This is kind of a neat idea. I bet it would do really well especially if they could use the deck to land helicopter taxis for the show-offs
In my experience there are two kinds of Hong Kongers. Those who are British Running Dogs and those who think the British are dogs.
This has the rare potential to appeal to both of them
Until Next Time
Fai Moa
The Blogger who falls into the second type Hong Konger
Showing posts with label Hong Kong. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hong Kong. Show all posts
Monday, May 30, 2011
Friday, April 29, 2011
Logic and Government
The minimum wage issue is an interesting one to me because it seems that none of the parties really have a clue about what it is, what it is supposed to do and how it will affect the average working person.
I guess that the Mandarins in Central are to busy contemplating their next self-congratulatory pay raise to research the effects of a minimum wage, or if they have they've not made any kind of cogent argument against it. The other far more insidious possibility is that they do know what they are doing.
First things first
1. The minimum wage is always ZERO. It cannot be raised above that level because if people are "paid" for not working it is not called a wage but a subsidy. While this is something of a theoretical statement it is true and it should be remembered because a minimum wage has a direct influence on the cost of other government social services.
2. The price of goods and services is set by supply and demand; any attempt to control this artificially always ends in disaster
3. A minimum wage is not the wage that can comfortably feed a family of four or five. It is the lowest legal level of compensation that an employer may offer to the least qualified employee. People expecting a minimum wage to help a family of 4 are simply deluded
4. If everyone has to pay a minimum wage then stores will not have to close because everyone's labor cost will go up by the same amount. Thus, unless the minimum wage is very high there will be very little direct immediate impact on jobs. So various groups that say "I'll have to lay off X-number of people to cover the additional labor cost" are not thinking clearly
What do these three things mean?
As wages rise the cost of goods and services will rise. In other words Hong Kong can expect some inflation as a result of this law. That is important to anyone who falls into the pool of people that do not or cannot, for whatever reason, work and are not independently wealthy. Those on fixed incomes or Comprehensive Social Security (Welfare) are going to see the value of their benefits decline and will be worse off as a result of the minimum wage law. If they are retired Civil Servants with their huge pensions and special health care then the effect will probably not be that big a deal.
For those not of Hong Kong’s faux-nobility the effect could be a generalized increase in hardship. The higher general cost of things will also mean that those working poor (to use a favorite term of the US Democratic Party) will see very little actual gain in income because they will make more but the money they make will buy less.
What this means is that in two years or so the same groups clamoring for a minimum wage today will be protesting to raise that wage without seeing that they exacerbate the problem they are trying to solve.
Observe the UK. The minimum wage there is set at something like 10 pounds an hour. Do they have significantly less problems with unemployment than Hong Kong? No it is worse. Indeed they have a huge, permanent underclass who never works because as the minimum wage rose the benefits provided by the government doles rose as well. After two generations being unemployed they no longer even try to get off the dole. This group creates an enormous drain on the economy and contributes to rising crime rates. However, certain sectors of the government like this because the underclass becomes a very reliable voting block for parties that promise to give them more benefits. Before a minimum wage I'd have dealt with other labor problems. But if there is going to be one it should be set low to allow new workers to be able to enter the job market.
So what would I have done instead if I were Donald Tsang, THBT?
If I were, THBT I'd have addressed the problem of excessively long work hours. For example security guards in building typically work 12 hour shifts. They are not alone in this as many businesses in Hong Kong require very long working hours. The excuse often given by the management is "We work that long every day why shouldn't they?" does not hold water.
The owner of a business is typically as busy as they want to be where as workers are as busy as they have to be. If the business owner wants to die of a heart attack at 50 from working 16 hours a day, 7 days a week go right ahead; just don't drag your employees into the grave with you.
More than that, I've seen how the management “Works" with their 1.5 hour lunch and 40 minute coffee and tea breaks. They don't actually work that long if we remove the goofing off time they have in the day out; time which their employees do not have. If a workday was limited to 8 hours for a normal shift wages would be driven up because employers would either have to pay overtime or hire more people and there is not an endless supply of people. So in order to attract workers they'd either have to pay or offer more perks for their employees. In the case of the Security Guards it would mean an entire extra shift per day.
Before a minimum wage I address the need for anti-collusion laws. Park-n-Shop and Wellcome should actually have to compete with each other rather than engaging in price fixing. The companies that own those stores should also not be allowed to build the building and control the rents in the building which keep other chains like Carrefour, Tesco or Safeway out of Hong Kong. Monopolistic behavior insures that Hong Kong people get the lowest quality goods for the highest possible price.
The same is true of the property developers. This would lower the cost because in order to stay in business the various companies would have to shave own their margins and become more efficient. I read several years ago that a property developer in Hong Kong has something like 7 to 11 subcontractors for any job while the world average is three. Most of the subcontractors here do nothing except take a cut of the profit and hire another subcontractor. How much would property prices fall if Sun-Hung-Kai actually hired workers directly rather than hiring a subcontractor who hires his brother-in-law, who hires his cousin, who hires his uncle, who hires his friends father, who hires his stepson, who hires his school buddy, who hires his mother's sister’s husband, who hires a relative from the mainland, who hires the husband of his mistress who hires his cousin, who hires the triad enforcer he owes gambling debts to, who hires himself under another name, who hires the guys that pour concrete who then skips out to China after not paying the workers? This kind gross inefficiency can only occur because the companies collude with each other rather than compete with each other. What is sad is that if they were run more efficiently they'd still make as much profit but the customers would get a lower price. Because all many of the intermediate subcontractors do is hire another subcontractor there would be very few jobs lost.
Before a minimum wage law I would take over control of the utility companies including the MTR, Hong Kong Electric and the cross harbor tunnels. The electric companies here do a pretty good job except that they have coal powered plants with no pollution control. Simply freezing the stock of the companies and demanding that they bring their pollution control standards up to international standards with no rate increases would help to improve the air-quality in Hong Kong. They have had decades to do this and have chosen not to because the could get away with poisoning us because the government didn't care since the Mandarins all had stock in the companies and wanted their 30% annual returns to further pad their overly generous retirement packages. They've made huge profits at the cost asthma and watery eyes for most of the kids here.
