There's no such thing as a free lunch...Or is there?

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It's official. The next president of Indonesia is former army general Prabowo Subianto. Quite how the next five years will pan out is anyone's guess but hopefully the foreign pundits who always bring up his dodgy human rights record will be proven wrong. Nonetheless, on policy making, Prabowo's popularist move to literally offer the poor 'a free lunch' every day of the week does not augur well for the future. Such a policy - if it ever came to fruition - would cost a phenomenal amount of money and likely lead to huge inefficiencies (food waste) and poor incentives (make people lazy). Another concern is Prabowo's strong nationalist bent. Thus, in the possible event that he finds himself with his back against the proverbial wall in the face of stern economic challenges, there is a big chance that he will simply scapegoat foreigners. But he will have to be careful. Construction of the new capital city, Nusantara, for example, is highly dependent on foreign in

Air Paradise: Stranded in Bali

Oh Shit!
There Goes Tha Charabang
Looks Like I'm Gonna Be Stuck Here The Whole Summer
Well What A Bummer
I Can Think Of A Lot Worse Places To Be
Like Down In The Street
Or Down In The Sewer
Or Even On The End Of A Skewer
~ Peaches by the Stranglers

Well what do you know! Air Paradise is bust!

The budget airline – which was set up by a Balinese businessman in the wake of the 2002 Bali bombings – has cancelled all flights, saying it had gone bankrupt.

The airline brought over 20,000 passengers a month to Bali on budget flights from Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.

Although Qantas has offered to fly home Aussies stranded in Bali, travelers who booked flights and are still in Aus are unlikely to get their money back.

Not exactly another confidence booster for Balinese tourism following the recent terrorist bombings and the controversies surrounding drug arrests of Aussies on paradise island.

But I’m not too bothered.

Let’s face it, Bali has for far too long been overrun with working class Aussies going there for the cheap bintangs and easy lays. Bali is now little more than the Aussie equivalent of the Brit’s Costa del Sol: a paradise for pikeys.

They even turned parts of south Bali into a sort of tropical getto complete with young Balinese gigolos chasing after aging battleaxes who probably hadn’t received any male attention in decades.

And as these undiscerning yobbo tourists flouted their *relative* wealth to the economically disadvantaged Balinese, prices have shot up, ruining the unique Balinese holiday experience for the rest of us.

So goodbye Air Paradise. But I'm not sure we'll miss you!

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