptic-prepper stuff.”

In places like Idaho, where some far-right political factions already had a stronghold, it's difficult to tell if People's Rights was leading the anti-pandemic movement or just going along with the far-right flow, said Jaclyn Kettler, a Boise State University political scientist.

“It's a little hard right now to trace what impacts they had compared to others with similar sorts of ideologies,” Kettler said. “It will be interesting to see what happens long-term here. For instance, a lot of the Tea Party organizations aren't active like they were in 2010, but we can still see the influence of them.”

#BANBLASPHEMYLAWS

Malaysian trans woman accused of blasphemy for 'cross-dressing' granted asylum by Australia

Ryan General
Wed, October 20, 2021

A Malaysian transgender woman facing a blasphemy charge for "cross-dressing" during a religious event has been granted asylum.

Finding haven: Nur Sajat Kamaruzzaman, 36, has found refuge in Australia after fleeing persecution from a local sharia court in Malaysia, the South China Morning Post reported.

Human Rights Watch confirmed that Nur Sajat’s asylum application with the UN Refugee Agency (UNCHR) had been granted, leaving it to the entrepreneur to reveal which country.

Nur Sajat later revealed in an online live chat with her followers that she had been under COVID-19 quarantine in Sydney.

When asked by a commenter why she chose Australia, she replied: “Because they respect human rights.”



It started with an outfit: Nur Sajat is accused of insulting Islam after wearing a baju kurung, a national dress of Malaysia traditionally worn by women, while attending a religious event at her beauty center in 2018, NextShark previously reported.

Under Section 10(a) of the Shariah Crimes (State of Selangor) Enactment 1995, insulting Islam and related practices either by mocking or blaspheming through writing, drawings or photos are subject to punishment.

If convicted, she could serve up to three years in prison, pay 5,000 Malaysian Ringgit (about $1,200) in fines, or be sentenced with both.

Ordered to appear at a sharia court, Nur Sajat fled the country and has successfully evaded Malaysian authorities since.

She resurfaced in Thailand last month, where she was arrested but subsequently released after being charged and fined over an immigration offense. Malaysian police threatened to put her through "conversion therapy," which essentially tortured those in the LGBTQ community into rejecting their sexual orientations and identities, according to the Washington Post.

When news of Nur Sajat’s asylum application emerged, Malaysian police reportedly lodged extradition requests with both Thailand and Australia.



Never going back: Nur Sajat has vowed never to return to Malaysia as she has embraced her “new life” in Australia as shown in her new Instagram posts, in which she proclaims she just wants “to be free, to be myself...to have human rights.”

In since-deleted captions on her recent Instagram posts, she reportedly wrote, “It is very important that the freedoms and human rights of every human being are respected, not just for myself, but for those around the world.”

The entrepreneur revealed that she sold all her businesses in Malaysia and “could not wait” to begin a new chapter of her life after completing her quarantine period.

“We have been quiet all this while because we plan to open a new shop in a new location and Alhamdulillah [thank God], we’ve got a lot of support. I am very excited and happy,” she said.

According to human rights groups, it is not ideal for Nur Sajat to return to Malaysia, where she allegedly faced discrimination, persecution, death threats and other forms of harassment for years.

"If I'm still Muslim, just let me be with my own ways, and you follow your own ways,” Nur Sajat said, according to Sputnik News. "Don't judge me. We respect each other. Stop calling me a sinner as well... Thank you, I appreciate all of your advice."

Observers point out that Nur Sajat’s successful asylum bid should be a reality check for Malaysia, which was recently elected to chair one of the 18 seats on the United Nations Human Rights Council the 2022-2024 period.

Warhol in Tehran: Iranians flock to American pop art exhibit
 

NASSER KARIMI
Fri, October 22, 2021


TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian hard-liners, now back at the helm of the country, may regularly rail against the poisoning of Islamic society by Western culture, but in Tehran, Iranians are flocking to the contemporary art museum to marvel at American pop artist Andy Warhol’s iconic soup cans.

The circular floors of the Iranian capital’s Museum of Contemporary Art display a sprawling line-up of 18 classic Warhol works, recognizable at first glance: silk-screen portraits of Communist China’s founding leader Mao Zedong and Hollywood star Marilyn Monroe, paintings of Campbell Soup cans and a vintage print of former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy.