The MTR is the only transportation to and from work for millions of people everyday. It should not be a for profit company. I am not normally a supporter of government ownership but roads and public services are an exception. The MTR is for all intents and purposes a road in Hong Kong and most of the population uses it at least twice a day. It should not pay dividends to share holders or sell stock publicly. Run the MTR at cost. Run the cross harbor tunnels at cost. The owners of the Eastern and Western Tunnel are particularly heinous and should simply have the tunnels confiscated. If they want to make 20% profits at the expense of the poor they should get a high level job with HSBC.
Before a minimum wage Hong Kong needs to reform its Civil Service. The wages and benefits are simply unsustainable and the attitude of the workers that they are higher, mightier, and holier than the average peon is grating. The percentage of the GDP taken up by the HK government is huge. I'd hold out for mass executions of the government employees but that would be illegal. So simply fire their overpaid, underworked, arrogant arses and let them get honest jobs.
Hong Kong does not have an army, an Air Force or a Navy. Hong Kong has no diplomatic corps or consulates to support. There is no reason EXCEPT bad governance that the cost of government in Hong Kong should be at 25% of the GDP. That number needs to come down to less than 20%; 15% would be a good number.
Lastly, before a minimum wage I'd take 1/2 the currency reserves in Hong Kong and distribute them to the population I'd give a larger share to anyone who actually paid income tax but the amount would still give substantial immediate relieve to the poor here and make the rest of the population feel the government had actually heard them.
After these things Hong Kong might find out it doesn't need a minimum wage
Until Next Time
Fai Mao
I guess that the Mandarins in Central are to busy contemplating their next self-congratulatory pay raise to research the effects of a minimum wage, or if they have they've not made any kind of cogent argument against it. The other far more insidious possibility is that they do know what they are doing.
First things first
1. The minimum wage is always ZERO. It cannot be raised above that level because if people are "paid" for not working it is not called a wage but a subsidy. While this is something of a theoretical statement it is true and it should be remembered because a minimum wage has a direct influence on the cost of other government social services.
2. The price of goods and services is set by supply and demand; any attempt to control this artificially always ends in disaster
3. A minimum wage is not the wage that can comfortably feed a family of four or five. It is the lowest legal level of compensation that an employer may offer to the least qualified employee. People expecting a minimum wage to help a family of 4 are simply deluded
4. If everyone has to pay a minimum wage then stores will not have to close because everyone's labor cost will go up by the same amount. Thus, unless the minimum wage is very high there will be very little direct immediate impact on jobs. So various groups that say "I'll have to lay off X-number of people to cover the additional labor cost" are not thinking clearly
What do these three things mean?
As wages rise the cost of goods and services will rise. In other words Hong Kong can expect some inflation as a result of this law. That is important to anyone who falls into the pool of people that do not or cannot, for whatever reason, work and are not independently wealthy. Those on fixed incomes or Comprehensive Social Security (Welfare) are going to see the value of their benefits decline and will be worse off as a result of the minimum wage law. If they are retired Civil Servants with their huge pensions and special health care then the effect will probably not be that big a deal.
For those not of Hong Kong’s faux-nobility the effect could be a generalized increase in hardship. The higher general cost of things will also mean that those working poor (to use a favorite term of the US Democratic Party) will see very little actual gain in income because they will make more but the money they make will buy less.
What this means is that in two years or so the same groups clamoring for a minimum wage today will be protesting to raise that wage without seeing that they exacerbate the problem they are trying to solve.
Observe the UK. The minimum wage there is set at something like 10 pounds an hour. Do they have significantly less problems with unemployment than Hong Kong? No it is worse. Indeed they have a huge, permanent underclass who never works because as the minimum wage rose the benefits provided by the government doles rose as well. After two generations being unemployed they no longer even try to get off the dole. This group creates an enormous drain on the economy and contributes to rising crime rates. However, certain sectors of the government like this because the underclass becomes a very reliable voting block for parties that promise to give them more benefits. Before a minimum wage I'd have dealt with other labor problems. But if there is going to be one it should be set low to allow new workers to be able to enter the job market.
So what would I have done instead if I were Donald Tsang, THBT?
If I were, THBT I'd have addressed the problem of excessively long work hours. For example security guards in building typically work 12 hour shifts. They are not alone in this as many businesses in Hong Kong require very long working hours. The excuse often given by the management is "We work that long every day why shouldn't they?" does not hold water.
The owner of a business is typically as busy as they want to be where as workers are as busy as they have to be. If the business owner wants to die of a heart attack at 50 from working 16 hours a day, 7 days a week go right ahead; just don't drag your employees into the grave with you.
More than that, I've seen how the management “Works" with their 1.5 hour lunch and 40 minute coffee and tea breaks. They don't actually work that long if we remove the goofing off time they have in the day out; time which their employees do not have. If a workday was limited to 8 hours for a normal shift wages would be driven up because employers would either have to pay overtime or hire more people and there is not an endless supply of people. So in order to attract workers they'd either have to pay or offer more perks for their employees. In the case of the Security Guards it would mean an entire extra shift per day.
Before a minimum wage I address the need for anti-collusion laws. Park-n-Shop and Wellcome should actually have to compete with each other rather than engaging in price fixing. The companies that own those stores should also not be allowed to build the building and control the rents in the building which keep other chains like Carrefour, Tesco or Safeway out of Hong Kong. Monopolistic behavior insures that Hong Kong people get the lowest quality goods for the highest possible price.
The same is true of the property developers. This would lower the cost because in order to stay in business the various companies would have to shave own their margins and become more efficient. I read several years ago that a property developer in Hong Kong has something like 7 to 11 subcontractors for any job while the world average is three. Most of the subcontractors here do nothing except take a cut of the profit and hire another subcontractor. How much would property prices fall if Sun-Hung-Kai actually hired workers directly rather than hiring a subcontractor who hires his brother-in-law, who hires his cousin, who hires his uncle, who hires his friends father, who hires his stepson, who hires his school buddy, who hires his mother's sister’s husband, who hires a relative from the mainland, who hires the husband of his mistress who hires his cousin, who hires the triad enforcer he owes gambling debts to, who hires himself under another name, who hires the guys that pour concrete who then skips out to China after not paying the workers? This kind gross inefficiency can only occur because the companies collude with each other rather than compete with each other. What is sad is that if they were run more efficiently they'd still make as much profit but the customers would get a lower price. Because all many of the intermediate subcontractors do is hire another subcontractor there would be very few jobs lost.
