AussieBob18

4 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

Yes, you are allowed to air your views, but also back them up. Give me one or two examples of singling out white tourists. 

Farangs - I said Farangs.  Meaning non-Thais. You see racism everywhere dont you?

2 hours ago, sweatalot said:

Changing to a kind and welcomeing attitude to people from the west same as from China might do the trick. If they again open to China only Thailand will belong to Chinese soon.

They already do to a large extent.  The vast majority of the wealthy in Thailand are in fact Thai-Chinese - they have as a rule a far stronger and more effectual approach to business than the Thais - in general.  That the Junta has taken that approach to things reflects that reality and themselves - the PM and most of senior leaders are more Thai-Chinese than Thai.

2 hours ago, Bob12345 said:

And China is following the example of the USA: you are probably too young to remember but it was not a coincidence that the Hoover dam was build during the Great Depression. Its a Keynesian approach (named after John Maynard Keynes, a British economist) to economics where the government increases spending (and lowers taxes) to pull the economy out of a recession. Almost all countries have done it, and the biggest risk is they build useless things just to spend money (like a high-speed freight train network). 

 

The biggest difference between China and Thailand is that China makes their banks spend the money for a large part. As all banks there are in the hands of the government they have to follow the orders and dole out the money to businesses to invest. Once the businesses don't do so well and cannot be declared bankrupt (loss of face, necessary products, etc) the bank is stuck with "toxic" loans on its balance sheet that will never be repayed. Marking the loans to value (mark-to-market) will make the banks insolvent. In Thailand its the government doing the spending, and banks can still try to keep the financial market and their balance sheets healthy. The government can't really go bankrupt, as they can borrow more in the market and cover expenses by raising taxes; downside being that they had to lower taxes to stimulate the economy so a new recession might pop up. 

Good analogy Bob - sums things up well.  However, the Keynesian model is generally not used as much for a long time as the only solution, for the very reasons you mentioned - the inevitable 'white elephant' projects and that the wealthy benefit more than the average/poor.  Just take a look at all the empty shopping centres and partially used housing developments in China.  Milton Friedman's ideas are far more prevalent now - but not exclusively. The economic ideas of both Keynes and Friedman are utilised these days - as appropriate. I think it should be a balance of both.

After the great depression Govts learned the hard way that they cannot rely on the 'market/economy' to bring itself back from the dead. Roosevelt believed in the Keynesian model and did exactly as you said.  But he also did a lot of Friedman's focus on monetary controls - together they did the job - but mostly the Keynesian projects brought the economy back to life.

After the 2008/9 depression, most Govts followed the same Keynesian model, but with more expenditures towards the middle and lower classes, rather than the big projects for the big end.  The 'trickle down' theory has been disproved - not in theory - but in actual outcomes.  IMO Thailand needs to take that approach now - more railways and submarines is not what is needed.

3 hours ago, Brickbat said:

You have got it all wrong . The rich here are doubling their wealth every few years ( the Billionaires in 2 years) . They know exactly what they are doing. Sure, it’s to the detriment of the vast majority of locals. But.... Cheap Charlie farangs are of absolutely no concern to the Ruling Class. And btw, if you ever go to 4-5 star hotels, the majority are Asian customers. Farangs are in guest houses.

its Time for us to wake up to the hard n fast truth. 

Very true.  But when will the Thai people (non-wealthy) wake up.

Take a look at the Forbes top 10 richest people in Australia - once of the world's better economies and 14th in top GDP.

Then take a look at the Forbes top 10 richest people in Thailand - which economy is 1/3 of Australia.

Unbelievable - the Thai top 10 dwarf the Aussies - it is very very wrong in Thailand.

One day ........... hopefully soon ............... something is going to give.

9 hours ago, samran said:

Oh, so you think showing these actually strengthens their argument? 555

Liberals - always so willing to accept draconian Govt rules, and ridicule others who disagree. Heil Govt !!

9 hours ago, chessman said:

Your statistics are misleading. It started in November/December but very few official deaths. On March 1st the total offical death toll was 3050. So it has killed 130,000 in 6 weeks. At least social distancing has been able to reduce the speed of increase.

Total killed is the figure used when it is all over - there is always a bell curve.  

The numbers you quote are not valid - but they are an indicator - but the numbers are dropping - clearly.

However, lets use your worst case basis numbers.

130K in 6 weeks = 26,666K per week = 1.3 million.

