15 Yard Penalty For Excessive Celebration?
@ Thu 2 July 2009 6:48 PM HKT by Tom LeggAfter reading this Reuters report on a China Daily story about Green Dam, it may be necessary to throw the yellow hankie and blow the whistle on the excessive celebration by those declaring a people power victory for stalling Green Dam coming to every computer on the mainland.
My original thought on the delay was less of people power than of WTO threats. The last item tossed out by the West in their attempts to stop the Green Dam installation fiasco was the threat of taking China to the WTO over the software. After China whined like a little baby about US proposals for US stimulus money 6-9 months ago to be earmarked as Buy American, the irony of Chinese government fiats to create a Buy Chinese monopoly for Green Dam were a bit amusing. There is almost no way that a government mandated monopoly could stand at the WTO. And that would have led to the possibility of computers in China being sold with mandatory filtering software that was designed by a foreign company and possibly influenced by the boogey man of "Foreign Powers". (Do I see a Chinese retake on "The Spy Who Shagged Me", where the evil genius is named "N.N.N.N. Powers"?)
So the pursuit of the policy will use the soft power shown to have such great influence on Google and Yahoo, where companies don't need an official decree to jump through the CCP[?]'s hoops, but do it quite willingly when provided the right "incentives". Or as the story reads:
But the English-language China Daily, citing an unidentified ministry official, said the plan would eventually come to pass.
"The government will definitely carry on the directive on Green Dam. It's just a matter of time," the official was quoted as saying.
The reason for the delay was because some computer makers needed more time to include the software, it said.
"What will happen is that some PC manufacturers will have it included with their PC packages sooner than the others," he said. "But there is no definite deadline at the moment."
Henry Henry Henry
@ Thu 2 July 2009 5:37 PM HKT by Tom LeggStanding in the sun an extra hour or two because Sec of Security Ambrose Lee decided to set up an obstructive rather than constructive crowd control plan means that I watched too many folks be helped to the First Aid tents. It was the worst/most overly-aggressive crowd control I've seen on the various walks I've been on, both getting in to and out of Victoria Park.
The crowds on the march were angrier as they felt the force of the government set out to obstruct them rather than listening to them. I don't think the police won many admirers in their salary battle yesterday, even if they were only following a plan drawn up at Government House.
One thing seemed to unify the folks on the big walk yesterday, that the rules set up by the tycoons and the HK SAR government are designed for one thing: to keep the people on top on top and the folks on the bottom struggling. People don't like these rules as the one thing that keeps capitalism a viable socio-political system is a belief in socio-economic mobility. Hong Kong's rules since the handover are designed specifically to stop socio-economic mobility.
As one of the long-running Chinese belief systems would tell you, when the government makes rules that are worthy of being followed, they don't have to tell people to follow the rules.
And I proved enough of an oddity on the march, that I was caught on CCD.
We're Not Selfish, They Are
@ Sun 21 June 2009 11:19 PM HKT by Tom LeggWe're willing to pour billions and billions of our and their dollars in overruns to build transit links to ensure our commutes from pricey south island is fast and efficient. We've even cut the taxi fares for our weekend trips out to Sai Kung to eat seafood or travel home to Sai Kung/Clearwater Bay after those late nights in Lan Kwai Fong/Wan Chai.
We've raised their transit fees twice in the last three years and dragged our feet since the last Central reclamation on spending even 10 cents on finding ways to help them out on their transportation.
But remember we're not selfish, they are.
We've instituted an education policy that ensures our taxes remain low and that HK's resources are properly deployed to educate our children. It's important we limit access to our secondary schools to only the right sorts of students. It would be a shame if we didn't have multiple choices for educational opportunities for our kids at the best schools within 30 minutes of transit.
We've closed the only secondary school within 30 minutes of transit for them because the resources are better spent elsewhere. (Like on our kids). And we've undercut their primary school by putting their rich neighbours' (Discovery Bay) primary school in the HK Island school net but kept their primary school and other Island District Primary Schools out of the HK Island school net, so parents are torn between undermining their community and providing the best opportunities for their children.
But remember we're not selfish, they are.
We've spent billions and billions of their and our dollars and gone to the Court of Final Appeals to ensure that our business district's growth won't be forced to relocate to another part of HK and that we don't have to leave HK Island to get to our highly paid government jobs.