The exhibit, simply named A Review of Andy Warhol’s Works, first opened in June and closes on Sunday. The still-surging coronavirus, which has killed more people in Iran than any other country in the Middle East, forced the museum to close its doors to Warhol fans for a few weeks in August.

“I love this painting,” gushed 46-year-old Fatemeh Rezaee, taking in the colored ink of Marilyn Monroe’s face, which Warhol produced in 1962 soon after the actress killed herself. “By looking at it, I visualized Marilyn Monroe’s life story in my head. It makes the concept of death really tangible for me.”

Rezaee, a retired teacher in a loose silk hijab, was so enthralled by the exhibit that she flew all the way from her home in the southern city of Shiraz to see it — twice.

She went on: “His selection of colors is outstanding and to me conveys a combination of feelings such as melancholy and mortality.”

Warhol’s works are among a permanent art collection worth billions of dollars kept in the Tehran museum vault. As oil boomed during the reign of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the country acquired thousands of pieces, including Monets, Picassos and Jackson Pollocks, before the 1979 Islamic Revolution ousted the pro-Western monarchy and vaulted Shiite clerics to power.

Iran’s new theocracy first banned modern art and packed away the famous paintings. But in recent decades as cultural restrictions eased, some 1,500 Western art pieces from the dynastic era have gone back on display — with much fanfare. In 2015, Tehran’s municipal council even plastered the city’s billboards with hundreds of works by great American painters, from Rothko to Hopper, transforming the sprawling city into a giant, open-air exhibit.

Still, a visitor won’t find Warhol's grittier fare, like his notorious experimental films, on display in Tehran. In 2005, when the museum showcased its entire collection of 20th-century American and European masterworks, choice pieces — including a Renoir nude — were hidden to avoid offending conservative Islamic sensibilities.

The audience in Tehran on Wednesday nonetheless appeared satisfied with Warhol’s silk-screen printings that tested orthodoxies by portraying consumerist themes in the early 1960s.

“People have exceptionally welcomed Andy Warhol paintings’ exhibition,” said museum spokesperson Hasan Noferesti, noting the crowds amid the coronavirus pandemic required the museum cap the number of visitors per hour.

One visitor, 21-year-old microbiology student Shahin Gandomi dressed in a black shirt and wearing his hair in a ponytail, praised the Mao Zedong painting series.

“When an artist portrays a dictator in an artwork, it appears like that dictator has been taken down from his sacred position," he said.

The showcase may be coming to an end, but Noferesti said the museum plans to put more Warhols and Western artists on display soon.

Although Iran has no diplomatic relations with the United States and hostilities have simmered between the countries since 1979, bootleg copies of Hollywood blockbusters and Western music remain popular in the country, particularly among young urbanites.

Tensions with the U.S. have surged in recent months, as the election of President Ebrahim Raisi, the protégé of Iran’s supreme leader, brought hard-liners to power across every branch of government.

Iran has accelerated its atomic program and talks to revive Tehran's now-tattered 2015 nuclear deal with world powers have stalled for months. Three years ago, then-President Donald Trump reneged on the accord and mounted an economic pressure campaign that has crippled the country's economy.

But at Tehran's sleek, white-walled exhibit this week, there was no talk of political tensions or American sanctions.

“There have been great artists in history, and it is tremendously good that we can get to see their artworks here,” said 20-year-old graphics student Kourosh Aminzadeh, who had come back for a second visit.

Iran Warhol in TehranFatemeh Rezaei, a retired teacher, stands next to Marilyn Monroe portrait by American artist Andy Warhol at Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art in Tehran, Iran on Oct. 19, 2021. Iranians are flocking to Tehran's contemporary art museum to marvel at American pop artist Andy Warhol’s iconic work. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

New Zealand Maori governor-general favors outreach to marginalized

NICK PERRY
Wed, October 20, 2021

Cindy Kiro
New Zealand public health academic and chief executive of the Royal Society Te Apārangi

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand's new governor-general said Thursday she plans to reach out to people marginalized by issues like homelessness, addiction and discrimination.

Cindy Kiro is the first Indigenous woman appointed to the role as the representative of Queen Elizabeth II in the South Pacific nation. She took her oath in both Maori and English when she was sworn in to a five-year term.