Before a minimum wage law I would take over control of the utility companies including the MTR, Hong Kong Electric and the cross harbor tunnels. The electric companies here do a pretty good job except that they have coal powered plants with no pollution control. Simply freezing the stock of the companies and demanding that they bring their pollution control standards up to international standards with no rate increases would help to improve the air-quality in Hong Kong. They have had decades to do this and have chosen not to because the could get away with poisoning us because the government didn't care since the Mandarins all had stock in the companies and wanted their 30% annual returns to further pad their overly generous retirement packages. They've made huge profits at the cost asthma and watery eyes for most of the kids here.
The MTR is the only transportation to and from work for millions of people everyday. It should not be a for profit company. I am not normally a supporter of government ownership but roads and public services are an exception. The MTR is for all intents and purposes a road in Hong Kong and most of the population uses it at least twice a day. It should not pay dividends to share holders or sell stock publicly. Run the MTR at cost. Run the cross harbor tunnels at cost. The owners of the Eastern and Western Tunnel are particularly heinous and should simply have the tunnels confiscated. If they want to make 20% profits at the expense of the poor they should get a high level job with HSBC.
Before a minimum wage Hong Kong needs to reform its Civil Service. The wages and benefits are simply unsustainable and the attitude of the workers that they are higher, mightier, and holier than the average peon is grating. The percentage of the GDP taken up by the HK government is huge. I'd hold out for mass executions of the government employees but that would be illegal. So simply fire their overpaid, underworked, arrogant arses and let them get honest jobs.
Hong Kong does not have an army, an Air Force or a Navy. Hong Kong has no diplomatic corps or consulates to support. There is no reason EXCEPT bad governance that the cost of government in Hong Kong should be at 25% of the GDP. That number needs to come down to less than 20%; 15% would be a good number.
Lastly, before a minimum wage I'd take 1/2 the currency reserves in Hong Kong and distribute them to the population I'd give a larger share to anyone who actually paid income tax but the amount would still give substantial immediate relieve to the poor here and make the rest of the population feel the government had actually heard them.
After these things Hong Kong might find out it doesn't need a minimum wage
Until Next Time
Fai Mao
Monday, December 13, 2010
Civil servants fight for post-retirement rights
I guess if I were them I'd do this to. Well, no I wouldn't I'd be too ashamed of the amount of money I'd taken while orking for the government. These people are so over paid it isn't even funny. Why do they need a pension at all?
In related news there appears to be an epidemic of brain tumours in Hong Kong. I guess it would be too much to expect that they would all be found in (un)Civil-Servants?
Until Tomorrow
Fai Mao
In related news there appears to be an epidemic of brain tumours in Hong Kong. I guess it would be too much to expect that they would all be found in (un)Civil-Servants?
Until Tomorrow
Fai Mao
Thursday, December 02, 2010
Here Comes Kim Jung-Ill
My fake Christmas Carol this year is a bit greusome. It is sung to the tune of "Here comes Santa Clause"
Here come Kim Jung-ill, here comes Kim Jung-ill
Right through the DMZ
Tanks and army they’re a blitzin’
Right towards you and me
Bombs are falling, children screaming
It’s real scary tonight
Grab your gun and say your prays
Cause Kim Jung-ill comes tonight
Here come Kim Jung-ill, here comes Kim Jung-ill
Right through the DMZ
He’s got a bag that fill with missiles
Pointed at you and me
See the shells explode and bodies splatter
Oh what a horrible sight
So jump in the shelter and cover your head
Cause Kim Jung-ill comes tonight
Here come Kim Jung-ill, here comes Kim Jung-ill
Right through the DMZ
He doesn’t care if you’re rich or poor
He hates you just the same
Kim Jung-ill thinks we’re all Jimmy Carter
Cowards who will never fight
So lock and load and take good aim
‘Cause otherwise he is right
Until Tomorrow
Fai Mao
The Blogger who seems to like gallows humor
Here come Kim Jung-ill, here comes Kim Jung-ill
Right through the DMZ
Tanks and army they’re a blitzin’
Right towards you and me
Bombs are falling, children screaming
It’s real scary tonight
Grab your gun and say your prays
Cause Kim Jung-ill comes tonight
Here come Kim Jung-ill, here comes Kim Jung-ill
Right through the DMZ
He’s got a bag that fill with missiles
Pointed at you and me
See the shells explode and bodies splatter
Oh what a horrible sight
So jump in the shelter and cover your head
Cause Kim Jung-ill comes tonight
Here come Kim Jung-ill, here comes Kim Jung-ill
Right through the DMZ
He doesn’t care if you’re rich or poor
He hates you just the same
Kim Jung-ill thinks we’re all Jimmy Carter
Cowards who will never fight
So lock and load and take good aim
‘Cause otherwise he is right
Until Tomorrow
Fai Mao
The Blogger who seems to like gallows humor
Wednesday, December 01, 2010
Mack the knife and North Korea
One of the problems with leftist is that they don't believe in the law of unintended consequenses. A prime example is the Wikileaks web site which released a massive amount of diplomatic documents over the week-end. These were embarrassing to lots of governments and lots of government officials. The publication of these documents was also in violation of any number of laws and the colaborators who funished the documents to the webpage are probably going to spend the rest of their lives in prison when found. The problem is that these dispatches reveal sensative material that could cause millions of people to die. The best example of this the memos that talk about changing attitudes concerning North Korea by the PRC government. How much did these documents add to the tension in Korea right now when we find from Wikileaks that the Chinese are possibly willing to sell out the North Koreans?
(Courtesy of Sister Toldjah)
The leaked North Korea dispatches detail how:
■South Korea’s vice-foreign minister said he was told by two named senior Chinese officials that they believed Korea should be reunified under Seoul’s control, and that this view was gaining ground with the leadership in Beijing.
■China’s vice-foreign minister told US officials that Pyongyang was behaving like a “spoiled child” to get Washington’s attention in April 2009 by carrying out missile tests.
■A Chinese ambassador warned that North Korean nuclear activity was “a threat to the whole world’s security”.
