By Here is an example of a video that has been going around the Korean cyberspace where everything is not what it appears to be:
Looks pretty bad right? Well it turns out the guy was not an American soldier, which I suspected right away considering his facial hair and the claim to have fought in Iraq for six years. Sure whatever dude, the war in Iraq just went over 7 years long and you claim to been there for six of them? The Marmot’s Hole has the details on this story about how the incident began by the old Korean guy poking him with a pool stick, which doesn’t excuse beating him by the young male, but they have both apparently kissed and made up.
11:59 am on October 10th, 2010 1
I assume the apology from Tom will be forthcoming. He was going to 'sit back and watch the fun' as the American bashing began on Naver.
Tom, make sure you go to Naver and tell your fellow gooks that is was NOT an American, and get apologies from everyone.
12:25 pm on October 10th, 2010 2
Marcus, please don't invoke the Beijing Betty the agitprop guy if he's not here.
GI Korea, I share your relief that he was not actual USFK personnel. I hope that at least some of the Korean media point that out.
I kinda hope he's an English teacher, since those smug sons o' bitches are always going off on how abused they are for no good reason.
The homemade porn guy is also an English teacher (or was). Now if only the rude-panmal-yelling subway girl is also an English teacher (I think she was saying in Korean she hates Korea and wants to get out, so she could be a kyopo on an F4), then we have a trifecta.
1:44 pm on October 10th, 2010 3
"Tom, make sure you go to Naver and tell your fellow gooks that is was NOT an American, and get apologies from everyone."
Maybe you're the one who should be apologizing, fat whitey. He was an American, he just wasn't an American soldier as he claimed.
What is it with you American whities always playing Rambo and pretending to be deadly soldiers, when you're not? This proves my stereotype of you are correct 
1:58 pm on October 10th, 2010 4
Tom, make sure you go to Naver and tell your fellow gooks that is was NOT an American, and get apologies from everyone.
The most-read articles on this are clearly saying he is not a GI, regardless what he himself said.
2:17 pm on October 10th, 2010 5
"조사 결과 가해자는 미국 시민권자인 Y(31)씨로 파악됐으나 미군은 아닌 것으로 알려졌다."
2:49 pm on October 10th, 2010 6
#3,
Hypocrite.
#5,
The only old man I've ever seen being beaten up, in Korea or anywhere else, was by a Korean university student. He nearly did it in his pants when the owner of the restaurant I was at ran out to confront him. Turns out the short and stocky man, then in his 50's, had quite a reputation as a fierce street fighter in his youth (so much so that the owners of the adjacent businesses stepped outside to enjoy the show when they heard his booming voice chastising the youth).
6:44 pm on October 10th, 2010 7
The old man, Gyeong Ju or JJ as we call him, plays pool in the Itaewon Pool league.
http://www.itaewonpool.org/index.php?option=com_i…
and is notorius for Starting fights with Koreans and Foreigners… people who know him, know that he has been thrown out of most bars in Itaewon, and has been in more than a few fights, this isn't the first and won't be the last time. He is always drunk and always getting in trouble. Ask anyone who knows the guy and you'll probably get the same response;
He probably deserved it.
Although I am very disappointed in the young guy GI or not (which He's definately NOT) since it reflects poorly on all of us and situations like this will affect all Waeguks not just Miguks.
We're in their country, we must be respectfull and avoid these confrontations even when it feels like we should stand up for ourselves. Because your actions reflect on all of us. Remember there are Jackass(not all) Europeans around who especially hate Americans, and will do everything in their power to show us in a bad light. Try not to do it for them.
9:09 pm on October 10th, 2010 8
I just knew this vicious attack on an old man would be turned around and the victim get blamed, because the white guys can never do anything wrong – they're always the victims. He probably deserved it, huh? If the video showed it the other way around, and a young Korean guy beats the living daylights out of an old white man, there would be call for blood on how racist Koreans are how bad and evil Koreans are. But since the victim was a Korean, "he probably deserved it". What hypocrites. Why do white guys lie so much on the internet, about being victims?
