historyprof

A massive personal credit bubble is swelling up - personal debt problems are common place and becoming more common.

Link please. Everyone I know is coming up roses.

My father owned a factory in the US and they made a very complicated product. No other country made it. After WW II they opened factories in the UK and Germany and Japan. I asked my father why not China? He told me they would never had the skilled labor necessary to product this product. He was right at the time.

Now the factories are closed in the States and UK and Japan and all the product is made in China. Dad went broke before he died. Computers drive the machinery that now makes the product so it doesn't take much skill to push a button.

The number of skilled people required is much less than 20 years ago. Plumbers we need more. Draftsmen less. Wood pattern makers? I don't think there are any anymore. Things change.

The editorial said, "Democracy should be about more than who gets the most votes." What democratic country in the West could that be published in a newspaper?

Sorry, I'm a bit confused as to your point here. Have we not often times debated such ideas as, " counting heads, rather than what is in the heads" as an issue in democracy? Have we not debated and continue to debate the "tyranny of the majority"? In what democratic country would you not find such an idea as the one quoted? Methinks, perhaps, I miss your point or your reading of history differs from my own humble study.

GOOD POST. The tyranny of the majority was the slogan of the South during the American Civil War. Millions killed. 50,000 killed in Three days at Gettysburg. The South lost. The majority even if a tyranny wins. Coups are bad. Elections are good. That is what the American Civil War was about. When Lincoln was assassinated Booth shouted, "Death to Tyrants". Didn't make any difference the South lost and Democracy won.

There are too many people in Thailand as it is. This is shortsighted solution to a problem that goes far beyond the scope of his thinking. Not least of all is the fact that Thailand needs to move away from be a labour orientated factory. Education and automation are the way of the future. Thailand needs to change the way it thinks.

In summary, this guy is an idiot.

I'll give you an example. Are there enough plumbers in Thailand? No. Do plumbers need a good education? Poop rolls downhill is about it, eh? Are they going to automate poop? No. It's still going to roll downhill. Thailand needs plumbers, electricians, bricklayers, carpenters, gardeners, landscapers, road builders ..... and on and on and on. None of these trades will be automated and none will benefit from a marketing MA from NakonNowhere Univ.

Absolutely ridiculous!

What about the infertile?

Or those who are unable to find a mate?

The mental challenged, or physically incapable of married life?

This is not going to force anyone to marry, but it will be grossly unfair.

'Hey, will you marry me, we need the tax reduction.' ABSURD!

and the planet is already overpopulated.

Singapore is not overpopulated, Japan is not overpopulated, Australia is not overpopulated, Italy is not overpopulated and THAILAND is not overpopulated. Wake up call. .....

Lack of labor is not an issue, lack of qualified labor is an issue. I think it is better to have 1 properly educated child than 2 or more low educated children. Unless of course you are an old school farmer.

You think the 10 million Burmese laborers imported to Thailand are educated? What a joke post. Thailand needs grunt labor for construction, service jobs and factory work. They are not going to invent new computers or space ships yet.

Don't waste my time if you have no idea what you are talking about and on top of it don't even know how to read.

Thailand needs construction workers a lot of them. There are not enough Thais to fill the positions. How much education does a construction worker need? Thailand needs factory workers. How much education does a factory worker need?

Thailand is importing millions of migrant workers because there are not enough Thais available to do construction and factory jobs.

Cear enough?

There are too many people in Thailand as it is. This is shortsighted solution to a problem that goes far beyond the scope of his thinking. Not least of all is the fact that Thailand needs to move away from be a labour orientated factory. Education and automation are the way of the future. Thailand needs to change the way it thinks.

In summary, this guy is an idiot.

How many migrant workers are imported to Thailand every year? One of the problems is the employer has to pay the same as Thai workers and in addition supply housing for the migrants but not the Thais. A lot of Thais are upset. So who is an idiot?

Anyone who advocates their country (or their religion) artificially increasing it's numbers wants their head examined.

There's barely enough room on the planet as it is.

Australia, Singapore, Italy and Japan to name a few are lining up at the shrink now for the head examination

I wonder how the hell he got his professor title.

I mean to come up with such a useless idea, that's an insult to real professors. The fertility rate is low simply because people struggle to survive, how can you expect them to make children when the country's policies make it difficult to take care of just themselves.

