ericthai

or companies bring manufacturing back to the USA (just like they left when free trade agreements were made) Shipping something half way around the world is costly not only financially but also environmentally. Myself and several of my friends try to only buy products made in the USA, sometimes I pay a little more but I know I'm supporting the US economy and a US job. I dont believe it's going be tariffs across the board either. It will be selective depending on product.

You're missing the point. These companies employee people, so they create jobs! You cant be a consumer if you dont have a job to make money to buy the products. Tariffs aren't about prices, it's about jobs that make those products! Why do you think China has expanded so much, companies building factories in China and creating jobs. A lot of good paying jobs have left USA.

If they can and the government can function properly, I'm all for it. We need smaller government, No reason for the government to be as bloated as it is.

yes, they are going to trim the over sized government, it's about time!

dont forget the USA allows allot of chemicals in food products that the EU doesn't.

I was told decades ago it was to keep school kids from buying alcohol, which makes no sense as they aren't old enough anyway.

T yes, people was worried about their pockets!! when you dont have enough to pay bills it's an issue. you and the bleach, you hear one thing and run with it!!! Since you dont live in the USA let me provide some examples of the increases in the USA just the past 3 years. Our homeowners insurance in the USA went from $1400 a year in 2019 to $2700 a year this year. same with our car insurance went from $600 a year to $2100 a year. Our health insurance coverage in the USA went from $1200 a month to $2700 a month and our deductible went from $3500 to $7500, my max out of pocket went from $9500 to $13,000 and a new plan feature this past year, they now have a family out of pocket max which is $16,000. Our electric when in town went from $180-$190 a month to $250-$260 with no changes to our usage. Our water went from $45 a month to $68 a month. Our neighbors rent went from $1300 a month to $2750 a month in the last three year period. Same with my nephew his rent for a one bedroom apartment went from $900 a month to $1625. Fuel went from $1.89 a gallon to $3.60+ a gallon, how about drinking water this went from $3.99 a case and is now over $6 a case and eggs $1.89 now $5.25 When you get drastic increases like these and people have to take on extra jobs to pay rent and feed their kids do you really think they aren't thinking about their pocket book? Wages have not kept up, the government printed and gave away too much money. It's not everyone, I'm doing ok and my friends are older and have good paying jobs mostly with homes that are paid off or if they have a mortgage it's at a low rate. It's the younger people and the low income retirees that are struggling most. So yes, people thought of their pocket book, but it's also all the woke crap!! People are getting tired of people that get upset if you call them "he" or "she" or "Sir" or "Madam" and not "them" or "they or whatever they want to be called! Even if you make an honest mistake they get all bent out of shape about you calling them the wrong pronoun. This happened to me a few weeks ago. The person at the register sounded like a guy, but the person had long hair with it being dyed pink, wearing a earring, had nail polish on, and long eyelashes. I made the mistake of saying yes mama and this person got all upset with me saying I'm a man not a woman!!!! This is what normal people in the USA are tired of, that a very small minority want everyone else to conform to their thinking and beliefs and the Democrats are supporting these ideas. The democrats wanting to allow transgender men to be allowed to play in women's sports! this is crazy!

