Read Budget 2009 on http://www.budget.gov.hk/2009/eng/speech.html .
Discuss an issue in the Budget in 80-100 words. You should
(1) tell whether you support it or agree with it, and
(2) suggest possible ways to better the situation / solve the problem.
Deadline: 11.55pm, 2 March 09
Seek help from Wordreference and Thesaurus!
I think the Budget can’t help the low income families.They don’t need to pay tax or even redecorate the building thay live.Although the government pay quiet a lot of efforts on it, however I think it is not so helpful to the low level citizens.
Low level citizens need more economic support, since their income are low and easy suffer from unemployment.
I suggest government can reduce the rent of public housing,give subsidy on electricity or water.I think this is the more effcient
way to help the Hong Kong citizens to face the difficulties bought by the financial tsunami.
It’s true that those from the grassroots won’t benefit much in the new Budget. Cutting the rent of public housing estates is a sensible move to aid the majority. Would Mr Tsang consider it?
I think the Budget this time is quite good.
As we are now facing the economic tsunami, we need to increase Hong Kong’s competitiveness. Although a lot of people said that the Budget this time was not satisfactory, what people in Hong Kong most care about is getting back money from the government. However, the row of being a finance secretary is not to give money back to citizens, it is to use money effectively and fairly.
Many constructions stated in the Budget could help develop Hong Kong’s economy, for example, the Kai Tak cruise terminal. The project could really create new jobs and as a new way for Hong Kong to earn money and compete with other countries having the same facilities.
I support the Budget to promote green economy, especially ‘Hong Kong/Guangdong Co-operation in Environmental Protection’. Air pollution is so serious that we usually see think smog in the sky. Under this project, I think the air quality will be improved by reducing the pollutants that blown from Guangdong to Hong Kong. The Budget also mentioned about promoting the use of electric cars. However, it still leads to a number of problems. For example, if the car is parked on the road, it is very difficult to refill its electricity. Therefore, I suggest the government to promote the use of public transport instead.
I think the Budget can help people in Hong Kong a lot as many people are unemployed due to the finanial crisis and the Budget creates more jobs for the people. Also, the Budget helps promoting green and improving the environment so that people can live in a better environment. However, I think the Budget should contain some measure about education as it is very important in the society. Althought the economy is not so good, I think we should still consider about education.
I support the Budget to promote green economy, especially ‘Hong Kong/Guangdong Co-operation in Environmental Protection’. Air pollution is so serious that we usually see think smog in the sky. Under this project, I think the air quality will be improved by reducing the pollutants that blown from Guangdong to Hong Kong. The Budget also mentioned about promoting the use of electric cars. However, it still has a number of problems. For example, if the car is parked on the road, it is very difficult to refill its electricity. Therefore, I suggest the government to promote the use of public transport instead.
(This is Alan’s work.)
I support the Budget to promote green economy, especially ‘Hong Kong/Guangdong Co-operation in Environmental Protection’. Air pollution is so serious that we usually see think smog in the sky. Under this project, I think the air quality will be improved by reducing the pollutants that blown from Guangdong to Hong Kong.
The Budget also mentioned about promoting the use of electric cars. However, it still has a number of problems. For example, if the car is parked on the road, it is very difficult to refill its electricity. Therefore, I suggest the government to promote the use of public transport instead.
Everyone is very concerned about the Budget, as financial tsunami affects Hong Kong badly and they want to know if they will benefit from it or not. Apart from reducing tax, providing more job opportunities is more important, as not all people can favor from reducing tax. Although financial tsunami causes recession in economy, environment-protection problem is as serious as the financial tsunami. Government should spend more money on it, but what I saw from the Budget, environment protection only takes a small part. Government should carry out policy to raise people’s awareness on it, like holding campaign, educating students, or making laws.
In the Budget, I would like to comment on the rises of tobacco taxes.
Everyone knows that smoking is harmful to us. However , there are still lots of smoke produced by the smokers everyday in Hong Kong and they are actually destroying our environment! They should pay the smoking debt for their selfish behavior. I even thought that just by adding 50 percent of the taxes is too less. It can’t really make the smokers make up their mind to cut off smoking.
At the same time, I think the government can allocate more resources in discourage them from smoking so as to have a healthier life.
I think most of the HK citizen aren’t satisfy with this Budget Speech and so do I.We are facing the problem of financial Tsunami,instead of we,I should say “the global”.So,the most important problem would be Economics decisions of HK rather than those environmental problem.Moreover,we can’t do anything for the environment protection without money.
