On behalf of all you middle-class people out there, says this to Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah: "Phooey. You're not one of us. You're a pretender." Over and over again we've told you our bureaucrats live in la-la land. Tsang has now proved us so right that feels totally vindicated. Anyone who makes over HK$300,000 a month, resides in a huge mansion, has a chauffeur and flies first-class - all paid for by taxpayers - but still says he belongs to the middle class doesn't just live in la-la land, he lives in another dimension. And anyone who defines middle-class people as those who drink coffee and watch French movies - not by how much they earn - must be high on never-never land coffee unknown to us earthlings. We have a financial secretary who is completely clueless about how to define the different classes in society, yet is in charge of the people's money. The forgiving will find a way to laugh off Tsang's offensive remarks as foolish gaffes. But it was not a slip of the tongue. It exposed the total inability of our overpaid officials to understand the people. And they sit in their ivory towers wondering why the people so disdain them.
What if the US Treasury Secretary or Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer said people who made HK$300,000 belonged to the middle class because they drank coffee and watched French movies? The outrage would be so great they would likely be fired. Tsang didn't even bother to withdraw his remark. Yet he still has his job. Unlike finance chiefs in true democracies, whose elected bosses are accountable to the people, John "middle-class" Tsang does not have to answer to the people who pay his huge salary. He can say what he wants and spend the people's money however he likes. He can stash away billions for his feared "rainy day" while the rest of us suffer. When they kick up a fuss he can tell them to shove off because he knows best what's best for them. He won't lose his job, because it comes not only with high pay and perks, but also an iron rice bowl.