9:15 pm on October 10th, 2010 9
If the old guy really gets drunk and starts fights, he may be mentally ill. Then he needs compassionate care.
10:56 pm on October 10th, 2010 10
Here's the link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QR8p1Dwn918
YOU REALLY HAVE TO BE STUPID TO THINK THIS GUY IS A SOLDIER.
KOREAN =
ALL WHITE PEOPLE ARE AMERICAN SOLDIERS
ALL AMERICANS ARE SOLDIERS
ALL SOLDIERS ARE WHITE PEOPLE
KOREAN'S ARE NOT AMERICAN SOLDIERS AND THEY ARE NOT WHITE SO THEY ARE NOT PEOPLE
Tom, again you make me laugh. How can someone like you claim enrollment in a Masters Program in the United States of America and really be so stupid? I hope the university is getting its money from you so they can profit while you waste your time and your parents money.
"JJ" is a cab driver for Best Taxi, he didn't deserve what the idiot did.
Tom, you're still an idiot. If you want to piss-off Americans, re-join the Korean Army as a KATUSA where you can steal, lie, cheat, not work, don't speak English, have anal sex with your fellow KATUSA and get a pass to go home to your parents every weekend. Maybe that's where Stupid American Soldiers get the idea Koreans are worthless.
1:48 am on October 11th, 2010 11
Glans #9, You're funny.
Compassion is seen as weakness to someone such as he. He isn't mentally ill. What rot!
He's pissed off. His life sucks. He knows his life sucks. That's why he is pissed off. He is old and has no hope. His life has passed him by. He knows it.
He is pissed about it. Nothing he can do about it.
But he knows he is too old for anyone to give him a beating. (respect your elders and all that)
So he gets drunk and goes around picking fights with people that could break him in half. Having fun at their inability to do anything about it.
Compassionate care my asss. You don't have the funds, space or staff.
He will die alone in his room one day. He knows it. Better to piss off someone to end his emptiness.
Or you could go and adopt him.
1:50 am on October 11th, 2010 12
@ Glen
No he's not mentally ill, but he does have a serious alcohol problem. your right though he needs his family or friends to intervene out of compassion. I don't like seeing this happen to him on a regular basis.
@ Tom
Stop spouting nonsense, I said we need to respect our Korean hosts, don't twist what I said for you own ajenda!!!!
no one is blaming him for getting beaten up. It just seems he is involved in alot of these situations. The point is when you go looking for fights they typically find you. Not all people are violent like this young man, but not all have patience either. Many people have seen him get beaten up numerous times. It's what he does, he picks fights with people while he's drunk. Usually he has a couple of younger friends corale him away, like you saw in the video. This time it got out of hand. Sorry I don't feel bad for JJ, however I'm glad the two met and made up through apology. To me it's a good resolution because both were drunk and should have walked away.
@lemmy
I pretty sure he's a tailor, not a taxi driver.. maybe aswell though not.
1:51 am on October 11th, 2010 13
Hey Glans, Rent the movie "Soylent Green".
I think that is the world you want. Everyone is taken care of.
2:00 am on October 11th, 2010 14
And for the Record TOM I would feel the same way if the roles were reversed.
7:24 am on October 11th, 2010 15
What bothers me are the frat boy attitude of the western expatriots. They treat Koreans as players in a one big drunken binge party. For instance take this video of this angry crazy Chinese b*tch from Hong Kong making herself ridiculous:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mjr-6dKXfrs
I've no problems that there's some kind of argument going on between the white guy bar owner and the Chinese female customer. The Chinese female is p*ssed and acting crazy. But look at the behavior of the white guys, egging her on, making her even more crazy, making sexual passes ("are you single?"), and laughing at her, teasing and baiting her – making the situation worse by treating this as a joke.
What is it with you white guys and your frat boy mentality?
7:36 am on October 11th, 2010 16
But I did enjoy the video, it was too funny.