But we were generous and offered them a great development plan. We offered to turn their beaches, where they own and run businesses and restaurants and enjoy the surf, in to private resorts owned by us and gated to keep them out except as minimum wage employees. We offered to turn their beautiful grasslands and hills in to giant container storage areas and turn their fishing and recreation grounds in to a container port full of ships belching high sulfur marine fuel. Obviously they were ungrateful, just like when we planned to build the Super Prison in their backyards and put the main transit bridge for the Super Prison through their town.
But remember we're not selfish, they are.
HK Magazine: Getting The Story WRONG
@ Fri 19 June 2009 10:29 PM HKT by Tom LeggSo picked up the HK magazine today and started to read the Page 3 editorial. My jaw dropped.
If we don't take decisive action now, we may see our homes devalued an nth of a percentile from their lofty Lantau island levels.
We are talking about Mui Wo, right? Not Discovery Bay, but Mui Wo. Right? *geesh* You'd think an editor would browse over to CentaLine and check out the CentaData on those lofty Lantau island property prices before putting something like this to press.
If they had, they'd see that even the highest priced newer sea-view flats are only approaching property price levels of Sheung Shui or the bottom of Mei Foo or the nicer parts of Kwun Tong. The pricing is about a third of the Peak or CyberPort or Mid-levels and cheaper than even the oldest parts of KennedyTown. So who's got the lofty property prices?
This isn't a case of the haves being forced to sacrifice, but the have nots being forced to sacrifice on the behalf of the consciences of the haves once again.
You Have Compassion, Mmmmkay?
@ Mon 15 June 2009 8:24 PM HKT by Tom LeggSo Donald Tsang Yam-kuen today at the Foreign Correspondents' Club asked residents of Mui Wo to have compassion on him and not embarrass him with another massively public failure.
Was Darth Bowtie offering to close Queen's College or King's College or even place the Drug Rehab school on Hong Kong Island in a school that's been shuttered? Nah. Are ExCo[?] and cronies promising that their companies will provide good jobs for graduates of the Rehab School? Not a chance that HK's social regimentation by school name will be replaced with redemption.
Instead as is HK SAR standard operating procedure, when there is a project which the Executive Committee doesn't want in their neighborhood, they dump it out in the Islands. Has Donald Tsang Yam-kuen ever ridden the Inter-islands Ferry between Cheung Chau and Peng Chau that stops at the current site in Chi Ma Wan? Doubt it. Is he familiar with the burdens his government places on the residents out here via the government's education, transit, development, etc. plans? Doubt it.
So the anger in Mui Wo is less about a lack of compassion for kids futilely trying to find a second chance, than it is about having no compassion for the unimaginative not-in-my-Peak-backyard thinking of the Executive Committee, which has once again dumped an unwanted project in to the neighborhood. Having gone to the locals earlier with patronising explanations wouldn't have helped. Going to the locals and making them stakeholders in a development plan for their communities would. But why would a guy that repeatedly exclaims that he speaks on behalf of the people of Hong Kong bother with something silly like adopting a planning mode that builds from the residents' hopes and desires instead of the crony property developers' profit lines?
Drop In HK Tourism And Maintenance Of Property / Rental Markets
@ Sun 14 June 2009 10:23 AM HKT by Tom LeggThe HK Press has been looking for reasons to blame for the recent drop in inbound tourism. Perhaps it's swine flu. Perhaps it's the mainland's economy. One recent action by the mainland government has been strangely overlooked. The crackdown on underpriced tours with mandatory shopping kickbacks.
During this economic hardship, HK's property tycoons learned some lessons from the last downturns. First lean on the HK government to turn off the flow of land on to the market in HK. This will ensure the market can be "properly" constrained by the tycoons to avoid a drop in land prices as per the late 1960s riots, which might allow new competition to enter the HK property market. This was first put to use during the SARS crisis and ended up with the tycoons being able to name their price to the government for property.
But during the SARS crisis, the secondary revenue stream for HK's property tycoons, rental income especially commercial rental money, was negatively impacted. So pressure was placed on the HK government after SARS to take actions to make sure this never happened again. While you may see the HK government tell those furrin' second-class domestic helpers to not gather in public places as a matter of public health during this "swine flu crisis", you're not going to see the HK government tell good Chinese people to avoid gathering at Disneyland or the malls.
