The Danger of Being Wealthy
on a local TV station got the whole country pissed off. When it
turned out that the TV station told the (averaged middle class) girl
to make up the whole thing to get higher rating for the show,
criticism and financial punishment for the TV station was logically
and swiftly called for. The fact that the TV station is capable of
thinking up something like this and the success in attracting (mostly
negative) attention to the said TV show goes to show the sensitivity
normal people have regarding an outright display of social inequality.
Of course, this kind of wealth display is not new or rare. Internet
forums in China practically gets new pics of some rich boy or girls'
personal "accessories" every single day, attracting fiery comments
from netizens. The fact that these young boys and girls are from
wealthy families and did not work for any of their wealth only
increases the negative sentiments toward the rich among middle and
working class populations. The flaunting of wealth by the rich have
brought realistic fear to the rich themselves. Because of the
(exaggerated) sense of social inequality displayed by the flaunting,
many a (noble-sounding) netizens have argued for increased taxation on
high income earners, or even worse, violent confiscation of extra
wealth for distribution to the poor.
That kind of talk has historical roots. As I have wrote about before,
most popular rebellions that overthrew dynasties begins with killing
local landlords to distribute land and wealth. And just as today,
people tend to doubt the origin of high income concentrated in one
family when most of the country is so poor. Corruption and illegal
business practices immediately comes to mind. Governments throughout
history have been keen to frequently jail the richest people and
confiscate their wealth based on their dubious source of income, both
to appease the poor and to increase the wealth of the government.
And the PRC government have continued to use this model. Some in the
circle have joked that the list of wealthiest persons published in
China is like a government blacklist. Many on the list in the past
years have been sentenced for everything from tax fraud to corruption
to even disturbing national order. Their wealth, of course, have been
recycled into the national treasury. Fearing persecution, the wealthy
in China have not been hesitant to emigrate, using their investments
to buy citizenship abroad. In fact, most of those flaunting wealth
are living abroad at least part of the time and do have foreign
residency.
To say that every single one of the hundreds of billionaires and
hundreds of thousands of millionaires in this country got rich through
illicit means is of course a bit ridiculous on the part of the
netizens, but there is no doubt that likes of government officials and
coal mine bosses got rich really quickly without much of an effort.
They just happened to sit on the right government seat or right piece
of land. Better regulation of these positions may be necessary.
Similarly, the few remaining state-owned enterprises in the country
are now all huge, have monopoly or definite market control, and high
profitability. The bosses of these SOEs should also be periodically
examined to see if they are pocketing extra cash.
But probably the most difficult problem in dealing with all the grey
income is the fact that rich people and their money can easily leave
the country. Back in the day of the dynastic era, the rich didn't
leave the country (they just didn't think better lives would be
awaiting them anywhere else), so getting money back is as simple as
tracking down the rich guy's treasury chest. But now, even with
limitations on how much money people in China (Chinese and foreigners
alike) can wire abroad and how much foreign currency they can get, it
is still easy for illicit incomes to disappear from China.
With the money gone, there is no evidence of wealth. And even if the
wealth is confirmed, the government can't track the money back to
China. Better yet, the wealthy, with their wives, mistresses, and
"accessory"-loaded sons and daughters already abroad, all they need to
avoid arrest is just hope on an airplane. As China has extradition
agreements with practically no countries, the wealthy can just apply
for political asylum when the arrest warrant comes. Perhaps, rather
than hating the rich being rich, the netizens are more pissed about
how all the money the bosses make from the commoners' sweat and blood
so easily end up enriching already wealthy countries....
Recent visit to China by Bill Gates and Warren Buffet may change the
situation for the better. Their effort to sell the concept of charity
to the Chinese wealthy has been met with at least some enthusiastic
responses. Some businessmen have promised to donate large sums of
cash to improve lives and education of rural China. With more
charity, the money and wealthy, skilled Chinese citizens can be used
to develop China. With charity, the angry netizens may lose some of
their steam, and the "brain drain" and "money drain" due to fear of
persecution may finally stop in the future.
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