Ways to Fight Inflation

Did the democratic camp lose the District council election? I am not surprised to see their defeat. They were the ones who advocated and voted to take away all legal control and protection re rent increase and security of tenure a few years. Many have demonstrated against the abolition in recent months because ruthless landlords are increasing rent by 30%-50%. Such nasty actions have helped to boost the property market as more and more tenants who cannot afford high rents are forced to buy flats by borrowing cheaper loans from banks. Sure interest rates will go down and continue to go down in 2008. There is no way to stop this trend whether in Hong Kong or in the US. Pressure from giant investment institutions and rich landlords are dictating what the governments can do while the poor and the weak remains powerless and helpless. The Fed denies that there is any inflation problem and emphasizes that inflation is only moderating. Hong Kong is worse: someone has told the press that we should welcome inflation because we have earned from speculating in the stock market! This sounds absolutely immoral to me. Lots of people in Hong Kong are jobless and many are living below the poverty line. Many cannot have the chance nor resources to speculate or invest in the stock market. The cost of getting a plastic bag in a supermarket is HK$0.5 and this is charged in the name of environmental protection! Our food and transport prices have been rocketing due to the appreciating RMB and the depreciating HKD. Bringing up a child in Hong Kong requires at least HK$4 million (approx. USD0.52 million). How can we have extra money to speculate in the stock market?

Now how can we fight against inflation and the immoral stony heart of the government? I suggest you consider the following actions:

1. Sell your investments to take profits ASAP.
2. Avoid holding HKD and USD. Our HKD is pegged to USD and when USD falls further (which will as the Fed is depreciating the dollar, cutting interest rate), your HKD will become some worthless paper notes! We are in a worse position than others because Hong Kong imports a lot of food and materials from Mainland China where the RMB (Chinese Yuan) has been appreciating at a pace of approx. 5% a year.
3. Save all plastic bags and sell them to your neighbors at below $0.5. I am sure you will earn more and at the same time, protect the environment by re-cycling plastic bags for re-use in such manner.
4. Form anti-inflation groups with neighbors in your building and request the newly elected District Councillors to come and help. But you can't place too much hope on them particularly those in the Democratic Camp.
5. Tell everyone in your family and your office to cut spending ASAP since we will see exorbitant increases in tax, rents, food, transport, fuel and medical costs in Hong Kong.
6. If you are dining out, don't go to expensive places. Fast food restaurants charging $20+ will be better (e.g., Fairwood).
7. If you want to read, don't buy the books. Go to the public library and borrow them.
8. If you can choose between locations within and outside walking distance, always give priority to the one within walking distance. This is one way to protect the environment and to save transport expenses at the same time.

More contributions and ideas are certainly welcome.