meechai

19 hours ago, webfact said:

The first nationwide elections of all 5,300 sub-district administrative organizations (SAO) since the 2014 military coup take place this Sunday (Nov 28).

Must have been the Democracy Summit pushed them over the edge 555

On 11/25/2021 at 4:24 PM, pingping said:

Good question, some one who will listen to my concerns rather than dismissing them totally and at least read the report from my previous Doctor who is not in Thailand.

 

No recommendation except this ........Skip getting your new doctor to read your old doctors report.

Why give them a preconceived notion/idea?

Instead keep that to yourself & just request a complete cardio checkup including stress test etc

Then you will have something to compare & if at that time you want to mention your previous evaluation for some reason then do so.

On 11/25/2021 at 9:54 AM, webfact said:

Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai on Thursday dismissed the “Summit for Democracy” to be hosted by the US and to which Thailand was not invited as “nothing more than pure politics.”

And what do you call this odd system in Thailand? Where the military & police stands down (commit treason) while the rabble go crazy & even overrun government house disallowing voting etc creating the excuse ... to later step in  & save the country they failed to protect  ...Stage yet another Junta to overthrow a democratically elected government

Then after years of dictatorship control "stage" a election after you have salted the Parliament with hundreds of your men ???

Yes that is not pure politics it is pure corruption tolerated/bought & paid off

About changing to ATK test instead of PCR on arrival

This is why as said earlier other countries just go with pre flight testing period

They know that is as good as it gets & secondly the hassle of re-testing on arrival not to mention the insanity of sending anyone even in close proximity to a positive test into a 10 night quarantine at their expense in some AQH Not to mention many insurance policies may not pay for that or even the asymptomatic cases being sent for 14 nights to a hospital in Thailand....Just typing that seems insane to read back

Pus....All of this before they send the tourists out into close proximity of a likely much higher level of Covid  contaminants than they likely came from

Secondly about the "New Strain" It is another dog chasing its tail. There will NEVER NOT BE A NEW VARIANT period

They will NEVER have a vaccine against this anymore than they will have a vaccine against the common cold/HIV etc etc etc

Let the living get on with living. It is as it always was a 97% survivable virus for most. Let those that fear it or are more susceptible due to age infirmity etc do what THEY need to do for added protection. Let the rest of us get on with our lives.

So...He is using the standard Thai get out of jail traffic accident excuse?

His brakes failed while torturing the victim he couldn't stop?

They tell us that we just don't have enough money to expand Medicare, guarantee paid family and medical leave, and address the climate crisis to the degree that we should if we want to protect the well-being of future generations.

Yet, tomorrow, the U.S. Senate will be voting on an annual defense budget that costs $778 billion—$37 billion more than Trump's last defense budget and $25 billion more than what President Biden requested.  All this for an agency, the Department of Defense, that continues to have massive fraud and cost overruns year after year and is the only major government agency not to successfully complete an independent audit.   

https://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2021/11/stocks-and-precious-metals-charts_17.html

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

How about water rates, local tax, property tax, car tax/test/insurance ........ are they about equal to Thailand?

Just taxed, tested and insured my pickup ........ 2,200bht, I'm guessing it would be more in the USA.

USA prices

We live in a rural area at 4000' so water is free as it is our own catchment system

Property Tax is $320/10,400 baht a year for a home appraised at approx $330,000/ 10.8 million baht

(again due to being rural tax rates are low + you get primary residence tax breaks & breaks at 60 & 65 years age)

Car reg for our truck $160/5200 baht a year

Truck insurance is $300/9814 baht a year  We use to pay 20k baht in Thailand on our Isuzu (full coverage)

Tested I am not sure if you mean safety check for truck it is $26/850 baht a year

Thailand Prices

Water in Thailand was very cheap 400 baht/ $12

So in our case we pay no prop tax in Thailand but did have condo fees back then 7200 baht/ $220 per year

Sold condo when we left for 1 million but we still own a country home it has no tax

Truck registration yearly+parabol 12,500 baht / $382

Truck insurance 21,000baht/$642

So just those  USA = $806 / 26,373 Baht

Thailand = $1256 / 41,098 Baht

*********

So again...in Thailand now we just have a home so no prop tax but still

So as I said insurance was killer for our 2010 Isuzu full cover but well we were worried all the accidents & being falang driver etc so.....

