Economics?

The other day I saw a post on Google Plus talking about the Liberal Government trying to reduce debt, what most people wrote under there were something like "the debt is not significant enough to be worried about, look at the US" etc. I was furious at that sort of opinions. A debt like the US have? They can barely pay for their interest on that debt with their whole budget! So I posted "You would not allow your own finance to run into debt, why should you allow your government to do so?" And what I got was name and shame from leftards telling me that I don't know a single thing about economics. Their reason was a company has to borrow money to grow. Oh really? I might not have a degree on economics but I think I know better than that.

For one thing, companies do not grow by borrowing money, at least that is not a healthy type of growth you'd want, as the debt will catch up with you once your profit falls behind interest rates. A company grows by re-investing part of its profit, which in turn brings in more profit. Isn't that the basic economics we're talking about?

Secondly, a government is not a company, the last thing you want is for it to grow.

River Elegy

River Elegy is a 6 episode Chinese documentary about the Yellow River in China and the culture behind it filmed in around 1987-1988. It is still available on YouTube but English subtitles are probably not easy to find. I started looking for it after I read something online about how open-minded this documentary is 25 years ago comparing to China these days. I was genuinely shocked when I watched it and I realized there was a time in Chinese history before 4th Jun 1989 that China used to have so much hope.

The narration was the stereotypical communist tone but what it delivered was nothing but. It called for much more social and economical liberty than anything you could imagine broadcasting on any Chinese TV channel now. It correctly identified communism as the obstruction to greater succeed of China and admitted openly that cultural revolution and the "great leap forward" were both big mistakes made by the government. It called for science and conscience in terms of deciding China's future. I could not have said it better.

There are certain things you do need to say about the government to enable a show to be publicly broadcast on CCTV (China's largest national television broadcaster, controlled by the Communist government of course), especially in the 80s not long after Mao's death and the end of cultural revolution. There are a few places in the show where propaganda just seeps through, and not anywhere in the show did they mention the Communist Party is part of the problem (no one would expect them to though being on a government-controlled media). At that stage though, China was really willing to adopt capitalism (well at least the economic aspects), and was ready for a change. It was the Tiamanmen massacre that changed its path for good.

One thing is clear, we have not seen anything like that coming out after the Tiananmen massacre and I don't believe we will as long as China is still controlled by the one and only almighty Communist Party.

My Utopia

Election's here again, tomorrow. And I'm really glad that polls pointed to a major defeat for Labor which has been a major fuck up to Australia in the past 6 years. But let's not talk about it. Instead, let's talk about what sort of society do I actually want but none of the current sitting parties would deliver?

First, we do not need 80% of the public servants (including police force and government officials) that we currently employ. Yes that's huge cuts to jobs but think of it this way, public servants are not really the jobs you want in growth, which would mean heavier tax on tax payers. And by freeing up that sort of human resource into the work force, we will have much more people that pay tax instead of sucking up on tax payers, of course tax rate would only need to be a fraction of what it is now, or even voluntary.

Next step would be compressing regulations, abandon any victimless crimes such as speeding and marijuana, abandon anything that is no business of the government (defining who you can marry etc). The idea is, you are free to do anything you want unless you're you are harming someone else by doing so. For example there won't be speed limits (red circle signs) on any road, only yellow triangle signs of a recommended but not enforced speed for technical reasons. You can legally be drunk and drive 200 kph in a 40 zone as long as you don't hit anyone or anything, in which cases you'd receive heavy penalties, but for the people or property you hit and not for being drunk or speeding.

Finally, Islam will be banned, it should be considered a cult and not a religion as it preaches hatred. Any religious institute will not receive a single cent of government funding and no religious practise can be practised without the consent of that person (e.g. in schools or to new born babies). Commissioning should be limited too. People should develop their own world view without any influence of others.

That's probably the closest to a perfect world I can imagine.

Bitch

I need a space to vent. Seriously.

I have never had to deal with someone as disgusting as you. I feel like if I do not have somewhere to vent I'd get seriously depressed. Lucky this is almost over, I can't wait to report you to authorities when I do.

I knew you were trouble from the day of my interview. And I was right. I don't know what sort of a dark soul you have but I have seriously had enough of your shit. You probably treat me like this only because I was new and I was the only one that you could boss around after you have been working for what 30 years? You seriously have no clue. I remember all your racial slurs, verbal abuse and small talks. I kept silent does not mean you get away. You better be prepared when my compilation of your biography reaches the boss.

You are impossible to please, so I have long given up trying. At first I thought it was me. I thought I haven't been doing it well enough. But every time that I have done something right you would have something else revamped to accuse me of, even if that was exactly what you have taught me to do before. If it weren't correct why did you instruct me this way? Just so that you could pick on me later? It is seriously a low life you're living.

Why would you think I would beg to work with you again next year? I was merely saying that I could come back to the area next vintage, without mentioning coming back to this place. The boss was nice enough to to reach out and say we should keep in contact and see if I'd like to come back and work as a casual next year. I did not say yes or no. And now you are harassing me making it look like I was the one who begs to come back and work here, telling me that you don't want to work with me. As if I wanted to work with you!

Bitch.

Face and Fakes

I went back to China to visit over Xmas after almost 4 years straight in Australia. And lucky it wasn't a long trip! China has gotten worse over the years that I wasn't there.

First impression is the colour of the sky. Even when waiting for transition in Hong Kong you can feel it. It's grey and it's just not quite as transparent. I reckon I have seen one blue sky day during my 17 day stay in China, which is the last day. I think it does indicate how pollution is going on around the country no matter how the government was trying to cover it up declaring close to 200 days of blue skies annually in their official reports.

