Guest post by Joe Hoft

Twenty years after Communist China took control of Hong Kong the city continues to incur record surpluses year after year.

Meanwhile, in the same period, major US Cities led by Democrats face bankruptcies, murder rates that rival war zones and massive illegal alien population growth.

(Chicago picture from Insider Chicago article of Chicago’s most dangerous neighborhoods – and a recent photo of Hong Kong, China)

Chinese Communists Allowed Hong Kong to Prosper

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This Saturday, July 1st, will mark the 20th anniversary of the British handover of Hong Kong in 1997 to Communist China. The peaceful handover occurred after 150 years of British rule over the colony. China first ceded Hong Kong to the British after the First Opium War in 1842. Then in 1898 China leased the New Territories together with 235 islands (collectively referred to as Hong Kong) to the British for 99 years starting on July 1st.

As the 99 year lease expiration approached in 1997 the British decided not to renew their lease and handed Hong Kong back over to China. The British worked to influence the post handover government and China eventually agreed to the “one country, two systems” approach to Hong Kong after the hand over. The Communist Chinese recognized the crown jewel it had in Hong Kong and allowed the metropolis to continue with its economic and social systems present at the time. The Chinese Communists fell far short for providing for universal suffrage but they did decide for the most part to leave the economy and social policies alone.

Today Hong Kong is recognized as a separate country in most country classifications because of the “one country, two systems” approach by the Communist Chinese. Hong Kong has a budget surplus nearly every year. This is in spite of the country providing basically free health care to all its citizens and proving free housing for 30% of its population. Hong Kong is rated number one in the world with the world’s freest economy and Hong Kong is known as the financial center of Asia.

US Democrats’ Actions with US Cities are the Polar Opposite

Two years ago Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Chicago’s debt to junk status, now politicians in Chicago are arguing that maybe bankruptcy is not such a bad thing. Chicago currently faces $25 billion in pension promises that it cannot pay.

Chicago is not the only Democrat led US city that is facing bankruptcy and a number of Democrat led cities have actually gone through bankruptcies.

Since 2010 a total of nine municipalities have filed for bankruptcy protection—which is on top of an additional 42 utilities, water districts, hospitals and other municipal agencies that have actually gone full-fledged bankrupt, according to a study from Governing.com. Some of the larger municipalities that were forced to file for Chapter 9 were the cities of Stockton and San Bernardino in California, Central Falls in Rhode Island, the Pennsylvania state capital Harrisburg, and the largest metropolitan area on the list – Detroit, Michigan.

Many of the Democrat cities are sanctuary cities and that allow illegal aliens in their cities yet at the same time face horrible financial results.

Chicago and many of these cities also face horribly high murder rate: “With more than 760 murders last year [2016], Chicago tallied more killings than New York City and Los Angeles combined. It was the highest murder toll for the city in nearly two decades.”

The common element among these cities is that they have been run by Democrats for years. Chicago is basically under a one-party rule because the last Republican mayor of Chicago left office in 1931. The city and others are famous for Democrat charlatans who thrive on corruption.

Comparison of Hong Kong to US Democrat Led Cities

Hong Kong is roughly the same size as Chicago reporting 7.3 million inhabitants with Chicago reporting 9.8 million. However, one of these cities is rampaged with crime, insolvency and terrible management. It doesn’t take long for the casual observer to see that Hong Kong is thriving while Chicago is in despair. The sad fact is that many US cities are similar to Chicago in that they are in sorry financial shape and they incur significantly high crime rates.

Hong Kong shows that large cities can prosper and have surpluses while taking care of their citizenry.

The Communist Chinese show that capitalism works as exemplified by their policies and actions with Hong Kong since 1997, while Liberals in Chicago show through their policies and actions that they believe communism is the answer.

It’s ironic that Communists in China know better than the American Democrat Party that to ensure prosperity and stability, the less the government does to impede capitalism the better.