Today's article is a look at Hong Kong and its expanding influence moving into the Chinese main land. As the city moves to join other major cities through infrastructure links and employment, the freedoms enjoyed by the residents of Hong Kong stand in contrast to the other residents nearby.
The author tries to bring the concept into an American example.
"Imagine if the various boroughs of New York City all had different political systems, tax structures, and gambling laws, or if Paris’s many arrondissements each had different degrees of freedom of expression."
The interesting oversight of this article is that this situation exists around New York City today. In talking about Mega-Cities, they forgot about the first one from Boston to Washington.
The various supporting units of New York's system - Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and the rest - do have different political systems, tax structures and gambling laws. It also has a single government overseeing the entire stretch, but real limitations on the localized influence that it can exert.
For the East Coast of the US, the separation actually is a strength. Weak corporation laws provide protection for companies in Deleware, but its location puts it in striking distance of New York finance. Pennsylvania countryside can provide the metropolis with farm goods.
Even competition is strengthening. Alternate ports compete with New York. But the attributes of the competition (for example, Baltimore's position further inland) allows more specialization rather than Peter directly robbing Paul.
But there is one stark difference between the two coastal conurbations. The personal freedoms on the East Coast of the United States are unquestioned. This is not the case with variations between freedoms allowed in Chinese cities.
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