jas007

All this talk about “useful idiots” for Putin. Nonsense. Some of us realize that people in the West have been fed a constant stream of propaganda for years. Almost nonstop. A narrative that demonizes Russia, demonizes Putin, and is designed to keep the war machine fully funded. And if it’s not Putin, it’s “terrorists.” Although the West has had one failure after another, and the death of the dollar is becoming more and more of a real concern, no one stops to question the narrative. The money keeps flowin, so the war machine is happy. Anyone who questions the narrative is labeled one of Putin’s “useful idiots.” I guess the non-stop propaganda works. I once spent six years or so living inside the Beltway. I’ve seen how DC works. The place is flooded with lobbyists and defense contractors. And they love nothing more than a continuous and increasing flow of money. They don’t care how many millions of people die, they only care about more and more money. Immediately after 9/11, I never saw so many giddy people. They were elated at the prospect of new government contracts to fight “terrorism.” That’s all anyone could talk about. More money. Unfortunately, Russia isn’t some small country. It’s not Panama, or Iraq, or Haiti. It’s a major power with more nukes than the U.S. And if they perceive an existential security threat, I don’t doubt for a second that they might well defend themselves by any means necessary. Normally, I don’t pay much attention to a lot of the nonsense that goes on in the world. But this situation is different. The U.S. and NATO are sleepwalking into WWIII, and all most people can do is regurgitate Neocon propaganda. Anyway, I’m not quite ready to be dead.

Biden isn’t calling the shots. That much is obvious. All you have to do is watch a few of his public appearances. He loses his train of thought, sometimes speaks gibberish, and has to be led around by a handler. And the people really calling the shots? Whoever they are they need a reality check. Fortunately, Putin is calm and collected. He understands the world and he understands history. We’re lucky there isn’t some sort of deranged idiot in charge of Russia. This war needs to stop before it escalates out of control. Otherwise, many of use might not be around by this time next year.

I thought about dropping Medicare Part B, as that would currently save me a few hundred dollars a month. But there’s a premium penalty to pay if I opt to resume coverage at a later date. And for all I know, I might do just that.

All of them. That seems to be the narrative. Fight Russia in Ukraine or the next thing you know you’ll be fighting them elsewhere in Eastern Europe. Look up the “Wolfowitz doctrine.” Those ideas or variations of it have resulted in trillions of dollars wasted on wars around the world that have essentially accomplished nothing other than to impoverish the middle class and enrich the defense industry. And now BRICS. All because some idiots continue to live in fantasyland.

I wouldn’t call it “corruption.” The agent is performing a service. The agent deserves to be paid for that service. Anyway, no one is forcing anyone to use an agent. If you have all day to run around, do it yourself. Maybe you’ll be successful, or maybe not.

For what it’s worth, I’m just trying to be realistic. It’s just that simple. Ukraine cannot “win” this war. If it continues, the youth of Ukraine will continue to be slaughtered. All gone. And in the end, Ukraine might lose whatever is left of their territory. For what? Why not stop now and preserve what’s left? Even with the help of NATO forces, Russia cannot be defeated in a ground war. The necessary manpower isn’t available. And so what then? Continued escalation risking a global nuclear war? A really dumb idea, all because some politicians seem to live in a Neocon fantasyland. And I don’t buy for a second the nonsense about Putin continuing the war beyond Ukraine. That’s just a line of BS put out by the Neocon spin doctors. In one form or another, they’ve used that same type of excuse to justify wars for years. Even to justify the Vietnam war. The “domino theory.” Remember that? It was a stupid idea then, and the Neocons have yet to learn. Or, maybe they know better but war is profitable, and so they keep pushing the narrative.

At this point, I’d happily use an agent to open an account if I didn’t already have one. The cost seems reasonable, and it would be preferable to running around from bank to bank trying to find one that would open an account.