■Chinese officials assessed that it could cope with an influx of 300,000 North Koreans in the event of serious instability, according to a representative of an international agency, but might need to use the military to seal the border.
In highly sensitive discussions in February this year, the-then South Korean vice-foreign minister, Chun Yung-woo, told a US ambassador, Kathleen Stephens, that younger generation Chinese Communist party leaders no longer regarded North Korea as a useful or reliable ally and would not risk renewed armed conflict on the peninsula, according to a secret cable to Washington.
So if you are the "spoiled child," psychotic dictator of North Korea and you just found out from the international press that your only friend was getting ready to double cross you what would you do?
I think there is a very good possibilty that Kim Jung-Ill decides to take as many people down with him as he can.
Until Tomorrow
Fai Mao
The Blogger who is glad he does not live in Seoul
(Courtesy of Sister Toldjah)
The leaked North Korea dispatches detail how:
■South Korea’s vice-foreign minister said he was told by two named senior Chinese officials that they believed Korea should be reunified under Seoul’s control, and that this view was gaining ground with the leadership in Beijing.
■China’s vice-foreign minister told US officials that Pyongyang was behaving like a “spoiled child” to get Washington’s attention in April 2009 by carrying out missile tests.
■A Chinese ambassador warned that North Korean nuclear activity was “a threat to the whole world’s security”.
■Chinese officials assessed that it could cope with an influx of 300,000 North Koreans in the event of serious instability, according to a representative of an international agency, but might need to use the military to seal the border.
In highly sensitive discussions in February this year, the-then South Korean vice-foreign minister, Chun Yung-woo, told a US ambassador, Kathleen Stephens, that younger generation Chinese Communist party leaders no longer regarded North Korea as a useful or reliable ally and would not risk renewed armed conflict on the peninsula, according to a secret cable to Washington.
So if you are the "spoiled child," psychotic dictator of North Korea and you just found out from the international press that your only friend was getting ready to double cross you what would you do?
I think there is a very good possibilty that Kim Jung-Ill decides to take as many people down with him as he can.
Until Tomorrow
Fai Mao
The Blogger who is glad he does not live in Seoul
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Lawyers, they never change
This falls into the "You can't make this stuff up" catagory
Untill Tomorrow
Fai Mao
The blooger who does not steal ladies underwear
Untill Tomorrow
Fai Mao
The blooger who does not steal ladies underwear
Friday, October 22, 2010
You can't make this stuff up
A plane crash in Africa was caused when a crocodile that had been smuggled onto the plane as luggage got lose and starter attacking passengers. How do you do that? Who would do that?
Kane West has his teeth replaced with diamond implants. Quick somebody lone me a club and pair of pliars!
A three-year-old and five-year-old are engaged in Syria. What do you expect?
The Yankees are getting beaten like a rented mule in the playoffs. Its about time!
Sombody thinks that the Hong Kong realestate market is not bubbled up. Just goes to show you that idiots live everywhere.
Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who enjoys odd news
Kane West has his teeth replaced with diamond implants. Quick somebody lone me a club and pair of pliars!
A three-year-old and five-year-old are engaged in Syria. What do you expect?
The Yankees are getting beaten like a rented mule in the playoffs. Its about time!
Sombody thinks that the Hong Kong realestate market is not bubbled up. Just goes to show you that idiots live everywhere.
Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who enjoys odd news
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Hong Kong and Tripods
Part of my job is reading juvenile literature. I’ve been reading the Tripod books by John Christopher the past few days and found them quite thought provoking in a number of ways. It is always interesting to be able to see the way that moral issues are handled in books for teen-agers; especially in what is left unsaid at times. It is also interesting to see how often I think people who review books, not just these books but most books completely miss the point.
Fiction is often a way for us to explore what might be and to clarify our moral and ethical horizons. It doesn’t have to do this and it is perfectly appropriate for it to simply entertain us but it often does so much more than entertain. The Tripod books do more than entertain.
The plot of these books is a pretty basic one. The Aliens from space land, they take over and a small band of humans manages to overthrow the alien oppressors despite what would appear to be insurmountable odds. Like many books of this type there rather huge gaping, holes in the plot and more than a few rather incredible coincidences needed to allow the good guys to win.
What sets these books apart for me and makes them a book I’d recommend to students is the discussion in the books of what it means to be human and what constitutes good and evil. The space alien bad guys in these books view themselves as morally superior good guys. On their own planet, in their own society, they don’t have crime, don’t have wars, they cannot lie and don’t have social problems like over population. They also don’t have art, humor, or friendship.
Yet, these same beings that live in peace with each other practice racial genocide on planets that they conquer. The vices they avoid with each other they inflict upon those weaker than they.
The idea of political elites that believe they have the right, or responsibility to force a population to do good always devolves into a tyranny that is upheld by force. Political elites resulting from education, wealth or heredity are, in effect, a “Might makes right” argument. The idea that government control is better than individual freedom is a particularly virulent and widespread form of this.
A particularly damning aspect of the Tripod books was how even after the mind control device had been turn off many of the people who had been "Capped" were unable to function normally. They still needed the protection of the tripods.
When governments win the support of the masses through the use of subsidies then they have just as effectively “capped” the population as the tripods ever could. The use of housing subsidies proposed by THBT and the HK government will simply mean that the government has moved from enslaving the poor to enslaving the middle class. Governments like to have a population dependent upon them because people who are dependant upon the government support the government even when it oppresses them. They have no choice. The rent to purchase scheme proposed by THBT will accomplish just that. It also does so without addressing the root cause the high cost of housing in Hong Kong; namely, the corrupt monopolistic practice of the property developers who actually control our government with the tacit approval of the Shoe-polish-hair-dye-brigade in Beijing.
So how should THBT have approached this problem?
Require developers to build on the land they buy. Right now they build the “luxury” flats and mothball the developments slated for more affordable housing. Simply tell them if you don’t have a building up in “Nth” number of months you must pay the equivalent of the rates (Property Tax) that the owners would pay.
Do not allow real estate agents to engage in price fixing of their fees.
Pass an anti-collusion law so that developers cannot collude with each other to keep prices high and quality low. This would also bring food prices down.
