soalbundy

Dangling wire snags Pattaya motorbike taxi driver by the neck.

Actually there is more slavery today than ever before so apparently it could be seen by some as ok https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_the_21st_century

Power has a allure all of its own, always and everywhere. It has a special quality in Thailand, open, transparent, without shame, it has an amoral endearing charm about it.

From rags to riches in the west (for some) may have been true once but times have changed, in Europe and America most people live from pay cheque to pay cheque, rents have become almost unaffordable let alone buying a house. The amount of wealth has already been carved up and the greater part belongs to very few, the majority can scramble for the left over crumbs. This is why politics is becoming so extreme, people are starting to vote for extreme left or extreme right, any demagogue who will promise to clear away the swamp seems better than the status quo, there is no room for discourse any more. Politically Thailand's constraints are more open, there is no shame and so no need for the grey Eminence in the shadows who really control. Wealth disparity in Thailand is no different except that the people in general seem happier than those in the west. As for debt, that is usually a choice, although in America especially, many are having to use their credit cards at 20% interest just for basics whereas in Thailand it is for commodities, like a motorbike or a smart phone, the basics are mostly taken care of. Wealth disparity in the whole world is huge, it doesn't matter where one lives. History has shown that when it gets too great the guillotine gets erected or dictatorships in the guise of communism sweeps through the land compounding the misery. We live in interesting times.

Silly schemes abound in the West as well. You get 'raped' as a working person in the West. You can't pillage from the poor they haven't got anything to take. Every 3 months, what a grind.

Be realistic, the world's citizens are pragmatic and don't give a $hit.

So, a history of drug taking and mental illness and was still able to get a license as a taxi driver.

His visa extension is under consideration.

It's just a phase he's going through. My cousins son presented him with a credit card bill of 9,000 pounds and asked him to clear it for him, he lives in his own house that my cousin bought for him......entitlement issues.

Worked like a charm.

So now they are really going to need their parents money.....not so sure they will pay up this time.

Anal

whatever, but probably not an innocent one.

Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.

An important additive to a Chinese buffet.

The blood supply left his brain and went somewhere else.

He and the central banks only think they control the market, the real economy, industry and consumer sentiment, control, unwittingly, what happens. China is desperately trying to convince people to buy property again, large sums of money are being poured into the banks who are being told to give credit to the failing property developers but consumers are having none of it, confidence has been lost. General consumption is also down due to high unemployment and so factory gate prices are falling, this is deflation which will be exported to the west. Jerome may have the data but he isn't looking at the broad picture, they are all fixated on inflation (which would have fallen to 2% if they had stopped tightening long ago), the lag effect was ignored, now they will overshoot in a destroyed economy.

Traders reading the tea leaves of rate reductions, which may come sooner than expected because the central banks have overdone the tightening. The credit restrictions are destroying the real economy, once unemployment starts to rise rapidly the rates may, due to panic, fall to zero again.....too late as usual, the Fed has never been able to engineer a soft landing. When ultra low rates start appearing the banks will restrict credit even more because they aren't earning enough to offset risk caused by a lag in demand and high unemployment, ultimately this will cause inflation to drop well below the 2% mark due to a lack in demand as consumers no longer have the discretionary money to buy and we enter the dangerous territory of deflation which will destroy the stock market eventually.

Growth in the west is sub par as well, If the central banks don't cut rates soon I think we are heading for a world wide economic crisis, Thailand seems to be doing relatively well from my perspective, slow but steady.

Precisely, calculating.

Naive or calculating? What 16 year old girl goes on a dating app to meet up with men old enough to be her father.

In Surin Province it's a British springtime in the morning and then back to hot in the afternoon, very unusual, I can sit outside in just a pair of shorts at 5 in the morning.

No, Caucasians and Indians don't have this gene variant, Thais and Japanese people do.

The best thing about getting old is realizing that nothing really matters.

I believe that there is a genetic trait in some Asians that prevents the breakdown of alcohol, a gene variant which generates a non functional enzyme. I stay away from Thais once they start drinking, even if they are good neighbours, as far as I know nothing has happened due to alcohol in my village but why take the risk.