At this point, the U.S. is hardly in a position to use its military as some sort of a mechanism to save the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. That’s why some people are concerned with BRICS. Libya and Iraq were easy to deal with. But the totality of BRICS? That’s not going to happen. The unipolar world order with the U.S. calling the shots is over. It’s now a multipolar world. The sooner the politicians in DC realize that, the better. They abused the so called “exorbitant privilege “ enjoyed by the US dollar in the years following WWII, and much of the rest of the world is fed up with the continued dollar debasement. Printing money to fund wars all over the world has been a recipe for disaster. And the wars have accomplished nothing. Defense contractors got rich while the U.S. middle class and the rest of the world paid the price.

Russia has announced its conditions for a cease fire. Basically, Ukraine must withdraw entirely from all territory now occupied by Russia, and Ukraine must promise never to join NATO. Sounds like a good plan to me, and probably the best Ukraine can hope for at this point.

Actual FEP Blue. I guess the claims are now processed by GeoBlue.

Follow up on Geo Blue: I had to fill out some forms for the hospital to request a guarantee of benefits, but once I did that, it only took GeoBlue about a week to send the Guarantee of Benefit approval to the hospital. They’ll be paying 100% of the charges. 450,000 baht. I’m glad I don’t have to pay that. Anyway, the policy seems to be for 100% payment for people on Medicare who use the FEP benefits overseas where Medicare doesn’t pay.

I thought he was talking about the USA.

I wouldn’t believe much of what Newsweek says about anything. Have you looked at a long term chart of the Ruble? It looks like it’s doing more than OK.

They say the U.S. has nothing in place to intercept incoming ICBMs. That sounds odd, but maybe it’s true. Maybe the decision was made to rely on its capacity for massive retaliation. It’s all nuts, however you look at it. Both sides have thousands of warheads. And it wouldn’t take all that many to destroy the world as we know it. No one will be holidaying anywhere, I’m afraid.

I remember years ago (2006) when the Thai girls at a bar told me that Pad Thai cost 29 baht from a street vendor. Today, the woman operating a food cart in the neighborhood charges 50 baht. Does anyone keep track of the Big Mac index and the price of Big Macs in Thailand?

No one needs to be drowning in debt. As you seem to have learned, there’s always bankruptcy. Right now in the U.S., there’s a serious disconnect between asset prices and household income. And sooner of later, there will be an adjustment. Unfortunately, that adjustment may come with some pain for a lot of people. The government has no good choice but to continue to inflate. They’ve been doing that for years and that scenario will continue. Eventually, employers will have to start paying workers more money. Look at history. The minimum wage used to be $1.25. A new family car was around $3,000. Houses were purchased for $15,000. Fast forward 60 years and we have today’s mess. Eventually, you’ll be paying $99 for a Big Mac, workers wages will have risen dramatically, and life will go on. Hopefully. I feel sorry for the holders of US government debt.

Don’t forget the nuclear subs armed with nukes. Those subs can and will be used by either side a last resort, whether or not an army survives.

I’ve used my Apple credit card in Thailand online at the Thailand Apple Store without a problem. Depending on the amount of the transaction, I sometimes have to specifically authorize the charge after an initial decline, so I guess if I do that from my phone or other authorized device, they think it’s ok and the charge goes through the second time. I’ve also used my Apple Wallet with the Apple Card as the default payment method at the grocery store at Central Festival. Those transactions always go through. You need facial recognition to open the phone. Supposedly, that method of payment is very very secure because of the NFC chip. One of these days, I’m going to try using my Apple Watch. That always works the same way, at least in the U.S. As for using a physical card? I’ve tried that once recently to buy an IPad, again using the Apple Card, which only has my name on it. No account numbers, just the NFC chip inside. No problem so far. On the other hand, I’m not sure I’d trust a regular credit card. Years ago, I used an American Express card for a few purchases, but I no longer trust regular credit cards. One time when I was in the U.S., I bought something online from Canada. Within 15 minutes, someone down in Miami Beach was buying expensive sunglasses and purses with my account. A few minutes after that, I got a call from the card company. They wanted to know if the charges were mine and I said no. They reversed the charges, closed that account, and sent me a new card with a different number. Anyway, I usually just use cash in Thailand.

