mfd101

If you read the Guardian article above the current figures are $A888 gross debt, $A517 net. Whichever figure you prefer to support your prejudices, the basic fact is that the increase in debt over the last 4 years was the product of the wild enthusiasm of ALL Australians - including notably the ALP - for conjuring up ever more funds to support The People in their many hours of need.

It's what happens when The People and all political parties demand more and more spending, more and more wage subsidies during a great pandemic. And now that the great pandemic is - at least for the moment - over, The People and the new government blame the previous government for spending so heavily and pushing up the national debt to some $A550B (not the $A1T that is often touted).

Thai politics warming up. Will real change come to a country still wallowing in the C20th? (and in the 1960s in south Surin). Can anyone actually change anything without authoritarian force? How do you get the small weak 'middle class' to actually think big and look to the rest of the world for new liberal democratic models? How do you stop the thick gluey mess of corruption stopping all progress in all directions? The next 12 or more months promise to be interesting. But they may not be uplifting.

My partner & I (34 & 74) are recovering (after 1.5 weeks) from a new bout of covid caught in Bangkok 2 weeks ago. Probably the latest variant (Arcturus), I guess, characterized by much hacking coughing - different from our 2 earlier bouts over a year ago which were very mild. We are both vaccinated & boostered from a couple of years ago. I understand that there are now good-quality vax available in The West which cover all variants and probably most likely new ones in future. Are they available in Thailand yet? and specifically here in Surin or in Buriram province or nearby? Thanks for any useful comments.

Public commentary in Thailand always focuses on tourism as the beginning & the end of the country's economic activity. Not a good basis for a better future, and it neglects the negative effect of multiple and multiplying holidays on all other economic activities. Productivity! Thy name is not Thailand. Indeed the very concept is unknown.

My understanding is that she wanted to be a teacher but within a large 'n generous organization with plenty of opportunities for a decent career ... She knew it was going to be difficult but to reach as high as she did by way of qualifications and still not be offered a position is pretty appalling. Says nothing good about this country as a whole.

Yes, with my b/f (40 years younger than me) I try to avoid preaching but that doesn't work anyway. I try to set an example - high on vegs, high on salmon, low on carbs of all kinds & sources ... - but that doesn't work. The only thing that works is his vanity and the approach to a week in Bangkok & the gay disco. Then he slims down nicely, though not by eating healthy, just by not eating. (Sigh)

Currently working as secretary to a doctor. Which is a few steps up from the paddy fields and the cane fields but far short of her legitimate ambition.

And what are the 600-a-monthers doing about it? Nothing. And their families? Nothing. Doubtless a new improved-model government is about to be elected in Thailand. Whether it actually gets to form a government remains to be seen. But the underlying passivity of the former slaves & serfs whose descendents I live amongst - passivity reinforced daily by a status-conscious culture, by poverty & routine, by Buddhism and by a school system whose main output is ignorance and obedience - means that nothing much changes or it changes at such a slow pace for most of the peasants that they fall further and further behind the rest of the world. Example: A young woman from impoverished background in my village. Worked hard at local school & secondary school & then university. Top marks all the way. Came 2nd or 3rd in the whole of Thailand in the exams to enter the Police force. Failed because she couldn't raise the um facilitation funds required to enter the RTP. With examples like that it's hard to think that Thailand has a great future. Just further wallowing in a filthy trough.

Well, someone's making a nice profit out of you. I paid 2976฿ last month to run a 630sqm 2-storied house with 2 occupants here in south Surin with 6 ac's (though only 3 normally used) & set at 22C-25C depending on need during the 2 or 3 hottest months. The a/c in my library u/s runs most of every day from about 0900 to 2200, and in the main bedroom u/s from around 2200 to 0600.

The BKK Bank's list of bank holidays for this year has May 1 National Labour Day and May 4 Coronation Day listed as bank holidays. 5 May is also mentioned elsewhere as a public holiday added by the Government (presumably to make a lovely 4-day weekend for the adoring populace, while reducing the nation's abysmally low productivity levels even lower).

Fair enough.

And what on earth are Thai students studying in the Sudan?

But could be useful in the event of war with India.

Nothing short of a firing squad for the top 10000 will change anything. Where's Fidel when we need him?

Don't worry, the quickest way to ruin a 'pristine' beach is to advertize it. Should be nicely befouled and generally ruined this time next month.

Clearly the amulets weren't working.

I note that the map suggests that 90% of the Thai-generated fires are in the north, not the NE ie Isaan. I wonder why that is. Living here in south Surin the locals don't strike me as notably more rational than their northern almost-cousins ...

Germans are big on nudity at the beach, in Germany. But here I am shocked. My heart is palpitating. If I had been there the sight might have put me off men forever and my Thai boy would be heart-broken.

I wonder what part of the slowdown is related to economic slowdown resulting from covid/post-covid ... And how can the numbers players tell the difference between that and the 'clean' energy effect?

In the Australian bureaucracy it means 'Interdepartmental Committee'. But I'm thinking this is quite likely not what it means on this thread.

So 30th is "impressive"?

Not a great President but a good human being.

Never mind, the French won't allow you back in for at least a generation, so there'll be plenty of time to enjoy your symbolic sovereignty whilst your economy lies in the ditch.

Come to Thailand and meet tourists! You'll be amazed.