This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
- Indonesia increases defense spending to combat China
- Eurozone moves to negative interest rates to fight deflation
- Dept of Homeland Security seeks a ‘sarcasm detector’
Indonesia increases defense spending to combat China
Of the nations (Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia, and thePhilippines) whose sovereign territory China is annexing via militaryforce, Indonesia has tried to stay out of the disputes with China andto concentrate on its own problems — internal terroristattacks and separatist movements.
But now China’s growing belligerence is causing Indonesia to shiftstrategies. According to one analyst:
The focus in defense spending is moving to dealingwith external threats. There is a concern from an Indonesianperspective that the South China Sea should not become a Chineselake and that freedom of shipping should bemaintained.
Indonesia has some 17,000 islands to police, stretched across 5,300kilometers (3,293 miles) from east to west. The Malacca Strait thatIndonesia shares with Malaysia is a key shipping lane that links theeconomies of countries such as India, China and Japan. Bloomberg and National Interest
Eurozone moves to negative interest rates to fight deflation
With four euro zone countries — Slovakia, Portugal, Greece, and Cyprus– now in deflation, the EuropeanCentral Bank (ECB) took the desperate step of setting the “depositrate” to a negative interest rate, -0.1%. The “deposit rate” is theinterest rate that a regional bank receives when it deposits money inthe ECB. If the interest rate goes negative, it means that a regionalbank must pay the ECB to hold its deposit. The purpose of the move isto incentive regional banks to lend money out to other businesses,rather than depositing it in the ECB.
Few analysts believe that this interest rate reduction will make muchdifference. For that reason, ECB president Mario Draghi has announcedthat quantitative easing is being discussed. The United Statesstock market bubble. Business Insider and Bloomberg
Dept of Homeland Security seeks a ‘sarcasm detector’
The Dept. of Homeland Security Secret Service has issued asolicitation for a “Social Media Software Analytics Tool,” commercialsoftware that will automate the process of monitoring social media,detect statistical patterns in real time, and visually present thedata clearly and concisely. Among the required capabilities, thesoftware must have the, “Ability to detect sarcasm and falsepositives.” So if someone sends out a tweet threatening to killsomeone, the software has to be able to tell whether the tweet is ajoke or not. What could go wrong with that? Engadget and Federal Business Opportunities
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Indonesia, China, South China Sea,European Central Bank, ECB, Mario Draghi,Department of Homeland Security, Secret Service
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