Gini Coefficient
Posted by SpikeMay 16
Just want to draw your attention to a fabulous blog post over at Hong Wrong – The Heartwarming Kindness of Hong Kong’s Heroes. It tells the story of Benson Tang, someone who took his HK$6,000 tax rebate and used the money to buy food (only from mom-and-pop stores) and distribute it to the needy. His actions have inspired others to follow suit.
I hope he won’t mind my quoting the final two paragraphs, they’re important and need to be seen:
At a time of deep cuts and austerity measures in Europe and the US, booming Hong Kong is enjoying such a surplus that the government is offering personal HK$6000 bail-outs to all residents regardless of income. They are also subsidising electricity bills and allowing families in public housing free rent for 2 months. However, despite producing more millionaires than any other country last year, HK also shares the more dubious accolade of ‘widest poverty gap in Asia’. According to the UN Gini Coefficient, which measures income inequality, Hong Kong society rates as the most unequal amongst all highly developed economies. The wealthiest 10 per cent of the populace control more than a third of the city’s income, whilst the bottom 10 per cent share only 2 per cent.
Our city features the world’s highest per capita ownership of Rolls-Royces – yet luxury cars are almost as common sight as the elderly people forced to rummage through bins in search of items they can sell to recyclers. With little in the way of welfare, these workers, mostly old women, have a median income of just US$40 per month and often labour throughout the intense summer heat.
In some ways, I think it’s even worse than that. Because it’s not just the poor. Maybe the middle class don’t have it as bad as the poor, but rising inflation is squeezing the hell out of the majority of the population here. Donald Tsang and his cronies apparently never cared as long as the billionaires were happy. Will C.Y. Leung change things in any substantial way? Color me dubious.








