[10/25/08] Credit Card Use + Aging (^_^) 너무 힘듣어요?

[Alex]

Credit Card Use

South Korean consumers were the engine driving the country's economic growth last year.

The government encouraged more people to use credit cards, making it easier for the authorities to fight tax evasion.

And shoppers were aggressively targeted by banks and credit card companies with few, if any, financial checks.

The average South Korean now owns at least four credit cards, but alarm bells are ringing, as household debt has nearly doubled over the past five years.

Record numbers of Koreans are in arrears on their credit card payments and face hefty interest charges of around 20% on cash advances.

Essentials to luxuries

These days, Jung Jong Man, has to make do with window shopping instead of the real thing.

He owns seven credit cards and over the past year and a half he has racked up debts of $40,000. At first, when he only owned one credit card there were no problems and he used it to buy essentials like clothes and shoes.

"But I'm a human who can make mistakes, like anyone," he said.

"After a few months I started to use the card to pay for expensive drinks when I was out with friends."

"It wasn't my aim to spend so much, it just happened so easily."

Spiralling problems

He's not alone.

"There have been severe social problems - like suicide attempts"

Kim Seung Deok, debt centre

A government-backed centre, set up just a few months ago to help people in debt, deals with around 600 inquiries a day.

Credit card debt is at a record high.

One in ten of the population have fallen behind on their monthly payments.

Kim Seung Deok from the debt centre believes it will get worse.

"There have been severe social problems - like suicide attempts and a case where soldiers tried to rob a bank because of heavy debt," he said.

"Our centre has been trying to help as many people as we can, so they can get back to their normal lives."

Wider impact

The army has launched a new drive to educate soldiers on how to manage their money wisely, before they get into debt. Credit card usage is relatively new in South Korea, but some worry that the addiction to plastic and the rapid increase in consumer credit could make the country vulnerable to future economic shocks.

Park Yung Chul, professor of economics at Korea University, believes credit card debt could have a contagious effect, causing a chain reaction that may affect the operations of other financial institutions.

"If the credit card companies start losing money and become insolvent, then many of the financial institutions which have lent money will suffer as a result," he said.

"Many of these credit companies are also owned by the banks and other financial institutions.

"So credit card companies problems may be... the tip of the iceberg in the sense that the financial sector is concealing a large amount of non- performing loans and in fact financial institutions are not as healthy as they appear to be."

There are signs that consumer spending is cooling.

The government has ordered banks and credit card companies to tighten lending rules and reduce limits on cash advances.

But that's likely to make it harder for people to roll over existing loans and, in the short term, credit card delinquency is expected to worsen.

Questions

1)	How many credit cards do you have?
2)	What do you like most about credit cards?
3)	What do you like least about credit cards?
4)	In what ways are credit cards better than cash?
5)	Do credit cards make you buy more things?
6)	Do you think credit cards will replace cash one day?
7)	What do you think of the interest charges on credit cards?
8)	Why do you think credit card companies charge such high interest?
9)	Do you pay all of your credit card off every month?
10)	What are your feelings when you receive the envelope containing your credit card bill?

11)	Who would you trust with your credit card details?
12)	Have you ever lost your credit card?
13)	Do you worry about using your credit card to buy things online?
14)	Are you interested in the air miles and free gifts you can get by using your credit card?
15)	What do you usually use your credit card for?
16)	What is the biggest purchase you’ve made with your card?
17)	Do you think we’ll still be using credit cards twenty years from now?
18)	Would people be in a better financial situation without credit cards?
19)	When did you last use your credit card?

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Aging

With fertility rates low and anti-foreigner sentiment high in Europe, a new UN study suggests that significant increases in migration might be needed to keep populations from decreasing.

The study, released on Tuesday by the UN Population Division, also notes that Japan and South Korea face significant population declines over the next 50 years and that migration would offset the economic impact.

The report examines demographics in eight countries - France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, South Korea, Britain and the United States - and two regions: Europe and the European Union.

Among other scenarios, it looks at what level of migration would be required to maintain the ratio of the working-age population to the retired-age population. That statistic helps weigh how workers are able to care for retirees, who require more services, such as health care.

Because fertility rates in Japan, South Korea and Europe - which has some of the lowest birth rates in the world already - aren't expected to increase dramatically over the next few decades, the report suggests that migration may be the best and only realistic answer.

In South Korea, where 7 percent of the 47 million people are 65 or older, a health researcher also said that utilising more women was one way of narrowing the expected workplace shortfall.

"We have so many highly educated women who become housewives instead of getting a job because of the gender discrimination. The government is working to create a more favourable working environment for women," said Kim Seung-kwon of the state-run Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs.

Kim said the other option was importing workers from elsewhere in Asia - which South Korea was already doing. About 150,000 foreign workers are in South Korea, about half of them illegally. An official at Japan's Health Ministry, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the study assumed that only increased immigration could solve the problem of supporting the surging number of retirees, but did not consider other options such as using more women workers.

The latest UN study "is nothing but a barometer", the official said, which could be useful when considering whether to ease immigration regulations in Japan, which is more closed to foreign workers than other advanced countries. The report makes no specific recommendations, but concludes that the demographic changes in store in the next 50 years will require a thorough reassessment of "many established economic, social and political policies and programs"

Questions

1)	What comes to mind when you hear the term ‘old age’?
2)	Do you worry about your old age?
3)	What do you think old age is like?
4)	How will your life be different when you reach your old age?
5)	When does old age start?
6)	Is it important to prepare financially for old age?
7)	How and why do people die of old age?
8)	How many people do you know who are enjoying their old age?
9)	What new hobbies will you take up in your old age?
10)	How is old age different from being middle aged?

11)	Are you looking forward to your old age?
12)	Do you think life in your old age will be better or worse than now?
13)	What things are there to look forward to about old age?
14)	What can people in old age teach younger people?
15)	What social problems are associated with old age?
16)	Would you consider living in an old age home when you’re older?
17)	How would the world be different if life-prolonging drugs meant old age stared at the age of 105?
18)	Does your government care for people in old age?
19)	Would you like to live to an old age? How old?
20)	Do you think people in old age look at the world differently?

[Alex]

너무 힘듣어면 미리 ㅈㅅ해요 에기할게요 ㅎㅎ 열심히 준비하세요.

[Alex]

넞었어 미안해요

[Gina(진아)]

[늦어서 미안해요.] That's all right,

[Gina(진아)]

Wow!! interesting topics & many questions!! Thanks Alex!!

[Hank]

Thanks for topic. I will join study today.