Shut the world down for something that is killing less people than road accidents, or TB, or HIV, or lung cancer, or diabetes - etc etc etc.  The numbers do not add up - and they will not add up.

In answer to your earlier question - I dont have the link saved - but try Google.

In Feb the WHO stated that the virus could infect about 4 billion people becasue it was so infectious.

1% death rate =  40 million

2% death rate =  80 million

3% death rate =  120 million

4% death rate =  160 million

But if the virus was as lethal as SARS or MERS (10-30%)

5% = 200 million

10% = 400 million

Those were the numbers being pushed around in the media - worst case of course - and those numbers (worst case) looked real based on the basis of the  numbers in China, and then Iran, Korea, and then later is Italy and later in Spain. The numbers came down in March - but even then Trump was told 2.2 million would die in USA alone - and 40-50 million in total. 

Lets get back to work. Protect the old through isolation. Practice moderate social isolation. Quarantine yourself immediately if get the symptoms and wear a mask if you feel a little unwell (hard in the west). Keep the travel bans in place. Monitor closely all new cases.  See how that goes for 1-2 months. Extend easing up when things stabilise/decrease. Keep travel bans in place 6-12 months? Ban China for 5 years?  Demand all arrivals from 'designated' countries have medical tests/checks - include HIV and TB in that check.  Make the world safer - infected travellers spread the disease before they could control it like they did SARS anmd MERS. Too late now - it is Wine Flu now - helkp as much as possible - but let it runb its course - with changes in people's social and world travel habits.   

Get a decent wine buddy - try one of these:

Dont tell me - both those viruses came from China - right??

2 minutes ago, Puchaiyank said:

This is going to be a rough ride downhill for the baht...be interesting to see if the hard-asses free up the visa requirements for tourist and retirees...

 

Maybe those "dirty-farang's" money is not so bad after all...

Two countries in the world have by far the largest number of people with communicable diseases - not just in volume but also in percentages - China and India.  Not just corona/fly viral diseases - TB as well.  And who has Thailand encouraged to come and 'spread' - the exact wrong ones - who dont spend money anything like the westerners - no matter what TAT says. Paying money to Chinese and/or Thai-Chinese companies, is not spending money that the vast majority of Thai people get.  You are right - they are missing out big time by pushing the 'farangs' away - both the tourists and the long-stays - but will they realise it and then admit that? Of course not - not this mob is control.

Anyone doubting how bad the Thai economy alrerady is and has been for several years, only needs to read this for the article:

The centre predicts the Thai economy in 2020 will shrink by about minus-4 percent (or a range of minus-3.4-4.9 percent) given the government’s Bt1.9-trillion stimulus measures. Without that help, the number would by minus-8.8 per cent, it said.

Thailand is following the China model to artificially inflate GDP/Economy figures through Govt spending on large infrastructure projects.  But the real economy is the one without the Govt spending, which creates very little economic benefits to the majority of the people and businesses - only to a select few.

18 minutes ago, gargamon said:

I wonder if they will give Biden a Nobel Peace Prize like the one they gave to Obama?  Obama got his because he wasn't Bush. Biden will get his because he isn't Trump. He should probably get two...

I read something a while ago from a member of the Nobel board whop said they made a mistake and were caught up in the politics. He admitted they were all liberals and left their hearts rule their minds - like we know they always do - emotions first for them - logic irrelevent.

19 minutes ago, Crazy Alex said:

The people who pick the stories for TVF are obviously leftists. Note this is NOT commenting on moderation, which is an entirely different issue and would be breaking the rules to comment on.

Gotta agree - I cannot remember the last positive GOP or Trump story - not one.

Take a look at social posts of ultra-wealthy celebrities or politicians from their mansions, piously lecturing everyday American to “stay home!” and telling them globalism is a good thing, and you can understand why in other parts of USA the ordinary 'peasants' have gathered with pitchforks and torches in the town square, demanding to be allowed to work and earn money so they can feed their families and pay their bills.

Come November there is going to be a red tide the likes of which has not been seen before. The landslide term one victories of both Trump and Reagan will pale into comparison, and even the anti-Trump lefties will finally have to realise they were wrong. Unless of course they piously think they are right and the people are wrong - we will see.

Is TV forum a media show for the Dems??  When are any of the positive news stories about GOP and Trump ever going to be posted?  Is this really an 'echo chamber' as has been claimed by many other GOP/Trump supporters.  Hey - if TV need to know where to find many of them I can point the direction - there are heaps.

Funny how leftwing media only shows certain shots of the protests: