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Local govts in loan trouble
Local governments’ loan balance reportedly hit 7.2 trillion yuan in late 2009 — an increase of 3 trillion yuan. To solve the debt problem, the government should reform the official evaluation standards, says an article on Xinhua net. Excerpts:
There are three ways to solve the local governments’ loan balance or debt problem. First, the central government can help local governments collect more funds by increasing taxes or issuing more currency. But such a move could let the fear of high inflation come true.
Second, local governments can increase their revenue and reduce their expenses to repay their loans. But this model could create many social and economic problems.
Third, though repaying debts will not empty local governments’ coffers in the short run, it could ruin their credit balance and accumulate more fatal bad debts. Worse still, the financial crisis of governments could snowball into an all-round economic crisis.
Reforming the official evaluation systems is crucial to solving the debt problem. The central government should not take GDP as the only criterion to judge the performance of a local government. It should also take into account the bank loans a local government has taken and how much of that amount it could transfer to its succeeding administration.
Youths face spiritual crisis
The spiritual void reflected in white-collar crimes should be a lesson to society to understand the true meaning of education, says an article on Rednet. Excerpts:
Four white-collar workers in their 20s went on trial in Beijing recently for offering IT assistance to porn websites. Society should feel ashamed for failing to guide these youths toward more productive endeavors.
The problem is that youths who have college diplomas and decent jobs both cannot find better forms of recreation, and are attracted to pornography, alcohol or even drugs without thinking about the harm their behavior will cause them as well as society. The social environment of materialism and hedonism has made youths more interested in taking rather than giving whatever they can.
Feeding one’s mind is more important in today’s society than feeding one’s stomach. Still, society and education can help rescue the present generation from being lost in the world of sex and sleaze. But for that to happen, students have to be taught not only how, but also why to get an education.