She emphasized the need to build community spirit through outreach and said she wants to celebrate society’s unsung heroes.


“I will connect with new migrants and former refugees and celebrate the many diverse cultures and religions gifted to our nation by those who have chosen to make New Zealand their home," Kiro said at the ceremony in Parliament.

Kiro, 63, has had a long career advocating for children. She was given the honorific Dame for her services to the community and says she hopes to inspire Maori girls.

“We are living through a period of immense uncertainty and anxiety," Kiro said. “And I wish to acknowledge those in Auckland, and all around the country, who continue to face disruptions caused by COVID-19.”

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern recalled being impressed by Kiro when they first met at Massey University after Ardern sought Kiro's advice on child wellbeing.

“Alongside her patience in response to my many questions, it was Dame Cindy’s compassion, knowledge and focus that stood out to me," Ardern said. "She was passionate about what she was doing then and she has remained so, in every single endeavor.”

Kiro's role is largely ceremonial. Under New Zealand’s constitutional system, the British monarch remains the nation’s head of state although doesn’t wield any real day-to-day power.

Kiro has said her mixed Maori and British heritage have helped give her a good understanding of New Zealand history and the Treaty of Waitangi, the founding document signed by Maori and British.

Kiro grew up in humble circumstances and said her career had been driven by a sense of the importance of service.

Many question the relevance of Britain's monarchy in modern New Zealand society.

Ardern said earlier this year she believes New Zealand will one day become a republic, but she doesn't get a sense that people urgently want change, and so the issue hasn’t been a priority for her government.

Kiro takes over the role from Patsy Reddy, who is also a Dame.

New Zealand Governor GeneralNew Zealand Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro signs a visitor's book after her official swearing-in ceremony at Parliament in Wellington, New Zealand, Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021. Kiro, 63, said her mixed Maori and British heritage helped give her a good understanding of New Zealand history and the Treaty of Waitangi, the founding document signed by Maori and British. (Mark Mitchell/New Zealand Herald via AP)More

SUPERMAN INTERNATIONALIST
Superman will no longer champion 'the American way.' It's sad, but our nation deserves it.


Jill Lawrence, USA TODAY
Fri, October 22, 2021

The Superman family is making a lot of news lately. Not only will current official Superman Jon Kent come out as bisexual next month, his father – the original "Man of Steel" Superman – is ditching his commitment to “the American way.”

Both moves are purportedly to broaden “representation” in the DC Comics classic and, of course, to increase its fan base. And both may achieve those goals. But while Jon Kent's new bisexual identity is welcome, dad Clark’s retooled motto is no cause for celebration.

At this juncture in history, the change feels more like a blow – a rebuke to America and our “way.” It hurts even more because we deserve it.
American brand is tarnished

“Truth, Justice and the American Way” has now become “Truth, Justice and A Better Tomorrow.” The new mission statement is meant to “better reflect the global storylines that we are telling across DC and to honor the character’s incredible legacy of over 80 years of building a better world," and to inspire “people around the world,” DC chief creative director and publisher Jim Lee said Saturday.

Not to read too much into the company’s decision, but “the American way” is a tarnished brand these days. From our tragic 20-year war in Afghanistan, to the deadly Capitol attack that disrupted centuries of peaceful post-election transfers of power, to a lying, corrupt, twice-impeached ex-president who still dominates the Republican Party, we are not living our best national life.

New Superman motto announced Oct. 16, 2021: 

'Truth, Justice and A Better Tomorrow.'

If you were a country aspiring to democracy, which is – as Winston Churchill noted – the worst form of government except for all the others, would you set up an Electoral College that lets losers win or a Senate hobbled by minority rule and single senators with axes to grind?

A country with laws, customs, a Constitution and extreme tribalism that make it impossible to remove a dangerously unstable commander in chief? That, unlike other democracies, deprives its entire capital city of federal representation? (Full disclosure: I’ve lived in Washington, D.C., for nearly 40 years and never once had the chance to vote for a senator or full-fledged House member.)

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If you were a wealthy country with dramatic income inequality, would you be as stingy and judgmental as America when it comes to wages, vacation time, paid leave, child care, safety-net programs and education opportunities?

