Hong Kong: Do You Feel Safe?

Folks,

I already mentioned I met with an educational official in Hong Kong regarding
"free trade in
education worldwide" but I saved one part of the conversation for now.

At one point in our 2 hour discuission, he asked me if I "felt safe." This was
a very odd
question, and the short answer was "yes." Perhaps he was talking about in
China, and I
related that although it was wild and free there, violence for gain doesn't seem
to be a part of
the landscape. This relative absence of violence is typical of free markets,
further making my
point about Chinese freedom. Certainly under the communists I was safe, simply
because
they had total control and no one would dare approach me. China was poor and
miserable
under that kind of "safety."

Among the events that happened in China is one I'll mention now. At the close
of the last
day of the first phase of the fair; there were simply too many people wanting
taxis, so there
was a massive shortage. What happened next was pure free market...

The more adventurous part of the crowd, me included, simply waded into traffic
and hired
out various citizens in their cars to take us to our destinations. As soon as
drivers figured
out what was going on, the traffic patterns changed to accomodate the need to
move people,
balanced with the movement of those drivers wishing to make a quick yuan.

A taxi to the train station from the Pao Zhou fair grounds would be about Y30.
I was first
quoted Y100 to my destination. Well, that is only about $12, but there is the
principle of the
thing, so I waved that one off... funny thing, somehow, I suspect via cell
phone, all drivers
knew instantly that the going rate was Y100.

Anyway, those willing to pay Y100 got rides as the rest of us kept offering
less... as the
market for Y100 rides began to dry up (that is riders willing to pay that much
took rides) and
we willing to pay less stood around, the price started dropping. Fearful of
getting no quick
yuan, as opposed to Y100 quick yuan, those dawdling drivers began to offer lower
rates,
which I rejected, but some took.

Then that market cleared... and citizen-drivers began asking us to name our
prices..(how,
when we did not speak their language, nor they ours? They held out their cell
phones and
and pantomimed us typing in the price... back and forth the cell-phones went..
and that
market began clearing... I agreed to Y60... I really didn't know what a good
price was, since i
was leaving China by bus and was to go to a hotel in Guangzhou where the bus
stopped
before heading to Hong Kong. I had no idea where this Hotel was. Anyway, a
fellow in a light
truck and I settled on a price and off we went to the hotel, the name of which
and address
was on my bus ticket.

So there we have a typical free market, a problem and a solution. There was a
shortage of
transport, and those willing to help solve the problem did so. And got paid for
it. (The
shortage was a result of taxi companies forced to charge a regulated rate.
Those who waited
in line for real taxis got a regulated price, but they were either too late or
too early for their
ride out of China. Regulations always induce chaos.)

Although the first offers were "gouging" there was no coercion, both sides
willingly agreed to
a price, and off they went. All sides were satisfied. Problem solved. The
celerity with which
the Chinese exercised free market action is something few if anyone are taking
into account.
There is no one in our govt or politics or for that matter big business who can
compete with
these people. Since we have tied ourselves up, we will hand our wealth to them.

In USA our govt is working on a law that would make it a crime for the free
market to work in
gasoline prices. Instead of those with the greatest need paying the greatest
price and
clearing bottlenecks and shortages, the govt is looking at making
problem-solving a crime
(Marc Rich single handedly solved the USA oil crisis in the 1970's, and the govt
called it a
felony. He escaped to Switzerland with his billions, where solving problems is
not a crime).

Under the communists, there were no private cars, let alone cel phones. Today
Chinese are
using these to advance their own interests.

So back to safety... I was perfectly safe because criminals are cowards and
usually have to
carefully plan their crimes. The swiftness of this event militated against
criminals getting
involved. I was perfectly safe.

Then of course, he could not mean "was I safe in Hong Kong..." Hong Kong is one
of the
freest places on earth, so it is one of the safest.

As i walked the streets of Hong Kong I saw dozens of Osama bin Laden
look-alikes, and
moslems from around the world. The Moslems have large mosques on prime real
estate in
both Kowloon and Hong Kong side. I am sure I passed plenty of young, hard
Moslems who
wished this Christian dead. But there are two parts to Hong Kong safety:

1. Everyone is busy freely contracting, and working to capacity. None of the
market
distortions causing poverty and injustice that you see in well-regulated
economies.

2. There are redundant communication systems... the second a crime was
committed, the
taxis would relay info to the police, the Hindi touts that work the streets with
cell phones
stuck to their ears would see all and report all, the beggars in Hong Kong are
organized into
a kingdom, and they'd sell their info to the police. For a city of seven
million people, cops are
very thin on the ground, but then they don't need many cops.

There is also plenty of private security. In upscale shops and jewelry stores
sometimes you
see shotgun-armed Sikhs and Ghurkas standing by. (The Sikhs are turbanned and
frown; the
Gurkhas wear berets and grin). I find it comforting.

In spite of this, or perhaps because of this, Hong Kong has the highest rate of
apprehension
in the world. The next part is, since the communists own Hong Kong, anyone
misbehaving,
or upsetting the apple cart, the whole group would suffer much. If there is to
be violence,
take it to Bali of Pukhet.

So I was having a hard time gettng to his question... so i turned the question
around. "Did HE
feel safe?' Well, things had changed. He got his MBA and PHD in the USA. Up
until recently,
that was a good career move. But more recently, he has had to explain to the
vast majority of
his associates who have not been to USA, what's up with USA. Our policies are
criminal, if not
suicidal, to the rest of the world. He who was educated in USA, surely can make
sense of it.
Well, no, he cannot.

Now this is where it got interesting: the esteem with which he was once held
having been
educated in USA, has dropped much. Before, he was an elite, and now, not so
much. Since
he leveraged much of his well-being with a USA education, his personal stock has
fallen
more, leveraged as it is. In that measure, his well being has taken a hit.
Schadenfreude
being what it is, and those who had to forgo promotion in deference to those
educated in
USA are losing no time in exacting their revenge. To compensate he even had to
overstate
his displeasure with USA to all listeners. Is this true worldwide? This is an
interesting cost to
us, I think.

For my part, I wouldn't want to overstate the case by saying I feel less safe.
I might term it as
a reduction in esteem. I will not criticize USA overseas, nor let others. I
turn the tables and
point out Australian (or whoever) complicity in USA policy, noting how USA
politicians always
refer to foreign support as reason for their policies. "Don't complain to me
when terrorists
are blowing up YOUR train stations for being our allies." This usually shuts
the complainers
up wiki wiki.

This argument won't fly when some taxi driver is giving me hell, since I'll
never get my point
across anyway. But as far as safety, I'd say no change. As far as esteem, yes,
people are not
as excited to meet this american as they once were. Our stock is going down,
the rest of the
world is rising.

And one more aspect to this, as a part of this educators grievance, he asked me
a couple of
favors I should do on his behalf. I loved it! He was in essence asking me to
make up his loss
personally... I should take action to help, gratis, in compensation for his loss
of esteem. He
was still trading away, even on the way down! Well of course, my position is
"hell no, this
casino does not make refunds. You placed your bets, you took your risks..." We
parted with
our positions understood, and we look forward to mutually beneficial trade.

People say China trades with USA. Perhaps China/USA trade changes would affect
people
who talk like that. I say, John Spiers trades with Raymond Leung. In my speak,
what happens
in USA China trade has no bearing on me. The part of USA that is disintegrating
is the
Hamiltonian part... it really has nothing to do with me, it is not costing me
anything. Those
who bet on the Hamiltonians are losing out. Yes, there is a lessening of esteem
for me as an
american, but I was never trading on being an american before anyway. No big
deal to me.

John

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