halloween

1 hour ago, champers said:

I don't have any statistics to say what the nett figure would be. Do you?

Just for you. figures for 2009/10,  ~3.5 million foreign workers, ~1million Thais residing o/s (and that would include dependents).

http://publications.iom.int/system/files/pdf/tmr_2011.pdf

3 minutes ago, champers said:

You do need to factor in the many Thais that do go to work abroad and send money home. I don't know how many that would add up to but examples include: construction workers in Singapore and the Gulf states, fruit pickers in Israel, hotel and restaurant employees accross the globe, sex industry workers, massage shop workers.

OK factored in. The overwhelming movement is still TO Thailand. The wages offered are attractive to OTHER poverty stricken people, but apparently not to Thais.

Re-instating the subsidy on school fees and books would be good (and VERY popular).

Cue the flood of negativity.

30 minutes ago, Dexlowe said:

The interesting point here is that in another story it quoted someone as saying that there appeared to be a gang in operation which can help you get off a charge by having a person take the rap for you. Police are investigating this, it seems. So along with the usual scapegoats (estimated by some to be up to 50% of inmates) in prison, there are now professionals for hire to do time for you. Bit late for the Red Bull rotter, though (second posting, folks -- is this a record? ).

Is your claim of 50% of inmates being "scapegoats" based on the seldom held belief that those willing to cheat, steal, peddle drugs, molest children, rape and murder would not stoop to lying?

BTW in my experience the percentage claiming total innocence is closer to 90.

Oh dear me, this will be a bitter pill to swallow. It seems the BIB were actually right.

Could Jomsap now get another 5 years for soliciting perjury?

10 hours ago, pornprong said:

And so the incestuous circle of appointments continues......without democracy, this place is doomed.

11 hours ago, Dave67 said:

What a total load of bull shit. The rich employer's rates of pay are similar to slavery hence they encourage mass immigration. 

Have you noticed that the immigration is TO Thailand, not from?

22 hours ago, Samui Bodoh said:

There are several different ways to decide how members of a parliament are chosen and allocated, and each has pluses and minuses.

 

Thailand had a reasonable system (no system is perfect) which was widely understood by the populace and had most, if not all, the kinks worked out.

 

Now, it has been changed to a MUCH more complicated system which is NOT widely understood for the express purpose of preventing ONE specific party from winning a majority. 

 

Progress, Thai-style...

 

Do we laugh or cry?

Under the new system the 49% who do not vote for a candidate still get some representation. If that prevents ONE criminal from buying a government with electoral bribes, should we consider that to be undemocratic?

8 hours ago, Cadbury said:

As the story says:

"Meanwhile on Friday, the Rice Policy and Management Committee agreed to slow down the release of rice into the market until next year due to the arrival into market of newly-harvested rice in order not to affect the price of new rice". 

That rings a bell. Where have I heard that story before? So prices are still being manipulated by storing rice, old and new, and not selling it until the price is right. 

 

The alternatives are to sell all the stored rice, lowering the price (and profit) of the new crop and then offering further subsidies/gifts/handouts to rice farmers, or to release it onto the market slowly as to maintain a reasonable price for the current crop. Either method incurs cost to the taxpayer.

The rice scam is a gift that just keeps on giving, it's just that some people have difficulty working out who bears the responsibility for it.

9 minutes ago, Samui Bodoh said:

 

Unfortunately, I am not surprised by this news, and I suspect that few others are surprised either; when the poor lose their representation, it follows that they lose their influence as well

 

The truly sad news is that the trend is likely to continue until there is a government that focus' on the poor, and that is likely a ways into the future...

 

Sad times..

When their "representation" danced to the tune of a corrupt fugitive criminal in return for a fat monthly payment, their influence must have been huge.

On 11/17/2017 at 8:33 AM, Khun Han said:

 

Fair play to you. You don't even pretend to have any semblance of balance, do you?

What sort of "semblance of balance" is required to recognise the Shinawatras as parasitic scum and name them as such? What sort of moral flexibility is required to ignore their crimes because they have manipulated the poor excuse for democracy to get themselves elected?

23 hours ago, pornprong said:

Both Yingluck and Thaksin are former Prime Ministers so, to the non Junta hugging anti-Shinawatra obsessives, it's quite clear that Samui Bodo is referring to the actions of the NACC whilst each of the above were Prime Minister i.e. before they were each hauled before the corrupted courts and slapped with trumped up charges to derail democracy.

