Facebook Users by Country, 2010

US topped the users ranking, with almost 50% population using FB. Being the 4th most populated country, Indonesia comes in second, but with 4x users less than US. In a way, we could see how close Indonesia resembling US in using technology.

However, the two most populated countries - China & India are both out of picture. While facebook is blocked in China, India is way behind in the usage, where it sees only 1.5% of population using it. 1.5%!? It does reflect the lack of infrastructure in connecting the people to WWW. On other hand, it is a political barrier in distance the Chinese to WWW.

While there is so much talk about how flat the world is, it is still a long way before it comes to reality.

Malaysia Economy in 2011

In 1998 - interest rate was 11% before GDP contracted by 7%
In 2001 - interest rate was 5% when GDP near to 0% before rebounding to 5%
In 2010 - interest rate was 2.75% when GDP rebound from -ve to 6.5%

Clearly, 1998 seen a overheating economy. 2001 was a correction. 2010 faced external stress. What would be 2011?

The key is on external factors.

The interest rate has been relatively lower compared to 2001 even when it is fundamentally good. The inflation is only being suppressed by the fear of external environment. Once eased off, we would see inflation taking place at incredible speed. There were much talks about property bubbles in Malaysia. Indeed, the chances are high.

In 2011, I reckon inflation picking its speed up in H2 while bubbles forming by year end.