Imposing the tobacco taxes doesn’t really help HK to solve the problem of financial Tsunami.It is on the other way round ,it deteriorated the economy of HK.Importers’ income of cigarette will drop since there’re less people to buy the cigarette.On the other hand,this may increase the burden of the people who smoke,because they have to pay more.I can only say the direction of this is correct,but the time of doing it is wrong.It should be come up with 10 years ago as same as ‘Hong Kong/Guangdong Co-operation in Environmental Protection’.
I think the most effective solution would be sell out some consumption coupons.i.e I can buy $4000 consumption coupons only cost for$2000.Therefore,money would be flow around the market.It is better than giving $6000(MPF) to those investment agents for buying shares.X_X
I regret that I don’t know how to put those chinese word in English i.e (MPF)(consumption coupons)
I just make a guess.
I am Sandy Lau.
The Budget Highlights has covered a number of criterias.Among them,I think the government provides a 20% rental reduction for most government properties is the most effective one.It is because the rental income from public housing may also be included.
This year,the Financial Tsunami hit our economy badly and affects citizens in Hong Kong a lot,especially for the grassroots.They are so poor because the inflation nowadays is high but their salaries hasn’t be increased or even had a cut on it.Furthermore,most of the grassroots are living in public estates,the reduction of rents can reduce their load,therefore it is the most effective measure.
Besides,I also suggest that the government can borrow some money to the grassroots and let them face the challenges together.After that,they may return the money to the government with a low interest rate,thus it can benefit the government and the poor citizens in Hong kong.
I am Esther Kwok.
I agree with some points of the Budget Highlights.Such as promoting Hong Kong a an Asian wine and gourmet centre to develop new economic initiatives.This can help attracting Tourists to Hong Kong hence boosting the tourism industries. Besides, the highlights also included to earmark $300 million to support creative industries which help the people working in this industires since creation of products need lots of money and time to do it and sometime the designs from the designers may also attract people invest in Hong Kong, i think it’s a long term benifit to Hong Kong.
I think the Government should clearly talk about how the money will be spents on building a greener city.
(It’s 4E07’s work.)
I thing the 2009-2010 budget is important for the people unemployed. Since the government will create 62000 job opportunities, it can lower the Unemployment rate.
They earmark $63 million to conduct an education programme for Internet users. I think it very useful because nowadays, there are people still do not know the way to use the computer.
Internet is so convenient that we can share and search information easily . After taking this measure , more and more people can learn computer.
I am Sandy Woo.
I think this year budget is quiet good and important.Because of the financial tsunami, lots of people loss their jobs.And the government create lots of job opportunities to the people who are not employed,it can help them to solve their difficulties at the moment.
In the meanwhile, I am very agree the rise of tabocca tax. Smoking is harmful to us,the government always convince us not to smoke. And now the government rise the tax of tabocca can encouage people don’t smoke because the price of cigarettes are so expensive.
Finally, i think the government should help the poor people.
Hong Kong is known as the food paradise to the people around the world.And now, the government has decided to put efforts on the development of Hong Kong as an Asian Wine and gourmet centre.Besides, it is going to hold the “World of Food and Wine” Festival.In order to attract more tourists to come to Hong Kong and stimulate the consumption.
I think it is good for the government to encourage the wine development.As it can help our tourism and reinforce Hong Kong’s status as regional hub for wine distribution and trading.Also wine has almost become a neccessity for the foreigner.So there are unlimited potentials for the wine development in Hong Kong and a lot of opportunities can be created .
For the better development of wine,I think the government should impose subsidys to the wine sellers in order to get a better start.
I think this 2009-2010 budget is very important to all the Hong Kong’s people since we are facing the economic tsunami.Many Hong Kong’s workers lost their jobs and the unemployment rate is very high. I am quite satisfied the budget because the government starts to build the infrastructures which can creat many job opportunities. I agree that the government increases the tobacco taxes. This can decrease the quantity demanded of cegarettes and increase the revenue of the government.
I strongly agree with this 2009-2010 budget.It is very important to all the Hong Kong’s people since we are facing the economic tsunami.As the unemployment is high in Hong Kong,the solutions suggested in the budget2009-2010.(For example,the increase of the job opportunities supplied)To give my opinion,I think that the government should provide some subsidies to the commodities.These can help lot of the citizens.
I am Chan Yim Yu (4E04).
Overall, I think the 2009-10 Budget is ineffective for facing the world’s financial tsunami as the tsunami is so powerful that no one can deal with it effectively.
One point mentioned in the 2009-10 Budget is that the government has reserved some money for future use. The money is used in different areas for helping the disadvantaged, education, providing career opportunities…etc. The government really put a lot of money on these areas. I just wondered if the government can really make its promises come true and I am also afraid the deficit will keep on increasing.
