Current Issues Newsletter
By: Richard Kim and Austin Curtis
With an ever-increasing amount of people in this nation there will be many major problems not very far from this current point of time. With every passing day, the labor force ages more which will later cause political rule to be more difficult with more voices trying to be heard. The government will also be tested by the rising demands of supplies and benefits and the struggle of having enough jobs to offer the people. China is looking at many changes to undergo in the next few decades that will impact its future.
Pollution within Indonesia's Citarum Basin has caused many problems for the people living in villages as well as those working in factories near this location. The Basin's rivers provide fish and water to crops, but with more and more pollution being put into Citarum Basin the rivers are being clogged up. The ADB provided loans for the cleaning of the basin for the people's safety and health. Certain classes and lessons are being provided to the people of villages in order to prevent more unnecessary pollution in the water. Villages receive income in reward for recycling from the combined efforts of the local government and the Ministry of Health.
Outsourcing is used by most large businesses due to its many benefits to the corporations, but outsourcing also has many negatives. Certain drawbacks of outsourcing are the loss of jobs in the country of the company, the loss of protection of data/security, and the disruption of cultures. Positives to outsourcing are increased efficiency, cheaper labor, extending the global reach of a company. With a well-structured outsourcing arrangement, the roles and responsibilities of the outsourced party allows for better benefits for customers.
In 2014, an unfortunate incident occured with Flight 8501 of Air Asia crashing down into the sea. Orignally investigators believed the main cause of the crash was the storm that the plane had flown through, but a report from the NTSC found that the electronic device that controlled the rudder was cracked. During the flight, the pilots received four warning signals which they responded to by restarting the computer system to fix the problem. The restart disabled the autopilot, so the copilot took over the controls until the plane stalled out to a point where they could no longer stay in the air. Currently, Air Asia has an additonal 51 safety measures to improve the safety standards and to ensure the safety of the passengers.
The monsoon depression hanging over the adjoined Bay of Bengal and the Bangladesh Coast created a cyclonic storm. This storm, named Komen, threatened to bring heavy downpours onto the country of Bangladesh as well as many flash floods. Cyclone Komen destroyed several villages and killed dozens of people on its rampage through the nation. Thousands of people are currently part of refugee camps as a result of the storm destroying their homes and workplaces.