newnative

Glad we finally agree on something! Progress!

Hey, there. Just a quick note that it was not me with the Grab quote regarding 'disgusting sauces'. That was Celsius. It will likely be a cold day in Hell before I find any sauce 'disgusting', and certainly not the tasty brown mushroom gravy sauce that comes with the chicken breast I mentioned in an earlier post.

This accident was truly horrific with wide-spread public anger that something like this could happen. You can see the officials scrambling to pass the blame on to someone, anyone, but themselves. Maybe this time it might bring some needed changes. But, sad it has to take so many dying children and teachers to get the officials to get off their asses and start to do the things that should have been done years ago--that is if anything actually gets done.

I have so many 'best' memories. I might highlight one. When I first visited Thailand for the first time in December 2009, prior to my permanent move in June 2010, my Thai partner and I were living right on the beach in a condo near Ban Pae. I vividly remember one beautiful evening when we went down to the beach and we had dinner right on the beach from one of the small beach food stalls, watching the sunset, listening to the waves. Not many people around. Beautiful weather. While we were eating, an elephant with his handler came up the beach and ambled right by us--probably the first--but now not the last-- time in my life I had been so close to an elephant. I remember thinking this is certainly wonderfully different from my ho hum life in Virginia.

Jail the owner. His buses are rolling fire bombs. Inspections of all buses needs to be done nationwide.

Super important that this information is made available to the public before the election so voters can make an informed decision on their next president. How anyone could vote for this scumbag is beyond me. Meanwhile, for crybaby Trump, don't do the crime if you can't do the time. Lock him up already.

Color me impressed that not only did you know 'thousands of people' but you also knew that 'only a few' of the thousands were doing 'okay'. I don't know how you managed to keep those 'thousands' of different financial situations in your head. I, myself, have my hands full just keeping track of my finances. Forget thousands. Bravo, you! As I said in my previous post, there are certainly lots of people not doing well in the US. That's a given. Always been the case, likely always will be the case. It's interesting, though. Did a little checking and found there are 37.9 million people living in poverty in the US. Certainly a lot. But, here's what I found interesting. There are also 24.5 million millionaires in the US. That's also a lot--and I suspect the actual number is both higher, and growing fairly rapidly. And, that number will continue to grow when the many wealthy, aging Baby Boomers pass their wealth, plus the wealth they inherited, themselves, from their Greatest Generation parents, on to their kids.

I was a non-starter as a cook. I dusted my stove rather than cleaned it.

If that is your opinion of food choices in Thailand then you are yet another member for whom I wonder why you are here. My spouse and I eat well here, and certainly better than what I was eating in America--which was mostly fast food when I ate out and tv dinners when I ate at home. We like to eat out here but he's a good cook and we also eat at home, as well, taking advantage of all the fresh fruit and vegetables available year-round. I'll take most of what we eat here over McDonald's any day.

You're mistaking median net worth with average net worth. They are two different things. American median net worth was $192,000 and change in 2023. That simply means that half of Americans have a net worth of more than $192,000 and half have less than that. American average net worth was over $1 million and change in 2023. Average net worth is total individual net worth divided by the number of individuals. Of course, as you say, there are lots of Americans 'just getting by'. But, there are also lots of Americans that are more than just getting by.

In reality, over 60% of Chinese visitors to Thailand are independent travelers, not in tour groups. They go where they want, see what they want, stay where they want, and, spend where they want.

If you'll only eat imported chicken, imported potatoes, imported lettuce and tomatoes, imported bread, and imported mushrooms for the brown mushroom gravy for the imported chicken, then, perhaps, you shouldn't be in Thailand. For my spouse and me, it's a tasty and reasonably priced western meal.

Thanks!

And, average USA household net worth was $1,059,470 in 2023, up from $746,821 in 2020. Sounds about right.

Western restaurant food doesn't need to be 'very expensive'; you just need to look around a bit and try new places. Spouse and I have a favorite restaurant here on the Darkside of Pattaya. One of the meals we like is a chicken breast entree with choice of sauces and it comes with french fries, a slice of garlic bread, and a small salad for 100 baht. Delicious. Wonder what you can get for 100 baht at a restaurant in the US these days. Another restaurant we like near us with western menu choices has a very good large-size ham and cheese pizza for 245 baht. We usually split the pizza and a salad costing 125 baht--the portions are quite large with this restaurant. If we're not stuffed we'll have dessert--large selection of cakes, pies, etc. Fuji has a good lunch deal with meals coming with your choice of drink and a small dessert. We like the teriyaki chicken, which comes with soup, rice, and a couple little other things, I think one is sometimes tofu, which I usually give to my spouse. Good value at 175 baht. We find new restaurants opening all the time in Pattaya. We recently discovered a new Chinese restaurant at T21, near Fuji. Tasty dishes, at very reasonable prices. I never knew eggplant could be so delicious--but it definitely is there, in several different dishes we have tried so far. We're looking forward to trying some of their other dishes. Last two times we were there we were given free ice cream for dessert. Good restaurant food at reasonable prices is out there. You just need to do some exploring--which can be a lot of fun.

