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Written by: Commentary Editing Room
2020-11-26 06:45
Last update date: 2020-11-26 06:45
The Chief Executive Carrie Lam delivered the fourth "Policy Address" during her term on Wednesday (25th).
Although the date of this announcement has been postponed by one month due to "waiting to bury the central government", the measures proposed in the report are not only inadequate, but also "distributing sugar" as always, without involving long-term planning and overall protection.
Before the fourth wave of the epidemic hit, the unemployment rate in Hong Kong had climbed to 6.4%. Among them, the unemployment rate of young people aged 20 to 24 exceeded 20%. The catering service activities and consumer-related industries were also hardest hit. However, The second "policy address" did not prepare for the fourth wave of the epidemic.
Excluding that the government will introduce additional 600 million yuan relief measures for the tourism industry, and the “creation of jobs” measures of the “epidemic prevention and anti-epidemic fund”, the report did not propose new measures in the chapters concerning people’s livelihood and welfare. Stabilize the deteriorating job market.
On the contrary, shop owners have been withdrawn from double ad valorem stamp duty. After the "Employment Guarantee Program" was previously called "Employer Protection", this time it can be described as "Property Owner".
More importantly, the government continues to treat people's livelihood policies with a "sugar distribution" mentality.
Whether it’s the $2 car concession scheme for the elderly, the “Public Transport Fare Subsidy Scheme”, a 20% discount on MTR fares, or even the “Short-term Food Assistance Service Scheme”, the Chief Executive’s measures for people’s livelihood proposed in the Policy Address are not only relevant. Rarely involves increasing regular expenditures, and most of them are short-term ad hoc plans that do not involve new thinking needed to respond to social changes.
The law to improve people's livelihood is curing the root cause
For example, although the Hong Kong Government intends to lower the threshold of the "Special Scheme for the Unemployed" to help more unemployed people tide over the economic difficulties, apart from the timeliness of this move, it must continue to rely on complicated applications and lengthy approval procedures. The administrative procedures of the People’s Republic of China did not respond to the demands of the people to establish unemployment assistance.
In terms of reducing transportation costs, although the government’s subsidies to the citizens can reduce transportation costs, the policy will always come to an end. A more fundamental approach is to start with the distribution of employment opportunities, and to disperse the current concentration of business activities by planning new commercial centers. , Or even the government's move to repurchase the MTR to reduce the incentive for MTR to take the interests of shareholders as the primary consideration.
In addition, the existing Comprehensive Social Security Assistance for the Elderly, Old Age Allowance and Old Age Living Allowance are all welfare policies that drop in the bucket. Not only can they not make up for the shortcomings of the MPF system, they also fail to cope with the ageing population, extended life expectancy and extremely low birth rate. Become a retirement protection for the elderly.
Therefore, even if the current government claims that its efforts to build a caring society can be seen in the investment of resources, the amount of investment is not equivalent to its commitment to caring for the disadvantaged.
Should make the way
2020 can be described as an eventful autumn.
Hong Kong has been dragged down by the epidemic, and the unemployment rate has exceeded the level of SARS. In the past six months, the Hong Kong government has to spend a large amount of public money to relieve the economic pains of various industries.
The Chief Executive pointed out earlier that because the Budget and three rounds of the "Pandemic Prevention and Anti-epidemic Fund" have introduced relief measures of about 310 billion yuan, this "policy address" will not spend a lot of money, and urged the public not to expect too much.
However, the government has tightened its purse in response to the decline in income. It is absolutely reasonable in the peaceful and prosperous times. However, Hong Kong is currently in an extraordinary period, so it is natural that there should be emergency measures.
So the question is not how many resources have been spent, but how many resources are left to spend.
Although the local treasury has spent about 300 billion yuan, its fiscal reserves have fallen to 800 billion to 900 billion yuan, which is equivalent to the level after SARS, but the figure is still equivalent to 14 to 15 months. Government expenditure is more stable than many European and American countries. Therefore, the problem that the Hong Kong government has been facing for many years is not lack of money, but not knowing how to do it.
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