Presnock

Well, I communicate regularly with my family and friends in different areas of the US. Cost of living is way beyond almost all middle income folks except those near the top of that level. There doesn't seem to be any lowering of that COL in the immediate future as it seems many middle class folks may be out of a government job. Of course some of this depends on exactly where you plan to reside if you do want to stay full time in the US. But, in any case I wish you the best of luck and think you might want to extend your current visa just in case you decide you must return too instead of having to start over again. MHO anyway.

ESPECIALLY illegal immigration! The US has one of the allowable immigration quotas yet still MILLIONS come illegally and too many local state/city governments provide for themwith tax monies of the local citizens. The US also sends money to many of the countries from which these illegals are coming to alleviate some to the problems there but obviously that money doesn't get down to the poorer folks. It is time to FIX this problem worldwide as many people die from just trying to make it to one of the western countries. You don't see stories of folks lined up at the borders of N. Korea, China, Russia, Iran Afghanistan....except those lined up if any are on the inside of that border awaiting an opportunity to flee to the western country. Because of this, most still remain very poor and many turn to crimes to survive but even knowing how bad it might be in that western country, they still have it better than remaining in their own country so I guess it must be really bad there! But, it used to be than immigrants assimulated into the local country's culture but now they come in droves and want to change the country into the same that they fled from. Time to export them! IMHO!

A personal story of fact: in the late 70's early 80's, I lived in Madrid, Spain. There was an outbreak of illnesses/deaths and the Spanish government could not figure out what was happening and causing this outbreak so eventually after several months, they sent samples of those who died (blood I guess) and they found that the cause was Olive OIl. Before you are shocked, there are many levels of Olive oil, the lowest grade being used as a lubricant for engines/machines. Some company though started bottling the lowest grade of olive oil and selling it as "COOKING" oil. When the Spanish government ordered the stores selling this killer, local folks complained that they could not find the cheap cooking oil that they liked! Just a note that I recall vividly! BTW my wife uses Extra Virgin Olive Oil for cooking.

Just remember, seed oils were originally developed and used as lubrication for machines! Then Crisco introduced an emulsifier into the oils and CRISCO lard was born! Plenty of google sites citing best/worst, cautions. Best to read several until you get one that you like.

Agree with your assessment of the tax situation. Many of your questions are exactly those of my thinking. I am not sure but thought that tourists can't open a bank account here. Thus the revenue dept would have to get a handly on ATM withdrawals. As for BRICS, the US and China are two of the biggest trade partners so they have to get along so agree that doing away with dollars and western currencies will take more time than we are alive unless some major trade situations are abolished. As for Thailand, if the current leadership is also cut down then like you said no changes anytime soon on the different tax scheme(s). If American, have a great Thanksgiving! For the rest of the expats, enjoy the Cool winds supposed to cover much of Thailand this coming week according to the weather service and local news channels.

well talking bout someone else, you should read the rules of this forum. You are the typical bad mouthing type about just about everything. I saw your comment on my note so I responded to that.

If you are a regular reader here, then you had to have read some of my calls on the DEMS , forgiving of crimes of less than 1000 USD by DEM cities in to order to originally satisfy the BLM, then they grouped together and raided department stores at first police tried to stop them but each would stick to the less than 1K so that was waste, causing insurance rates to zoom and some stores to close for good causing folks to lose their jobs. schools and teachers of the wokeiness have ruined our education skills tests prove that easily. There have been many times I brought this out. so you are missing out.

Yeah, maybe you are maybe not but in my life those talking about others being racist were doing so because of a guilty conscience and wanting all to believe that they were not. I hope you aren't, especially since you are an expat I take it and come from some other country and culture anyway. Happy Loy Kratong! have a great rest of the weekend.

Those corporations reaped record profits from those cuts too but they failed to pass on some of those profits to to their workers, thus the spreading of strikes which don't help Joe Citizen at all. Illegals are criminals and should not be allowed to work - they should be deported as soon as they are found - make sure that Canada and Mexico stop them before they come across the border or make those countries pay for deportation. In addition, I read that our govt gives funds to those central American countries to provide some benefits so that so many do no travel by any means to the US and enter illegally. The Dems have cities that they take benefits away from the citizens there so that they can provide for the illegals! rotten to the core. Half the country got money from Trump buddies and half from the Harris buddies. Neither are qualified in my mind to be President of the USA. I guess we will find out soon! Yeah I still do not think that sports and entertainment stars should get such big salaries while military and teachers get so little compared to them yet they are much more important for the country. Let's hope that Project 2025 actually works, cuts abuse of power, waste and non productive employees of the govt. Too bad it probably won't cut the corruption within the govt though.

actually, based on my health and fitness, it is common sense! and being proved more and more often same as diets

well based on your comments, I consider of the two of us, you are the racist. After serving in the miliary in war, racism just seemed to fade away as we were brothers. Just saying.

