Proactive, pragmatic Tsang shows interventionist yearnings

There is an infallible test for gauging the weight of a politician's words: if you can imagine him saying the opposite, then his statement is significant; if you cannot, it is just so much flummery.

Applying the test to yesterday's policy address, which Donald Tsang Yam-kuen headlined 'Proactive, Pragmatic, Always People First', yields some interesting results.

For example, it is hard to imagine any politician standing up and promising always to put people last. They may think it, they may feel it, but they will never say it - at least not in public.

So the 'always people first' bit of the title is just meaningless drivel. But the 'proactive' and 'pragmatic' bits are not. After all, it is entirely possible to imagine a politician pledging government that is 'responsive and principled'. In fact, it is highly likely a large proportion of Hong Kong's population would prefer precisely that to an administration that is proactive and pragmatic.

There are excellent reasons why governments should not try to be proactive and pragmatic, at least as far as the business community is concerned. Once they decide to be proactive, governments begin to think they can pick economic winners. That tempts them to start investing public money in their chosen sectors.

The trouble is, there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that governments have a greater aptitude than entrepreneurs for hitting on successful business ideas. They may be no worse, but that is small comfort. Plenty of entrepreneurs make lousy business decisions. The difference is that when they do, they go bust.

When government officials make bad calls, they just throw more of our tax dollars at the problem in an effort to save face.