Require developers to advertise the actual internal size of the flats they sell with out adding part of the elevator lobby, bay-window and imaginary rooms.
To curb speculation place a 50% capital; gains tax on any property re-sold within 180 days
Limit sales of flats priced below 3 million dollars to people with valid Hong Kong residency
Until Next Time
Fai mao
The Blogger who thinks Hong Kong is looking and more like a bad Sci-Fi novel
Fiction is often a way for us to explore what might be and to clarify our moral and ethical horizons. It doesn’t have to do this and it is perfectly appropriate for it to simply entertain us but it often does so much more than entertain. The Tripod books do more than entertain.
The plot of these books is a pretty basic one. The Aliens from space land, they take over and a small band of humans manages to overthrow the alien oppressors despite what would appear to be insurmountable odds. Like many books of this type there rather huge gaping, holes in the plot and more than a few rather incredible coincidences needed to allow the good guys to win.
What sets these books apart for me and makes them a book I’d recommend to students is the discussion in the books of what it means to be human and what constitutes good and evil. The space alien bad guys in these books view themselves as morally superior good guys. On their own planet, in their own society, they don’t have crime, don’t have wars, they cannot lie and don’t have social problems like over population. They also don’t have art, humor, or friendship.
Yet, these same beings that live in peace with each other practice racial genocide on planets that they conquer. The vices they avoid with each other they inflict upon those weaker than they.
The idea of political elites that believe they have the right, or responsibility to force a population to do good always devolves into a tyranny that is upheld by force. Political elites resulting from education, wealth or heredity are, in effect, a “Might makes right” argument. The idea that government control is better than individual freedom is a particularly virulent and widespread form of this.
A particularly damning aspect of the Tripod books was how even after the mind control device had been turn off many of the people who had been "Capped" were unable to function normally. They still needed the protection of the tripods.
When governments win the support of the masses through the use of subsidies then they have just as effectively “capped” the population as the tripods ever could. The use of housing subsidies proposed by THBT and the HK government will simply mean that the government has moved from enslaving the poor to enslaving the middle class. Governments like to have a population dependent upon them because people who are dependant upon the government support the government even when it oppresses them. They have no choice. The rent to purchase scheme proposed by THBT will accomplish just that. It also does so without addressing the root cause the high cost of housing in Hong Kong; namely, the corrupt monopolistic practice of the property developers who actually control our government with the tacit approval of the Shoe-polish-hair-dye-brigade in Beijing.
So how should THBT have approached this problem?
Require developers to build on the land they buy. Right now they build the “luxury” flats and mothball the developments slated for more affordable housing. Simply tell them if you don’t have a building up in “Nth” number of months you must pay the equivalent of the rates (Property Tax) that the owners would pay.
Do not allow real estate agents to engage in price fixing of their fees.
Pass an anti-collusion law so that developers cannot collude with each other to keep prices high and quality low. This would also bring food prices down.
Require developers to advertise the actual internal size of the flats they sell with out adding part of the elevator lobby, bay-window and imaginary rooms.
To curb speculation place a 50% capital; gains tax on any property re-sold within 180 days
Limit sales of flats priced below 3 million dollars to people with valid Hong Kong residency
Until Next Time
Fai mao
The Blogger who thinks Hong Kong is looking and more like a bad Sci-Fi novel
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Dollar for dollar?
THBT almost gets some points from me on this one. Almost not quite.
How about this. How about he, personally, Donald Tsang, gives two months salary to the coause helping the underprivilged and challenges the business comunity to do the same?
He seems to be mighty generous with tax dollars but I doubt he is as generous with his own funds.
Come on Donald, shell out a few million, you've got pleanty.
Until Next Time
Fai Mao
How about this. How about he, personally, Donald Tsang, gives two months salary to the coause helping the underprivilged and challenges the business comunity to do the same?
He seems to be mighty generous with tax dollars but I doubt he is as generous with his own funds.
Come on Donald, shell out a few million, you've got pleanty.
Until Next Time
Fai Mao
Monday, September 20, 2010
Please Accept My Humble Apologies
I have over the years made rather well deserved fun over the strange first names you find in Hong Kong. While giving lip service to the idea that other people in other places might have names as strange I never really believed it.
Well Marijuana Sawyer takes the prize. Chocolate Cake Wong, Swim Ng and Shampoo Chan are a distant second. (Yes those are actual people I've met.)
Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who in real life has a normal name
Well Marijuana Sawyer takes the prize. Chocolate Cake Wong, Swim Ng and Shampoo Chan are a distant second. (Yes those are actual people I've met.)
Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who in real life has a normal name
Wednesday, September 01, 2010
The T-Shirt Patrol Strikes Again
I saw a young mother this morning walking her primary school age child up to school. She had a T-shirt that said "Work Hard & Party Naked" Not that I necessarily have any problem with that but I wonder if she could read the shirt? You don't see as many weird T-shirts here as you used to. Several years ago I'd see one every couple of days at least and sometimes several in one day. I don't think that is a reflection on improving English standards in Hong Kong so much as an improving level of not selling overstocks from adult book and gift stores in the street markets. I think the retailers are getting a little more sophisticated.
Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who still looks for strange T-Shirts
Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who still looks for strange T-Shirts
Saturday, August 14, 2010
The Long Road Home
After a summer of traveling we returned home to find jobs waiting for us and a buyer for the Causeway Bay flat with cash in hand. The really-pretty-looks-25-years-younger-than-she-is-smart-hard-working-Chinese-wife and I were suddenly in moving mode. We'd purchased the flat in Causeway Bay as an investment and never really thought that we'd live there. It turned out to be the place we've lived longer than any other place since we've been married. We owned that flat nearly 10 years and there were a lot of memories tied up in it but I was still glad to leave. Sometimes we see stories on the news or in the media about people that have lived in one place for 40, 50 or 60 years. This is presented as some sort of virtue but I wonder about that.
I think it is good to move house every so often and this was the time for us to move.