7:55 am on October 11th, 2010 17
I kinda hope he’s an English teacher, since those smug sons o’ bitches are always going off on how abused they are for no good reason.
Kushibo, you're just a blogger. Do you ever criticize your fellow bloggers? No, they're all saints, right? Want to know how many expat bloggers in Korea openly take bribes from restaurants they suddenly love? How many expat bloggers promote Korean food or Korea to foreigners as "perfect" without disclosing their Korean government jobs? Just once be honest about your fellow bloggers and then you may have the credibility to flame foreign teachers.
8:12 am on October 11th, 2010 18
Archieb, it was revealed that guy is an ESL Teacher who was an ex-Gi in Iraq. So he's both. No wonder he's a trash.
9:00 am on October 11th, 2010 19
On the Chinese thing: tom is now moved to just white guys, instead of Americans. Trying to carve the world to how you see it?
And yes tom, calling me a fat whitey will make your dumb gook hole feel better I'm sure. I hereby second the motion from Lemmy in #10.
9:33 am on October 11th, 2010 20
archieb wrote:
Kushibo, you’re just a blogger. Do you ever criticize your fellow bloggers? No, they’re all saints, right?
Huh? I criticize other bloggers all the time. I hate everybody.
Want to know how many expat bloggers in Korea openly take bribes from restaurants they suddenly love? How many expat bloggers promote Korean food or Korea to foreigners as “perfect” without disclosing their Korean government jobs?
Like whom?
Just once be honest about your fellow bloggers and then you may have the credibility to flame foreign teachers.
Thanks for the material-rich comment. I always wanted to be an Archie De-bunker.
1. I do criticize other bloggers, quite frequently: Metropolitician (and here and here and here), Roboseyo, Brian, etc.
2. I've made no secret of past ROK government sponsorship for my blogging.
3. Learn the meaning of the winky emoticons before you go off the deep end about flaming foreign teachers.
4. I don't like Korean food and I have no interest in promoting it.
10:16 am on October 11th, 2010 21
Not ALL white people are like that TOM, just as not ALL Koreans are one way or another. It comes down to the individual(s). Individuals are responsible for their own actions. I don't label ALL koreans one way because I have a single or multiple bad experiences, I know too many koreans that I believe are good and decent people. Please try not to fall into the racial stereotyping game it neither promotes your ideas or helps resolve anything, it only serves to divide.
"People should be judged by the content of their character not by the color of their skin."
-MLK
10:22 am on October 11th, 2010 22
While my response to archieb is stuck in moderation, let me just point out to everyone else that Beijing Betty (i.e., Tom) does not represent Korean opinion in any way.
10:46 am on October 11th, 2010 23
And Kushibo's does?
10:51 am on October 11th, 2010 24
Beijing Betty, I never claim to represent any opinion but my own. I speak for no group, whether I'm associated with it or not.
I'd make a lousy agitprop worker.
12:25 pm on October 11th, 2010 25
Kushibo, what does this have to do with teachers? Talk about raising a red herring. Stick to the issues. And you wonder why you're seen as such a whiner on every message board.
1:06 pm on October 11th, 2010 26
Since my reply to archieb is still stuck in the spam filter, I'll just remove most of the links and reprint it here:
archieb wrote:
Kushibo, you’re just a blogger. Do you ever criticize your fellow bloggers? No, they’re all saints, right?
Huh? I criticize other bloggers all the time. I hate everybody.
Want to know how many expat bloggers in Korea openly take bribes from restaurants they suddenly love? How many expat bloggers promote Korean food or Korea to foreigners as “perfect” without disclosing their Korean government jobs?
Like whom?
Just once be honest about your fellow bloggers and then you may have the credibility to flame foreign teachers.
Thanks for the material-rich comment. I always wanted to be an Archie De-bunker.
