Enzian

I keep suggesting check out the Din Daeng night food market over on Thanon Pracha Songkhro. That big formerly empty space in the middle is again filling up with food sellers, and the lane that leads away from the street is long and narrow and packed with people selling live fish and every other thing and people are jostling elbow to elbow, sure they have masks but so what? If any herd has immunity it must be those people, they wouldn't be returning to previous form if they all knew of people sick. And I'm seeing signs of places (shouldn't be specific) that should be closed that are wink wink nudge nudge actually open. What I'm saying is that there is this urge to return to normal because in some communities people just aren't feeling the crisis. And yes, I know it is a horrible disease.

15 minutes ago, Spellforce said:

Everyday I chat with some friends who are living in Europe, they all tell me that their dick is going to explode ! They are all waiting for the end of the confinement and going back to Thailand.

They never mentioned money issue.

Did the government close the FKKs in Germany?

1 hour ago, scotsdude said:

Porn as much stuff???

"porn as much stuff as they can" may not turn out to be a typo.

Misc.: I was in west central Germany last half of Nov. first part of Dec., staying about 200 yards from Cologne cathedral and it was overrun with Asian tourists. I went to a Chinese massage place. I could have been exposed then. I did have two cases of flu in Dec. and Jan. back here in Bangkok.

Another thing I noticed was that with the temp around 40F most Germans did not wear a hat. That seems common in a lot of Europe and the US. 

In Bangkok a lot of construction sites are still going, most of them probably. The workers a lot of them don't wear masks and are close together all the time and sleep in dorm-like accommodations. If all these people were being hit would we not hear about it? or would not those site close down?

Finally, I walk back in the poor areas of Din Daeng many nights. People can't afford air con, the fronts of their sweat shops and living quarters are always wide open. Traffic is less but life still seems normal, not like a plague is going on. People sit together, work at sewing machines two feet apart without masks, it's strange.

Of course the people who can "think ahead" will have stocked up and have supply, but it is precisely the people who can't think ahead that we should be worried about and hinder. I suggest that the ban also is psychological, it puts people on notice that this is all serious and they need to pay attention. It's ok with me (and I'm stocked up).

Why the dollar is holding up and still accepted is interesting. The simple answer is that money is just a medium of exchange, like seashells to aborigines. If you accept it from someone and later in the day someone accepts it from you for goods and/or services, it doesn't matter that it is backed by nothing. Also the US has never defaulted, and the reconciliation/clearing systems of the world are based on the dollar to large extent. Logically, there must be a tipping point where this all changes, but where?

7 minutes ago, cornishcarlos said:

 

Did you hear this from your wife's cousins sister in laws hairdresser, who over heard a conversation on the bus ???

What's your issue, dude?

Gentlemen, the classic definition of inflation is too much money chasing too few goods, and it still holds. Wage levels are secondary. "Goods" can include labor, and there is the crux. Globalization has provided access to cheap labor beyond our earlier imagination. This will eventually smooth out, but it could take a couple of centuries. Central banks providing liquidity from helicopters should cause inflation, but the supply of cheap goods to chase is still phenomenal, and by keeping interest rates close to zero they defeat their own attempts to ramp up inflation. So there should be inflation, but when? (But pure asset inflation is another matter, too complex for here.)

A meltdown is when a significant number cannot meet their calls. So the struggle in the US today is for the Fed to provide liquidity while the politicians try to get over the hump and get everyone back to work. I detest those who say the Republicans are trying to kill people, but it might work out that way if we have to accept a couple of hundred thousand deaths to get everyone back at work. Then no meltdown.

What I've noticed is a little different: they don't say goodbye when parting or leaving a room the way westerners do. They just turn and walk away, or walk out the door with their minds already somewhere else. 

My (probably ex) would tell me about going to temple for a few days of meditation and get to talking to the other women about her relationship with me and they would ask "how much allowance does he give you every month?" and "can you get me a farang boyfriend?" 

I've always said that old saying that "nature abhors a vacuum" has a version in Thailand that LOS abhors a straight white male with money who is single, they are going to fix you up and it may not matter much what you look like, as long as the credit cards work.

The OP seems to be getting close to clinical depression, which is very real but also treatable. I know. Doctors can actually help.

RE is always local. Where my interests are at in the Bay Area, things are soft in general, but it would take a near collapse for multi-family to soften much. I'd be interested in knowing if Thailand is a single market or many discrete markets; but I can't buy land, so why worry.

"The US CDC has its largest overseas office in Bangkok." That's extremely notable. Is it because of the history of AIDS, or what? Anyone have a clue?

OK, I'm going through the same right now, and she's half my age and I could write a book on all I've done for her these past five years, and yes she has returned value. They want SECURITY, whatever that means in any particular case, and in my case I could not take the step of marriage. I just drew the line finally when she asked me to cover a family emergency which did not seem appropriate from my western point of view. So it may be over, we're separated, no legal chains, I've never bet more than I was willing to lose. It hurts, a little. Suffer and move on; or don't.

Nothing ever lasts forever

Everybody wants to rule the world

(Tears for Fears)

So if I have my visa renewal funds in a FCD account (no deposit insurance) and the dollar gets especially high against the baht and (without knowing the future of course) my bank allows me to change those dollars into baht and simultaneously open a baht account with them, would I then have deposit insurance?

Twice a week I visit a friend who is barely able to walk; he lives in an old service apartment building. There is a security box guy outside that pays no attention, and I can go right to my friend's door and knock. I hadn't thought about this topic, but I guess the point is that every building is different.

Way back on March 11 khaosodenglish.com had an article that said that expats would be covered along with Thais by the universal health care program, but not necessarily tourists. I unfortunately know a lot about public and private hospitals here, and I feel rather confident if someone on long stay goes into a public hospital with a positive reading they will be treated free. Private hospitals, I would like to hear any experiences people have had to date.

2 hours ago, ChipButty said:

She's been around the block

On Sukhumvit couple of nights ago there was an obvious hooker with a shirt that said in big block letters ANYTHING. And I'm sure there will be a lot of anything when this calms down, but it would be wrong to take advantage of another's distress... but I tip well...

So I walked through the Din Daeng market again tonight after two days and the large central area is starting to fill up again with stalls, would think people are coming back. Everyone still close. Walked back through the neighborhood and people in the sweat shops are sitting 3 feet apart and 95% are not wearing masks. Less traffic on the streets, but if you didn't know and someone told you the city was in crisis you'd wonder what they were talking about. 

As they say in the business world, it is better to be lucky than smart. Thailand has been lucky (and maybe a little bit smart, on occasion). And to be clear, I don't trust the gov numbers, but I do give credence to the almost innumerable anecdotal reports that people are just not dropping like flies around the country.

I've been monitoring the nighttime behavior at the Din Daeng market on Thanon Pracha Songkhra near me, and while half the food stalls in the center have disappeared (probably on orders), that still leaves a few hundred, and people are still gathering there and milling about elbow to elbow in the evenings. If the word were out that lots were not coming at night because sick, everyone would soon know, and behavior would change much more than it has. But for better or worse, they are still there. 

Get a 90 minute soapy. Fly to CA to see the grandchild I've never seen in person, if CA is still there.

Then reschedule that flight to Rome I had to cancel, if Italy is still there. If Italy isn't, make something up.