Website News

We left Hong Kong a couple of years ago, hence no real posts since then.

Word Press

Swapping to WordPress.

Panic Tank

In my not so humble opinion, Civic Exchange is not so much a think tank, but rather a panic tank. This time their press release screams "Climate Change: Will the Factory of the World Sink or Swim?". For various reasons, I am not going to bother replying to this nonsense coming from Loh and Co.

Been Busy

I have been busy on a number of other projects, which has meant I could not spend as much time as I wanted here. I will try to put up some more posts about the Lights Out For Hong Kong campaign. (I think this campaign is just a regression back to the cave, and represents the latest in a long list of anti-development stunts by environmentalists in Hong Kong.)

Phil over at Flagrant Harbour has a very interesting post about the whole Lights Out For Hong Kong campaign. Just ignore the heckler

On Holidays

I have been on holiday for the last week and will be back by the weekend. I will be adding more links (mainly to Objectivist blogs and sites) next week.

Sir John Cowperthwaite

Sir John Cowperthwaite who was Financial Secretary from 1961-1971 has just passed away. I don’t know of his achievements first hand or his exact philosophy, but he is credited with laying the foundation for Hong Kong’s free market economy. This includes eliminating import and export duties and introducing a flat tax rate. (Unfortunately his hard work in keeping Hong Kong’s economy free is now being undone.)

The SCMP notes that he was quoted as saying that he did very little – I take that to mean he just did not let government do that much. At the same time the paper notes he did not like the idea of the government collecting statistics. He thought that people would try to use them and that was not a good idea.

Imagine what Hong Kong would be like if he had not been the Financial Secretary. Would there still have been a free market economy during the last 40 yearsor would Hong Kong have stagnated like so many tinpot economies in this area?

Photos from Afternoon Tea in Kwun Tong

As promised some photos of my afternoon tea at Kwun Tong law courts. We wanted to express strong moral disapproval of the South Korean farmers and their apologists. While they went on their hunger strike, Capitalist Solutions was supporting law and order by having afternoon tea.

The first is one of Korean protesters and supporters photographing our stand with Starbucks coffee, McDonalds McCafe sandwiches and a selection of sushi items.

The next is a view from the afternoon tea stand.

Finally, Korean farmers starting their hunger strike. After they riot, the protesters want to have the charges dropped. (Let’s remember they are innocent until proven guilty.) I could never understand why an alliance that wants to see more market access for third world countries would support farmers from a first world country – especially those that want to keep subsidies and tariffs in place. There is a basic contradiction here.

Korean Farmers, Hong Kong Stock Brokers

It appears that smaller Hong Kong stock brokers are now complaining that they are not getting the kind of 20 month bonuses they were getting before the abolition of the minimum commissions they were guaranteed under the old commission system. Today fees are as low as 0.15% of the trade and smaller brokers are getting a half month commission at the end of the year. Most big arbitrage deals are being done through larger brokerage houses, so they are getting the bigger year end bonuses.

Of course, a person can buy HSBC shares in the US with a commission of $US20 through ETrade, although there might be other taxes to consider (e.g. the US has a capital gains tax and taxes dividents)

The old commission system in Hong Kong (where small brokers paid out 20 month bonuses at year end) unfairly protected smaller brokers by FORCING the buyers to accept a minimum commission or go overseas to buy shares in foreign countries. Kind of like rice buyers in Korea being forced to buy rice from inefficient Korean farmers.

Overdue Credits

Some long overdue credits:

Simon of Simonworld has continued to cover the conference daily – day 4 update is here, so too have Hemlock, and Flagrant Harbour has given some interesting space as well. Tim Blair and Damian Penny have picked up on it internationally, as have others including the the blogger at the Guardian.

The original story from Reuters has been picked up by English news websites as well as German, French and even Vietnamese blogs and news websites:

Some include:

Boston Globe
CNN
ABC Australia
Vietnam

I am planning a review of the press and its effect on the anti-free trade protesters later today.

Overdue Credits

Some long overdue credits:

Simon of Simonworld has continued to cover the conference daily – day 4 update is here, so too have Hemlock, and Flagrant Harbour has given some interesting space as well. Tim Blair and Damian Penny have picked up on it internationally, as have others including the the blogger at the Guardian.

The original story from Reuters has been picked up by English news websites as well as German, French and even Vietnamese blogs and news websites:

Some include:

Boston Globe
CNN
ABC Australia
Vietnam

I am planning a review of the press and its effect on the anti-free trade protesters later today.