[Insight & Opinion] If There Is No Country for Old Men... An Era of Violence and Invisible Exits

Economics Is About Consideration, Both Big and Small
Toward a Society That Embraces Us All

'No Country for Old Men' is a 2007 work by the Coen brothers, well known in Korea for films such as 'Barton Fink' and 'Fargo.' This masterpiece won four awards at the 80th Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. Beyond its excellent artistry, the title alone resonates deeply with us. In fact, the current era appears to be filled with increasingly extreme thoughts and behaviors, cynicism toward one another, hatred and animosity, and indiscriminate violence. Looking at this, it seems there is no country where not only the elderly but any of us can truly live.

The past month, culminating yesterday with the 22nd National Assembly election, was a busy and hopeful time for many, but for others, it may have felt like witnessing the bitter realities of our times. Beyond criticism, slander against opposing candidates ran rampant, and politicians' words and actions have long ceased to be means of communication, becoming instead acts of violence, with shame completely vanished. Leadership, which should be a mountain, instead chooses to be the wind, competing evil with evil.

Not only in elections but in countless competitions in our lives, any means may be justified for the sake of winning in a moment, and one may become intoxicated with the result alone. However, everything eventually passes; there are good times, but difficult moments inevitably come. Life is long, situations can reverse at any time, and when I am strong, consideration for others will return as consideration for me when I am in difficulty. Even when winning, one must win well, and one must not win too much when the opponent is weak.

The direction of our lives is sometimes decided by chance, like a coin toss. In a close election, the weather on voting day can change the outcome. For busy workers, traffic conditions that day can be a variable in the election. Life sometimes must follow the results of chance, like a coin toss, which no one can blame or resent. In 'No Country for Old Men,' what is at stake in the coin toss is the extreme of life and death. In fact, sometimes our lives force us to make choices without knowing the outcome of the coin toss. It may be fair, but it is not the life we want. Perhaps a 'country for all of us' is a world that embraces all of us, accepting that our lives sometimes depend on the chance results of a coin toss.

In economics, there is also consideration for when economic agents' lives go in directions they do not want. Policies are promoted to guarantee welfare such as minimum economic power and healthcare that individuals should enjoy as human beings, to reduce excessive income gaps, and to redistribute wealth. Even in small things like financial products, options are designed to compensate for excessive losses from overinvestment in physical assets. Progressive tax systems on income and inheritance, government-led health insurance and national pension, and holding taxes on high-priced real estate may be unfair from the wealthy's perspective, but the economic life we enjoy also requires winning well and not winning too much.

The protagonist of 'No Country for Old Men' chooses retirement in response to the violence of the times. In the two-hour-plus film, this is not a bad choice. But our lives continue through our children’s generation. If there is no country for the elderly, there will be no country for any of us. In this era of fierce competition, where extremes are pursued just to win, it is time to pause and dream of a country where, even if we sometimes leave things to chance, we can all accept and share together.

Professor Kyu-Il Kim, Michigan State University