Historical snapshots in time – July 1 & July 4 2009

These two days represent important dates in history. July 1 in particular is a major milestone for Hong Kong’s history as the day marks the birth of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

Hong Kong Skyline Night View

Often viewed as the major gateway into China historically, it presently faces a bit of a difficult cross-roads, economically, politically, and socially. Democracy still lives as Tens of thousands march for democracy in Hong Kong. But not all is well in this city state – focus and direction for itself under the big shadow cast by China is always present.

July 4, America’s day of freedom, is under threat and it’s not an external one. Felix Rohaytan writes in his recent op-ed piece: Saving American Capitalism. The so-called American Dream has come under serious re-evaluation since the excesses of the US capital markets are directly responsible for missives like Rohatyn’s.

Rohaytn writes:

Market-based capitalism requires a platform of political freedom, the creation of wealth and fairness in its distribution. These values were reflected in the American economy until the 1980s, when American capitalism and European social democracy created reasonably similar economic outcomes.

It’s no wonder that both the US & HK feels itself at a cross-roads given the above truth between economic and political freedoms and social health.

There road ahead isn’t all that clear, in HK, universal suffrage won’t come at least until 2017. In the US, the excesses continue unabatted. If the greatest crisis to happen to the US since the Great Depression can’t be reigned in by reason, then there is even less hope.

However, both Hong Kong (by extension China) and the US can find the future roadmap in the “idea of an “ownership society” mentioned by Rohatyn. It’ll require stricter regulation to ensure human nature doesn’t prevail, sacrifices across the board to ensure equity. Ultimately the system must be fair, it must be regulated, and it must be ethical.