impulse

I fly in from China. Typical $250-350 R/T. I don't know what a business ticket from Europe costs, but I imagine it's around $5K R/T. Post Covid, the airfares from China are half what they were. The downside is limited flight selection and no non-stops from my town. I've slept in a few airports when there was no transit hotel.

Not a problem. Stick 10 ATM looking machines by the luggage carousels. Scan your Int'l boarding pass and the machine spits out 300 baht. The QR code on the boarding pass tells them who it is, and whether they qualify for the tax rebate.

About the same as one business class ticket from Europe.

2 comment to that. 1) The airlines don't dictate Thai tax policy or law. They'll either comply, or they lose their Thai landing rights. No airline is going to leave Thailand for $9 a ticket and a simple system adjustment. Countries change their tourism tax rates all the time. 2) There's no reason they'd need to discriminate by nationality. They could charge everyone the same tax and Thailand could refund the tax to the citizens, at an airport kiosk or on their tax return. Just show your Int'l boarding pass.

They already collect a tax. It'll take a staffer all of 5 minutes to change in the system the amount they collect, and another staffer 5 minutes a month to make sure it goes out to the right department of the gub'ment.

Holey moley. So it's not just a UFO, it's a fold in the time space continuum.

Still, I would contend there's a lot more downside than upside to stepping outside what she knows.

What we don't know, and never will, is whether she'd be at $3 billion if she hadn't involved herself. Edit: We also don't know if her next foray into the political side will be the one that tanks her career. It's happened before to celebrities.

It's been years since I was in the mode, but we used to deliberately go to places where we knew we'd get to watch a dust up. Of course, that was before YouBoob. Nowadays, you don't even need to leave home to see 1000 dust-ups. Kids today don't know how easy they have it.

He has his choice of a hundred golf courses. The wingnut in me says they should look at CCTV and cell phone pings from the other 99 courses to see if anyone else was camped out all day waiting. That's why I'm happy to hear Florida is doing their own investigation. Because the FBI and USSS don't want the public to know. At least not before Nov 6.

Wake up, indeed. Is it 1100B or 900B? Last time I looked at the details of my US-TH airplane ticket, the vast majority of the taxes went to the US side. Admittedly, that was awhile ago. I didn't miss any points. Thailand is awash in low budget tourists. There's nothing wrong with that if that's the best they can attract. Some of us think they could attract higher dollar tourists if the crowds would thin out and nature had a chance to heal up. I'd rather see 10 million tourists spending $5000 each than 50 million spending $1000 each. The money's the same and it's easier to clean up and recover from the wear and tear after 10 million than 50 million. So I welcome the 300 baht increase and will happily pay it. If it ever comes to pass.

The topic under discussion is the proposed 300 baht tourist tax. That's a $9 $8.50 increase.

If people are under such tight budgets that $9 is a deal killer, let them go elsewhere. Give Thai hotspots a chance to recover so they're appealing to the people who aren't under a tight budget. Sounds heartless, but it's the reality. I'm a perfect example. I've been to Thailand 18 times in the past 18 months, but I haven't spent as much as one well heeled monger on a 2 week bender. I just look good on the entry statistics.

I don't disagree with that. But maybe they called the time-out to make sure nobody registered under their dead aunt's ID. Or their entire ancestry's. If there's a way to cheat, someone will find it and do a how-to YouTube.

If $45 makes the difference in a family of 5's choice of vacation site, they're not likely to move the needle with their vacation spending. One of Thailand's problems now is over-tourism in many locations. That puts off well heeled travelers. Thailand needs to upgrade the quality of the tourism, not the number of bodies.

Quick question. Are they removed from the database when they die or move to the UK to be with their husband?

So do it already, just be quiet about it. Nobody will notice a $9 increase in airline ticket prices. And if that's a deal killer for them, are they the kind of tourist you want? They may be wonderful people. But not likely to move the needle with sweaty tourist money.

Sneak preview from the wingnut side: Known: Cell phone pings show the shooter spent 12 hours in his hide. Trump's golf schedule wasn't released to the public. Unknown: How did the guy know where to set up? The wingnut stuff: Was he just one of many that day, who happened to get assigned to the right place? Or did someone clue him into where he should be? And how did he spend 12 hours without the USSS seeing him? https://www.foxnews.com/video/6362040690112

Kursk, New York. Same Same.

Didn't see that coming...

You need to watch the YouTubes with the drunk squirrel. They are hilarious.

Yet, nobody's trying to kill Trump's political opponents. So who's the threat to democracy and the rule of law?

They must own stock in Raytheon and Lockheed. Go ahead and poke that bear. What could possibly go wrong?

Dang man. Just 58 years old? The guy is rough. Appropriate that they put him in a blue jumpsuit.

I think that's what they refer to as "doing his job".