Hong Kong robot government controlled by Kings of Concrete

[DocMartin Williams]

This just in, from one of the Kings of Concrete:

Quote:

Jo san, minions!

How is life, down there in the streets?

I hear rumblings of people with ridiculous aspirations, like wanting to breathe clean air, protect country parks, even ensure a sustainable future for their kids and grandkids.

Hoho, how quaint, how touching. How very, very unrealistic and blinkered.

Can't people see what's really important? We need progress, economic development, jobs for the masses.

Yes, jobs; you can't live on just fresh air and looking at trees now, can you?

So enough of these green aspirations. You want green, we can use some green paint, we can plant some palm trees, add a few plastic flowers here and there.

So let's all pull together now, and get on with our glorious task:

More bridges! More airport runways! More big buildings! More money for the fat cats and fat cat wannabes!

And down, down with foolish notions about "lunacy" or robotic government thinking that I've seen lately.

Please, for the glory of Hong Kong, and the benefit of my already swollen bank accounts, no more like this:

"It’s as if government economic policymaking has been taken over by a robot with a short-circuit: must have more tourists, must create jobs, must have more infrastructure, must import labour, must have more tourists, must create jobs… "

http://biglychee.com/blog/2014/03/04/scmp-headline-insults-lunatics/

"This is little short of lunacy. Construction costs have indeed risen faster than general inflation, but that's largely because the Hong Kong government has been spending so heavily on its pet construction projects that it has pushed non-traded prices in the sector sharply higher. If it didn't build so much, costs wouldn't rise so quickly.

In any case, even keeping capital spending constant in real terms would be crazy. There's a limit to how many roads, bridges and tunnels Hong Kong needs.

If you don't believe that, just look at Stonecutters Bridge, a HK$3.6 billion engineering marvel which carries next to no traffic on its glittering spans."

http://www.scmp.com/business/article/1439605/fiscal-report-based-lunatic-projection-capital-spending

 

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