1. I do criticize other bloggers, quite frequently: Metropolitician, Roboseyo, Brian, etc.
2. I've made no secret of past ROK government sponsorship for my blogging.
3. Learn the meaning of the winky emoticons before you go off the deep end about flaming foreign teachers.
4. I don't like Korean food and I have no interest in promoting it.
1:18 pm on October 11th, 2010 27
SunnyK wrote:
Kushibo, what does this have to do with teachers?
It has nothing to do with teachers (except that maybe the fake GI is in fact a teacher, as someone noted).
Talk about raising a red herring. Stick to the issues.
Well, while not quite a "red herring," it was done for satirical effect.
Did you note the
winky? Clearly, I was not being serious.
But perhaps I was remiss. Clearly I forgot how thin-skinned some English teachers can be. Most of the ones I hang around with make such jokes themselves and don't think everyone in Korea is out to get them.
And you wonder why you’re seen as such a whiner on every message board.
Whiner? You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
A whiner is, say, someone who complains, "Oh, that kushibo is picking on us again!"
I, on the other hand, am your garden variety scalawag.
Seriously, SunnyK, I submit that behind the scenes over the past decade I have done more good for English teachers than you can possibly imagine, and I'm always doing more. Trust me on that. If you ever get in trouble, you email me and I'll help you get out (obviously with better effect if I'm actually in country at the time). But do try to keep your nose clean.
And also on that serious note, does Quincy Black or Fake GI affect you in any way, even if they both were actually English teachers? No, probably not. Unless you, too, punch out old men when you go out drinking or you make 몰카 porn with local KoKos and post it for fun or profit. Do you? I doubt it.
In fact, I submit that if you are a hard-working English teacher who dresses nicely, does her/his job enthusiastically and with a smile, and tries to make an effort to assimilate as best one can when they aren't a native Korean speaker and only plan (initially) to be in Korea for a year or so, then Quincy Black and Fake GI actually make you, SunnyK, look good, because they would look at SunnyK and say, wow, I don't know if we're just lucky or what, but SunnyK is a catch.
And I mean that seriously.
1:44 pm on October 11th, 2010 28
Kushibo, out of the blue, on this story's thread you posted that you "hoped" the young man in the video was an English teacher. That's some show of support for teachers. Your words speak for themselves.
2:05 pm on October 11th, 2010 29
wow good job G.I.Korea deleting my post. You can't handle the truth huh.
2:11 pm on October 11th, 2010 30
^oops my fault. It was problem in my computer.
3:58 pm on October 11th, 2010 31
#17,
No, I wouldn't say the majority are just here to party. If that were the case, incidents such this one would be far more common. But, for the minority who are, I blame the employers. Do you honestly believe their employers want experienced teachers for the salaries they offer?
4:02 pm on October 11th, 2010 32
"Hard-working and serious English teachers are the best thing that the US could export to Korea."
Too bad few employers are willing to pay competitive salaries…And don't get me started about my sabbatical, or rather the lack thereof.
4:11 pm on October 11th, 2010 33
Well played Kushibo. You're alright. Personally, I have a winky filter installed on my browser so I can get the straight text.
Orbit buddy, I wish I could delete your posts.
No, you were filter pwned, that's all. Save your work, edit, resubmit. I'll admit the filter pisses me off sometimes too.
5:47 pm on October 11th, 2010 34
Teadrinker wrote:
Too bad few employers are willing to pay competitive salaries…And don’t get me started about my sabbatical, or rather the lack thereof.
I don't think it's that simple. A lot of schools are on tight budgets to begin with, and then the expansion in jobs has largely been (by government design) in the places where money was too tight to afford a native anglophone teacher in the first place.
But more than anything, what's at work is simple supply and demand. All the griping notwithstanding, South Korea has dramatically liberalized visa policy, and that means far more people coming in. South Korea has gone from a peripheral venue to a primary destination, and that's a huge reason why salaries have stagnated.
Nevertheless, the actual pay package has expanded, with airline tickets, housing, and health insurance that were not covered in the past.