After all, Musk gave him tens of millions for his campaign and other billionaires gave tons of money also since he promised to lower their corporate taxes like he did previously, giving them windfall record profits which they kept instead of passing anything on to the workers. Now because of stagnant wages, strikes are being done regularly, and many of the younger generations just don't want to work as they can't make enough money to live !

But Trump suggested that something like that might work as it would kill the germs. He also back the "Pillow" cure man, he will probably show up in the new cabinet.

The 2020 election was stolen from him by fraud. Or, he will end the wars (Israel/Muslim and Ukraine/Russia in 24 hours on his first day in office. The first, still never had any proof of any widespread fraud and the second thinking that he controls Putin's strings instead of the reverse. My opinion only of course.

Amen to that. Food industry started in the 1920's using emulsafiers in seed oil for machinery, there by creating CRSCO LARD! It took over 20 years for the govt drug control to ban trans fats even though they knew it was bad. Then in the '80's, the food industry introduced a lot of fake colors and flavors to replace natual nutrients. They also allowed poisons to be sprayed on fruits and veggies so they could keep them on the shelves long after they would have been rotten. This past week end I read that 22 of these sprays have been proven now in labs to cause prostate cancer! But no one is suggesting that they abandon the sprays though some other countries decided that years ago. 50% of Americans are overweight with 42% suffering from Diabetes and read yesterday that the way the trend is going, by the year 2050 there will be 800Million diabetics in the world. My opinion is that diet is the biggest killer of mankind.

The purpose of the proposed Project 2025 (originally started about 50 years ago) is to cut down the waste in govt including cuts in manpower, redundant agencies, too many unnecessary benefits for non-producers and being able to actually fire poor producers at work. We shall see - as it returns power guaranteed to the President and he will be supported by the Republican Congress and courts. But if people who have no real knowledge of what their particular agency is responsible for then chaos might reign. Might be interesting, might be scary if haters of Ameican democracy decide to attack in some manner.

Letting big pharma control the cost of medicines, while letting big food industry replace natural foods with chemicals and charging a lot more plus making everyone sick, thereby making big pharma and hospitals thrive using the Thai logic - when overwhelmed with sick folks, charge even more and never cut the prices. MO.

Problem with the BIG government is the normal operating procedure of the Democrats. Each dem pres widens increases the size of he government plus they tend to give away too much money to non producers. Historiically and that is why Project 2025 births began 50 years ago as the Republicans tried to reestablish conservatism as written in the US Constitution. Unfortunately, insead of a patriot in charge, we will have a narcissistic leader who will want to control everything without really understanding what is going on. MO anyway.

well, Trump will once again swear allegiance to the US Constitution - whenever a traitor swears allegiance to any piece of paper, to them itis just a piece of paper 0 or swearing on a BIBLE, if one is not religious it doesn't mean squat! I have watched US politics as a American for 60+ years and have lost interest in believing that they really care for the US...only for themselves. MHO anyway

Oh they have an answer, more than one. They are floundering just like all the experts on this forum. Until we get definitive information from the revenue dept, everyone is just guessing. I have listened to many webinars done by the "experts" some say cc use and ATMs are not available to the Thai revenue dept while others say it is. Good luck with whatever you decide. Best to wait until we get some guidance.

12% decrease just over the past year - don't you ever google or are you waiting for a link? I don't support any criminal acty - illegal entry is a crime! On top of that, many of those countries from which these criminals come are receiving big bucks from the US to prop up that country's roles to help the poor but obviously no one has ever learned that you can't spend your way out of poverty yet those country's leaders are much richer today. I for one say send the illegals out into the ocean or wherever....as a matter of fact, personally I was affected by the onslaught of immigrants - my wife wanted to take our daughter back to the US for college (accepted, scholarships etc and daughter is half American/Thai) but, upon filing with immigration as my wife, there was over a 500K backlog - they were averagging 35K processed a month - yep, took over a year for my wife's approval! I am not a Trumper but some things he does promise, I can agree with while others not so much (i.e. project 2025, worldwide tariffs, some cabinet choices). Have a great Loy Kratong.

As an American from birth, my ancestors were immigrants, look around the world today, negative birth rates, Japan had to ask retirees to return to work as not enough citizens to man the shops, same for other countries. The US has always had a large number of legal immigration and will continue as they are necessary for cheap employment in ugly jobs!

because he opened his mouth! That is just too easy!

A lot depends on the life of the current govt and "progress" or lack there of the future tax scheme , NIT worldwide etc - anyway you look at it, more and more unrealized costs (floods, drought, manufacturers closing, Chinese shops cheaper than Thai, etc so the govt just doesn't have any money and they will be looking for the easiest bucks - i.e. expats) . Anyway, Doesn't affect me in any way and if it ever comes down to that, then the PI was my second choice for retirement. Have a happy Loy Kratong!

well a problem with that immediate hearing - the immigration backlog is hundreds of thousands long - even legal immigrant hearings are backed up due to a shortage of immigration judges.