"[H]ousehold debt soared from 18 percent of GDP in 1999 to 62 percent in 2001," thanks to the government's introduction of "tax deductions for purchases made by credit card." Alarmed by the prospect of rising bankruptcies, however, the government recently backtracked, which then led to "a sharp contraction in private consumption";
South Korea is more dependent on export than ever -- "[e]xports actually accounted for 98.2 percent of the country's growth in 2003";
and
Investment in the manufacturing sector has sagged -- "South Korean manufacturing spending on new plant and equipment in 2004 was more than 4 percent lower than in 1996."
Marty will follow this article up with the SK labor movement's response to the government's anti-labor offensive.
Also new at MRZine.org is Mark Major's fine overview of the Sandinista Revolution's achievements, the US attacks against the Sandinista government, and the decline of Nicaraguan masses' fortune since the defeat of the Sandinistas: <http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/ major150805.html>. It's illustrated by beautiful and poignant photographs of neoliberal Nicaragua by Brett Kaffee, Mark's friend who recently traveled to Nicaragua to document the Nicaraguan people's lives and capture the essence of the social and poltical climate of Nicaraguan life before CAFTA.
Brett has more photographs of Nicaragua, so we'll publish them as his photo journal shortly.
Marta just submitted her article on Medicaid, and I'll upload it shortly. Look forward to that, too!
Yoshie Furuhashi <http://montages.blogspot.com> <http://monthlyreview.org> <http://mrzine.org> * Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: <http://montages.blogspot.com/2005/07/mahmoud- ahmadinejads-face.html>; <http://montages.blogspot.com/2005/07/chvez- congratulates-ahmadinejad.html>; <http://montages.blogspot.com/ 2005/06/iranian-working-class-rejects.html>