VegasVic

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don't people that move to foreign countries want to meet the people of the country they chose to live in? i never understood people coming to foreign countries to meet (in the case of Thailand) other falangs.

The OP specifically said they are looking for help settling in.

It's not like locals have to do 90-day reporting now, is it?

Not to mention that it is kind of nice to get a "Reality Check" every once in a while....before you turn native.

The TVCM Forum is the best "Reality Check" in town.

It would make any newly arrived farang want to "turn native" with a vengeance.

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They cannot devalue their way to wealth.

Very true, and of course nowhere in my post did I say that they could "devalue their way to wealth", however they can through a SLOW and hopefully controlled devaluation maintain their market share for their exported products (and perhaps open up new ones as well) and give a shot in the arm to everyone in the tourism business and all the ancillary businesses that support tourism in Thailand Should Thailand lose market share (as they have in certain instances over the past few years) in their export industries, they may have a very difficult time regaining that market share back. I am not posting anything here that is earth shattering or breaking news, the Bank of Thailand is keenly aware of the delicate balancing act that they will have on their hands in 2015 and beyond

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Some would call "downward inflation" instead "deflation."

When a country is in deflationary economy, lowering interest rates is a device to encourage borrowing for capital investment. In the USA Treasury bill rates actually went to negative rates during its deepest period of depression bewteen 2008-2011 but still sold out! Unfortunately, the Government is borrowing most of its funds to create false agricultural profits through subsidies and borrow from the Chinese for a double rail project. Gen. Prayuth might become the shortest lived PM in Thai history.

First of all I consider Gen. Prayuth to be the head of a military dictatorship not the PM of Thailand, with that said I don't think that it particularly matters who is at the helm at the moment, the Bank of Thailand has to figure out a way to SLOWLY devalue the Baht so that exports can increase in real terms and tourism can remain stable The lower cost of petroleum products will in itself be a shot in the arm to the Thai economy but that alone will not be enough, Thailand must be proactive in doing all they can on every front to encourage growth in their economy, as there are two very large ticking time bombs in their region of the world ( Japan and China)

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Final Score: GOP Gains Nine Senate Seats, Will Hold 54-46 Majority


obama's continued Legacy ...

Barack Obama has presided over more midterm losses for his party than any other president in the last six decades. "Make no mistake: these policies are on the ballot. Every single one of them,"



http://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2014/12/08/final-score-gop-gains-nine-senate-seats-will-hold-5446-majority-n1928620?utm_source=thdailypm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl_pm&newsletterad=thpm1

JD, It doesn't matter how many facts you throw at the Koolaid drinkers here as they will just pull those blinders in a little tighter and chug more of that delicious left wing Koolaid Once the Supreme courts rules on the Obamacare subsidies and the State exchanges a few months from now, Obamacare will begin its death spiral in earnest Obamas only legacy will wind up being a larger government with thousands of new regulation hindering the creation of REAL full time jobs, an increase in the national debt by over 100%, the most devisive and partisan governing and government in U.S. history, and of course the overall impression outside of the U.S. that the U.S. is a weaker nation

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Good for the exports and better for me that I will be getting more Baht:thumbsup:

But you WON'T be getting more Baht because it remains ridiculously high against everything except the USD...so if your income is in Euros there is a net loss ( but just be grateful the drachma is history ).

Prbkk, You have made a very good point here, the Thai Baht has not been weakening at all it has been the U.S. Dollar that is strengthening, and since the worlds finances are so U.S.(Petro) Dollar centric it just appears that the Thai Baht is weakening. I have a feeling that the Thai Baht will begin to weaken over the next 12-18 months, at least I hope so for the European, Aussie and Japanese expats in the LOS, because the Dollar has just begun its stregthening cycle. The U.S. economy will continue to outpace the rest of the worlds economies and as the interest rates begin to climb in the U.S. so to the U. S. Dollar will continue to strengthen. This time around the strengthening cycle will be stronger for the U.S. Dollar than in the past due to the fact that the U.S. Dollar has been artificially supressed by the Treasury dept. for the past 15 years and also the fact that the U.S. is very quickly becoming a net exporter of petroleum products.

