Premier Wu Den-yih has advocated a 'common people economy' and touted his Cabinet as an active one that responds rapidly to public opinion. We support his attempts to empathize with the general public. However, in dealing with the specific problems, the principle of respecting people's feelings should be linked to expertise and equity, rather than to a desire to please the public at any cost for political expediency. The following are two examples that highlight our point of view: The first has to do with the premier's recent promise to the Legislature that he will direct the Ministry of Finance to stop selling state-owned land in an effort to avoid fueling higher real estate prices. The high prices of urban housing was triggered by the inflow last year of nearly NT$800 billion in hot money, a large part of which went into the real estate market. Stopping the sale of public land will not drive down housing prices, but rather will send them skyrocketing because it will reduce the supply of prime city property for housing projects. A better plan would be to channel the hot money into industries that would contribute to the country's economic development. The government could also adopt a monetary policy that would limit credit to the real estate sector, and impose a progressive tax on real estate transactions. By stopping the sale of state-owned land, the premier is simply knocking down a straw man. The second example is the case of CPC Taiwan and Formosa Petrochemical Corp., the country's two main fuel suppliers, which reportedly overcharged their customers NT$1.37 billion in air pollution fees last year. Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang knew very well that the report was misleading. The two fuel suppliers had invested NT$9 billion last year to improve their equipment to reduce sulfur emissions during their produciton process and were therefore allowed to pay less air pollution fees. But amid the public uproar caused by the inaccurate report, Shih asked the two companies to cut the price of their products by NT$0.1 per liter to pacify the public. The controversy was quelled at the cost of the two companies' profits, and false impression that they were trying to fleece their customers was reinforced. Instead of earning the support of the people, the Executive Yuan's all-out efforts to please them will only invite their contempt. (March 7, 2010) 