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

Obama snubs SBY!

God it’s getting worse.

Not only has the Obama administration
banned the sale of Indonesian clove cigarettes in the US but they’ve also decided to snub Indonesia in the US President’s upcoming Asian visit!
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama's first Asian trip as president will include Japan, Singapore, China and South Korea, but NOT Indonesia, where he spent four years of his life.

Obama and his mother moved from Hawaii to Jakarta, Indonesia, when he was 6 years old. They left to return to the United States when he was 10.


It’s not made clear why Obama has lost his love for his childhood home but I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s worried about taking some stick from the Indonesians over Uncle Sam’s absurd decision to outlaw clove cigarettes.
Oh well Obama. You’ll just have to wait until you can try your bakso meatballs again - which ironically with all the borax packed into ‘em are probably a damn sight more dangerous than puffing on a kretek!

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