The first action was the establishment of The Link REIT. This eliminated low-end pressure on commercial rents and helped to divert some of that rent money in to the pockets of the HK tycoons.
The next step was to bolster the numbers of shoppers to the overbuilt commercial retail sector in malls owned and operated by the tycoons. This was the rationale behind the big push for the influx in cheap mainland tourism. This was seen time after time at "shopping districts" across HK as tour buses full of mainlanders unloaded their cargo for mandatory shopping runs.
Of course if people suggested that this form of mandatory shopping during packaged tours was wrong, it might make the HK people raise their eyebrows about the HK travel industry and its mandatory shopping tours and that isn't allowed.
Furthermore, if the increase in mainland tours is reported as being merely a favour to keep the rents high at tycoon-owned shopping centers, it would disrupt the narrative about the Central People's Government helping out the average HKer and that's not allowed either.
And finally, with the HK Press dependent upon the advertising revenue from the HK tycoons, certain reporting that might result in a decrease in that advertising revenue isn't allowed either.
Like You Didn't See This PR Campaign Coming...
@ Sat 13 June 2009 12:34 PM HKT by Tom LeggSo after boosting export rebates again (and again), some corners of the world are taking steps to relevel the competitive playing field. Unsurprisingly the CCP[?] is unhappy at anything which makes them (and their state-pwn3d corporate cronies) fairly compete against others. So they trot out the predictably trite PR campaign complaining about foreign protectionism.
The Ministry of Commerce has denounced trade protectionism, saying many countries are resorting to it even as the West prepares for formal action against China's exports policy.
"Countries have announced all types of protectionist measures as the global financial crisis weighs on domestic demand and international trade," the ministry said on its website.
Maybe we can find some Randites and Panda-lickers to trot out to say that the CCP fulfilling their obligations under the WTO is irrelevant and China must be allowed to pursue whatever trade policies they wish, no matter how badly it skews the free market.
China Very Committed to Boosting Domestic Market and Free Trade (NOT!)
@ Tue 9 June 2009 5:26 PM HKT by Tom LeggThis makes the 7th time in the last 10 months where export rebates have been raised.
The government has raised tax rebates for more than 600 export items, some up to the maximum level possible, as it stepped up efforts to provide succor to businesses battling the global economic slowdown.
The Ministry of Finance said Monday that it had increased tax rebates ranging from 5 to 17 percent on export products, including ethanol, toys and sewing machines, effective June 1.
The export tax rebate scheme allows enterprises to get back part or all of the money they have paid in value-added tax, which stands at up to 17 percent, for items that have gone into the production of export goods.
But the latest rise in rebates effectively scraps the taxation on certain products, such as sewing machines and television transmission equipment.
When items are sold abroad at a price cheaper than they can be sold at home, that's called dumping. For all of the CCP[?]'s squawking about "Free Trade" and "Free Markets", what they really mean is they want access to dump mainland goods abroad while being able to protect their own domestic market, as unimpressive as it is, from effective competition by taxes and customs regulations.
e.g. Every week has a story in the local papers about HK Customs and Excise seizing hard drives and other electronics that are in the process of being smuggled in to the mainland. Free Trade and Free Market access to the mainland, Donald Tsang? Forget the sellout CEPA, which requires HK to train their cheaper replacements on the mainland via JV's and minority partnerships, tear down the mainland's pain in the ass customs, corporate ownership regulations and VAT rebates. Then you'll be getting the job done for all of Hong Kong and not just a few tycoons that have you on their payroll.
The Future of Newspapers
@ Wed 3 June 2009 1:59 PM HKT by Tom LeggThe key to newspaper or blog success is to find an information niche where your readers cannot find an alternative which they judge to be a better source. This is best accomplished in a niche where the readers are just too ignorant to judge a good source from a bad one. The best example of this is the bridge blog. The readers of bridge blogs are too lazy to learn their target language, so are incapable of judging whether the content they are being fed is accurately translated, accurately parsed and not out of context, or even representative of the greater conversation happening in the target language.
Hong Kong's newspapers are doing okay in general. They face challenges to advertising revenue from a handful of free newspapers like The Metro, Craig'sList and even advertising boycotts from companies so dependent on mainland revenue that they ask "how high" when the CCP[?]'s Liaison Office says "jump". Yet they offer news and analysis that consumers find of a value they are unable to find elsewhere. A great portion of this analysis is concerning horse racing and entertainment gossip, but there is real news that gets read that goes along with the betting tip sheets and scantily clad models.
