ROK makes Japanese work-life balance seem well-adjusted and healthy. No amount of money would ever persuade me to take a job there.

But yeah, our economy has been struggling. We definitely had a period of growth, but the US would never let that continue if we became any real threat to them. US did the same thing when communist parties were growing here and they've never really fully recovered; our national pary has become soc-dem at best. I maintain some hope because at a local level there are still more socialist chapters.