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A whole generation of black youth have been betrayed by both black and white liberals and the PC brigade who have a turned their non compliance with the rules of society, a chip on shoulder attitude, hostility to education, hostility to white culture, discipline and dress sense, education etc into a sense of entitlement to be unpleasant and uncooperative. The chip on shoulder attitude inherent to modern black youth culture has been sold as political consciousness. They have been conned. And all too often it is the police who have to deal with them as their parents couldn't or wouldn't and their teachers couldn't, and their peer group subculture the toxic Rap and Hip Hop culture turned them into unemployables whose badge of style is showing their underpants and wearing a hat back to front. We need to salute the officials who have to deal with these anti-social elements. Both in the UK, the USA and other places they destroy communities.

Actually it is more like the last 2-3 generations of young black men and women in the U.S. and it is sad that the Dems have replaced the slave Plantations of 150 years ago with the Welfare plantation of the modern era It is sad but it does work, 97% of blacks vote Democrat in elections and they will likely continue to, just give them more welfare bennies and take away any chance they have of standing on their own feet and thereby thinking for themselves. It's kind of like the old African monkey trap where there is a small hole carved out of a tree and then some rice is placed deep in the hole, the monkey comes along and squeezes his hand into the hole and grabs a handful of that tempting rice but with the rice in his hand he cannot get his hand out of the hole and because the rice is so tempting he wont let go and then the hunters come along and get the monkey The amazing thing is that it was a liberal Democrat (Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan) who predicted that this breakup of the traditional black family and the discipline and values that use to exist would occur when LBJ started the Great society welfare programs. He wrote a masterful thesis while he worked in the Dept of Labor in the Kennedy administration well before he became a U.S. Senator known as the Moynihan report and he expanded on this thesis when he ran the Harvard-MIT joint center for urban studies in the mid 60's.

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Exactly. The "report" is a partisan hoax. NO ONE in the CIA - past or present - was even interviewed.

U.G., Once again the left wing nuts here do not want to hear the truth, they just want to regurgitate the lies they hear on MSNBC or NPR or the Obama administration disinformation dept. Anyone who takes even one minute to look at this objectively knows that this is a pure partisan attack that was put forward as a misdirection ploy after the absolute beating the Dems took at the polls last month and the abysmal job that the Obama administration is doing The American public is fed up with this Obamcare mess now that they finally realize that they have been lied to time and again by Obama and his lackeys, thank God In less than 4 weeks the new Congress will be seated and this spring the Supreme court will hear the Obamacare subsidy and state exchange case, when the Supreme court rules it will be the begining of the end for Obamacare. RIP

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No surprise here. The Bush-Cheney administration was lawless. Why hide your torture techniques and try to cover up any investigation into them? Al Qaeda publicizes its beheadings on youtube. No reason for secrecy, unless what was being done violated US laws. International law is irrelevant in the US as the US wisely does not allow the Euros to have jurisdistic supremacy through its weak-kneed international agencies like the UN and ICC.

You are proving just how clueless you are my friend, none of this was done in the U.S.

Wrong there. Most of it was done within US jurisdiction. Those bases are under US jurisdiction per recent US Supreme Court rulings.

Wrong again, NONE of this was done on U.S. soil or where the U.S. Justice Department would have any jurisdiction. Back to the drawing board for you Zap

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Note to terrorists and would be terrorists.. no body promise you a rose garden, you knew
very well what are the risks associated with those terrorist actives, we see you on Al-Jazeera
looking so smug and macho walking around with the ninja outfits and tone of emmo and guns,
now take it like the piece of crap that you're,
just say thanks to your Allah the Israelis didn't interrogate you...

Your post reflects badly on you and maybe attitudes like yours are the reason USA is targeted in the first place.

Jealousy breeds resentment. Resentment breeds hate. Hate breeds terrorism.

All starts with jealousy so unless the US became pathetic like many of the countries that target us, there will always be losers from those countries targeting us.

I remember Dubya chanting a similar mantra after 911..."America was targeted for attack because we're the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world."

The terrorists didn't give a hoot about the American way of life. They attacked because USA was sticking its nose into their way of life.

