rickirs

Against the world currencies, only the US and China have maintained higher exchange rates to the baht. About 20% of Thai exports goes to these two countries in about equal portions.

China's short-term economy remains unpredictable given the lack of transparency of the Politburo, but one can expect more Chinese currency manipulations to maintain a high foreign exchange rate for the yuan. However, Chinese efforts to successivelly inflate the yuan value throughout 2015 will be severly tested and I expect some devaluation to occur by mid-year.

The US provides Thailand with the greatest export stability for 2015. However, the Thai military-led government seems to be engaging in anti-American /anti-democratic / anti-capitalistic rhetoric designed to isolate and/or insulate Thailand from US foreign policy. The Junta may have rushed too quickly on that tact without first securing the Thai economy. If Thailand can't make serious amends with the US by mid-year, it will lose substantial exports to the US and experience a weakening of the baht unless it can switch its exports from the US to China.

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Or open an Account with a USA bank with offices in Thailand ,

or I think Bangkok bank has an office in New York city......

But think about renting it out , you have a fallback position if the S hits the fan !

CitiBank USA also has a Bangkok branch - but no other branches in Thailand.

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Cant wait to see how they dress this up as criminal behaviour.

Accessory to defraud the state?

If, as the Democrats charged, the rice pledge program was a predcitable failure that will cost the State billions of baht, where is the fraud? Fraud is a deception. The program clealry, accepting the Democrats prediction of cost, was a subsidy to uplift farmer incomes irrespective of market prices - in essence welfare. The PTP never presented the program as having a different intent.

"In a bid to safeguard the farmers against a price decline, the Cabinet resolved to offer them a minimum price guarantee at 5 baht per kilogramme."

Here we go again - another farmer subsidy. Another off-budget cost, more deficit spending.

The Junta had, as soon as it took power, expressed opposition to capilalism and has since, repeatedly, refused to allow the marketplace to set prices by adapting socialist policies. I'm not surprised as the Junta lacks the discipline to make hard economic decisions because it has chosen to play POLITICS. The Junta-led government is operating no differenly than a civilian-elected government from a pollitical perspective - but at least it doesn't have to be accountable to the majority of the Thai electorate.

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Yes sorry one engine on each wing. Ive always felt safer with planes that have 2 on each wing because i always think well if 1 cuts out they can still fly... probably just me being silly lol

Plane can fly on one engine

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Further technology advances will have left them behind before they've even dug a hole.

They'll probably invent a way to transmit electricity wirelessly before they get past the first "Lawsuit" from a whining utility company.

Too late. Already been done. http://www.ted.com/talks/eric_giler_demos_wireless_electricity?language=en

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How refreshing to finally read some positive news. No word of farmer suicides, protesting farmers, farmers being intimidated by the party that the farmers voted for, no fake deals, no self combusting rice. None of that.

Only good news. I see a good future for Thai rice farmers. Especially the ones that were too poor to qualify for the scheme. The ones the PTP said the scheme was supposed to be helping.

This actually coincides with the entrance of the future pin up boy of the rice world in Thailand. This guy funded a project designed to directly help the poor and no one else. It is non profit so this guy will not get a cent from it, but will get the satisfaction of knowing that he is helping the same farmers that some held in contempt. The best part is it is designed to be self sustainable. So with that type of description one can be assured it is not a PTP minister. Thats right. He is a DEM.

The companies name is 'Kaset Khem Kaeng". The mans name is Korn he started a non-profit organization that offered sustainable farming and allowed the farmers to receive fair compensation for their produce. It won't help anyone at the next election because it is sustainable. There will be no need to throw money at any farmers at any election because it will be self sustainable. The project started in one small village in Mahasarakham province, which is one of the poorest provinces in Thailand and I look forward to seeing them prosper. Of course some would hope it fails because they put a certain party ahead farmers sustainable prosperity.

"No word of farmer suicides, protesting farmers, farmers being intimidated by the party that the farmers voted for, no fake deals, no self combusting rice."

On indeed. The Junta under threats of public protests has wisely paid the farmer's ransome for their POLITICAL SUPPORT and SILENCE. The Junta has truly learned its lesson from history.

Maybe they are American size condoms???

big condom.JPG

Even those won't fit over their heads.

You mean like this?

"The ship is now sailing towards the ocean.:

I'm sorry but the ship never left the dock of totalitarism.