Mike Lister: The section you quoted is of little help, other than to suggest the benefits would not be taxable as not “assessable.” To be sure, the information would be helpful to a Thai person receiving a pension from a Thai company. In my case or for any person receiving Social Security benefits or a government pension from the U.S., the applicable tax treaty would apply. The benefits are taxable in the country of origin, only. Anyway, my guess is that Thailand will not be abrogating the tax treaty anytime soon, just to collect a few baht from some foreign retirees remitting little into Thailand. In my mind, the only question is whether a person like me would have to file at all. Admittedly, I have a mindset based on my understanding of US tax law. In the US, if a person has no taxable income, there’s no need to file. For example, if the only money you receive in a given year is a gift from a rich uncle, you have no taxable income and no obligation to file a tax return. Gifts are not taxable to the recipient.

Yep. All over the world governments and businesses have US dollar or Eurodollar debt. When payments are made on those loans, the payments must be made in dollars. Consequently, the demand for dollars will not disappear anytime soon. Moreover, much international business will continue to be conducted using dollars as a medium of exchange. So, for the foreseeable future, the dollar won’t be dead simply because the BRICS nations establish an alternate method of transacting business. The real danger, I think, is continued reckless government spending. The U.S. is currently borrowing a trillion dollars every 100 days. The Fed has been buying many of the bonds, but that won’t continue forever. In any event, all that money creation can cause very high inflation. The value of the dollar is eroded. And that will someday spook the bond market. The Fed can’t really control the interest rates, long term. If the bond market crashes, that’s big trouble.

Sorry is this question has been asked and answered, but I’m too lazy to go back and read all the posts. Anyway, I’m sure there are many people like myself who transfer into Thailand only a portion of the money they receive from government pensions or from Social Security. In other words, all the money sent into Thailand should not be taxable in Thailand, but only in the USA, per the clear language of the tax treaty which say such money is taxable only in the country of origin. So, the question is: would such a person be required to file at all? The money is not taxable. None of it. Or, if a tax return is required, what would one have to do to show that the money is exempt from taxation in Thailand? How much do accountants in Thailand charge do do a simple return? It would be nice to be able to ignore the whole thing until such time as the Revenue Department or other authorities questioned it, but then again, it might be easier to go ahead and file, even if no tax is due. Can it be assumed that neither Social Security payments nor government pension payments constitute “earned income” for purposes of Thai tax law?

The laptop contents are available online. That guy really did know how to blow money. Anyway, they prosecuted him and he was found guilty of three charges related to lying on a gun purchase application. It remains to be seen what kind of sentence he’ll receive. They say the gun charges are only the tip of the iceberg.

That happened to a guy I once worked with. One day he came to work using a cane because of back pain. He wasn’t that old, though, so it seemed a little surprising. Anyway, he went to the doctor a few weeks later, only to find out he had cancer that had spread to his back and elsewhere. He died a few months later.

From what I’ve seen online, the $1 houses in Italy aren’t always in good shape. By the time you spend money renovating, you’ve spent a fortune. Japan also has abandoned houses you can buy cheap. They aren’t $1, but some of them look like you could live there while doing any renovation you might want to do. Of course, anywhere you go you have to sort out the visa situation.

Depending on the severity of your situation, you might benefit from exercises to strengthen your abdominal muscles. Doing that can help support your lower back. Look up “Williams” back exercises. Years ago, while I was in my early 20s, I suddenly had a problem with lower back pain. Spondylitis at L4. At the time, I was in the Army. The physical therapist gave me those exercises to do, and so I did them. I’m now 72 and haven’t had the problem since. Anyway, back surgery should be avoided if at all possible.