If you were a country that wanted its people to survive and thrive, would you indulge COVID-19 deniers, anti-vaxxers, anti-maskers and politicians who grandstand against public health mandates, all in the name of individual freedom to get sick, infect others, die of COVID, cause others to die of COVID, and overrun hospitals to the point that people with unrelated problems die for lack of access to treatment?

If you were a country that wanted a high-tech, highly efficient government, would you look to America (where the Internal Revenue Service – the world's top tax collector, operates with “severely outdated” information technology and computer languages “that belong in a museum”) – or to Estonia, “the world’s most digitally advanced society,” according to Wired, where 98% of government interactions are digital and 30% of citizens vote online?
We need moral greatness

America clearly has many, many strengths. At the top, I'd put our huge and hugely resilient economy and a well of diversity that endures, even as it is out of fashion among some to welcome the immigrants and strivers who disproportionately fuel that economy. Their contributions range from COVID-19 vaccines developed by two U.S. companies founded by immigrants, to the amazing array of ethnic food in every cranny of America.

We have our vast size, gifting us with natural resources, stunning landscapes and urban wellsprings of arts, culture and commerce. And we have solid core values that will, one hopes, ultimately keep us on a path of greatness that is moral as well as material.

Son of Superman will be coming out as bisexual in a comic book available on Nov. 9, 2021.

Both types of greatness – in the form of inclusive marketing and inclusive values – are on display in the latest Superman plot twist, which follows Batman's Robin coming out as bisexual in August. Bisexual people, who account for more than half of LGBTQ adults in a Gallup poll, are becoming a fact of life in comics.

They're already a fact of life in politics. What is Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema known for at this point? Blocking passage of her party's ambitious social safety-net package. NBC's "Saturday Night Live" parodied her recently with this line: "As a wine-drinking, bisexual triathlete, I know what the average American wants." Until then, did anyone even remember she is bisexual?

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Then there's Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, skewered by Fox News' Tucker Carlson for being "confusing" because, he said, she married a man after claiming to have had a girlfriend in college. "That's what bisexual means," Brown told him on Twitter. "Don't let the bullies stop you from being true to yourself," she added in a message to struggling bisexual people. "You might even be a governor someday."

Between the bisexual reveal and the new America-free tagline, Superman is providing much food for fulmination, particularly among conservative media and political figures.

I have nothing against outraged fulmination. (I am a columnist, after all.) Still, I wish they'd direct theirs at the real problem: The decline of the American way once admired by the world.

Jill Lawrence (@JillDLawrence) is a columnist for USA TODAY and author of "The Art of the Political Deal: How Congress Beat the Odds and Broke Through Gridlock." Follow her on Twitter: @JillDLawrence

After Coming Out as Bisexual, Superman Comic Sees Unprecedented Sales

Taylor Henderson

Fri, October 22, 2021

superman-bisexual-comic.jpg

Jon Kent, the son of Clark Kent and Lois Lane, comes out as bisexual in the upcoming Superman: Son of Kal-El #5 comic and the news absolutely shook the comic book world when it was announced earlier this month.

The news quickly went viral, attracting attention from fans and naysayers alike. But all that attention has pushed the comic series to have "more orders for the upcoming issue than the series’ debut issue," an unprecedented milestone. The publisher has announced that they are also reprinting issues #1-4 of Superman: Son of Kal-El so fans can catch up on the series, which will hit stores on November 23.

Writer Tom Taylor celebrated the historic news on Twitter, clapping back at more conservative readers who said the comic would "go woke, then broke."

"I've always said everyone needs heroes and everyone deserves to see themselves in their heroes and I'm very grateful DC and Warner Bros. share this idea," said Taylor at the time of the original announcement. "Superman's symbol has always stood for hope, for truth and for justice. Today, that symbol represents something more. Today, more people can see themselves in the most powerful superhero in comics."

In the story, Jon Kent looks after Earth after his father leaves the plant to fight evil intergalactically. Like his dad, Jon falls for a reporter named Jay Nakamura, who cares for him after the new Superman becomes physically and mentally burnt out from his duties. According to ComicBook, the DC Pride logo will also be found in the upper-lefthand corner of each reprinted issue.

You can pre-order in your local comic book store.