Besides this, I think the things done by the government will be no use on the unemployed people (including the teenagers, disadvantaged and middle-ager) as I think the unemployed rate will keep on worsening because of the financial tsunami. I just hope the government can provide more methods/ways on finding jobs and helping the citizens. They can also try to broaden sources of income and reduce expenditure.
At last, I think most of the citizens must feel unsatisfied about the 2009-10 Budget, but as you know, we are facing the world’s financial tsunami, we should not expect too much on the government.
As now Hong Kong is facing the financial tsunami, the budget this year is very important. I think the budget for 2009-2010 is quite good. The government knows that the problem of unemployment is serious. So it creates 62000 job and internship opportunities in next three year in order to lower the rate of unemployment. The government also earmarks money to strengthen medical services. But I think the government should also consider the environmental and pollution problems. I hope Hong Kong can endure and overcome all problems.
I am Kiki Chan, 4E04.
Overall, I think the 2009-10 Budget is ineffective for facing the world’s financial tsunami as the tsunami is so powerful that no one can deal with it effectively.
One point mentioned in the 2009-10 Budget is that the government has reserved some money for future use. The money is used in different areas for helping the disadvantaged, education, providing career opportunities…etc. The government really put a lot of money on these areas. I just wondered if the government can really make its promises come true and I am also afraid the deficit will keep on increasing.
Besides this, I think the things done by the government will be no use on the unemployed people (including the teenagers, disadvantaged and middle-ager) as I think the unemployed rate will keep on worsening because of the financial tsunami. I just hope the government can provide more methods/ways on finding jobs and helping the citizens. They can also try to broaden sources of income and reduce expenditure.
At last, I think most of the citizens must feel unsatisfied about the 2009-10 Budget, but as you know, we are facing the world’s financial tsunami, we should not expect too much on the government.
I am Kiki , 4E04.
Overall, I think the 2009-10 Budget is ineffective for facing the world’s financial tsunami as the tsunami is so powerful that no one can deal with it effectively.
One point mentioned in the 2009-10 Budget is that the government has reserved some money for future use. The money is used in different areas for helping the disadvantaged, education, providing career opportunities…etc. The government really put a lot of money on these areas. I just wondered if the government can really make its promises come true and I am also afraid the deficit will keep on increasing.
Besides this, I think the things done by the government will be no use on the unemployed people (including the teenagers, disadvantaged and middle-ager) as I think the unemployed rate will keep on worsening because of the financial tsunami. I just hope the government can provide more methods/ways on finding jobs and helping the citizens. They can also try to broaden sources of income and reduce expenditure.
At last, I think most of the citizens must feel unsatisfied about the 2009-10 Budget, but as you know, we are facing the world’s financial tsunami, we should not expect too much on the government.
I think The Budget 2009-2010 is good to most of the citizens in Hong Kong. Nowadays, many employees were fired since there is financial tsunami. And the government will provide the job opportunities and waive the taxes and the rates for people.
Also, the government will promote Hong Kong as the Asian wine and gourmet centre, it helps to attract more and more tourists and hence increase the economic income of Hong Kong people.
In conclusion, I think the Budget 2009-2010 can help decrease the unemployed rate, also it will solve the citizens’ financial problems.
Sorry, I am Lai Hei Ting.
I’m glad to hear that the government is taking a large amount of money to help living conditions of Hong Kong people, such as, creating jobs to help those who are unemployed when the unemployment rate is high now, reducing tax so that people have the ability to buy more things, strengthening medical services to help us maintain our health and to be more healthy and developing the economy. I have confidence in the government that this budget speech can improve Hong Kong’s condition now.
Many people are unsatisfied with 2009-2010 Budget. However, I think that the government has try her best to help the citizens to face financial tsunami. There are some issues really help. For example,’Preserving Jobs’ are very important for Hong Kongers. It is because everyone afraid that they will lose their job. If citizens have a job, at least they have some income. They do not need to worry about no money to use. So preserving jobs may reduce citizens’ strss and help them to overcome the big problem, financial tsunami.
I think that the Budget 2009-2010 is quite good. As now Hong Kong is facing the financial tsunami, economy is decreasing, the government still use 6.2 hundred million dollars to create 62000 job opportunities. This can help many people that is out of job. Another point that i like this 08-09 budget is that in the 08-09 budget, the tax of Tobacco is increase by 50%. I think this is good because Tobacco is bad to human body and it will cause cancer. Now the cost of Tobacco is 10 dollars expensive than before, and this make less people to buy Tobacco.