Workplaces would like to compete for better teachers, but budgetary constraints tie their hands. The best thing would be to get them to realize that removal of certain headaches would be a very good place to start, but believe it or not, what constitutes a reasonably headache-free work environment for teachers is far harder to discern for schools and hagwons than one might think.
8:10 pm on October 11th, 2010 35
This is getting off topic….
8:50 pm on October 11th, 2010 36
SunnyK, I included not just one, but two winkies with that. I that for sure that would make it clear I was not being serious.
But for the record, the last two paragraphs of comment #2 (the ones with the winkies) are NOT meant to be taken seriously. I don’t want any extra heat to come to the English-teaching community and it is my fervent hope that the Quincy Black thing and any fallout from Fake GI blow over as quickly as possible.
Hard-working and serious English teachers are the best thing that the US could export to Korea. I mean that.
9:09 pm on October 11th, 2010 37
#34,
"Nevertheless, the actual pay package has expanded, with airline tickets, housing, and health insurance that were not covered in the past. "
Since when? Since 1895 when the first official language school opened in Korea? Sure. Fact is, it's been the standard package since I've been here, over a decade now. The standard starting salary when I first came was hovering at 2000$ based on the currency exchange of the time. What is it now, well over a decade later? About 2000$ per month.
The fact hagwons or schools don't pay more for their teachers has little to do with budget constraints. Simply, nobody wants to pay more than the next guy. Experience? Credentials? Those are just a bonus, something to be checked after the headshots. Anyone who claims otherwise is blowing smoke up your ass.
Yes, it is that simple. I should know, I've owned hagwons with my wife (bet you didn't see that one coming).
9:14 pm on October 11th, 2010 38
PS. We paid our employees well. Credentials and experience was the most important criteria for us. Quality was a priority. I guarantee few schools trained their teachers as well as I trained mine. It's to be expected, none of the other owners I've met had studied English education in grad school like I did. There's good money to be my in that business if you know what you're doing. Why do you think I'm so smug?
9:21 pm on October 11th, 2010 39
to be made, that is…although a lot of it did become "my".
11:34 pm on October 11th, 2010 40
"Why do you think I’m so smug?"
You are Candian, a lot of you guys are. Not a direct criticism just an observation.
12:13 am on October 12th, 2010 41
#40,
At least I'm not "Amercan".
2:09 am on October 12th, 2010 42
You really wear the smug bastard lable proudly.
2:47 am on October 12th, 2010 43
This quarrel between Americans and Canadians…. you guys are both smug.
6:53 am on October 12th, 2010 44
But I can say, the US is much more corrupt than Canada.
Wall Street pats themselves on the back and pays themselves a record bonus.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39631043/ns/business-…
And Joe Blow Americans are sitting on their as* and watching the top 1% of the income bracket people take all the hundreds of billions in government rescue money. How about the Wall Street paying back the government for all the trillions of dollars in free money they got? No way. This reminds me of the African countries with Kleptocracy, because there's not much difference, just that the scale of corruption is much bigger in the States.
7:11 am on October 12th, 2010 45
Tom, you make me laugh. Please tell the university to return 90% of your tuition (let them keep 10% for administrative costs.) You are not receiving the education you think.
7:15 am on October 12th, 2010 46
#43,
Oh, I can think of a few nouns and adjectives to describe you, but unfortunately the filter won't let them through.
7:20 am on October 12th, 2010 47
#44,
You clearly haven't been paying attention to South Korean politics.
7:40 am on October 12th, 2010 48
#40 and #41
I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to post on this:
Sorry
2:41 pm on October 12th, 2010 49
#48,
Was it aimed Tom too? Then, I think we can infer what the words were.
2:48 pm on October 12th, 2010 50
Arghh!!!
Foiled again by the spam filter. But I see now my link had a cuss word in it. Too bad.
3:42 pm on October 12th, 2010 51
Tom's a poo throwing racist monkey. He has never contributed to a discussion in his life and finds joy in the misfortune of others. What a pathetic life and waste of a human being.