We invest the places we live with part of ourselves. The pictures on the wall the paint on the door, the curtains and even the scratches and wear on the floor become comforting and make us feel secure. A home home also ties us to our past and as we age it becomes important to move on or we may find that we cannot move at all. When I was younger I used to live up the road from an old woman, in her 90's, who had one child, a son and he died in accident along with her husband when the son was about 8 or 9 years-old. She never remarried and still had her dead husbands clothing in the closet and the little boys bedroom just as it had been 65 years before. She'd grown old but hadn't really noticed because she was trapped in the past. She should have moved on past those tragic deaths but couldn't and I think that after awhile it was the house that trapped her.
Mrs Mao and I have had nothing that tragic happen to us but as empty-nesters it was time to move on. Our kids are grown, married and gone. All we have left besides photographs is the occasional Email and even rarer visit. That isn't a sad or bad thing, it is life. They have their own families and their own concerns. They are doing well enough and I guess I should feel thankful that they seem to be happy in their lives and done bother us for huge piles of cash. Yet, in the Causeway Bay flat we were tied to an earlier time. Symbolically moving was a way to start again; to move on into the next phase of life.
Because we both work in the New Territories it made sense for us to be there rather than on Hong Kong Island.
Until Next Time
Fai MAo
The Blogger with a new home
I think it is good to move house every so often and this was the time for us to move.
We invest the places we live with part of ourselves. The pictures on the wall the paint on the door, the curtains and even the scratches and wear on the floor become comforting and make us feel secure. A home home also ties us to our past and as we age it becomes important to move on or we may find that we cannot move at all. When I was younger I used to live up the road from an old woman, in her 90's, who had one child, a son and he died in accident along with her husband when the son was about 8 or 9 years-old. She never remarried and still had her dead husbands clothing in the closet and the little boys bedroom just as it had been 65 years before. She'd grown old but hadn't really noticed because she was trapped in the past. She should have moved on past those tragic deaths but couldn't and I think that after awhile it was the house that trapped her.
Mrs Mao and I have had nothing that tragic happen to us but as empty-nesters it was time to move on. Our kids are grown, married and gone. All we have left besides photographs is the occasional Email and even rarer visit. That isn't a sad or bad thing, it is life. They have their own families and their own concerns. They are doing well enough and I guess I should feel thankful that they seem to be happy in their lives and done bother us for huge piles of cash. Yet, in the Causeway Bay flat we were tied to an earlier time. Symbolically moving was a way to start again; to move on into the next phase of life.
Because we both work in the New Territories it made sense for us to be there rather than on Hong Kong Island.
Until Next Time
Fai MAo
The Blogger with a new home
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Hold on to your Hats
I thought that I was the only one who could see this coming.
The Chinese boom is actually a Chinese bubble. Not only for the reasons listed in the article but because of the one child policy which will mean there are fewer workers to work in the coming years thus each worker will be worth more; but also the fact that 1/2 the smokers in the world live in China and what is going to happen when those 30 year-old smokers become 50 year-old cancer stricken coughers?
This is actually a huge oportunity for Hong Kong if the government and people here are smart enough to see it.
Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The blogger who still lives in China
The Chinese boom is actually a Chinese bubble. Not only for the reasons listed in the article but because of the one child policy which will mean there are fewer workers to work in the coming years thus each worker will be worth more; but also the fact that 1/2 the smokers in the world live in China and what is going to happen when those 30 year-old smokers become 50 year-old cancer stricken coughers?
This is actually a huge oportunity for Hong Kong if the government and people here are smart enough to see it.
Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The blogger who still lives in China
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
On Patriotism
As a Hong Konger who is from somewhere else I find the expression of and lack of expression of patriotism by the general population in Hong Kong to be quite odd. It seems that either the population is somewhat rabidly pro PRC or distrustful of it and have a suitcase packed in case the tanks roll down Queen's road. There is no in between. We are either fully supportive or just here for the money. Indeed, perhaps the most loyal Hong Kongers that I have met are the expats from really slimy and oppression places like Rwanda and London where they understand the problems that come from living in a society that lacks respect for basic human dignity. Thus, I am not sure how much the article I've linked too above can be extrapolated into similar feeling about Hong Kong. I would still like to know how many citizens here describe themselves as "patriotic?"
I watched the parade and demonstrations here in "The Pearl of the Orient" on July 1st. Since I live in Causeway Bay I had very little choice! Group against group and party insulting party. What should be a day that is a celebration of the return to China, which no matter how imperfect a nation is the proper place for Hong Kong to be part of; has instead become a day that has been turned into just another chance to show how intolerant and childish we are of others.Why can't we have a holiday where we simply express how happy we are to be Hong Kongers; where we put aside, if only for a little while political differences and squabbles and celebrate the good things about each other and the city where we live?
Until Next Time
Fai mao
The Blogger who likes where he lives
I watched the parade and demonstrations here in "The Pearl of the Orient" on July 1st. Since I live in Causeway Bay I had very little choice! Group against group and party insulting party. What should be a day that is a celebration of the return to China, which no matter how imperfect a nation is the proper place for Hong Kong to be part of; has instead become a day that has been turned into just another chance to show how intolerant and childish we are of others.Why can't we have a holiday where we simply express how happy we are to be Hong Kongers; where we put aside, if only for a little while political differences and squabbles and celebrate the good things about each other and the city where we live?
Until Next Time
Fai mao
The Blogger who likes where he lives
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Some General Information
I received a rather strident, but not unexpected comment from someone regarding a previous post on the problematic behavior of domestic helper picnics on the sidewalks in Hong Kong. It started with the rather predictable. "These women are treated like slaves"
Two words: B.S.
They are not slaves. Nobody forced them onto a slave ship. They were not "Sold" at a market and they can quit any time they want. At the end of a two year contract the employer has to pay their way back home. They often quit in the middle of a contract and either return to where they came from or find another employer in Hong Kong. They have garanteed days off and holidays. None of those things are rights that slaves have.
More than that, domestic helpers are not particularly low paid by Hong Kong standards.
Domestic helpers in Hong Kong have a higher actual salary, when you include their benefits and more days off than many of the locals in Hong Kong.
