Rather than import so many warm bodies to feed this bottomless pit, let’s export Gerry Harvey to China. He wants to go:
There’s some laughter from Australian billionaire Gerry Harvey when he suggests that China’s one-party led dictatorship is a model Australia should aspire to if it wants to get things done.
But there’s more than a hint of sincerity.
Mr Harvey, who turned 83 last week, says the “best” political system to “get something done” is the Chinese system.
“If you want to get something done, the best system is the Chinese one,” he told news.com.au.
“You just do it. You’ve got a government that’s in total control and they don’t give a f**k what the people say.”
Mr Harvey made the comments while lamenting the direction of Australia’s democracy – specifically the historic move away from the two major parties and the rise of the so-called “teal” independents.
This is all so asinine that I won’t waste many words on it. Get what done, Gerry? This?
John Bussey of the Wall Street Journal also noted the curse of the rich list: “Very soon after [China’s wealthiest] make the list and get publicity, their share prices begin to decline. The companies themselves are more subject to government cutting off subsidies to them, and the individuals who lead them are more subject to investigation.”
Take Zhou Zengyi as an example. Once China’s 11th richest man, valued by Forbes at $320 million in 2002, he has since been arrested twice and is currently serving a 16-year sentence. Zhou’s transgressions even took Chen Liangyu, Shanghai’s Communist party secretary, down with him.
What accounts for the sharp rise and fall of China’s wealthiest? In a business environment in which personal connections and favors — referred to as guanxi in Chinese — predominate, many tycoons have amassed large fortunes without concern of rules and regulations. However, such a fast and loose atmosphere can cut both ways.
Xu Ming, a billionaire who was once China’s eighth richest citizen, has been detained and under investigation since March 2012 because of his ties with fallen Chongqing Mayor Bo Xilai. Likewise, four others on the list have either been charged with economic crimes, are in detention, or already languishing in prison.
Arrests like these indicate that China has begun to take corruption more seriously. Again, however, identifying which targets deserve indictment remains largely arbitrary. The Economist noted that despite the number of high level cases coming to light in the country, many more remain hidden: “If they wanted to, China’s authorities could probably find grounds for accusing most of the country’s richest people of bending (if not breaking) the rules. But China’s legal culture thrives on the principle of ‘killing the chicken to scare the monkeys.'”
Maybe Gerry’s right, after all.