Geez Dex you really drink that koolaid by the gallon don't you Let me remind you of a few facts there young man (I say young man not to be condescending but due to the fact that any educated grownup would not spew forth the nonsense you seem to post) it was Saddam who invaded Kuwait and had eyes on the entire Arabian peninsula, it was the House of Saud who invited the U.S. into their country, it was not the U.S. sticking its nose in their way of life. Poor little usaama got mad because the House of Saud did not invite him and his cave dwellers into the Kingdom to fight off Saddam Now go back and watch some more MSNBC so you can spew forth some more lies here, we do so like exposing you left wing nuts for the dupes that you always prove yourselves to be

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Note to terrorists and would be terrorists.. no body promise you a rose garden, you knew

very well what are the risks associated with those terrorist actives, we see you on Al-Jazeera

looking so smug and macho walking around with the ninja outfits and tone of emmo and guns,

now take it like the piece of crap that you're,

just say thanks to your Allah the Israelis didn't interrogate you...

Or the Jordanians, the Saudiis, the Egyptians ect. ect. ect. the list is almost endless

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No surprise here. The Bush-Cheney administration was lawless. Why hide your torture techniques and try to cover up any investigation into them? Al Qaeda publicizes its beheadings on youtube. No reason for secrecy, unless what was being done violated US laws. International law is irrelevant in the US as the US wisely does not allow the Euros to have jurisdistic supremacy through its weak-kneed international agencies like the UN and ICC.

You are proving just how clueless you are my friend, none of this was done in the U.S.

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These political cartoons express what millions of American Voters think of Hillary.

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Given all of her negative baggage (and there's mountains of it) I never felt that hillary stood a chance in 2016, but after the crushing defeat the Dems took in the midterms now I know she is toast

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Now let's see Mr President, do you see your self as a "great president" ? if yes, than the US of A
had enough of " great president"

let this country have a president that actually know what he's doing, and I'm sorry to say Mr President,
that you have ruined the chances of the next would be African American person who might
have aspirations to become one....

I don't agree he has hurt the chances of a future African American president at all. But probably the next one will be a republican and have a LOT more experience before the presidency, or BOTH. Also not a senator.

I concur. An experienced, black Republican would have a good chance. My number one pick - black or white - is Codi Rice, but I doubt if she will ever run.
Dr Ben Carson seems like a nice guy and I agree with him on some things, but would never vote for him for president, because of his lack of political experience

Condi or Dr. Carson would be good choices, they are both brilliant and have a good sense of what the U.S. needs right now, also if either of them were elected President then they would be the first Black President of the U.S. given that both of their parents are black, unlike Obama who was born from a
White womans womb In reality though the next president will be a former governor, and the ticket that wins will likely have 2 governors on it - the leading candidates are Jeb Bush, John Kasich, Mike Huckabee, Susana Martinez , Scott Walker and Chris Christie . A Bush -Kasich ticket would be very powerful as it would easily deliver Ohio and Florida which all but sews up the election I love all the talk coming from the dems about how Hillary Clinton has the Presidency in her back pocket if she decides to run, personally I have never thought that Hillary stands a chance given all of her negative baggage

I'm all for cops wearing cameras, but that will put poor ole Rev. Al out of business, or will it? Perhaps even when presented with vetted eyewitness trestimony backed by by those new cop cameras, good ole Rev. Al will still protest and incite riots Some people will do anything to make a lot of noise and try and keep peopeles minds off the fact that he is a tax cheat

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Mary Landrieu was defeated by Bill Cassidy in the Louisiana Senate runoff. Blame Obama's unpopularity for that. ‏

Cassidy won by a significant margin 48% ... 43%

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/cortneyobrien/2014/12/06/la-landslide-republican-bill-cassidy-gains-ninth-gop-senate-seat-in-win-over-landrieu-n1928359

Bill Cassiday unseated 3 term incumbent Democrat Senator May Landrieu tonight by a landslide vote of 56% vs. 44%, those are the facts like em or not

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I think it's fantastic that the love for the NCPO is so demonstrably widespread and still akin to the sort of adoration other unique leaders like Saddam Hussein received at their peak.

Who believes this drivel, aside of course from a couple of tireless TV flagwavers?