The commentor says "I don't believe that!" Well let us add it up: Domestic Helpers make about $3500 Hong Kong dollars a month in basic salary. All of that is disposable income because they are provided room and board and you have to look at the cost of that as well in figuring their salary. How much is that worth? Well a small room with a shared bathroom and some kitchen privileges in Causeway Bay is about $2500 a month. Figure that food cost the average low wage earner in Hong Kong about $50.00 a day assuming they do not eat out. Maids have to have an insurance policy provided for them by the employer; which cost about $500.00 a month. They are provided airfare home once a year which must be figured into their income. When all of this is put into the total, a maid in Hong Kong actually has a life style closer to a local person making about $8000.00 a month. They don't work more hours than many other professions like security guards or those in food-service or hotels, indeed even most rather high-dollar jobs here require lots of hours. So, let us assume a maid is on duty 12 hours a day, six days a week. That comes to 72 hours a week and 288 hours a month or about the average for a job in Hong Kong. $8000 a month divided by 288 is about 28 dollars an hour. Lots of people in Hong Kong do not make that much. Please notice, my wife and I looked at hiring a maid and this is how I know these figures.
Now are some, possible a high percentage of the maids done hard by their employers? Yes, certainly. Does that mean that all employers treat them poorly? No, it doesn't.
However, whether the domestic helpers are treated badly by their employers our not is irrelevant to my point. They maids I complained about were having a picnic on a pedestrian bridge that was over a busy street. The police will not let pedestrians block that bridge for other purposes, we can they? If it is a traffic hazard for the normal population to do this then it is a traffic hazard for domestic helpers to do so as well. Their working conditions have nothing to do with it.
If the other low income workers in Hong Kong cannot picnic on the sidewalk then the domestic helpers should not be allowed to either. I would bet that the person making the comment drives a car, and thus does not have to walk over the maids.
Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger without a maid
Two words: B.S.
They are not slaves. Nobody forced them onto a slave ship. They were not "Sold" at a market and they can quit any time they want. At the end of a two year contract the employer has to pay their way back home. They often quit in the middle of a contract and either return to where they came from or find another employer in Hong Kong. They have garanteed days off and holidays. None of those things are rights that slaves have.
More than that, domestic helpers are not particularly low paid by Hong Kong standards.
Domestic helpers in Hong Kong have a higher actual salary, when you include their benefits and more days off than many of the locals in Hong Kong.
The commentor says "I don't believe that!" Well let us add it up: Domestic Helpers make about $3500 Hong Kong dollars a month in basic salary. All of that is disposable income because they are provided room and board and you have to look at the cost of that as well in figuring their salary. How much is that worth? Well a small room with a shared bathroom and some kitchen privileges in Causeway Bay is about $2500 a month. Figure that food cost the average low wage earner in Hong Kong about $50.00 a day assuming they do not eat out. Maids have to have an insurance policy provided for them by the employer; which cost about $500.00 a month. They are provided airfare home once a year which must be figured into their income. When all of this is put into the total, a maid in Hong Kong actually has a life style closer to a local person making about $8000.00 a month. They don't work more hours than many other professions like security guards or those in food-service or hotels, indeed even most rather high-dollar jobs here require lots of hours. So, let us assume a maid is on duty 12 hours a day, six days a week. That comes to 72 hours a week and 288 hours a month or about the average for a job in Hong Kong. $8000 a month divided by 288 is about 28 dollars an hour. Lots of people in Hong Kong do not make that much. Please notice, my wife and I looked at hiring a maid and this is how I know these figures.
Now are some, possible a high percentage of the maids done hard by their employers? Yes, certainly. Does that mean that all employers treat them poorly? No, it doesn't.
However, whether the domestic helpers are treated badly by their employers our not is irrelevant to my point. They maids I complained about were having a picnic on a pedestrian bridge that was over a busy street. The police will not let pedestrians block that bridge for other purposes, we can they? If it is a traffic hazard for the normal population to do this then it is a traffic hazard for domestic helpers to do so as well. Their working conditions have nothing to do with it.
If the other low income workers in Hong Kong cannot picnic on the sidewalk then the domestic helpers should not be allowed to either. I would bet that the person making the comment drives a car, and thus does not have to walk over the maids.
Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger without a maid
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Move over Nancy!
I have a new favorite female offender, Leung Sin-ting. I have some sympathy for her in a sense though not very much. She was, I think totally and certifiably nuts but I am not sure that nuttiness should exonerate her of this crime.
What is interesting to me about the horrific crime is the role that culture (Notice I didn't say society) plays in mental illness? If this woman had lived in a culture where a married woman who has problems conceiving a child receives a bit of sympathy rather than being scorned by her inlaws and where adoption is considered a noble option would she have felt pressured to do this?
While having some sympathy for this woman I am still angered by the fact that it appears in Hong Kong a "Guilty Plea" almost always receives a reduced sentence. Suppose this woman had actually been innocent but through a bad lawyer, lazy judge or poor police work been wrongfully found guilty? Suppose she had pleaded innocent because she was innocent and been found guilty by mistake? The judge would have given her far more jail time. That means the justice system here is actually unjust because it penalized plaintiff that plead "Not Guilty" assuming, I guess that they are liars. It just bothers me but then what should I expect from a legal system patterned off a country with no "Bill of Rights" and not written constitution that limits the scope and power of government?
I could write more but it would be politically incorrect.
Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who hopes he never has to go before a judge in Hong Kong
What is interesting to me about the horrific crime is the role that culture (Notice I didn't say society) plays in mental illness? If this woman had lived in a culture where a married woman who has problems conceiving a child receives a bit of sympathy rather than being scorned by her inlaws and where adoption is considered a noble option would she have felt pressured to do this?
While having some sympathy for this woman I am still angered by the fact that it appears in Hong Kong a "Guilty Plea" almost always receives a reduced sentence. Suppose this woman had actually been innocent but through a bad lawyer, lazy judge or poor police work been wrongfully found guilty? Suppose she had pleaded innocent because she was innocent and been found guilty by mistake? The judge would have given her far more jail time. That means the justice system here is actually unjust because it penalized plaintiff that plead "Not Guilty" assuming, I guess that they are liars. It just bothers me but then what should I expect from a legal system patterned off a country with no "Bill of Rights" and not written constitution that limits the scope and power of government?
I could write more but it would be politically incorrect.
Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who hopes he never has to go before a judge in Hong Kong
Sunday, May 09, 2010
The Rule of Law and Domestic Helpers
My wife and I spent time on the telephone with the Hong Kong police today. My tolerance with the passive-aggressive herds of domestic helper buffaloes that are allowed to flagrantly disobey the loitering laws; sell merchandise in direct violation of their employment contracts; block sidewalks and generally make life Hell for the residents of Causeway Bay every Sunday reached a breaking point when a group of them had a the pedestrian footbridge near the Rosedale Hotel completely blocked at one end. There is no ground level crossing at this point and the bridge is over a very busy street.
The only thing that really makes me angrier about this situation is the fact that so many local Hong Kongers put up with it. When the police officer came the shit-assed-coward of an officer refused to up hold the law and make them leave; despite the fact that this activity is a potential traffic hazard. Suppose one of these women had dropped a water bottle onto the road below that landed on an automobiles windshield? Suppose that caused a traffic accident and a child or pedestrian was killed?
So the police are more afraid of offending a group of domestic helpers than upholding the law? This is a blatant form of corruption in that the police are treating one group of citizen in an unequal manner before the law. Why are the maids allowed to break the law and I am not?I can guarantee the reader that If I had a picnic on that bridge with my kids on a weekday the police would ask me to pack up and leave.
The officer complained about being a low level person, with no authority, and nobody had complained about this before. He wouldn’t even ask them politely to leave or relocate but simply talked to them. The Hong Kong police are cowards. Criminals, commit your crimes brazenly and as long as they don’t affect the property developers or THBT’s lunch then you can be as criminal as you want to be with impunity because you now a full proof legal defense.
That defense is that if the police know that the law is being flagrantly and habitually broken by a large number of people and refuse to take steps to see that the law is actually enforced then they have lost the legal authority to enforce any part of the law; more than that they have lost any legal standing to stop otherwise law abiding citizens from taking the law into their own hands over this situation.
Notice, this is very different from a unique event like a riot where some of the rioters get away. This is simply domestic helpers, in large numbers, breaking the law with impunity every Sunday and Holiday. Because a report was filed, illegal activity was observed as being illegal and noted but no action taken and indeed, it was clearly stated that no action will be taken, I as the citizen have no legal recourse but to take the law into my own hands. That does not mean I will but I legally could.
The actions of the police today in Causeway Bay have legally justified vigilantism against the women who break the law every Sunday.
Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who refuses to hire a maid
The only thing that really makes me angrier about this situation is the fact that so many local Hong Kongers put up with it. When the police officer came the shit-assed-coward of an officer refused to up hold the law and make them leave; despite the fact that this activity is a potential traffic hazard. Suppose one of these women had dropped a water bottle onto the road below that landed on an automobiles windshield? Suppose that caused a traffic accident and a child or pedestrian was killed?
So the police are more afraid of offending a group of domestic helpers than upholding the law? This is a blatant form of corruption in that the police are treating one group of citizen in an unequal manner before the law. Why are the maids allowed to break the law and I am not?I can guarantee the reader that If I had a picnic on that bridge with my kids on a weekday the police would ask me to pack up and leave.
The officer complained about being a low level person, with no authority, and nobody had complained about this before. He wouldn’t even ask them politely to leave or relocate but simply talked to them. The Hong Kong police are cowards. Criminals, commit your crimes brazenly and as long as they don’t affect the property developers or THBT’s lunch then you can be as criminal as you want to be with impunity because you now a full proof legal defense.
That defense is that if the police know that the law is being flagrantly and habitually broken by a large number of people and refuse to take steps to see that the law is actually enforced then they have lost the legal authority to enforce any part of the law; more than that they have lost any legal standing to stop otherwise law abiding citizens from taking the law into their own hands over this situation.
Notice, this is very different from a unique event like a riot where some of the rioters get away. This is simply domestic helpers, in large numbers, breaking the law with impunity every Sunday and Holiday. Because a report was filed, illegal activity was observed as being illegal and noted but no action taken and indeed, it was clearly stated that no action will be taken, I as the citizen have no legal recourse but to take the law into my own hands. That does not mean I will but I legally could.
The actions of the police today in Causeway Bay have legally justified vigilantism against the women who break the law every Sunday.
Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who refuses to hire a maid
Thursday, May 06, 2010
Civility and Manners
The article linked to above is a good example of why kids should play sports. The unwritten rules in any sport are often as important as the written ones. They also bleed over in a positive way into the rest of the players life and help to explain why geeks and over protected kids are often so rude. The unwritten rules help the player, child, student, adult internalize the concept of fair play, respect and graciousness. These are lessons that a strictly academic education is often woefully lacking in.
I see rather prominent educational initiatives both at the school I work at and in other international schools that deal with ethical education. These often look to be rather simplistic and trite to me and deal with everything from running in halls to anti-bully programs. I don't see them as being all that effective.
You see the same problem, I believe in places like Thailand with the endless political protest, The Red-shirts and Yellow Shirts need to learn to wait for the next election. The HK leg-co and PCCCPXYZ!@#SARB or whatever that thing in the PRC is called needs to learn some respect for the opposition,
Maybe, schools simply need to require less math but more baseball.
Play Ball! Double Header anyone?
Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who wanted to be a knuckleball pitcher when he was a teenager, just like Charlie Hough
I see rather prominent educational initiatives both at the school I work at and in other international schools that deal with ethical education. These often look to be rather simplistic and trite to me and deal with everything from running in halls to anti-bully programs. I don't see them as being all that effective.
You see the same problem, I believe in places like Thailand with the endless political protest, The Red-shirts and Yellow Shirts need to learn to wait for the next election. The HK leg-co and PCCCPXYZ!@#SARB or whatever that thing in the PRC is called needs to learn some respect for the opposition,
Maybe, schools simply need to require less math but more baseball.
Play Ball! Double Header anyone?
Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who wanted to be a knuckleball pitcher when he was a teenager, just like Charlie Hough
Wednesday, May 05, 2010
The case against a Capital Gains Tax
Hong Kong does not have a Capital Gains tax or a VAT tax. The lack of those two taxes, I believe go a long way towards explaining why Hong Kong is prosperous DESPITE the incompetent government officials.
Here is a good overview of a Capital Gains tax and why it is a bad idea.
Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The blogger does not support a Capital Gains or VAT tax
Here is a good overview of a Capital Gains tax and why it is a bad idea.
Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The blogger does not support a Capital Gains or VAT tax
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