Returning to Hong Kong from a brief visit overseas, one is often struck by little headlines that would normally go unnoticed but suddenly seem to say a lot. Here are two. The South China Morning Post's classified advertisement section proclaims that 'about 50 per cent of readers have two cars'. Surprised? Well, it would hardly be surprising in the United States or Germany, for example - countries with per capita incomes supposedly similar to Hong Kong's.
But put that statistic back into the Hong Kong context and it takes on a new meaning. Hong Kong had just 359,000 private cars at the end of last year - one for every 20 inhabitants - largely because of the lack of space and high taxes.
Thus, the Post's reasonable boast to advertisers of its readers' affluence is also a testament to Hong Kong's ever-increasing income inequality. The chances are, too, that a high proportion of those Post-reading car owners live in Mid-Levels, Happy Valley, Kowloon Tong and other urban areas where car ownership is more of a luxury than it would be for residents of remote but impoverished Tin Shui Wai, say.
That, in turn, says two more things that are noteworthy. First, that this car-owning elite (which includes me) is a huge contributor to the appalling levels of air pollution and consumption of vast areas of land for roadways. The high taxes for fuel and registration in no way compensate for the costs we pay in lost land opportunity and building expenses.
The bloated, overpaid senior bureaucracy has a vested interest in maintaining this situation, as it enjoys the free use of many car parks in central locations, which makes driving to work a natural choice rather than using public transport. That is not to mention the ranks of self-important, upper-middle-level bureaucrats who swan around in chauffeur-driven, government-owned cars and regularly ignore traffic rules.
Granted, commercial vehicles pollute more than cars. But a lot could still be done with cars to reduce pollution and improve income distribution, including:
Encourage private vehicles to convert to LPG - at present, because of a typical official surrender to vested interests, it is not even allowed.