siamamerican

I guess everybody knows the can has been kicked down the road again in USA. Maybe they can keep on kicking it until elections being dems in to all arms of government and then they can just no limit with out all the drama.

The can kicking will only stop once all the resources have been used up and the World is out of energy. Until then it shall continue as it always has.

Yep, when the sun stops shining and winds and water disappear. Oh the panic, in a billions of years. There is a huge reserve of fossil fuels at the moment and people trend to the easy solution. When fossil fuels become economically prohibitive what do you think might happen? The world will move on to the next best economic solution. Tick tock tick tock - nothing monumental about boring reality.

The crisis was 5 years ago and really wasn't major. Curious, when was the world experiencing its glory days. Surely not in any of the decades prior to 1950 with all the devastating wars.

Reality check - progress is bumpy! Global financial assets have been on a growth trend the last 5 years while debt is decreasing. Hmmm, seems like a normal financial bubble and there will be more. It's not politicians that drive financial cycles, we the people are greedy and hence the next "crisis".

Keep carping about the doom while some of enjoy life and at the same time make money more days than not. Some posters are hilariously pathetic and would probably revel in Armageddon. Ain't going to happen or at least the odds are minuscule.

"coup d'état" = sad but true! that's what my redneck friends forecasted in november 2008.

LOSER!!! Get a grip on reality. The world is just dandy and your redneck friends are, sadly, more in the know than yourself. Show us the humor and don't waste energy on illogical crap! At least you don't post insane links like your idol Midas.

siamamerican

Really! This nonsense is still unending. A few on this forum have

an unfathomable gift of forecasting the opposite of what transpires.

America's personal wealth has almost completely recovered and the

deficits are starting to drop as a percentage of GDP.

the nonsense is indeed unending especially when economic ignorants

are accepting the often spread BS that debt can be serviced with GDP.

replacing a smart bomb dropped on Baghdad generates GDP and the

same applies to the replacement of a Hellfire rocket, fired from a drone

and killing a dozen Afghani civilians but does not reduce debt.

debt service, namely interest and redemption, can only be done with

revenue. google "revenue" to obtain more information.

Nam the self appointed financial guru again spouting his superior knowledge. At least you didn't brag about your personal wealth which I presume was not intended.

Oh yes, the GDP rant yet again. Well genius it is far from meaningless for those that can look beyond its deficiencies which obviously you struggle with to no end. Why is it that when GDP numbers have been a a great reflection of a countries economy? I guess we could tally how much a country poops in a given year as a basis of economic health.

Just because you post on this forum more than any other means nothing or maybe it does. Midas has also found an audience here and you both probably have much in common. Get a real life dude! Live is too short to tell people you will never meet how cool and rich you are and how much money the wife spends.

Hey Midas, here is a link you might enjoy.

http://modernsurvivalblog.com/current-events-economics-politics/2013-will-debt-lead-to-world-war/

Really! This nonsense is still unending. A few on this forum have an unfathomable gift of forecasting the opposite of what transpires. America's personal wealth has almost completely recovered and the deficits are starting to drop as a percentage of GDP. Get a grip, the world is going to be just fine and those that realize this will make lots of money while the doomers perverted dream of Armageddon will become more of a joke. The internet has given a voice to nutters that get ridiculed in real life's non internet debates.

I'm not by any stretch of the imagination claiming the world isn't currently confronting financial and societal problems. Do the doomers here have any historical perspective or has life just past you by with little recollection. Humans as a whole, if given the opportunity, will spend beyond their means which has created the 1000's of bubbles throughout history.

As I stated back in December 2008, the USA will recover and Europe will take a little longer. I was laughed at on this forum because for some irrational reasons, Europeans thought that the excessive debt and the housing bubble were an American phenomenon. I was told I didn't understand the EU banking system and its inherent strength. Lots of savvy investors here

Where has "Flying" disappeared to? Probably scampered back to America to re-enter the construction industry and hoping those evil banks loosen their lending standards so people have money to inflate the value of homes. Rinse and repeat!

