The rise in consumer prices is not unusual. The consumer price inflation rate in June soared to 6.0% compared to the same month of the previous year, the first time in 24 years since the 1998 financial crisis. According to the National Statistical Office, all items, including electricity, gas and water, are on the rise by 9.6%, industrial products 9.3%, personal services 5.8%, and livestock and fishery products 4.8%. The cost of living rose 7.4%. However, it is evaluated that the government’s measures are insufficient.
Criticism is being raised as President Yoon Seok-yeol is comparing himself to the previous administration or blaming the former administration for the recent controversy. On the way to work on the 5th, President Yoon replied, “Then I saw such a wonderful person among ministers appointed by the previous administration.” Conservative media also published editorials that took issue with this.
An analysis found that the average poverty rate in places without local newspapers in the United States is relatively higher than in other regions. The Segye Ilbo, citing the foreign media that reported the ‘2022 Local News Status’ report of Northwestern University’s Medill Journalism School, reported that the absence of newspapers could weaken political and economic surveillance, resulting in widening economic disparities and a crisis of democracy. .
6% inflation for the first time in 24 years, what is the government’s response?
Amid increasing pressure on the economy due to rising inflation, the media urged the government to take countermeasures. In an editorial in the Kookmin Ilbo, “When you look at each item, you can think that 6.0% is a good thing.” “Prices of petroleum products such as diesel (50.7%) and gasoline (31.4%) surged 39.6%, higher than the previous month (34.8%). We lightly beat the rate of increase,” he said.
The Kookmin Ilbo, citing President Yoon’s remarks at the cabinet meeting, “I will go to the livelihood scene and listen to the people’s difficulties, and preside at an emergency economic livelihood meeting every week,” said, “I hope these words will not cease to be nonsense.”
The Hankyoreh, in its editorial “People’s Livelihood Measures, which is only a ‘fuel tax cut’ when prices are soaring 6%, emphasizes ‘priority in price’, but almost everything that has been implemented is ‘expanding fuel tax cuts’. The government and the ruling party are more focused on reducing corporate tax for large corporations and lowering general real estate tax,” he pointed out. “It is a prescription that does not fit the diagnosis of ‘worried about a complex recession,’” he added.
The Hankyoreh said, “Besides, we are raising our voices to curb wage increases and demanding only the sacrifices of workers,” adding, “It is like a government working in another world.”
Regarding President Yoon’s remarks at the State Council, the Hankyoreh argued that “presiding a meeting or visiting the site does not solve the problem.”
On the other hand, the Chosun Ilbo said, “In 24 years, we need to stop the vicious cycle of inflation expectations and inflation. It is a compound inflation in which the supply-side factors of the rise in international raw material prices due to the Ukraine war and the demand factors overlapped,” he said. It means there is nothing you can do.
尹 Because of the previous administration, “President Yoon was also a key figure in the former administration”
Kim Seung-hee, a candidate for the Ministry of Health and Welfare, was dropped out. The second disappointment of the candidate for the Minister of Welfare. It was revealed that Song Ok-ryeol, a candidate for the Fair Trade Commission, had sexually harassed his students eight years ago. President Yoon eventually awarded the appointment letter to Park Soon-ae, a deputy prime minister and minister of education who had been criticized for her drunken driving career. He continued, “I suffered a lot because my appointment was delayed, and I was attacked by the media and the opposition again. Do your best,” she said.
In this situation, when reporters asked a related question, President Yoon said, “Compare it with other governments. People’s qualities or something like that.”
In an article on the political side of the Dong-A Ilbo, the Dong-A Ilbo said, “Some point out that there is a fundamental problem in the way President Yoon responds by referring to the Moon Jae-in government when controversies related to state management such as personnel affairs, prosecution investigations, and policies arise.” The point is that even those who have vision for the future are not relying on ‘counter-questioning’ public opinion.”
In the meantime, Dong-A Ilbo said on the way to work on the 7th of last month, to a question about ‘prosecutors’ biased personnel’, “Weren’t people from the past Minbyun (lawyers for a democratic society) very wallpapering?”, the prosecution’s investigation into the blacklist of the Ministry of Industry on the 17th of last month, etc. As an example, he asked, “Didn’t you do it during the Democratic Party’s government (the previous government’s investigation)?”
The Dong-A Ilbo said in an editorial, “How many people would readily agree with President Yoon’s ‘self-confidence’ remarks. Even Minister Park Soon-ae has found a number of flaws that could be problematic as the head of the Ministry of Education, such as a drunk driving history.
The Segye Ilbo said in an editorial, “If there is only controversy, the words and actions of the former government compared to the previous government are cumbersome.” “It is difficult to approach the criticism that the new government is not doing its job properly. He also criticized the remarks about the opposition’s attack, saying, “If you blame the media, you can’t help but ignore the public sentiment.”
The JoongAng Ilbo also said, “It is very different from the language of past presidents we have encountered,” and “wasn’t President Yoon also a key figure in the previous administration?” pinched. “There is no politician who wins public opinion,” he added.
The Chosun Ilbo did not cover the relevant content in the editorial.
Regions without local newspapers, economic disparity and crisis of democracy
The Segye Ilbo, citing the American internet media Axios, reported that the average poverty rate in counties without local newspapers in the United States (equivalent to counties) was 16%, 5 percentage points higher than the national average (11%). The median household income (median household income when all households are ranked by income) was also lower than the national average in counties without local newspapers, and the proportion of residents with a bachelor’s degree or higher (20%) was also 18%p higher than the national average (38%). said to be low.
Currently, there are 1,230 daily newspapers and 5147 weekly newspapers in the United States. According to the report, two newspapers are closing every week, and local newspapers are expected to suffer for a while due to the corona virus.
According to the report, the closing of local newspapers has side effects such as reduced voter participation in the local election, increased government and corporate corruption, and the spread of misinformation or malicious information. Unfortunately, more than half of the areas without local newspapers were urban or rural areas. Most of them say that high-speed Internet access is difficult or requires high cost to use high-speed Internet.
He also said that government spending increases due to problems such as difficulties in researching the area if there is no local newspaper.
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