I am quite surprised that it is only 88%, after all those are the kind of numbers a "run of the mill" Dictatorship would usually get, given that this is a Military Dictatorship I would think that the numbers would be in the mid 90's

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Indeed it looks like Putin is financially screwed -- Oil price falling, Gold rejected by the world, what next ? Maybe the vote in Moldova will be another nail in his self-made coffin.

RIP Vlad

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Excellent ! Where i live in a small village over the last three years about forty new resorts have been built. Friday night i counted three cars at one hotel, two at another, four at another and a big zero at all the rest. Where i am staying over the last month have rented out two rooms for one night. I can,t wait for the CRASH! Greed will kick them all in the butt. The baht will likely hit 60 to the dollar. I can,t wait.

You have a very long wait ahead of you. Your comments just show you up for being very naive as far as currency markets go. There is close to zero chance of you getting 60 baht to the USD any time soon. More chance of getting 20 baht to the USD.

Well that's perhaps a discussion for another thread, but the likelihood of a baht crash is far higher than you think.

The yen is teetering on collapse now. Abe is cornered and scared. He has zero plan B. The likelihood of a yen collapse is *well* above 50% although probably not in the very near term because the one thing he can do is buy a little more time. (Which is exactly what he'll do). The question then is, do we see another Asian Flu like in 1997. The Asian Contagion started in Thailand but spread swiftly to Malaysia, Taiwan, Korea etc. The dynamic of currency collapses is that they quickly set off competitive debasement in order to preserve trade.

Right now the USD is also ripping higher and will continue to do so as long as oil continues to drop, the Eurozone continues it's recession, and China's hard landing continues. (Yes, the Eurozone is in recession. And yes, China is looking at a worst-case hard landing).

So if you think that a combined yen collapse and soaring USD won't be felt at all here in Thailand I'd sure like to hear your logic. Not to mention that the Thai baht at 20 would collapse Thailand's already disastrous exports, and never be allowed by the BoT.

But ... Since this is a RE thread, one should note that a plunging baht would likely create an inflow of capital investment into real estate. So the price of real estate priced in baht -- particularly urban, foreign quota condominiums -- will likely not collapse in the event of a Thai currency collapse.

My two baht, of course.

Senechal, You seem to have the right idea, this ldnguy poster doesn't seem to have the first clue, but then again there have to be winners and losers in every transaction GS came out a couple months ago predicting that by year end 2015 the Euro will be at par with the greenback, and I have had two different reports cross my desk predicting that in 2015 we will see Yen/Dollar hit the 200 mark, whether or not these exact numbers come about in 2015 doesn't really matter, but the trend is clear. Will the Baht/Dollar hit 60, I doubt it but the Baht will certainly be weaker vis a vis the Dollar in 2015. If this ldnguy is really foolish enough to put his money where his mouth is and wants to buy puts against the Dollar I will be glad to sell him those puts all day long and twice on Sunday

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Its new different than most stock markets in the world they are all up up and away no logic to it. Always remember what goes up must come down. Markets cannot defy the laws of gravity forever. If you really dig beneath the fudgy numbers governments are issuing you will see the sea of debt the we are floating on. We are also entering an era of escalating global conflict. Japan the EU are papering their countries with QE currency. They say the American consumer was MIA during Black Friday. Banks are tightening up their lending practices in anticipation of a contraction. Margin lending rules for buying stocks on credit are also tightening especially here in Thailand. When the excrement hits the fan be ready.

ElGordo shame on you for raining on their parade, why I am certain that we will also see a massive increase in "quality" tourists this season as a matter of fact I think that the TAT is penning a press release as we speak stating that tourist arrivals will be up 15% this season OK back to reality, yes what goes up (too fast) will come down, the good news is when the SET has its major correction it will prompt foreign investors/funds to repatriate their liquidated baht back into Dollars, Yen and Euros ect. thereby causing the Thai baht to weaken considerably and this will make Thai exports more attractive. The shot in the arm to the Thai export sector will be very much needed as the situation in China continues to erode, and the ripples of a slowing Chinese economy will have substantial repercussions for all of the ASEAN nations ( not too mention other major exporters to China like Brazil and Australia)

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Guam on the other hand is a U.S. territory and the bases there are still open despite Obamas attepting to close them alt=thumbsup.gif>

Lay off the FoxNews and Rush Limbaugh.

