The Economist - USA (2019-07-20)

The EconomistJuly 20th 2019 15

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Letters

HongKong’spolitics

I musttakeissuewith“China’s

chance”(June22nd),which

ascribedtherecentturmoilin

HongKongtoChina’salleged

suppressionofHongKong’s

freedomsandreluctanceto

granttheterritoryuniversal

suffrageinelectingitschief.

Chinahasgonemuchfurther

thanBritainindemocratising

HongKong.Thepromiseof

universalsuffrageastheulti-

mateaimappearsintheBasic

Law,HongKong’smini-consti-

tution,notintheSino-British

jointdeclarationonthefuture

ofHongKong.Nordidthe

Britishoverlordstakeactionto

returnpowertothepeople

untiltheylearnedthatthere

wouldbenohopeofextending

Britishrulebeyond1997.

It isnaivetosuggestthat

universalsuffragewillsolveall

HongKong’sproblems.Its

people,especiallytheyoung,

aredeeplyangeredbytheacute

housingandlandshortage,the

wideningwealthgap,

worseninglivingconditions

andthenarrowingopportuni-

tiesforupwardmobility

becauseofcompetitionfroma

risingChina.HongKong,

however,isnotuniquein

experiencingdeepdivisions

becauseofgrowingdisparities.

Universalsuffragetoelect

thecity’sleader,withgroups

fightingonopposing

ideologicalorsocioeconomic

platforms,wouldserveonlyto

amplifytheexistingschisms.

Britain’srecentpoliticalpolar-

isationamongRemainersand

Leaversisa cautionarytalefor

thosewhohaveromantic

illusionsaboutdemocracy.Our

city’sprioritymustliein

tacklingdeep-rootedsocial

andeconomicproblemswitha

viewtoimprovingthe

livelihoodofourpeople.

reginaip

MemberofHongKong’s

LegislativeCouncil

HongKong

In support of free trade

The intellectual origins of your

analysis on the benefits of

America’s and China’s growing

financial ties (“Counter-flow”,

July 6th) can be traced back to

Montesquieu.In“TheSpiritof

theLaws”theFrenchphiloso-

pherwrotethatbecause“Two

nationsthattradewitheach

otherbecomereciprocally

dependent...thenaturaleffect

ofcommerceistoleadto

peace.”Theunderlyinglogicof

self-intereststilloffersthe

greatesthopeofanaccord

betweenthesetwocountries.

jonathankincheloe

Denver

California is still the best

Each week seems to bring an

article in the newspapers on

how the California Dream no

longer exists and why the state

is losing its businesses to other

places (Special report on Cali-

fornia and Texas, June 22nd).

Let’s look at the facts. Califor-

nia is a $3trn economy, bigger

than Texas and Florida com-

bined. Regarding the “exodus”

of people to states like Texas,

California’s population grew

by 18% over the past two

decades, more than in any of

the world’s rich economies. It

has added 3.1m jobs since

February 2010, and accounts

for a quarter of all employment

growth in America recently.

The state is in good fiscal shape

with a $21.5bn budget surplus,

undermining the argument

that it is not prepared for an

economic downturn.

Yes, California is not the

cheapest place to do business,

but it is prosperous, which

owes much to its appeal as a

destination for innovative

companies. Some 17% of com-

pany properties in the state are

research and development

facilities, more than in China,

Japan and Germany.

It is difficult to agree with

the assertion that California’s

best days are behind it.

michael delaney

Brea, California

It is a mistake to say that in

California “non-whites have

outnumbered whites since

2000, and in Texas since 2005”.

These often-cited figures

assume that Hispanics are

non-white. However, in the

2010 census, 53% of Hispanics

identified themselves as white.

Liberal states allow people to

determinetowhichracethey

belong,incontrasttoNazi

GermanyandtheOldSouth,

whichassignedracetopeople.

Moreover,theimplication

thatHispanicsarea race

(“brown”)racialisesa category

ofpeoplethatactuallyismade

upofethnicgroups(Cuban-

American,Mexican-American

andsoon).Ethnicdivisionsare

moremutableandbridgeable

thanracialones.Henceany

implicationthatHispanicsare

a raceisbestavoided.

amitaietzioni

InstituteforCommunitarian

PolicyStudies

GeorgeWashingtonUniversity

Washington,DC

Inyourreporttherewasno

mentionoftherapidlygrowing

Asian-Americanpopulationin

bothstates.Nordidyoutouch

ontheroleofreligion.Califor-

nia’sreligiousdiversitymakes

it morereceptivetoscience

thanreligiouslyconservative

Texas.Culturalpluralismisas

importantastaxpolicyinthe

twostates’effectonAmerica.

rolandspickermann

Odessa,Texas

ThedescriptionofTexasas

“freedomloving”andwishing

tokeep“outofpeople’sprivate

lives”wastoosimplistic,given

thestate’srestrictivelawson

abortion.InAprilthisyeara

billwasproposedinthestate

legislaturetoextendthedeath

penaltytowomenwhohave

abortions.It didnotpass,but

thisdemonstratesthatthelove

forfreedominTexasdoesnot

reallyextendtowomen.

mattstokeld

Melbourne,Australia

London after Brexit

Your analysis of whether

London’s financial services can

survive Brexit did not give

sufficient weight to the cluster

effect (“City under siege”, June

29th). The City is an extraordi-

nary interconnected web of

centres of excellence, a unique

multidisciplinary cluster-of-

clusters which has no rival. In

our technological age, this

connectivity is how businesses

stay current and grow. In the

markets that are likely to see

the most growth over coming

years (fintech, green finance

and the yuan’s international-

isation), London has a signif-

icant lead over its competitors.

Other expanding areas, such as

Islamic finance, also benefit

from the London cluster of

legal, accounting and other

professional expertise and

London’s expert regulatory

environment. These areas of

innovation do not depend

upon deals with the eufor

future growth. Their scale is

global, not regional.

The City will continue to

thrive, deal or no-deal.

alastair king

Chairman

Naisbitt King

London

If there were a referendum to

vote out bankers in London I’d

support it, but there isn’t.

Luckily I was given a once-in-a-

generation opportunity three

years ago to change things so,

along with 52% of the pop-

ulation, I took it. Will voting

for Brexit change the way

bankers behave, or the housing

crisis, created by financial

speculation? Who knows, but

one thing is certain; voting for

the status quo certainly won’t.

john harris

London

A Monty Python sketch

I know just the man to lead

Wells Fargo (“The hottest seat

in banking”, June 22nd). A Mr

Herbert Anchovy (aka Michael

Palin) was looking to leave his

job as an accountant for a more

exciting career as a lion tamer.

His counsellor (John Cleese)

suggested he make that transi-

tion by taking an intermediate

role as a banker. I imagine that,

after a few visits to Congress,

lions will seem the more

friendly to whoever becomes

Wells Fargo’s new boss.

peter galligan

New York