Midas, how about expressing a simplistic original thought. Any thought will do. We know you can't do it. Intellectually challenge links to articles of fringe self appointed economists will be your next move.

To doomers - stop being turds and pretending you know your arse from your noggin.

Millions of us Americans not in the Obama trance are scared sh!tless where this will all lead.

I agree, millions are scared shitless! This amounts to 1% of the population if millions(quite dramatic) are without shitting capabilities. The rest of America is just struggling through this long drawn out slow recovery. All my friends in the USA still have normal bowel movements.

Get a grip! The world went debt crazy and now it is unwinding. Will it take another 3 years or will the the global economy recover next year? Who the f'en knows.

My prediction; The USA will lead the recovery even more from this point forward and once the rest of the world realizes that we are back back on the road to recovery, the global markets will follow. Dow end of year 15,000 and global markets even higher respectively.

The doom and gloom crowd has been i wrong for years now which has been the case for the last century. only difference now is they have a fools audience on the internet.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if you are correct? But I would like to ask you how do they reconcile measuring the Dow at 15,000+ as being a sign that recovery is just over the horizon with this news below. Not from some obscure doom and gloom website, but from a source which some consider to be even the standardbearer of news? What is wrong with this picture?

Americans see biggest monthly income drop in 20 years

http://money.cnn.com/2013/03/01/news/economy/income-spending-saving/

Not sure??? I thought you were concerned with the deficit. They cut spending when the sequester was enacted and incomes dropped. Seemed obvious to me but again the sky is falling.

I guess the USA is screwed if we cut the deficit or increase it.

The run is long in the tooth. For some odd reason some investors think it is always different this time around. Gold will plummet in value and the only question is when. Personally I think Gold is one of the riskiest investments out there but I have believed this for years and obviously have been wrong.

Had people coming into my office back in 2006 asking about real estate investments. Told them I wouldn't dream of investing at the inflated prices. It was a sucker investment and gold is now unless the sky is falling and history is meaningless.

So where do you recommend people should be putting their money?

Not sure in the short term but in the long term I like Asian equities. If the USA recovery gains some momentum Chinese valuations seem enticing. No guarantees but my stance now is the sky isn't falling and look for bargains in all markets I's all part luck and mostly sticking to a solid plan. My luck was stellar during the crisis and pathetic after. My 2 highest dollar investment were BP and GS. Now after 3 years I've recovered most my losses. Both were good investments at the time that went terribly bad.

Basically, I can complain about everything or realize I'm part of everything. The world marches on and it will probably be a much wealthier place 10 years from now. No guarantees but I'll play the odds.

We have disagreed 100% in the past. I can only hope I'm right and the world will keep improving economically as it has for 1000's of years. Some day in the future you will be correct but I doubt today or any time in the next 20 years the global economy will crumble.

I'm out of the mess now but as I stated to deaf ears, the burning is horrendous but the bulk of the problem is the non-burning activities.. The PM measuring device are 5-10 meters of the roads. For those of you that walk and drive scooters on the roads the measurements are 50-200 points off a reality. The reason I care is because I am one of those on roads and inhale incredibly unhealthy levels of pollutants 24x7x 12 months a year. Assume, in the 400+ range when one of the hundreds of dirty trucks are in the vicinity

I hate the burning also but the real problem is the autos. If I avoid the roads, I never get sick in the worst of the burning. A couple days driving extensively in traffic will result in a short term or long term hospital visit.

Millions of us Americans not in the Obama trance are scared sh!tless where this will all lead.

I agree, millions are scared shitless! This amounts to 1% of the population if millions(quite dramatic) are without shitting capabilities. The rest of America is just struggling through this long drawn out slow recovery. All my friends in the USA still have normal bowel movements.