I wasn't sure who I was going to vote for. However, with the terrible performance and no leadership on the democratic side this was making my decision difficult. When Kamala started with her media interviews and declining interviews (Joe Rogan) that made my decision. My issues with her is when she did do an interview she would not mention any plans she had or even the first thing she would do on day one. Day one! You should know this question is going to be asked, and she had nothing. She would give long winded non-answers that make no sense such as “So, I think it’s very important, as you have heard from so many incredible leaders, for us at every moment in time — and certainly this one — to see the moment in time in which we exist and are present, and to be able to contextualize it, to understand where we exist in the history and in the moment as it relates not only to the past but the future,” I have no idea what she is saying..do you? and this is not a one oof, it's all the time. Here is what she said to the press and the mourning local residents on the Chicago shootings, "We've got to take this stuff seriously, as seriously as you are because you have been forced to take this seriously." Then any time a question was asked she would turn it into Trump is bad, so that's why you need to vote for me. As for declining an interview with Joe Rogan, if she can't handle a simple interview with Joe how is she ever going to handle Putin, Xi etc. As for the majority of the people I think they are just fed up. I think a big issue is Illegal immigrants in the country. The democrats dont even want to call them illegal they use the term undocumented. First they aren't vetted so we dont know who they are. Then they need places to live so that puts pressure one rentals. If they have children they are going to school on taxpayers expense. Use of medical services, driving cars without a license or insurance. It's a real issue. As for Trump, he's a big mouth, exgratator etc and we all know this. He's not a smooth talker as he's not a career politician. He says what's on his mind and doesn't care about the blow back. He's unpredictable, will he push the button? Maybe? We all know he wants to be the winner and every other country knows that too, do you think they want to test him? As for what trumps says. Allot of what they say he said, he really didn't say or is changed around to fit a narrative. Good example is the bleach. Here is a quote of exactly what his question was, this was a question not a suggestion to do it. "A question that probably some of you are thinking of if you’re totally into that world, which I find to be very interesting. So, supposedly we hit the body with a tremendous, whether it’s ultraviolet or just very powerful light, and I think you said that hasn’t been checked, but you’re going to test it. And then I said supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way. (To Bryan) And I think you said you’re going to test that, too. Sounds interesting, right?" "And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in one minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning, because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it’d be interesting to check that, so that you’re going to have to use medical doctors with, but it sounds interesting to me. So, we’ll see, but the whole concept of the light, the way it kills it in one minute. That’s pretty powerful." I'm not going to post the complete speech but here is part of what Trump said Jan 6th. Republicans are, Republicans are constantly fighting like a boxer with his hands tied behind his back. It's like a boxer. And we want to be so nice. We want to be so respectful of everybody, including bad people. And we're going to have to fight much harder. And Mike Pence is going to have to come through for us, and if he doesn't, that will be a, a sad day for our country because you're sworn to uphold our Constitution. Now, it is up to Congress to confront this egregious assault on our democracy. And after this, we're going to walk down, and I'll be there with you, we're going to walk down, we're going to walk down. Anyone you want, but I think right here, we're going to walk down to the Capitol, and we're going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women, and we're probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them. Because you'll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong. We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated, lawfully slated. I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard. Today we will see whether Republicans stand strong for integrity of our elections. But whether or not they stand strong for our country, our country. Our country has been under siege for a long time. Far longer than this four-year period. We've set it on a much greater course. So much, and we, I thought, you know, four more years. I thought it would be easy. ref: https://www.npr.org/2021/02/10/966396848/read-trumps-jan-6-speech-a-key-part-of-impeachment-trial So dont take everything they say he said as truth. Also, several of my friends and family have been flooded and some have lost their homes from the storms in Florida. It's not a lie, my friends only got $750, allot are still waiting for money. The state attorney of Florida is in the process of suing FEMA as an email was found that a FEMA manager sent to staff to pass over houses and delay things for Trump supports. Things aren't so simple, both side are terrible and both sides play games, cheat lie whatever they can do to win, they really dont care about the people.

Just to be correct, He didn't flee the country, the military performed a coup while he was in the USA.

OP Go to the police and have a chat with them. They'll take a report and tell you they'll work on it, however in reality they most likely won't do anything. Typically to get the police to pursue things in Thailand an offer of some "tea money" needs to be made. I would make an offer that whatever you get from the guy you'll give them 10-15%, might be best to take a Thai with you to assist in things.

illegal immigrants that are working are not going to restaurants and buying unnecessary things. They buy enough to survive and then send the rest of the money to their home countries. So really not that much consumerism and a lot of cash outflow. Most if not all are working under the table so they not paying taxes and since it appears they aren't working if they get sick or hurt they get free medical care, if they have kids they are going to school. So they are utilizing government programs without any contribution. To allow illegal immigrants in the USA is a slap in the face to legal immigrants.

No refunds, read the small print

I don’t know look at a few of his other topics

Yup, My wife has about 8 or 9 Thai girl friends in the US and same only 1 or 2 came in properly, the rest did the same overstay and get married.

