
Contents
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Government Blunders, Past and Present Government Blunders, Past and Present
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Business leadership Business leadership
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Business models Business models
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Past neglect Past neglect
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A New Poverty A New Poverty
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Blaming the Victims Blaming the Victims
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A Siege Mentality A Siege Mentality
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Fragile Prosperity Fragile Prosperity
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Counting the Costs Counting the Costs
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Housing Housing
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Education Education
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Healthcare Healthcare
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Welfare Welfare
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Haunted by History Haunted by History
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The Unseen Victims The Unseen Victims
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Anatomy of Poverty Anatomy of Poverty
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Conclusions: Flawed Policies and Defective Decisions Conclusions: Flawed Policies and Defective Decisions
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Notes Notes
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Introduction: Pain, Panic and Poverty
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Published:September 2013
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Extract
Nothing had prepared the people of Hong Kong for the abrupt reversal in their fortunes that was to overtake them in this century. Adversity began with the 1997–98 Asian financial crisis but the economic downturn did not create the calamity that followed. The worst damage was social, where disaster was to be deep and prolonged. For the first time in decades, poverty became widespread. The numbers of workers who ‘despite working hard’, the government admitted, ‘consistently cannot earn reasonable salaries to satisfy the basic needs of themselves and their families’ was to reach almost 200,000.1
Panic and helplessness paralysed policy-makers, who were convinced that budget austerity was the appropriate remedy despite the protracted and unparalleled deflation that was shrinking the economy.2 By 2005, the government reluctantly conceded that more than a million individuals (15 per cent of the population) were living in poverty.3 The business and professional elite was convinced that the new poor had had only themselves to blame. Past prosperity had ‘spoiled’ Hong Kong people and made them unwilling to help themselves, claimed one prominent business spokesperson.4
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