Before we leave Hong Kong, I feel that it's important to note that as in the U.S., everything is NOT peaches and cream in Hong Kong either. There is great poverty and crumbling infrastructure as well. Jody picked up the below book at one of the local university book stores. It was just published last year and details how Hong Kong has squandered its great wealth following the 2008 recession and embarked on an "austerity" program which has decimated social services and the poor. The gap between the haves and the have-nots has grown and the situation is not improving. Crumbling, old apartment housing in the city has surpassed its 50-year usability and many poor families, not to mention the elderly and the frail, are packed like sardines in these apartments. The city fathers are reluctant to change the tax structure so the "lucky duck" wealthy can pay their fair share. Sound familiar, doesn't it?
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Dick StammerArchives
July 2017
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