Worse were the rivers. I went to a small village in Panyu near the river mouth of Pearl River, the water was brown, floating with rubbish and it stinks. And there's a pretty bad haze over the water too although it appeared to be a fine day, those huge ships from afar was a mere silhouette. The bank, on the other hand, looks quite recently renovated with newly tiled paths, freshly planted trees and grass, it was quite surreal.

Back in my home city of Guangzhou, of course it had changed quite a bit over the years while I wasn't home (not even sure whether I'd call it home any more). With skyscrapers erecting every day it was fascinating. The thing is people (including my family and friends) seems to be overly obsessed with those above ground achievements, they brag about it and always urge me to go and have a look at them. I did. Those high towers  in neon lights and fountains that dance with music are nice to have I guess, but it's sort of an empty message and huge waste of money, especially when you don't even have a proper sewage system underground (ref. thunderstorms last summer in Beijing, I don't believe Guangzhou doing any better because I do remember those flash floods from my high school era and I have not heard about any improvements that had been done on them).

People are probably the most annoying part of China. I don't think I have met a single person that I know that hadn't asked me about my marital status and when I'd getting married and when I'd be having children within the first 5 lines of conversation. And when I tell them I won't be considering marriage any soon and I don't ever want children I apparently raised their eyebrows and they started talking about the daughter of someone they know, trying to interest me. I guess what I was trying to say is, this is my life and it is completely none of your business.

Well good to be back I guess. Seeing all those family and friends etc. I think I did miss some of you but that was supposed to be my holiday while apparently I was a lot more exhausted than at work because I did not have any weekends and every day there are at least 2 meals that I had to have out with someone for reunion. I am really glad that I am back in Australia and have my freedom back. I have a few friends here that I catch up with regularly for a drink or two, I do not have to talk about anything personal unless I wanted to and I just feel relaxed being with them. I like it a lot more in here.

A Thought On Voluntary Taxation: Give It A Go

No one whole-heartedly loves tax, except those who collects them of course. Taxation is necessary to keep a government functional and that's fair enough. What is not fair is that we do not have enough control over the government's spendings. We paid our tax to the government according to our income, end of story. How that money was spent was never revealed (you wouldn't know whose money exactly these were, but the cases that did reveal spending of taxation money were scary, Craig Thomson uses it for his prostitutes, $16m stolen by a Queensland Health officer, millions spent on Labor's home insulation program which electrocuted a few workers and eventually more was spent to pull them all out, the list goes on). This tax system is corrupt and we need to demolish it and build it from the ground up again. This is where voluntary taxation should come in.

Of course a voluntary system would sound like no tax for you on first impression, but there are driving forces that would motivate people enough to pay (very realistic projects such as fixing the flood damaged road that you drive on every single day, installing seatbelts on your kid's school bus or funding research on breast cancer which just took the life of your aunt etc). The benefit is very obvious: you are only paying for what you would like to contribute to (often what's genuinely and promptly benefiting yourself) instead of what the government forces upon you, and the amount is completely up to you. Of course the more funds a project gets the quicker it would proceed, that, on itself, prioritizes what people wants the most to be accomplished sooner.

Think any aspect of a government function (diplomacy, defence, health, welfare, education, research, infrastructure or even the green movement), there should be people passionate enough to contribute their tax money for it. If no one's contributing to it, no one needs it. It's that simple.

People vote by their money, not a ballot. There is no need for empty election promises, because under the current system the elected candidate get control of your tax money and does whatever he/she wants with it, not under a voluntary system though. The account of any project should  be available to be reviewed by everyone, or detailed to the ones who contributed and briefed to the ones who didn't.

Getting a project going is easy. When interest is expressed on a certain project, an empty account can be created by the government. People will contribute to this account until it gets enough money to kick-start, then it is the government's sole responsibility to get it done in a timely manner. There should be a time limit for raising funds though, preferably set case-by-case. If not enough fund was raised during that period (people are not interested enough to get it done at this stage) the money should be returned (without interest). Of course this failed project could be started again at a better timing.

As taxation is no longer enforced, the government body of enforcement of taxation (ATO in Australia) might even become redundant. The statistic work can be taken over by ABS.

Yes we might still be better off with a government to manage all those projects, a very restrictive one though. How do you restrict a government? Cut on the money given to it and refuse it to run into deficit. In a totally voluntary system, the surplus of any project can go to the everyday operation of a government, and that's it. If they do want some sense of security then a say 1% flat rate income tax/profit tax can be applied for individuals/companies. No people with higher incomes does not deserve to pay tax at a higher rate, they are paying a larger absolute amount already, and people with lower income do need to have a sense of responsibility to contribute to the society instead of winging and hating on the better-offs.

I think I ran into a bit too much detail on some of my points and not enough for some others, but this ideology has only recently hit me and I will need a bit more time to think about it more thoroughly. Hopefully I'd come back to this topic at some point with better sorted opinions.

In Case I Do Forget

I have a serious case of a crush, again.

I figured you're way our of my league. Young, hot, sporty, hung. And you even have the same first name that one of my past crushes have. It was like a dream come true to catch up with you. You're gentle, you're tender, you're sensational. I can see myself falling for you instantly. I like you a lot, I told you. It's just that, you probably don't feel the same.

The thing is I couldn't get over this fact. I started dreaming of you, I still masturbate thinking of you, I tried to remember the cold and soft touch of you, I struggled whether to talk to you or not when I see you online (not that it matters now as you started to ignore my messages). I have butterflies thinking of you, even now, the painful sort of butterflies. I know I should be grateful for what we (more like I) had, which is one hook up, and move on.

It's not like I haven't gone for rebounds, I have. But it's just not the same (I know). This is by no means meant to be, and I will grow out of it eventually. Meanwhile, make me suffer.

I hope I'd be able to move on after posting this.