7/3/2014 : The Pulse

Is Hong Kong facing ultimate bankruptcy?
Who would have thought that Hong Kong's econopmy would be compared with that of Greece? Yet this week a government study group announced we could be heading for the same kind of dire straits as that unfortunate country's economy. They project that by 2041, government expenditures will reach close to HK$3 trillion, and that, as early as 2022, the SAR government will need to start spending the more than $900 billion fiscal reserves.

Well with us in the studio is Marcellus Wong of the Hong Kong Institute of Taxation, who was also a member of that working group.


What next in the Ukraine?
The news from the Ukraine shifts from day to day. It's hard to underestimate the significance of what's happening there. Those who see politics in less complex terms, might believe that it's simply a case of protesters taking on a puppet government and ousting an unpopular president. But there's an alternative view that blames the West for deliberately destabilising the region, and points out that not all those protesters are exactly good guys either. Some suggest this large and linguistically divided country should simply be partitioned. But is that really a viable solution?

With us to discuss this are Jacky Fung, a researcher at the Global Institute Hong Kong, and Dr Stefan Auer of Hong Kong university.