We’re all Keynesians Now

As many of you know, I’m a small-government, libertarian-leaning kind of guy. (If you didn’t know, could I have fifteen minutes of your time, I have a small diamond chart I’d like to share with you . . . )

But these days my non-interventionist leanings are being tested. So many of the things I like about Hong Kong are -deep breath here- the result of some mandate, some rule, some law.

There. I said it.

For example, Hong Kong regulations separate cell phones from cell phone service. Buy the phone you want. Sign up for the service you want. Very nice. Very consumer-friendly.

Getting around by train rocks. They’re efficient. They’re clean. And they’re one giant public/private collaboration. And they’re subsidized. A ride will cost you about US$0.85; maybe US$1.25 if you’re going all the way to the main island.

In Hong Kong, mortgages are structured so that you begin paying down the principle immediately. No paying interest only for the first five years.

Our colleagues constantly rave about life with a Filipino helper. The entire helper industry is heavily regulated. Hong Kong law mandates their wages, their hours, and their days off. Hong Kong laws stipulate that helpers reside with the family that employs them.

The government owns much of the undeveloped land in Hong Kong and makes a tidy sum selling it off. Unless, you’re a school. Then, fill out a ton of paper work, cross your fingers, and maybe you will be given a land grant and sold the property at a fraction of its market value. It was a government grant that made ICS’s brand new building possible.

Hong Kong today is the result of 150 years of Britain’s laissez faire attitude and their desire for unbridled commerce, and the Chinese penchant for bureaucracy. It’s a system I call bureaucratic capitalism. It seems to work.

Milton Friedman –may you rest in peace- you are still The Man. I just want you to know, Uncle Milty, that I still have my shrine to you set up in the corner of my living room.

But I sure do like riding those trains.

Now, dear reader, about that diamond chart. Have you got a pencil I can borrow? Why don’t you pull up a chair, this is going to take a few minutes . . . .

-Jack