The solution is not raising taxes-is this man really serious or it is just the booze? What about stop robbing people and make it possible for them to live their lives properly? I guarantee as a result they will be like rabbits in terms of fertility.

Sent from one of my devices using the internet

I know your talking points are to bash anything Thai but Singapore and Japan are also exploring ways to increase population. It is a good idea to talk about alterative approaches to something that will become more of a problem in the future.

The Kingdom's low fertility rate of only 1.6 children per household could result in a lack of labor in the future, Terdsak warned.

Lack of labor is not an issue, lack of qualified labor is an issue. I think it is better to have 1 properly educated child than 2 or more low educated children. Unless of course you are an old school farmer.

You think the 10 million Burmese laborers imported to Thailand are educated? What a joke post. Thailand needs grunt labor for construction, service jobs and factory work. They are not going to invent new computers or space ships yet.

Just silly. Give me one example where children should be encouraged to think independently before college? The question is not rocket science (kids don't design rockets to the moon). Kids are not going to find new ways to feed the planet. They are going to be farmers, work at 7/11 and be motorcycle taxi drivers and they can't add. So like I said give me one example where children before college should be encouraged to think independently? Is the kid looking for patterns the reason the cashier at 7/11 adds 10 plus 10, ten times before she can make change?

Kids grow into adults. They don't suddenly learn a new skill set at age 18. It is a developmental process. Kids will grow into adults who will be farmers who will have to find new ways to farm. Or we can just aim low, maintain the status quo - and where will the world end up? As I said in a previous post, this is a complex problem that requires a complex solution. Handing all kids an abacus and a dictionary is not a workable solution.

Still silly. No, farmers will not have to find new ways to farm. Agricultural Universities do that. One farmer out of a million will go to college and invent something. We don't educate the million who stay on the farm to be inventors. Since I have asked three times to find a reason why children should be taught to think independently and you can't answer I'll assume there is no reason but to teach skills that can be taught by rote. It's the same for the first two years at college. Maybe someone asked my opinion once or twice while I was a senior in college, It's not until much later that your opinion counts. I want my doctor sticking by tried and true methods learned by rote to save my life or put a stent in my heart. I don't want him thinking independently and trying a new approach.

I take it you are not a teacher. It is not a complex problem. It is a simple problem that can be solved by teaching the kids how to read and write and add and subtract and multiply. Why is this not being done now? Because they are being taught too much nonsense like English and Chinese languages and Thai Dancing.

What's the baby bonus in Australia?

Thailand Snub Hub or the Sub Hub or perhaps the Auxiliary Hub of ASEAN Nations

And your post has to do with "Commerce Ministry wants Thailand to be ASEAN logistics hub" how?

Just silly. Give me one example where children should be encouraged to think independently before college? The question is not rocket science (kids don't design rockets to the moon). Kids are not going to find new ways to feed the planet. They are going to be farmers, work at 7/11 and be motorcycle taxi drivers and they can't add. So like I said give me one example where children before college should be encouraged to think independently? Is the kid looking for patterns the reason the cashier at 7/11 adds 10 plus 10, ten times before she can make change?

Heck, yeah. I'd fit in. It's been twelve years since I've been back, but I'm sure there'd be no problem. Fitting in in Thailand, now that was impossible. I have a very low tolerance for lies, scams, crime, corruption, crap service, filth, pollution (air/noise), traffic, rudeness, shoddy workmanship, etc. Living in Japan is harmonious with my general appreciation of adherence to the law, quiet, cleanliness, politeness, quality, beauty, and common sense.

Another 180 degree post. I wonder if there is an award for posts that are not just off topic but exactly the opposite of the intended topic?

Don't wonder about it for too long. If there was an award dont worry, I would donate it to the biggest thai apologist award ceremony.

I have discovered living in 32 different places that there are people who don't get along anywhere. Normally when one does not get along in Thailand they don't get along anywhere. Of the 32 different places I have lived the only one I didn't fit in was East St Louis.

My understanding is that this is not a Thai specific issue- its happening across the board in emerging markets as big investors withdraw funds in expectation of the draw down of QE in the US.

If we had a slightly more equitable distribution of wealth in our societies around the world, we would all live a much happier life.

And more curbs on a small number of players to keep them operating on a level playing field would go a long way to solving a few basic problems.

