Are Americans as Thrifty as Gary Locke?

Recently, U.S. Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China Gary Faye Locke has caused a significant stir in China because he flew economy class to Dalian. Are Americans as thrifty as Locke?

According to my observations, the U.S. does pay attention to the control of expenditure on some aspects, especially on private use of government resources. For example, just after arriving in the U.S., I received a letter from the U.S. Department of State. On the top left corner of the envelope was a sentence: “Official Business, Penalty for Private Use $300.” Afterward, I realized that this line is printed on all envelopes from U.S. governmental departments. The little envelope distinguishes between public and private.

However, having stayed longer in the U.S., I find that Americans are extravagant in many places. One of the many examples: Last weekend in Roosevelt Island, the subway to Manhattan was not in service due to maintenance. However, the elevators in that platform were still in service, even though no one was there. This is not occasional; every weekend that the subway is not in service, this phenomenon still exists. How much do the electricity fees cost? Besides, when workers need to maintain the elevators throughout the year, how much does that cost? Meanwhile, the subway company keeps claiming that it is operating at a loss.

I live in an apartment on the island. The monthly rent of the two-bedroom apartment is more than $4,000. On the island, the government also builds housing for low-income families. The monthly rent of these low-income units is only $1,500, with free water, electricity and heat. Therefore, these low-income people use water and electricity extravagantly. “My air conditioning and heater rest less than a week throughout the year,” a resident in low-income housing told me. A strange situation has formed: Low-income families can have unlimited use of air conditioning and heaters, but people like me, who rent expensive apartments, need to limit the use of air conditioning during the summer to save electricity fees. Similar low-income housing is everywhere in the U.S. How much energy is wasted throughout the year?

Waste in other aspects is even worse. One time I took my family to a beach. My mother’s lip was sunburned, and she and I went to get some medicine in a nearby pharmacy. A worker there insisted that my mother should go to a doctor. So we went to a doctor. When the doctor saw her, he cried out, “Oh my God! This is too severe! You need an emergency room.” He even advised us, “The best thing to do is go home and call 911.” I knew that calling 911 meant assembling ambulances, police cars, fire trucks, doctors, nurses, police and firefighters. How many public resources would be wasted? Therefore, we didn’t listen to the doctor, but instead took a subway to a skin clinic and got some ointments. After several days, my mother’s sunburn was cured.

A Chinese reporter, when interviewing Gary Locke, joked that flying economy class was to remind people that the U.S. was in debt. U.S. debts have exceeded $14 trillion, which means every American has a $45,000 debt. Such a huge debt is related to Americans’ wastefulness. From phenomena mentioned above, Americans believe you can waste resources, but never put anything in your own pocket. Someone says Chinese officials should learn from Gary Locke. But as far as I am concerned, U.S. officials and citizens both should learn from Gary Locke. If every American were like Locke, the U.S. would not have such a large debt. Depending on Locke’s flying economy class and the U.S. government’s prohibition of private use of envelopes to save money is no way to pay the huge debts.

(The author is a New York-based reporter for People.com.)