Sorry dont understand you statement about having a family? What does having a family have anything to do to make someone want to come to Thailand? I didn't have a family before moving to Thailand. My company moved me to Thailand when I was much younger. Most of my friends in Bangkok at that time were young too (early to mid 30's) none of them had families or were married before coming to Thailand.

Sorry... but this is exactly why they are so strict on visas. You applied for a B2 visa which means a visit not to live, work, or study in the USA.

I'm not a big Trump supporter, but do I like Harris, no! I was ready to give Harris a chance and listen to what she had to say. However, after her Fox interview where she didnt answer one question... not one! and only bashed Trump. Her answers were all the same. he's very bad you need to vote for me, even though I cant even tell you what I'm going to do and change from what Biden did.., but nothing, just laughs and blaming trump for everything. I'm very saddened that the US only has these options for president. Is a civil war coming? I certainly hope not, but it doesn't look good. If trump looses I'm worried what will happen, but if he wins I'm not sure if that is good for America either. OP so you're saying if someone votes for Trump they are stupid, what if they vote for Harris are they idiots? (Calling someone an idiot implies that they are completely lacking in intelligence or common sense, while calling someone stupid may simply mean that they made a foolish mistake)

Actually the exchange rate is much better than when I first came to Thailand. Back in the early to late 90's it was 25 baht to the USD. I loved the time during financial crisis (97-99) the baht really lost value. The highest exchange rate I got was 53 THB to USD, if I recall correctly this was around early 1998. This was a great time to be a visitor. However our company lost 10 contracts that were in place at the time and our work in SouthEast Asia had greatly declined. Luckily for me my company kept plans to move me to Asia.

Sorry, I need to disagree with you on this. This is not going to disappear, It's been over a decade and it's still in the headlines. This case is still brought up in one of the forums at least once a week. So, I really don't see this disappearing, now will they be found guilty? that all depends on how the fat the envelopes are or their connections.

i work with insurance companies in the USA and they still have fax lines and accept faxes. It's still a thing!

it all depends on the fax machine. Some fax machines use regular paper just like a printer.

hmm.. ask her what she meant?? I dont think anyone here can tell you what she was thinking.

Covid is a SAR virus which Thailand went through the SARS outbreak back in the mid 2000's. If you recall they were taking everyones temperature when entering Thailand at the time. It's called COVID 19 as an abbreviation for 2019 novel coronavirus, not that there were 18 different variants before it. The 2002–2004 outbreak of SARS, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV or SARS-CoV-1), infected over 8,000 people from 30 countries and territories, and resulted in at least 774 deaths worldwide.[1] The outbreak was first identified in Foshan, Guangdong, China, in November 2002.[2] The World Health Organization (WHO) was notified of the outbreak in February 2003, and issued a global alert in March 2003. Initially, the cause of the outbreak was unknown, and some media outlets reported that an influenza virus was a potential culprit.[3] The major part of the outbreak lasted about 8 months, and the World Health Organization declared SARS contained on 5 July 2003. However, several SARS cases were reported until May 2004.[4] In late December 2019, SARS-CoV-2, a coronavirus in the same genus as the one that caused SARS, was discovered in Wuhan, Hubei, China. It spread to other areas of Asia, and then worldwide in early 2020. This strain causes COVID-19, which has caused the COVID-19 pandemic.[5][6]

why are you calling yourself a Farang??? we are expats! Don't understand why you think that. Visa exempt was just increased to 60 days. They just created new visas that make it much easier to stay long term. Visa fees are not expensive. I owned a few companies in Thailand and never had an issue, actually with the one company the Thai government worked with us to develop new products. Before you start saying Thai is 51%, I'm from the USA so was able to own more than 49% (which I owned 60%, had 1 thai partner and expat partner) As for feeling like an ATM, that all depends on your situation. If you're the only income in the family then you are the ATM. If you knew this from the start, well...

Have you never traveled? You're filling out a visa, which for most people means you are coming for a visit, so address would be "hotel". If you dont like the form go speak to Laos immigration about it!