In Hong Kong, the tiny corner of China where it is still permitted to gather freely outside a McDonald’s, several thousand people took to the streets last weekend. They were protesting at the contents of the budget. But, unlike their counterparts in Greece and Ireland, they were not lamenting cuts to public services necessitated by big deficits. Rather, they were outraged by what their government was proposing to do with its large surplus: give each and every one of them HK$6,000, or about US$770.
在中國偏居一隅的彈丸之地——香港,政府仍允許民眾在麥當勞(McDonald’s)餐廳外自由集會。3月6日,就有數千人走上街頭,抗議政府財政預算案的內容。但與希臘和愛爾蘭的抗議者不同,香港民眾并不是抱怨政府因高額赤字而被迫削減公共服務支出。相反,令他們感到憤怒的,是政府處置龐大財政盈余的方案:向每位成年市民派發6000港元,約合770美元。