Eric Loh

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob has ordered the highway and rural roads departments to install rubber barriers instead of building road islands while building future new roads.

 

He has lots to learn on the correct terminology. It is call Guard-rails. What an embarrassment for the Transport Minister not knowing the correct term. 

There will be equally big problems if the Baht has severe volatility and major swing of the exchange rate. It will create lots of panic and out flows and that will seriously impact the country just like 1997. BOT has a large war chest and will intervene to smooth out the volatility; I hope.   

Soldiers don’t debate. They just shoot to get their way. Modus operandi of the military since 1932. 

For those who are on ground zero like me, last few months business have been brutal and the next remaining months of the year doesn’t looks to be any better. I have meet the challenges of the ‘08 financial crisis and the ‘10 big flood which flooded my factory and still able to keep myself afloat. This time things are different and seem a perfect storm. A global downturn and a incompetent government lead by a unqualified PM. I doubt we have reached bottom and Thailand will continue to spiral downwards unless the elites realized that they too are hurt and decide to change the government and the Generals.  

5 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

Must have been on a good salary ?

The NACC is tasked in the investigation of temple funds embezzlement and there are many grey areas there for scooping up some funds for their own. 

I will hold my breathe until the public prosecutors decide to indict him and after he received sentencing and lock up in jail for a long time. This is after all Thailand, land of amazing judiciary political expediency and allegiance.  

Why start next week when this week the government was whipped twice in Parliament during voting by the opposition. ????  

16 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

To mark its reopening, the USTDA awarded a grant to Thailand-based renewable energy company Blue Solar to conduct a feasibility study on a solar photovoltaic power plant with an integrated energy storage system in Suphan Buri province. The project represents one of the first private sector deployments of utility-scale battery storage in Thailand.

Should first try selling this alternative energy idea to his climate change denier Boss. 

32 minutes ago, worgeordie said:

When does he have time to read all these books he keeps

recommending.

regards Worgeordie

Does reading the book preface counts? 

47 minutes ago, FarFlungFalang said:

I thought he was appointed by the current one,sorry my mistake they're both the same one.????

The old one will still be in office until end September and he was appointed by the previous junta. The new one and the only candidate will assume the post 1st Oct after endorsed by the senate. You right, appointed by the same regime. 

4 hours ago, webfact said:

The Prime Minister, therefore instructed all ministries to ensure cooperation and use the Bio Economy, Circular Economy and Green Economy models to help adjust the economic structure to address the economic downturn and raise the prices of agricultural products.

Well at least he manage to copy some big powerful economic models which I doubt he understand but does made him sound intelligent. Obviously he left out the part of how he want these models to be implemented. It will be a bridge too far to stretch his intellectual capacity. 

He should have crossed over to the PPRP who will readily squashed the case. 

He walked out because Prayut offered his ex-wife the political appointment. Looks like the government was not keen to have him in the coalition. Maybe he is the only civilized one in the government. 

I think the Industry Minister Suriya got this right. The strong Baht will remain due to the favourable fundamentals that Thailand enjoyed for now. The BOT responsibility is to keep the Baht stable by soaking up wild gyrations and using fiscal policies. BOT must remain independent and not submit to political pressure and interference. To offset the currency strength, companies will have to be more productive and that's where the government can help by training and grants for automation and mechanization.  

11 hours ago, emptypockets said:

They tripled it a few years ago and my, oh my, didn't the posters on here whinge about increased prices. The talk is to increase again to 450b per day. Don't be surprised when prices increase again to match the increased input costs for business.

Last few years wage was increased from 300B to 325B, hardly tripled. Inflation still subdued and the fear more on stagnation. The government should look at structural reform like wage increase rather than temporary fixes like handouts etc that will only good for a short period. That's my point. 

13 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Cabinet mulls uses for unspent billions

Paper profit by clever accountants. 

Captain Thammanat is a scary dude not to be messed with with his alleged criminal connection. He will get things done in a jiffy.   

The whole global aviation universe knows the problem of Thai Airways except the Thai government. Too much state control and too many board members resulting in delayed and inefficient decision making. 

http://bakertilly.co.th/insights/thai-airways-drastic-action-required/

30 minutes ago, Cadbury said:

My reading of it is the EU has not been impressed with Thailand's human rights record, particularly in the fishing industry. Fortunately for Thailand the EU has lifted Thailand's "yellow card" which has been in place since 2015.

But this has been met with misgivings and even strong resistance from some employment and human rights organisations who claim that human trafficking is still rampant.

The onus of proof seems to be in Thailand's court and this could be a handicap to Thailand's quest for an FTA.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jan/10/eu-under-fire-after-lifting-threat-to-ban-thai-seafood-imports-over-illegal-fishing

EU was also not pleased that the junta government didn't invite their observation team for the election. 

39 minutes ago, madmitch said:

The minimum wage means nothing. The Government admitted the other day the 40% of the population earns less than 6000 baht a month. These are probably self-employed farmers and their families, who double as staff. An increase in the minimum wage won't help these people.

The self-employed is actually higher and growing and is now 50% of the entire workforce. The increase in minimum wage will do couple of things - attract more of this group of informal workers back into the employed workforce and the higher wages will provide a trickle down economics and stimulate the domestic consumption which will benefit those self-employed. Don't claimed that wage increase is the only fiscal tool that the government can use; there are quite a few that can provide structural reform and not temporary fixes like stimulus package.  

12 minutes ago, Joe Mcseismic said:

Financial literacy has been falling over the years. It should be taught at school.

What about wages not commensurate with raising living costs, losing jobs and lesser income (OT) from struggling companies in this harsh economic times. Not all debts are about buying cars. Could just be mundane household items, rents and schools expenditures. It's not all about financial literacy; most blames should be on poor and failing government policies to address structural issues.