 

Have you anything to say about the situation with Prayuth and the NACC or are you content to just chime in with a dig at Thaksin and Yingluck and leave the misdeeds of the current "government" unmentioned.

Being busy at the time, that was the short version. Just for you, what do you think either Shinawatra would have done? Looking at the ekder's criminal activity and asset duplicity, and the other's total negligence of even heinous crimes, the answer is prett clear, isn't it.

7 hours ago, Samui Bodoh said:

If the 'Reds' were in power, would it have been passed to Thaksin? To Yingluck?

 

No, it would not have.

 

They are not even pretending that the laws apply to them. The sooner that they leave and Thailand returns to the rule of law, the better. We simply have to hope that the damage isn't already irreversible.

 

Why would the NACC pass it to fugitive criminals?

8 hours ago, Skeptic7 said:

Jane Goodall is all good! A lovely woman to be admired and respected. Her life's work has brought so much awareness to chimpanzees and other great apes...as well as endangered species, conservation and animal welfare. 

Undoubtedly, but does she have any knowledge of oil drilling? Would you ask a rig pig about your monkey?

35 minutes ago, Chris Lawrence said:

Maybe suggest to the farmers to go free trade market route, that is they market their own product via a co-operative system. Get rid of the Government busy bodies in the system. It might be hard but with proper funding they may do better than the current system.

 

As Eric said above there are parallels to other systems adopted by other government bodies. 

 

Never forget the Texan brothers that tried to tie up the world silver price. They came a gutsa.

 

One cannot control world markets as there are people out there that bank on people like this to make money out of the schemes. 

 

Leeneeds also made a good point above.

 

Then again Hal is still out there; why does the Government have to hang onto the rubber farmers? Is there some profit to be made?

The reason that rubber prices are low is that they are competing with synthetic rubber made from oil - as soon as the oil price drops so does the price of rubber. Any day now, our 'green' friends might decide that fossil fuels are used for things other than electricity, and decide to ban synthetic rubber, and plastics, and steel, and.........

2 hours ago, Eric Loh said:

Does look similar to the rice scheme. Government buying rubber and stocking to influence prices. And it failed too. 

Let us know when they hit the B100 billion mark, or if you detect any fake G2G sales or billion baht brokerage commissions paid to 'mates".

25 minutes ago, Thian said:

the VAT is 7% and the King Power had to pay 15! % to the state.

 

So how could this shop ever be cheaper than the malls with that 15%?

Just guessing, but they also don't pay import duty/tariffs. Or a few other costs associated with retailing, such as rent, A/C, security, car parking...............

A military force made up of 23 countries - I'd guess the single largest unit will be Interpreters with an insignia featuring the tower of Babel.

Except for the air force, they'll speak English.

"I thought at first that it was a huge bomb."   Understandable mistake.

Trump should try 'recalcitrant', a term proven to be offensive to asian leaders.

1 hour ago, Ruffian Dick said:

Agreed. They must be truly desparate people.

Quite disparate, the only thing in common is that Australians don't want them in our country.

Fully support this for 2 reasons:

1/ it will be appreciated by those who need it

2/ there seems to be little opportunity for diversion of the funding to family or cronies posing as middlemen.

I suppose that if we have another PTP government it will, like the school fee/uniform subsidies, be cancelled as it originated from the 'wrong' side of politics.

2 minutes ago, Enoon said:

 

Now is a good time to be a massive agribusiness.

 

It is not, and never has been, a good time to be what are little more than subsistence farmers.

 

The decision to keep so many people "in the fields" was a massive mistake, condemning vast numbers of people to a life of near poverty and blighting the countries economic, political and social development.

 

The worst, violent, consequences of that policy will reveal themselves in the coming years.

 

 

 

The consequences have been felt for decades, with poor farmers willing to vote in whoever promises them the biggest handout, and corrupt governments unwilling to take measures that would destroy their voter base.

12 minutes ago, Eric Loh said:

What has the past got to do with the current rally against the agriculture minister. 

Prices are determined by supply and demand. 

You stated ' ....Thailand can be a pivot to better control of supply and demand.' The Agriculture Minister can have very little effect on world demand (except for in-country purchases similar to those alreadybeing carried out).  Do you think he should send out the bulldozers to reduce supply?