6:54 am on October 13th, 2010 52
While Tommy is unrelenting in his pro-Asian, pro-Korean rhetoric, I still love the man. We should all credit him in his consistancy. It's almost a gaurantee that his statements will be anti-western, but that's the beauty of it. Why get angry? I take great joy in reading his self-deluded posts. Please don't stop being you, Tommy boy.
Love always,
Zero
8:29 am on October 13th, 2010 53
Wrong. I am pro Korean period. I don't care about the other Asian races as long as they don't pro-create in Korea.
9:01 am on October 13th, 2010 54
#52: "Wrong. I am pro Chinese period."
Fixed.
3:38 pm on October 13th, 2010 55
#52,
You don't get irony, do you?
4:06 pm on October 13th, 2010 56
Irony is what we do after we finish the washy.
8:38 pm on October 13th, 2010 57
#55 Shibo – "Irony is what we do after we finish the washy."
I have a tremendous amount of respect for your intellectual capacity, but this is not one of your best. What happened?
Let me see if I can spruce it up a bit.
Tom are you Chinese? Here's an ancient Chinese secrete, use Calgone first, then you irony.
I don't know, I think I just made it worse. How about just a little credit for trying?
8:41 pm on October 13th, 2010 58
I have a tremendous amount of respect for your intellectual capacity, but this is not one of your best. What happened?
It's not so much of an argument as it is a catch phrase.
8:47 pm on October 13th, 2010 59
#38 Teadrinker,
I have an off-topic question related to your #38 post.
How and why do hagwons stay afloat when the owners of said establishments are out of cash and pretty much running on fumes? How does this happen? I guess I am using western business realities as a reference. If a company in the west is out of cash, the business is over and done with. In Korea, these scenarios are like phantoms waiting for the afterlife.
9:16 pm on October 13th, 2010 60
^this coming from a person who is from a nation that's headed for a sovereign default. I find it highly amusing.
10:22 pm on October 13th, 2010 61
"How and why do hagwons stay afloat when the owners of said establishments are out of cash and pretty much running on fumes?"
It's no different than back home. Get a loan and only pay the interest. If you can't pay the interest, get another loan to pay that.
11:53 pm on October 13th, 2010 62
#60, sounds just like America right now.
8:59 am on October 14th, 2010 63
#62,
How many country's aren't in debt?
You don't seem to be aware that the vast majority of US debt is borrowed from within the United States.
Here's an explanation of one way this is done:
http://www.frbsf.org/education/activities/drecon/…
In other words, most of the debt is beneficial to the US economy.
9:45 am on October 14th, 2010 64
63, teadrinker. I can't believe you use the "Federal reserve bank of San Francisco". Cali? Really? The state deepest in debt.
Can you find a better source?
(Debt free is the way to be)
No one is ever going to convince me that "dept" is ever a good thing. I really don't know what to think of someone that believes this.
Two Masters Degrees right?
Debt is often unavoidable. House, car and education.
But debt being seen as a good thing? Never!!
I don't have much, but it is all paid for. I may not ever have a "new" car, but I will never have a car payment ever again. That 2006 Mitsubishi Eclipse will last a while and the 1985 Chevy Pickup is very cheap to operate and the registration is
something like 50 bucks a year.
Debt as something "beneficial"!! WTF. Debt free is the way to be!
12:03 pm on October 14th, 2010 65
Retired GI,
"No one is ever going to convince me that “dept” is ever a good thing. I really don’t know what to think of someone that believes this."
For the most part, I agree with that.
There is a deeper level of thinking, though, which does in fact make a national debt, especially to your enemies, a GOOD thing.
If you are deeply in debt to your enemies, they DO NOT want to see you fail. Without that debt, they would be sabotaging your economy and political stability at every chance.
Instead, while they may still hate you, they have to work with you to insure you remain stable and successful… as long as there is hope of getting paid back.
We are seeing this with China now. While they would like to see the dollar reduced in importance in the long-term, they covertly fight against nations that come up with short-term plans to weaken the dollar.