But all else I still say it is cheap here & value is much greater

We bought that condo in 2004 for 600k baht

2016 sell 1 million baht...not a great return

Homes here are much better investment... I built this home in 2007 for 1/3 of its value today

On 11/8/2021 at 12:07 AM, Destiny1990 said:

Well i just stopped with staying long term just like so-many other expats did. That’s a quick fix..I don’t want to live in a country were the visa process is uncomfortable and over complicated  because in the end it just discourages the foreigner for continuing his stay. I will still visit in future but just for 2/3 months trips.

Same for us & at first we were sure we made a mistake but after a year or two we realized we sure were glad we did.

It is much,much nicer visiting our Thai home for 3 months a year than living there was overall.

Now we cherry pick the 3 best months a year in Thailand (Cool season)

But...It helps that we live in a great spot the other 9 months though ????

Better weather no pollution no immigration, no cops hassling for petty cash etc etc

22 hours ago, Pib said:

This $21.60 Part B increase means those on Part B and drawing around  $370 or less SS pension will not see any increase in their net monthly pension as the Part B increase ate up all of their pension COLA increase. 

 

But for folks drawing more than approximately a $370 pension the 5.9% pension COLA will be putting more money in their pockets...like a person drawing say a $1000 pension would see a $59 pension increase before the Part B increase of almost $22 which would then  lower money hitting your pockets down to $37 which nets out to a 3.7% increase when all the COLA and premium dust settles.  For a $2000 pension the 5.9% COLA would result in a $118 pension increase before being Part B reduced $22 netting out to $96 or 4.8% pension increase.

 

Fortunately the large pension COLA increase this year pretty much mutes the large Part B increase.

Actually I do not think those retired with only $370 SS will need to worry as anyone making less than FPL gets free Medicare Part B

or more clearly gets part B paid for by their State (Medicare Savings Program)

https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/federal-poverty-level-eligibility-medicare-medicaid-benefits.html

Quote

 

If your income is under 100% of the FPL, your state must pay for Medicare on your behalf, through the Qualifying Medicare Beneficiary (QMB) program. This is a Medicare Savings Program that you may be eligible for if you qualify for Medicare because you are 65 or older or are disabled.

Also, many states use 100% FPL as the income limit for qualifying for Medicaid for adults.

 

This is like the whacked out emails you see lately where they sign.....Mike....He/Him/His.... Or Mikel She/her......  goodnight..yes normal human here thanks????

1 hour ago, internationalism said:

and they have forgotten about buriram airport, to which they expect charter flights.

It's the city from where the transport minister is and from where bhumjaithai political party has it's mafia roots. Probably they count on marihuana tourists coming for legal treatments

Sadly for Buriram it looks like they have also lost their Moto GP slot for 2022 as Thailand has (not surprisingly ) been removed from the calendar

https://www.motogp.com/en/calendar

4 hours ago, starky said:

Yep covid is all a myth.

 

Duh...no....covid is real but pretending your claim of "Countries still interested in keeping covid out " NOW ...is a myth...but good luck with that thought as the rest of the world gets on with it ????

None is against testing BEFORE flights & asking to see vac record. That is how the civilized world is rolling.

14 minutes ago, starky said:

Yes and with a rolling average of 75k cases a day what does it matter lol. Countries still interested in keeping covid out even from the fully vaccinated for the most part expect a test before flying a tonne of paperwork a test on arrival and some form of tracing app. Why should Thailand be any different? 

Yeah either way is not a problem for us but I think that Countries still interested in keeping covid out

Is total BS & any thinking person knows it

First off it was in Thailand since 2019-2020..any thinking person knows this

At start of pandemic Thailand was full of Chinese...think it just went with them?

They went all of 2019-2020 no testing nothing

Now they test they find plenty...shocked? No

So this stuff now is just BS $$$ nothing more

21 hours ago, starky said:

Thats a long time away for any sensible country

I know many will say the USA is not sensible but........

US lifts COVID restrictions for many foreign travellersThe US will open its doors to travellers from Mexico, Canada, UK, India and most of Europe as of Monday.

Quote

 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the US will accept travellers who have been fully vaccinated with any of the vaccines approved for emergency use by the World Health Organization (WHO), not just those approved by US authorities.

That means that the AstraZeneca vaccine, widely used in Canada, and the India-developed Covaxin vaccine, will be accepted.

The lifting of restrictions come as the US has seen its COVID-19 outlook improve dramatically in recent weeks since the summer surge spurred by the Delta variant.