I think there is quite a lot of misconception that these immigration programs and new restrictions are not without much thought. Ask yourself this. Who brings in more revenue? A person that stays in country and takes advantage of the cheap living, cheap food etc. Or Tourists visting for two weeks, who pay top dollar for hotels, meals, transportation, sight seeing and use of the airport? Do the restrictions on the regular LTV folks now seem to make a bit more sense? Thailand seems to be making an effort to "weed out" the bad actors that land on her shores.. dudes trying to evade prosecution, scammers, out right thieves etc.. Fairly recently there has been a big Indian phone scam setup operating right in Pattaya swindling thousands from folks in the USA, Australian and UK.