Once China unloads all those American bonds off on the third world in exchange for long-term mineral and farming rights, all that debt will go from useful to burdening…
…at which point, no doubt, the third world will get screwed somehow… yet again.
American debt spread out to the world is one of the reasons the dollar maintains its importance. Everybody is scared to death to rock the Dollar Supremacy Boat.
I hope I convinced you that national debt is sometimes a good thing and, if managed correctly, can be beneficial to the success and stability of a nation.
As for the second part of your statement, do you know what to think of me now?
…also, there are some theories regarding the benefits of personal debt. I don't agree with them, though… as I equate being debt-free to being free.
I have observed, however, that everyone I know who is up to their ears in debt seem to be enjoying life with fancier cars, bigger TVs, and generally nicer stuff… so maybe I'm the one who is doing it all wrong.
On the other hand, none of them can retire in their 40s… or 50s… or even 60s, most likely.
As I imagine there are people here from both ends of this scale of personal debt, does anyone have any thoughts on this?
12:20 pm on October 14th, 2010 66
The Chinese buy our treasury bills to bid our currency up and theirs down. That promotes their exports and our imports.
12:21 pm on October 14th, 2010 67
ChickenHead, I see the point about china and the third world. Our National debt IS good for them. I will always see it as the #1 National Security Risk for America.
On a personal level, allow me to reinforce your commitment to a, perhaps simpler but debt free life. I never enjoyed working for others that much myself, so for me, debt free is the way to be. The nation should perhaps follow this example.
1:06 pm on October 14th, 2010 68
When I was growing up, a friends of mine used to say, "As long as I owe you, you will never be broke." I get the flip side of that is he admitted he couldn't repay me, then I would be broke.
On an individual adult level, if anyone decided to live totally debt free, they wouldn't be able to establish a credit rating or do things like buy a house or start a business unless they came from a wealth family.
On a corporate and national level, yes, too much debt is bad. But, there is also such a thing as too little debt. My economics professor explained it many years ago and I didn't completely understand it then but one of the points was, too little debt meant you weren't efficiently capitalizing for growth. Sometimes it's cheaper to use other people's money.
9:51 pm on October 14th, 2010 69
Interesting. It is cheaper to pay interest on a loan to use other people's money. Rather than use your own.
So it follows that I lost money when I payed off my house rather than give the bank 300 USD a month to maintain the loan.
Or that since my car and truck are paid off, I'm losing money.
I likely have a terrible credit rating, since I do not carry a balance on my one credit card and my "stuff" is paided for.
Too much debt is bad. Too little debt is bad. So the current mindset is that one should have debt. If one has no debt than one gets a "bad credit rating"? I understand debt is the normal but it now seems it is something to be desired?
How much debt does Obama have? Not the country. Obama. Who was not a rich man in the beginning.
11:56 pm on October 14th, 2010 70
Face it Retired GI, be honest. You can't get any credit because you borrowed too much and didn't pay back the money. You have no job. You are equating bad credit rating with no debt.
12:19 am on October 15th, 2010 71
Tom, you wouldn't understand his position since you never held a job long enough to qualify for a pension or successfully lived in the US.
He is retired from the US Military with pension. He has credit. He doesn't have good credit since the credit agencies measure your "credit score" according to your credit history. Those who take out big loans and pay them over long periods of time get better scores than those who pay off loans immediately along with those who default on loans.
Try looking something up before proving you are a moron. Just like the credit agencies you have built up a lot of "moron credibility" along with "racism" by continuous and long contributions to saying stupid and racist crap.
3:54 am on October 15th, 2010 72
Tom's education at a tier 3 school is not his fault. Blame it on the Korean education system not preparing him for a university people can recognize by name, Blame it on his teachers for not making him stand in front of the students walking to school, blame it on his parents for not bribing TOEFL, SAT, and university officials. Don't blame Tom, he's a male Korean beaten down his entire life because he has never been given a chance in life. That's why he's 37 years old, never held a job other than a fry cook at McDonald's, and blames the white man for keeping him down.
