Hong Kong.  Why is Hong Kong succeeding while New York City is receding?

They are both world-class cities with about the same per-capita income and great natural harbors. New York is about 15 percent larger in population, while Hong Kong is about one-third larger in area (but unbuildable because of the steep terrain). Both have large immigrant populations who are seeking better lives.

Last week, I explained how much of Hong Kong's success was a result of it having the freest economy in the world, with low levels of government spending, low tax rates, a minimum of government regulation and the rule of law. There is more.

Hong Kong, like Singapore, South Korea, Chile and Switzerland are aspirational societies, rather than societies consumed with envy, like France. Work, saving and investment are not punished in aspirational societies, and there tend to be less social conflict and a higher level of civility.

(It was U.S. venture capitalist Terry Anker who first used the term "aspirational society" to describe Hong Kong during our meetings in this glorious city this past week. It is a more inclusive term than "opportunity society" that Newt Gingrich and Jack Kemp frequently used to describe their vision for the United States.)

The United States used to be an aspirational society, but has increasingly become an envious society.

Last week I asked you to define three things: Something you want to stop doing; something you want to start doing - or do more of; and a longer term goal that you want to reach.

Today I want to give you the beginning of a training regimen that will strengthen your ability to achieve those three things (also largely courtesy of Kelly McGonigal from her book, The Willpower Instinct).

Whenever you strengthen your capacity for willpower in a specific way, you strengthen your capacity for willpower in general. Since there are three different applications of willpower, reflected in three different parts of your brain, let's practice strengthening each of these.

In 1966, The Beatles wrote Hillary Clinton's theme song.

The quote that most perfectly encapsulates her philosophy of government was delivered on June 28, 2004 at a San Francisco fundraiser for fellow senator Barbara Boxer in which she announced to her wealthy listeners and all Americans in general:

We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good.

The underlying philosophy of the Democrat Party as personified by the PIAPS is fascist thuggery posing as humanitarian compassion.  Witness her project of giving $5000 to every child born in the US (legal or illegal).  "Giving" is not the right term of course - it would only be if it were her money.

What she is in fact proposing is to steal at the point of a gun money from people who have earned it and hand it over to those who have not.  That's called theft, not "giving" or "being compassionate."

Thus Hillary's Theme Song, the first track on the 1966 Revolver album.  The Beatles had Hillary and her fascist ilk in mind when they wrote it. 

It's called The Taxman:

The celebrity actor Benedict Cumberbatch has said he is "a complete fool," an "idiot," "thoughtless" and that he is "devastated" for having inadvertently used the term "colored" to describe black people on a US talk show.

It's depressing enough that he felt the obligation to apologize. But what's worse is that he felt the need to do with such groveling self-abasement.

Yes, we all know why he did it. It's Oscar nomination season coming up, Cumberbatch is a possible contender for his portrayal of fashionably autistic, gay code-breaker Alan Turing in The Imitation Game, and Hollywood is notoriously PC and squeamish about issues to do with race.

But if anyone who owes anyone an apology, here, it's not poor put-upon Cumberbatch but the noisome professional offense-takers who by seeking to make political mileage out of such achingly trivial issues are creating a climate of linguistic fear in which good people suffer.

This, though, unfortunately, is how the liberal-left rolls.  For as my friend Alex Wickham tells me, "Liberals are the new Puritans who want to control your life."  We need an End to the New Puritanism movement.

Ten days to go until Election Eve.  Is it time to play this?

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Yes, there's still time for things to go sideways, and many races are close enough for the Dems to cheat their way to victory - especially in Colorado.  But every time I start to worry about Dem voter fraud this year, I think of Joe Biden.

Remember his incredibly obnoxious performance debating Paul Ryan in 2012?  It was the single VP candidate debate on national television, with Ryan trying to have a serious discussion about serious issues, and all Biden did was smirk and eye-roll ridicule everything Ryan said. 

A voice of alarm went off in my brain - which I unfortunately ignored as I couldn't believe it at the time - that Biden was signaling the fix was in.  He couldn't take the debate or the entire campaign or voter sentiment seriously because he knew Dem Party operatives had made sure the election would follow Stalin's dictum:  "It doesn't matter who votes - what matters is who counts the votes."

You won't find SloJo being a smart-ass now - or any other Dem and Enemedia pundit.  They are all in a state of gloom and panic living in Sour Grapes City. 

That alone tells you the Pub margin of victory in many races is too big for Dem cheating to overcome.  So maybe we really can sing along with the 1967 Beatles, It's Getting Better All The Time.  Let's look at some specifics.