The primary problem high-profile US editors/columnists have with bloggers is that they erode the sense that there is no better alternative to reading the Washington Post or NY Times. There are two problems here.
The first is a mismatch between product and the market. Washington DC voted over 95% for Obama. Northern Virginia has become solid Democratic territory. RNC Chair Steele had to trick homeless African-Americans in another state by telling them they were working for a Dem in order to find someone willing to work for Republican in Maryland. Yet Fred Hiatt continues to publish the same inane, and often just plain anti-factual, drivel from Will and Kristol and Krauthammer and Gerson and Ignatius, etc. etc. etc. Do you see the mismatch? Hiatt doesn't.
The second problem is that bloggers chip away at the credibility of anti-factual drivel spouting from Will and Kristol and Krauthammer and Gerson and Ignatius, etc. etc. etc. and even from the wire reporting from the likes of Ron Fournier's hacks at the Associated Press. The era of consumers willingly paying to be disinformed may be coming to an end in the US.
So much like the US music and movie industries, the proper course should be to stop attacking your most ardent consumers and to start producing credible product that matches the market. If you don't, then I won't shed a tear over the demise of vehicles of strident ignorance and disinformation.
Darth Bowtie's Statement Wasn't A Gaffe
@ Mon 18 May 2009 10:30 AM HKT by Tom LeggLast week Donald Tsang Yam-kuen went to LegCo[?] and regurgitated the CCP[?] Party Line about 4 June, 1989 Tiananmen (and no I'm not one of those pansy-ass CCP-lovin' panda lickin' bloggers that will censor my vocabulary in a lame-ass attempt to by-pass the Great Firewall of China). Economic development since 1989 makes it all worthwhile, so rejoice in your wealth and forget about the death (and the years of economic stagnation immediately following 1989 due to hardliners' control of the CCP and forget the economic studies showing that the mainland's economic miracle is not miraculous at all but merely in line with the economic development seen in their neighbours: South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong).
As pathetic as the Party Line is about Tiananmen, the political analysis of "the gaffe" by Hong Kong's punditocracy was even more pathetic. From last Friday's The Standard we got:
Chinese University of Hong Kong associate professor Ma Ngok said Tsang was unwise to say his remarks represented overall opinion.
"He's not elected by the people of Hong Kong," Ma said, adding the damage had been done and the pan- democrats would capitalize on this to get more people to join the annual June 4 vigil.
Yes, the punditocracy was seeing this as merely an issue of how many people would show up at the June 4 vigil. The political cartoon in Friday's SCMP[?] had Darth Bowtie as a "hot head".
Sorry, guys. Darth Bowtie is not a hot head. This wasn't a rash statement or a gaffe. It's the Party Line. The same one that Darth Bowtie often regurgitates to the HK press without question or push back. The difference this time was that the pan-democratic legislators did what the HK press corpse would never dare: push back against the obvious idiocy that Darth Bowtie's opinion or the CCP's Party Line represent the views of the Hong Kong mainstream.
The big issue isn't attendance at the 20th anniversary candle light vigil, it's that Hong Kong's elite almost always portray themselves as representative of Hong Kong's mainstream view. Furthermore between the Central Pushpolls'r'us Unit and the Commission of Strategic Donald-yes-men and pre-determined Public Consultations, Darth Bowtie repeatedly feeds the press the notion that his views accurately portray the views of the Hong Kong public. The HK Press Corpse laps this up without question because more often than not, the HK punditocracy aligns their views with the HK elite in order to seem important themselves (and avoid advertising boycotts from the tycoon sector of the HK elite).
But as recent events locally have shown, more often than not, HK's elite have elevated themselves far removed from the mainstream of HK opinion and when they profess to speak on behalf of "their people", their people may come back to bite them in the ass. And the time is nigh where the CCP has to decide whether they continue to reward useful idiot loyalists at the expense of the grassroots and risk watching crucial united front groups splinter and implode as the grassroots recognize their loyalty is being exploited or to kick a whole bunch of self-serving disconnected shoe-shiners to the curb in order to avoid a meltdown that will endanger the CCP's control of HK's Chief Executive and LegCo.