4E28
I think that this year’s budget is all right. Since the problem of unemployment is very serious under the financial tsunami, Mr Tsang has aimed this problem to improve our economy by increasing job opportunities in different areas. But I think that is not good enough to satisfy all the people as many graduated university students still can’t find their suitable jobs. The government should give them more help.
I agree that we should preserve jobs first because jobs are important to social stability. We should firstly minimize the unemployment rate and ensure everyone can earn a living. In the Budget, it said that they will help the graduates get into the labour market. But I think they have a higher potential to get a job. The main focus should be on helping people in mid-age. These days, it is not difficult to hear some restaurants were closed because of financial problems. It means that the financial tsunami is being more and more close to us. It is important to have effective measures to prevent further effect to our daily live.
By Alex 4E38
I am Tammy Leung.
Now Hong Kong is facing a Financial Tsunami, many Hong Kong people have financial problems. The increase of job opportunity supplied and reducing of tax help a lot. However, I think the government can do better to satisfy people’s want. For example, giving money or giving medical help.
Besides, i support the Budget to promote the green economy, since the green environment benefits our health. We should do more to protect our Earth.
Ko Hau Lam Helen 4E10
I think the budget could just soothe plight, but it is helplessly for solving the financial tsunami.It just like so i don’t support.
Ko Hau Lam Helen 4E10
I think the budget could just soothe plight, but it is helplessly for solving the financial tsunami. It’s just like carrying out signal No.3 strong wind precautions while the No. 10 typhoon signal is issued. So I don’t support it.
I think the government should take action on creating jobs, providing more opportunities to middle-aged people and elderly. It should look after all stratum of society. Moreover, I agree with imposing taxes on cigarettes. It could decrease demand for cigarettes, improve the air quality of Hong Kong. The government could earn more too, so that more subsidies that the government could distribute citizens.
First, I think the Short-term Strategies are the most important to us. Now, we are facing a financial problem, and the government has been taken some strategies measures. One of the measures is to develop the relationship between Hong Kong and the mainland. Therefore, there will be more job opportunities to Hong Kong people.
Second, I think the Green Buildings are the most practical one of the Buget Speech. As we know, we had used many energy for electricity consumption, it affects our daily life. I think these solutions can help us to have a cleanner city so i believe all the citizens in Hong Kong will support those measures.
In my opinion, I would not support part of the budget. As we all know, we need to face the problem of ‘Financial Crisis’. I think the things that would be done to solve this crisis are not enough such as the number of jobs that will be provided, the help to the low-wages family etc. On the other hand, the budget also has things that are good. As it have reserved budget for the Victoria Harbor. Victoria Harbor is one of the place that most of the Hong Kong people proud of so we need to protect it and I think it is good to reserved budget for the Harbor.
It is Bonnie Ma’s work. I think the Budget 2009 only created a short-term of job opportunities!
It can’t really help our HK citizens a lot!
Since unemployers are too much so how can our HK government help them? I think they should not only lay on the HK government,they should also find their jobs by themselves.Although the government has waived the rates and the taxes, for the low-income families, it really doesn’t help them to solve the financial problems.
I think the Budget 2009 is useful because it provides some job opportunies. In Hong Kong nowadays, many people lost their jobs because of the financial tsunami. The Budget 2009 can help those people and let them have jobs again. Although it helps those people, it can’t last for a long time. So I think the government should think of more methods that can last for a longer time about providing job opportunies.
Every people were very concerned about Budget 2009 as the whole world is facing the financial problem ahead. And i would like to comment on the rises of tobacco taxes. I don’t think the government can stop people from smoking by rising of tobacco taxes. Since the tobacco become more expensive , people won’t buy them legally, they will buy the “faked” tobacco form mainland illegally instead. These faked tobacco will affect the health of people worse. To avoid this problem becoming more seriously, the government should not rise the tobacco taxes so high that people can’t afford to buy.
It is known to everyone that all of us in Hong Kong are facing financial crisis so we hope the Budget 2009 will help us to face this financial problem. I agree with it for several
reasons.First. the government will make a provision of $1.6 billion to create 62000 jobs. That’s great idea. Most of the employers will grasp the chance to fire their employees when there is a financial crisis so many people may lost their jobs in this way.
I support the Budget 2009-2010 as government provides many job opportunities to the unempolyees and most of the people in Hong Kong can receive a regular income and also the government developes co-operation with emerging markets .This can enhance Hong Kong’s competities under the financial tsunami .
However,this budget isn’t
really concerned about the low income families.The government can help these poor families by giving them $2000 per each family .