Balancing it between rich and poor

Despite myriad sweeteners, Hong Kong Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah's budget, delivered last week, has drawn a storm of criticism centering on its apparent failure to address the widening wealth gap between the haves and have-nots.

Many critics cited the fact that Hong Kong has the widest wealth gap among all developed economies to support their call for the government to take strong measures in addressing the issue. As a believer of the Hong Kong-style free market economic principle, I disagree.

Of course, that principle does not necessarily make heartless capitalists of us all, and we agree that a wide wealth gap is inherently destabilizing. But we do see government intervention in the distribution of wealth as a potential threat to economic freedom. Such a threat, whether real or perceived, could damage the foundation on which the entire economic and social structure rests.