Hong Kong Capitalist haven?

[jimmy olsen]

Wait, I don't understand.

Is Hans posting an article saying:

a) Democracy is overrated, because the plebs will demand health care instead of the run away libertarianism they deserve, at the hands of a dictator.

or

b) Hong Kong's success story isn't because of freewheeling capitalism, but because of a people who have managed to take the best of "socialism" together with socialism to jump in 50 years from a backwater entrepot for opium to one of the richest places on Earth?

Pretty sure it's #1.

[BVN]

If you want to understand the political system in Hong Kong, you must first look at its colonial history.  There was a Governor appointed from London.  The guy was most likely a noble, or a diplomat.  In other words, they had no idea how to run a city.  So, London dictated that the Governor could not make decisions by himself.  The Governor had to be "in Council" to make decisions.  The Council, known as the Executive Council, is composed of the most senior civil servants, head of the British garrison, prominent Chinese, and representatives from major British firms (the Tai Pans).  These guys ensure that the Governor would not do anything stupid. 

But the Tai Pans do not govern on a full time basis.  They have their own companies to run.  They meet for like 2 hours every week.  They can't draft laws, they can't prepare budgets, they can't do research on public policy, they can't explain a new initiative to the public.  So they had to rely on the civil service to do all these things.  The HK colonial civil servants were expected to do all these things, and make a submission to the Executive Council for approval.  The civil servants were expected to appear in TV and sell a proposal.  They explain a draft law in front of the legislative council, not the governer.  They come up with ideas.  They do the research.  They manage crisis.  They explain the government's failures when something bad comes up.  They do everything, so that the only thing their colonial masters needed to do was to put a chop on any law. 

I wish I had known you when I had to write a paper about HK's "constitution" and political system back in my university days...   

[Brazen]

Shocking fact - Hong Kong has a system, including its welfare state, very much like Britain's because.. well, you know...

[katmai]

Shocking fact - Hong Kong has a system, including its welfare state, very much like Britain's because.. well, you know...

[Monoriu]

Actually, the author doesn't go deep enough.  Any random dude from Hong Kong can easily come up with shocking facts 5 - 10 on why HK is socialist -

5) The top 1% of income tax payers are responsible for like half the total income tax revenue of the government;
6) the number of university places on many vocational subjects (medicine, law, education) is determined by the government central planning style;
7) The government heavily subsidizes local mail;
8) The majority shareholder of the biggest amusement park in HK (disneyland) is the government.
9) The HK currency is pegged to the US dollar
10) The government subsidizes rail construction

I can go on and on and on...

[Razgovory]

Well I guess rightwingers will have to fantasize about Singapore instead.

[Monoriu]

Well I guess rightwingers will have to fantasize about Singapore instead.

Singapore is a lot worse than us 

[citizen k]

Well I guess rightwingers will have to fantasize about Singapore instead.

Singapore is a lot worse than us 

Iceland? The Caymans? 

[The Minsky Moment]

So HK has all these socialistic features and yet still is a fabulously successful economy.

Hmm . . .

[Monoriu]

So HK has all these socialistic features and yet still is a fabulously successful economy.

Hmm . . .

The argument is that we could be even more successful if we are more capitalist.

[Razgovory]

So HK has all these socialistic features and yet still is a fabulously successful economy.

Hmm . . .

The argument is that we could be even more successful if we are more capitalist.

Or less.

[Monoriu]

Or less.

The real argument is success for whom. 

[Neil]

So HK has all these socialistic features and yet still is a fabulously successful economy.

Hmm . . .

And yet it is still a dehumanizing nightmare that must be purged with fire.

I think the lesson we should take away is that, communist or capitalist, Chinese people are always evil.

[MadImmortalMan]

The real reason HK is dehumanizing is not the degree to which it is a socialist place---it's that there are just so many damn people in such a small area.

[grumbler]

The real reason why HK is dehumanizing is because the people there don't want to be ruled by humans, they want to be ruled by protoplasmic robots... and they are.