January 05, 2005

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Smoke on the water

Today's SCMP headline: HK leads the world in tsunami relief. As Shaky notes, it isn't a competition. The headline is also misleading. The chart below also shows the contributions per capita by Governments as well as by private donors. HK's people lead the way; the Government is, by contrast, stingy beyond belief. Compared to the other rich countries listed, HK's Government is at least half of the others. Hong Kong's fiscal reserves were HK$311 billion (US$40 billion) in March 2003. To date the Government has donated HK$30 million. Pathetic.

Hong Kong also kept top spot in the Heritage Foundation's economic freedom index. Quick trivia check: which Government bought huge quantities of shares on its own stock exchange in 1998?

donations.jpg

posted by Simon on 01.05.05 at 03:43 PM in the




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It's Nice to Know We (HK) are So Generous..
Excerpt: Glutter's Hong Kong I just got back to HK, and the first thing I have to do is take back what I said about Australians, asking them to stop being so
Weblog: Glutter(.org)
Tracked: January 5, 2005 05:29 PM


Pride or Disgust
Excerpt: This article on the front page of the SCMP seems to have generated the most commentary in the Hong Kong blog world. Simon World, The Shaky Kaiser and Big White Guy stand aghast, while Yan at Glutter and I feel rather proud. Is it an American ex-pat thing?
Weblog: Daai Tou Laam Diary
Tracked: January 5, 2005 06:17 PM


Comments:

HK waste no time in rearing it's ugly head. If Hong Konger somehow identified with smcp's headline, then you're a bunch of churlish foible self-absorbed snubs. Why not print that side-by-side with your highest per capita ROLLS-ROYCE ownership in the world proclamation. You're hopeless.

posted by: J.C. on 01.06.05 at 11:21 AM [permalink]




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