Get a grip! The world went debt crazy and now it is unwinding. Will it take another 3 years or will the the global economy recover next year? Who the f'en knows.

My prediction; The USA will lead the recovery even more from this point forward and once the rest of the world realizes that we are back back on the road to recovery, the global markets will follow. Dow end of year 15,000 and global markets even higher respectively.

The doom and gloom crowd has been i wrong for years now which has been the case for the last century. only difference now is they have a fools audience on the internet.

The run is long in the tooth. For some odd reason some investors think it is always different this time around. Gold will plummet in value and the only question is when. Personally I think Gold is one of the riskiest investments out there but I have believed this for years and obviously have been wrong.

Had people coming into my office back in 2006 asking about real estate investments. Told them I wouldn't dream of investing at the inflated prices. It was a sucker investment and gold is now unless the sky is falling and history is meaningless.

Few more days and I'm out of here. Good luck to you all surviving this years CM air. Biking up to Suthep yesterday and a songthaew was spewing so much crap that you couldn't even see the passengers. Sadly enough this is the norm and only getting worse each year the taxis get older and local government ignores the death they are causing.

Now I just laugh at the idiocracy and hope some day local politicians will care about health of their constituents Not holding my breath though and fortunate to have the luxury of leaving CM.

is it just me or is this year's air quality only slightly unhealthy? Last year had to leave CM and was constantly hacking. Also, the measuring devices seem to be inaccurate or misleading In December they were constantly reporting under 50 AQI and IMO the air near roads was much worse than today. I can now travel through town and not have to rinse off the brown muck after returning home. Also cycling up to Castle is now pleasant compared to December when I felt I was doing laps around a busy diesel truck stop.

Not yet March. Everyone gets so uptight about the smoke in December, by February everyone's wondering where it is, because it never really hits properly until March.

It'll be here in two weeks, don't worry.

Last year it definitely hit in February and not at the end of the month. The first week in February was awful and the airport was having a difficult time with practically no visibility. My bet, up tight and all, is that two weeks from now it won't come close to last year which is my up tight point.

This year has been nice relative to last and hope it continues.

is it just me or is this year's air quality only slightly unhealthy? Last year had to leave CM and was constantly hacking. Also, the measuring devices seem to be inaccurate or misleading In December they were constantly reporting under 50 AQI and IMO the air near roads was much worse than today. I can now travel through town and not have to rinse off the brown muck after returning home. Also cycling up to Castle is now pleasant compared to December when I felt I was doing laps around a busy diesel truck stop.

What is wrong with the pollution sensors in the city? CM has been the cleanest city in Thailand the last 2 days. The current reading at city hall is 11. I'm guessing it is nearing 80 but would like to know.

You're looking at NO2 reading, not PM10 @ NO DATA today

Thanks, just checked and reading is 76. Not great but can live with it.

What is wrong with the pollution sensors in the city? CM has been the cleanest city in Thailand the last 2 days. The current reading at city hall is 11. I'm guessing it is nearing 80 but would like to know.

Not a bad year so far and after arriving in early December I thought it was going to be a repeat of last year. No hacking cough or sledge in the lungs. Leaving in 2 weeks to escape the worst of it so with any luck I will have survived CM smog, dust, and burning.

I bought my Vespa PX 150 about 2 month ago and heard about the plan to stop benzine 91. Then my thaifriend told me,

it will be still available in 2013, dunno were he got this information from. And still no problem to get ot. We will see...

One time I fill my tank with gasohol 91 by mistake and next morning the engine not start. So cannot use for 2 stroke I think, at least not for my Vespa

Sorry for your issues but this is great news. If 2 stroke engines are reduced by this change we will all benefit. A single two-stroke engine produces pollution equivalent to that of 30 to 50 four-stroke automobiles. Now the under powered Tuk tuks are probably in the 100 range.

