Dichotomy of govt & people's income

Editor's note: Effective supervision could prevent excessive government funds from becoming "hardware" investment, and guide more government spending toward programs such as medical care, social security and basic education in order to improve people's lives.

This year's Government Work Report shows China's GDP reached 33.5 trillion yuan ($4.9 trillion) in 2009, up 8.7 percent from 2008. The fiscal (budget) revenue topped 6.85 trillion yuan (just over $1 trillion), up 11.7 percent. And the urban per capita disposable income was 17,170 yuan ($2,515), an increase of 9.8 percent, while the rural per capita net income was 5,153 yuan ($754.9), up 8.3 percent.

China's 2009 fiscal revenue of 6.85 trillion yuan was equal to the year's total disposable income of 400 million urban residents. It was equal to the entire net income of 1.33 billion farmers, too. The budget revenue, however, does not include the 1.5 trillion yuan ($189 billion) income from land transfer, let alone the profits of the innumerable State-owned enterprises (SOEs) and the income accrued from selling State-owned assets (SOAs).