I'm not sure what fox news or rush limbaugh has to do with the obama administration wanting to close U.S. military installations down in Guam, but if it makes you feel better keep up the attack on fox and rush, and by all means keep on drinking that koolaid

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While that may be very true, less than 10% of gold mined annually goes for industrial usage, the number use to be in the mid teens but most dentists stopped using gold for fillings and crowns many years ago alt=wai2.gif width=20 height=20> BTW did any of you gold bugs here see the results of the Swiss elections today??? The Swiss voted to stop backing their currency with any gold, it looks like the plumetting price of gold could be with us for a while alt=whistling.gif>

[7] "Currently, Mr. LaLoggia has this to say: 'There is simply nothing in the economic picture today to cause a rush into gold. The technical damage caused by the decline is enormous and it cannot be erased quickly. Avoid gold and gold stocks.'" New York Times, August 19.

[8] "'Gold was an inflation hedge in the early 1970s,' the Citibank letter says. 'But money is now a gold-price hedge.'" New York Times, August 29.

[9] "Private American purchases of gold, once this was legalized at the end of 1974, never materialized on a large scale. If the gold bugs have indeed been routed, special responsibilities fall on the victorious dollar." New York Times, August 29.

[10] "Some experts, with good records in gold trading, declare it is still too early to buy bullion." New York Times, September 12.

[11] "Wall Street's biggest brokerage houses, after having scorned gold investments during the bargain days of the late 1960s and early 1970s, made a great display of arriving late at the party." New York Times, September 12.

So, anything sound familiar here? Yes, it was a brutal time for gold investors, but what's obvious is that those who looked only at the price and ignored the fundamentals ended up eating their words and dispensing horrible advice. Investors who followed the "wisdom of the day" missed out on one of the greatest opportunities for profit in their lifetimes. BTW the Swiss vote and industrial uses of gold have very little to do with what sets the price.

" industrial uses of gold have very little to do with what sets the price"??? Hmmm, it seems that I was making that very point in my post in replying to your proposition that gold has all kinds of usage in modern high tech electronics In other words the actual industrial demand for gold has been dropping over the past 20 years so making a point that gold has all those uses seems like a very flawed argument if you think that the price of gold will be rising anytime soon If you don't think that the Swiss vote will have any impact on the price of gold then you are sadly mistaken my friend, just check out the carnage when the gold pits in NY close for the day tomorrow Gold as well as many other "hard" commodities are in for a real tough time for the foreseeable future, like it or not

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Gold makes great speaker cable I've been told on good authority

You are right at the moment on that but i would expect technological advancement to consign speaker cables to the same box as the record player soon.

A small amount of gold is used in almost every sophisticated electronic device. This includes: cell phones, calculators, personal digital assistants, global positioning system units and other small electronic devices.

Gold is used in many places in the standard desktop or laptop computer. The rapid and accurate transmission of digital information through the computer and from one component to another requires an efficient and reliable conductor. Gold meets these requirements better than any other metal.

While that may be very true, less than 10% of gold mined annually goes for industrial usage, the number use to be in the mid teens but most dentists stopped using gold for fillings and crowns many years ago BTW did any of you gold bugs here see the results of the Swiss elections today??? The Swiss voted to stop backing their currency with any gold, it looks like the plumetting price of gold could be with us for a while

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Maybe they have to get rid of the OLD Stock, for which they paid inflated prices and then the NEW lower priced product will come on the market.

Yeh....and "Pigs Fly" don't they?

Possibly but unlikely. The majors that have both UP and DOWN stream production capability are covering the shortfalls from low oil prices by being able to refine cheaper and therefore realise better margins. The smaller exploration companies and fracking companies without any downstream capability are suffering and don't have the comparable financial strength to weather the storm.

The price of oil would have to drop below $60/bbl for the fracking to come to a halt in the Bakken and Marcellus fields. It could happen but I rather doubt it as there are other producers worldwide that will feel the pain long before the boys in the Dakotas do I hope oil stays around $70/bbl, however I think by next summer we will be right back in the $90-$100 range again