Maybe the PM will counter offer with some bicycle paths.

I notice 5,000-10,000 metric tons per month of palm oil is available through alibaba.com, some of which appears to come from Thai suppliers !

Is there really a shortage?

"the NBTC office believed that they should include revenue from the box sale"

Why? NBTC cannot keep the revenue.

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Terrorism laws may fail here. But what about sedition? I'm sure Australia has sedition laws, and if so, they should use them to the hilt.

Seems covered - Section 24 defines seditious words as words expressive of a seditious intention, and specifies that any person who, with the intention of causing violence or creating public disorder or a public disturbance, writes, prints, utters or publishes any seditious words shall be guilty of an indictable offence punishable by imprisonment for 3 years.

"Every people deserves to conserve its identity without being ideologically colonized,"

That's fine but then feed, cloth, and shelter your own people. That means you take the responsibility for the health and welfare of your own people. People sick, people die - your problem.

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Of course the Vatican WANT'S Catholics to Breed Breed Breed.......

It's a business and they collect money from all Catholics Rich and VERY POOR.

Whilst they live in Splendour and Luxury!

Disgraceful!

You should see the splendor inside the Catholic churches in Mexico. Instead of lending succor to the poor they pee money away on rockets to blast into the sky. Its like living in a war zone. I tolerated it for 10 years then left shell shocked. Why do the blast rockets into the sky on religious holidays (which are often. It keeps peoples minds off the obvious problems) its obvious to get God's attention.

And in Thailand people spent billions of baht to goldleaf buddhist temples and statues for merit. If reason was the basis for religious faith, there would be no faith.

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" Francis said there are plenty of church-approved ways to regulate births. "

And the Philippines is a perfect example of how they DON'T work. In the 70's Thailand and Philippines had a similar population. Now Thailand has 64 million and Philippines 100 million. What does that say about the effectiveness of their church-approved methods. ?

Catholics make better lovers?

Thailand - the Hub of Beeswax.

Thailand is the only country in the world where the government is considered an "external" factor. It certainly has been "extraneous."

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Do any Thais respect any law ?

I think not.

I think Yes...Those Thais who control the law respect the law - for other Thais to follow.

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Another example of this government, braking the status quo of the control of certain companies and individuals in this country.

One more step to the right direction..........many more to come.

How is letting monopoly contracts run to term "braking (mispelled) the status quo?" Even though the Junta-government has the authority to break monopoly pricing under the existing Goods and Services Price Control Act of 1999, it has chosen instead to honor the monopoly contracts to their remaining four-year term. The morality of this coup-led government comes cheap.

"robbed in broad daylight"

I never appreciated the term "broad daylight." It means something done that can be clearly seen. Isn't it already obvious that something done in the daylight will be seen? I've never seen a phrase "in broad night" or "in broad foggy day." Then even in this robbery the bandits are wearing disguises to prevent them from being clearly seen. So "irregardless," the term "broad daylight" is at best redunant in this story and can be better desribed as simply a "daylight robbery."

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Crystal clear here.........

No hidden agendas, no political manipulation.

Whatever the decision is, it will be the letter of the law and nothing else.

I will be personally happy when all this is finished and their efforts concentrate on the reform of this country.

"letter of the law"

You must be referring to the NCPO-Junta "letter of the law" as prescribed by the Junta's Provisional Charter that is being used by the NCPO created NLA. Both are self-serving tools for controlling and/or eliminating any oppostion.

If you are referring to the "letter of law" as defined by the 2007 Constitution which is being used as the basis of the impeachments, then the NLA is an illegal organization with no authority to conduct impeachment.

"how old the objects are was also not known yet"

The "Made in China" stamp may help with that.

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Thailand should see if they can work out a deal with Malaysia and return the provinces they annexed from them. Problem solved.
I can't see any economic advantage in keeping it,and fighting it is useless and will never bring peace!

Thais control all the rubber tree farms important to Thai economy. The South is a Democrat stronghold from Thai rubber farmers backing the Democrat Party. Thai farmers backed the Prayuth Junta overthrow of the Yingluck government. The South supports illegal petrol importing and human trafficking.

"democratic administration with the King as the head of state which is suitable for the Thai society"

From the military's viewpoint, it would seem that a permanent military rule is suitable to Thai society. Too bad the Thai society can't be allowed to make that decision. Maybe someday Thais won't ask for permission.