And that is billionaires in US$.
Interesting list... of the top twelve -
One made it in utilities, power and light...
Eight made it in property development...
Three made it in apparel...
And one made it in movies...
I know that adds up to 13, but there was a tie for #5...
What is true about all of those areas? None, except one, involves intellectual property rights. And in a delightful cosmic pun, the property developers made their billions where no one can own property in Hong Kong (except the Church of England.)
Apparel is notoriously free of intellectual property rights, and so it utilities, but one fellow made it in movies, which of course is in lock-down when it comes to IPR.
Except, not so fast. That billionaire, the famous Run Run Shaw, is 105 years old. He made his money back when "piracy" was an accepted business reality. He just made sure he got the money the "pirates" got by marketing.
This gets to what Bastiat pointed out, benefits unseen. It is difficult to recommend a change when we who recommend the change cannot tell you what things would look like after the change. We are reduced to saying "bad things go away, good things emerge." There is simply no way to predict what free people will yield if given the chance.
But Hong Kong offers a tantalizing glimpse of what could be. Some elements of America Lost certainly suggest what could have been. It's not much of a slogan - "Join us, but we have no idea. Pretty sure it will be better." On the other hand, in every instance in history, the people with a clear plan (which warrants the violence) always make things worse.
Feel free to forward this by email to three of your friends.
Interesting list... of the top twelve -
One made it in utilities, power and light...
Eight made it in property development...
Three made it in apparel...
And one made it in movies...
I know that adds up to 13, but there was a tie for #5...
What is true about all of those areas? None, except one, involves intellectual property rights. And in a delightful cosmic pun, the property developers made their billions where no one can own property in Hong Kong (except the Church of England.)
Apparel is notoriously free of intellectual property rights, and so it utilities, but one fellow made it in movies, which of course is in lock-down when it comes to IPR.
Except, not so fast. That billionaire, the famous Run Run Shaw, is 105 years old. He made his money back when "piracy" was an accepted business reality. He just made sure he got the money the "pirates" got by marketing.
This gets to what Bastiat pointed out, benefits unseen. It is difficult to recommend a change when we who recommend the change cannot tell you what things would look like after the change. We are reduced to saying "bad things go away, good things emerge." There is simply no way to predict what free people will yield if given the chance.
But Hong Kong offers a tantalizing glimpse of what could be. Some elements of America Lost certainly suggest what could have been. It's not much of a slogan - "Join us, but we have no idea. Pretty sure it will be better." On the other hand, in every instance in history, the people with a clear plan (which warrants the violence) always make things worse.
Feel free to forward this by email to three of your friends.
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