STATEHOOD OR INDEPENDENCE
Who's to blame for Puerto Rico's power crisis? It's complicated, a report shows

Nicole Acevedo
Thu, October 21, 2021

Ongoing power outages in Puerto Rico constantly remind residents that essential work to modernize their antiquated and unreliable electric grid, which was also decimated by Hurricane Maria in 2017, has not yet begun.

But officials hoped the partial privatization of the power grid, which started this summer, would help resolve the U.S. territory's power supply crisis.

Instead, Puerto Ricans like Brenda Otero, who owns a baking business in San Juan, have endured a growing number of rolling blackouts and unstable service.

"We don’t have any hurricane, and it’s worse now," Otero, whose business lost more than $1,000 as a result of the blackouts this month, said. "It’s getting harder to work and to pay off the bills."

That outrage spilled over the streets of Puerto Rico on Friday as more than 4,000 people marched down San Juan's main highway, blocking traffic, to protest the power outages and decry how the lack of electricity has deteriorated their quality of life.

The two entities in charge of providing electricity to Otero and 3.2 million Puerto Ricans have been pointing fingers at each other over who is responsible for the worsening power crisis. But a new analysis from the Center for a New Economy, a Puerto Rico-based nonpartisan think tank, showed they both share a fair portion of the blame.

People march along Las Americas Highway to protest the LUMA Energy company in San Juan, Puerto Rico on Oct. 15, 2021. (Carlos Giusti / AP)

Sergio Marxuach, CNE’s policy director and author of the analysis, said in a statement Thursday that "a decrepit generation fleet" as well as an unstable energy transmission and distribution grid are to blame for recent rolling blackouts alongside "a series of coordination failures" between the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority and Luma Energy — which are responsible for the island's electricity.
How did Puerto Rico get here?

Marxuach started the report by taking a trip down memory lane: resurfacing records showing how the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, a public corporation, was forced to declare bankruptcy in May 2017 following years of low liquidity, limited access to capital markets and "funding current spending with long-term debt."

Additionally, the power authority contributed to the island’s decadeslong financial crisis by racking up $9 billion in public debt, more than that of any other government agency in Puerto Rico.

A combination of all these practices resulted in a significant reduction in grid maintenance expenditures and, in turn, deteriorated the power system's overall performance, according to the analysis. That deterioration was later exacerbated by Hurricane Maria, which triggered the world’s second-longest blackout in September 2017.

The patched-up grid will continue acting up until a thorough refurbishing of the grid takes place, an endeavor that could cost more than $10 billion and last decades, according to the power authority.

Against this backdrop, the Puerto Rican government reached an agreement with Luma Energy, a consortium owned by a private company in Canada and another one in Texas, as part of its efforts to privatize the power grid.

The private company took over Puerto Rico's transmission and distribution of electricity in June as the power authority remained in charge of controlling power generation units.

Luma Energy CEO Wayne Stensby told NBC News this month he's confident that Puerto Rico's power crisis “will get better month by month and year by year.”

“The single biggest challenge is the speed in which we can actually bring real improvements to our customers,” Stensby said.

But since the company started working in Puerto Rico, residents have experienced longer service restoration times, poor customer service and voltage fluctuations that often damage appliances and other home electronics, according to an analysis from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, a nonprofit group that conducts research and analyses on financial and economic issues related to energy and the environment.

In his analysis, Marxuach pointed out that Luma Energy had about a year to prepare before its takeover, "and its performance so far has been, in the best case, deficient, and in the worst, dismal."

"Its management, so far, has utterly failed to deliver on its promises," Marxuach added.
'In the best interests of both companies to change their ways'

Under the current partnership, the power authority is "required to provide 'dependable generation capacity' in exchange for a monthly payment from LUMA to cover operating and maintenance expenses," the analysis said. The private company also has "absolute control to dispatch generation and manage system load at any given time," according to the report.

But power customers in Puerto Rico are the ones paying the price over a complicated arrangement that "requires good faith efforts from both companies to run the system successfully," Marxuach wrote.

"It is in the best interests of both companies to change their ways, for their own benefit and the wellbeing of the Puerto Rican people," the analysis concluded.

In it, Marxuach urged the power authority to stop "clinging to its old ways" and called on Luma Energy to "modify its standard playbook to account for an old, unstable, and unreliable electric system."

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?"