Division of Labor

Wealth is foolishly defined by some as how much money one has.  A better definition of wealth is what can your money buy?  People in Hong Kong of course have a higher per capita income than we do in the USA, because they are more free, but they also have a wider array of goods and services available to them than we do, because they are more free.  And since Hong Kong has a population similar to Switzerland in numbers, they of course do not have everything, but if anyone in Hong Kong needs something from somewhere else, they can just import it or hop a plane and go there.

With market driven more, better, cheaper, faster and almost nonexistent taxes and regulations, charities around the world find Hong Kong people exceedingly generous.  A charity without an office in Hong Kong is malfeasant.

The Brits control booze trade worldwide, so they had a weird tax and regulation on wine and spirits into Hong Kong.  One glaring anomaly all my years in Hong Kong was that spirits (even Chinese) were not a deal (and I check.)  China has no intention of leaving any of their people unemployed and a quick, free market way to break monopolies is to get rid of rules, regs and taxes that protect them.  In Hong Kong, done!

Now, as Hong Kong incomes increase, they have another option available to them from earth's cornucopia: wine.  They are educating themselves and learning pros and cons worldwide.  It's Grenache day in Hong Kong. USA wine is either irrigated with fluoridated water or pesticided with a fluoride-based mess.  This of course makes "organic" wine, a small biz specialty, more attractive.  They will learn.  As one Hong Kong businessman told me, wine is better than booze when entertaining because you can get more work done before you get drunk.

If we want more better cheaper faster, we need to cut taxes and regulations, and the programs they support.

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