After your first billion, it is not a good thing to have these people continue trying for more.

A billion USD provides any idiot with the clout to act like the kings and despots of yore, circumventing the laws that are too little and too late to make any difference in dealing with these flea bags.

My own opinion is that private companies should be forced/regulated to play a more social welfare type role for its staff and their families by devoting a fixed amount of annual profit to staff benefits. medical etc. If this rule applied to all private sector companies, it would be a level playing field and they couldn't argue that it makes them uncompetitive vis a vis the competition. This could be applied only when the owners of a given company had already secured profits of say XX millions of personal wealth- this would leave in place incentive mechanisms for entrepreneurs who found companies in order to get personally rich.

One thing is for sure- if we keep on under the following system, eventually the billions who dont benefit from this system- especially those in EU, US - are going to rise up and install a communist type- distribute the wealth system- mark my words.

Well, they did that in Russia and China. Do you think the majority of people will forget the millions that were killed by Stalin and Mao? What should we mark your words with? Blood?

Heck, yeah. I'd fit in. It's been twelve years since I've been back, but I'm sure there'd be no problem. Fitting in in Thailand, now that was impossible. I have a very low tolerance for lies, scams, crime, corruption, crap service, filth, pollution (air/noise), traffic, rudeness, shoddy workmanship, etc. Living in Japan is harmonious with my general appreciation of adherence to the law, quiet, cleanliness, politeness, quality, beauty, and common sense.

Another 180 degree post. I wonder if there is an award for posts that are not just off topic but exactly the opposite of the intended topic?

I thought in ancient Thailand executions were on a Wednesday and that since that meant getting ones head cut off it was considered unlucky to have a haircut on that day.

Ten years ago was too late.

The real money was made in the crash of the mid 90's.

Real estate at give away prices.

Expats selling up 3 years ago was a mimi bonus but nothing like 97~99.

Said like a true whinging pom. You only made 25% on your money; you could ave' made fifty%.

Hello Dolly wrote, "I would be more concerned about the rankings here." "Political and policy instability, excessive red tape, omnipresent corruption and clientèle, security concerns, low reliability and high uncertainty about property rights protection seriously undermine the quality of Thai public institutions (85th). Poor public health (74th) and education, two other critical building blocks of competitiveness, require urgent attention."

"Of course the government is not interested in improving any of that. Just sweep it under the carpet"

Hello Dolly wrote, "All my posts were in reply to your posts. Not the article."

That's a lie Dolly. I never posted the quotes that you posted. I only responded to them after you posted them.

Go take a look. Your post #24 is the first time the negative information was posted outside of the article being posted by Webfact.

The Nation went looking for negative information to post with a positive article and found it and you posted it not me.

The Nation tried to turn a positive article in to a negative article and you bought the con.

Every farang who has experienced Thai teaching methods first hand realizes that, no matter how much money they spend, as long as students are lectured to and not taught how to think and reason for themselves, the education will not happen. Unfortunately, this suits the politicians just fine as a thinking population might question their wisdom in governance.

"The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires." William Arthur Ward. Thailand is in great need of teachers who inspire their students to be inquisitive and to study and become lifelong learners.

That's just silly. The basics are rote memory. Thai kids can't read Thai and can't write Thai and don't have basic arithmetic skills. You are talking college. I'm talking grade school. They don't need any more brain stress. Start with the basics.

What is just silly? My whole post? Is teaching young people how to reason and learn for themselves silly? If you wait until college to teach this, you've waited too long and left the vast majority behind. Already 50% who start school do not finish the 12th grade.

"Teach the Thai language and basic arithmetic skills and then send them out to make a living." In twelve years this is all you expect the system to teach? What kind of job will they qualify for with "Thai language and basic arithmetic skills"? It seems to me you just want the school system to train laborers and not thinkers.

For the standard of living for ALL Thais to go up, companies requiring more than just 'labor' will need to do business here. That will not happen until the education level improves.

Just silly. Give me one example where children should be encouraged to think independently before college? Reading, writing and arithmetic till college. They can't add! You don't know this?

The editorial said, "Democracy should be about more than who gets the most votes." What democratic country in the West could that be published in a newspaper?

Thailand has a much better health care system than Laos or Burma or Vietnam and the same can be said for roads, and the rest of the infrastructure. So is the medical and engineering education OK but nothing else is?