My TakeUS senator Rand Paul's economic blueprint sounds very familiar

Wow, what do you know? The genius of Deng Xiaoping has reached the shores of America. US Republican senator Rand Paul, a presidential hopeful, has just released an exhaustive 50-page blueprint to revive the American economy. And the key idea sounds a lot like … China's special administrative regions like Hong Kong and Macau, and special economic zones like Shenzhen and Zhuhai.

Sure, Paul calls it "economic freedom zones", districts, cities and large counties that would be free of government, or at least big government, and its dastardly regulations. There would be a flat-rate tax of 5 per cent for everyone - employees, bosses, corporations!

Capital gains? No tax on those. Payroll taxes - used to fund social security in the US? Four per cent max! What about charity deductions? Forget about them, let's make them tax credits! That means if you give US$1,000 to a charity, that's US$1,000 less to pay in your next tax bill. Environmental - user-pays - legislation? Out of the window! Schools? Let's privatise as many as possible.

American pundits are, by and large, calling his programme "crazy" and/or "terrifying". I am not so sure. It sounds like Paul wants America to outdo the SARs and SEZs. It's been called a programme for hyper-capitalism and destruction of the state. Let free enterprise reign. The US-based Heritage Foundation would be proud. Most Americans and Canadians alive today have lived with capital gains taxes since they were born. They probably think that such taxes are laws of nature. We in Hong Kong, of course, know otherwise. Our tycoons would feel right at home. After all, these guys don't pay a cent on their billion-dollar dividend income. Why do you think they have so much money to give to charities and have public and university buildings bearing their family names?

Where in America would qualify as one of Paul's EFZs? Start with bankrupt cities like Detroit and poor places in danger of insolvency. But hell, eventually anywhere that treasures true economic freedom.

Rand Paul will never become president. America will not end up divided into economic freedom zones. This does not mean Paul is crazy. Call them what you like, we already live in one of those zones, for better or worse.