4:05 am on October 15th, 2010 73
Lemmy, did you seriously miss the whole thing where Tom was outed as a Chinese agitprop? He's not Korean at all.
4:06 am on October 15th, 2010 74
Retired GI wrote:
I likely have a terrible credit rating, since I do not carry a balance on my one credit card and my “stuff” is paided for.
I know what you're talking about, and that is some seriously messed up stuff.
I myself was all set, now that I got my student loan for the semester, to pay off my entire Visa card balance, but I know that if I do so, I'm running the risk of the very problem you mentioned, which is why I'm going to pay for 2/3 (to avoid the interest charges) and then do auto pay for the rest.
A stupid system. Very stupid.
5:50 am on October 15th, 2010 75
Tom, is that true? You're just a Chinese? I hope that isn't so, but Kushibo makes a pretty good argument and the seesaw has tilted the other way.
If thats the case I have a lot to say to you and I'll start with this.
China is a nation over 5,000 years old. Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha
You're over 5,000 years old and your making milk for babies with melamine. Wait baby toys with lead paint. Miners trapped in a mine, leave them. Your schools are so great you study in America. Man- I got a million of them. Make more stuff to sell to America.
7:53 am on October 15th, 2010 76
Yes Lemmy, I'm a 5000 year old jjajangmyun faced jjankke.
8:39 am on October 15th, 2010 77
Lemmy, Tom is not only Chinese but likely female as well. A Male Chinese would likely be used to greater effect (physically speaking) than sitting at a keyboard.
10:20 am on October 15th, 2010 78
Do y'all really believe that China benefits from Tom's comments? Think about this: all the arguments with Tom increase the ROK drop's hits. And who benefits from that?
10:40 am on October 15th, 2010 79
So what are you suggesting? That I'm GI Korea? Now I've heard of everything.
10:42 am on October 15th, 2010 80
I've never met GI Korea, but I have read his blog long enough and interacted with him enough that I found that extremely unlikely. GI Korea is a decent guy whose blog gets enough hits without such Chinanigans™.
12:17 pm on October 15th, 2010 81
Kushibo, you must forgive Glans. He has been exposed to Mercurial vapor for years from his/her Greenie light bulbs. Sorry, couldn't resist.
4:23 pm on October 15th, 2010 82
Kushibo, Pay off the majority of your loan if you have the cash, then pay off the rest over time(original contract is best) and your credit will improve without the need to pay a lot of interest. I did this with my car and saw my credit score improve. I also paid it off early but over 18 months and this seems to have built up some credit legitimacy.
Also, close down any excess credit cards but think hard about the ones you have had for a long time. The credit bureaus will not rate you high if you have the ability to rack up a lot of credit card purchases but do reward holding cards for long periods of time without late payments.
4:35 pm on October 15th, 2010 83
Hamilton, thanks for the advice. I've been doing something like that. I have just one credit card in the US right now. I paid off my car loan early because the interest was high (owing to something screwy from a University of Maryland class back in Korea), but I don't know if that affected anything.
I have excellent credit in Korea — always paying on time for two credit cards and a mortgage (all of which I still pay now), but that might not get me squat if I want to buy a house in the US. That won't be for a few years off yet, so I'm just trying to keep paying things on time without too much debt.
Still, the idea that when I can pay off my Visa card in full but I need to leave some money in there and pay off the rest over time, does seem a tad ridiculous, as Retired GI was suggesting.
5:49 pm on October 15th, 2010 84
Retired GI 81, the mercury vapor stays inside the tube, where it emits the ultraviolet light that makes the coating fluoresce. But long ago I had amalgam fillings in my teeth, so of course I got a slight exposure to mercury from that.
But enough about me. Notice that GI Korea doesn't ban Tom. Tom is good for the ROK drop.
1:09 am on October 16th, 2010 85
Glans, true that! Tom is good for the ROK drop. She makes EVERYONE seem just a pit smarter. Never a bad thing.