Thailand is great value for the money--especially with what is usually your biggest ticket item--keeping a roof over your head. Whether you buy or rent, there is a huge variety of housing stock at all price points if you choose somewhere like Pattaya. I know--because in the 14 years I have been here with my Thai spouse, we have lived in everything from studio condos to our current 4-bedroom pool villa. Whatever your housing needs, it's likely available with numerous choices--we saw that firsthand as our housing needs changed as we got older. Could we afford a 4-bedroom with pool in America? Maybe in a stretch--but we'd be eaten alive by high property taxes, HOA fees, high costs to get someone to repair anything, higher utilities, and likely sky high insurance rates these days. Just a couple examples. We pay 40 baht a month for garbage pickup, twice a week. What's that cost these days in the US? The pool guy cleans and maintains our pool three times a week for 1500 baht a month, not counting supplies. What's a pool guy run for in the US? Of course, lots of other things are also cheaper, including health care and eating out at restaurants--which we love to do. Certainly there are other reasonably priced countries to choose from but we like being in Asia.

'Singular correct answer'? That's rich. And, where exactly did I tell you 'there was no cheating, no smurfing, no ballot irregularities'? Every Presidential election has some irregularities. It's a given when you are dealing with millions of voters and ballots. Did the number of irregularities effect the outcome in 2020? No--and I'm not the only one who believes this. A strong case could be made that Florida election irregularities did cost Gore the election in 2000. If anyone has an election beef, it's Gore, not Trump. That was a very close election, with Florida, and all its election problems, the deciding state. Not the case with 2020. Biden won by 7 million votes. A landslide. That Trump could even suggest that he won with his Big Lie is ludicrous. Somewhere, on one of the innermost rings of Hell, Hitler and Goebbels are having a good laugh.

Those stats leave me sad. Sad that the Big Lie theory, used so effectively by Nazi Germany, is still very effective as a propaganda tool. Tell a Big Lie often enough, and loud enough, and a percentage of the population will eventually believe the Big Lie, no matter what it is, no matter how preposterous. Trump has the notoriety to both tell the Big Lie very often, but, more importantly, very loudly in the way of wide publicity. Trump did exactly that in 2020, beginning even before the election was held, and he's doing the same thing in 2024. Sad that, with those percentage numbers, the Big Lie worked in 2020 and likely will work to some degree in 2024, as well, should he lose. If he wins, of course, never mind!--everything was hunky dory with the election. Sad that's the state of things in my country.

Scaredy cat.

They do look like poster boys for Trump. Trump, himself, can get some idea of how he will look in prison orange by taking a gander at the one on the right.

They could have picked a better example than the first guy, David. He only just arrived in Thailand this year--so his pension has hardly even been frozen yet. He knows going in his pension will not increase year after year if he chooses to live here. It's his decision. I do agree it's not fair to have some countries frozen and others not--that makes no sense at all. Either do all countries or none.

Dusting off The Big Lie, 2024 edition. Hard to believe so many people are such idiots to believe his ridiculous lies.

Biden and Harris need to get on the stick and mount a massive Federal response to the storm. So far I'm not seeing much of that--but, perhaps its not being reported. They need to be seen to be on top of things and totally engaged in making things better, and as quickly as possible. How many politicians have been voted out of office or were severely criticized because they went on vacation when a storm hit, didn't clear the roads fast enough after a snow storm, didn't respond fast enough, or were perceived to be not acting fast enough, after a disaster? So close to the election, this is really important for the Democrats, They are in charge of the clean-up, not Trump. They will be blamed if the effort falls short, or even if it is thought by some to have fallen short, not Trump. Trump can make hay with this--and likely will. My brother and his wife live in North Carolina and things have been bad for several days now. The interstates have been closed, there's no electricity, and there's a lot of storm damage. For now, they are living in their motor home, rather than their house, as they can sparingly use some sort of generator with the motor home. The first day or two of a disaster there's a can-do spirit in play but that grows old quickly when you go day after day with no electricity, roads are still blocked, food starts to go bad, etc. Day three or four, you start to look around for someone to blame. Like I said, get on the stick, Biden and Harris. Time's a'-wastin'.

And, when it finally ends up killing you, after giving you '5 or 6' warnings, it will also be your fault. Back to the topic, all stray dogs need to be rounded up and put down.

Total fraud. How could anyone respect somebody who compares Trump to Hitler, calls Trump an 'idiot' and 'reprehensible', and then turns around and goes to work for him. Talk about reprehensible behavior. Total fraud. Also reprehensible, passing himself off as growing up in a life of poverty and deprivation, when, in reality, his family was middle class. At times, the family had a six-figure income. What kind of a 'poor' child gets to take golf lessons, for heaven's sake? When he proclaims, "I grew up poor.", it's a complete lie. Total fraud. His ability to tell bald-faced lies, and not just about himself, with, apparently, no moral compass, does put him in good stead with his Hitler wannabe Trump. It also explains why Trump picked him. Two lying birds of a feather. Super scary if Dead Man Walking 78 year-old Trump gets elected and this lying total fraud is a heart beat away from the presidency.