Hard to find lots of research in SE Asia but from what can be gathered from various sources, eliminating 2 stroke engines might reduce pollution by 50%(not including crop burning) in CM. For the poor, the transition to cleaner transportation will hurt financially. For us foreigners, why add to CM's already out of hand pollution? Even a well maintained 2 stroke is an awful polluting vehicle.

Don't expect 2 strokes to be gone tomorrow but by making it harder to fuel them, can't hurt. Bangkok in the recent past benefited greatly from dramatically reducing 2 stroke traffic.

It's all just a spoof thread, siamamerican. Don't get so serious. We were just having fun here.

Thanks for the head up and it nice to see how you got baited into a nasty exchange on page one of this thread and now are policing what is too serious.

Just curious how he sees CM so differently than me. We are all unique and I find it interesting. I really doubt Lawrence is offended by my queries. He seems to be at peace with CM and it feels like a small city to him. To me this is ludicrous and interesting at the same time. Being happy wins and happy he is!

Funny, that was the first leg of the ride. My Garmin battery was on its last bar so I saved what I had and started it up again. Below is the last part. It was scary single single track that would have been fun 15 years ago but not at 45 yo.

http://connect.garmi...ard?cid=1087943

The roads after the campsite above Doi Pui are not going to be fun on a road bike. I had MTB with slicks and have a semi rigid frame and it beat me up. After the village with the school at the highest point in the village, I dropped down "STEEP" single track. I have a messed up heel from running that I think is fractured so it suffices to say the ride sucked.

I'm a runner the last 13 years after a horrendous biking accident. Came up here to run the marathon last week but my feet quit on me 15 days ago and hence the biking. 13 years ago I was able to do the Zoo to Doi Suthep in 36 minutes on my MTB and having fun trying to get back to that point. Still wearing the same bike shoes (1998 model).

Who the heck is that young kid that motors up to the castle without a shirt? I shiver with my thin jacket on the way down. He reminds me of the Kenyans I race with here. Just bones and a little flesh but they can move.

That's what I thought about the road quality.

Small world! That's actually me you're talking about. I get really hot even in winter and most the year it's too hot to think about shirts so I enjoy the nice cool air when I can. Last year I was in Pai for a few months in winter and the road out to Chiang Mai and to Mae Hong Son were pretty cold but I don't think CM ever gets cold at that time of day (in the morning probably though). I'm 30 btw.

Hilarious, Just read this post after running into you at Tops supermarket today. Nice ride today. I saw you about 90 secs in front of me heading up the hill(easy to spot a white shirtless guy). Thought I would catch you because I figured you don't go fast every day. Not the case and that was the last I saw you until the rest stop where you stopped and then again when you passed me. I think my bike legs are returning and today wasn't that bad. 38:35 to first parking lot at temple. I think at race effort I could be mid 36. You looked like you were gliding and bet you would be 35ish. Take care and see you on the mountain.

Lawrence, you are a strange dude. I was actually surprised you liked the "young" girls in DQ. Young girls. malls, movie theaters Swensons and loud massage parlors are what floats your boat. Why CM when BK has more of all these things?

You love CM for all the reasons I've grown to loath it. It isn't authentic or exotic but is a city that has successfully been westernized. Still like the rainy season but won't find me at the mall. You really think a mall is that interesting?

Heard today from the cleaning ladies that today (Thursday 4th Oct) was the last day for CWE Chiang Mai, could be a rumor or just gossip, but there was no regular staff around to confirm/deny the story. I keep expecting the doors to be locked when I get there, it's difficult to imagine they can stay open much longer.

Any new gossip? Just wanted to report that it's 2013 and the CW in Chiang Mai is still open....but barely.

I joined Hiilside 2 weeks ago because I thought it would close within the week. Wrong I guess but it is quickly falling apart but still one of the better options in the area. Hillside is only a few minutes away and the fumes were killing me travelling from the near the Zoo.

I get the first week I arrive because of what's in the air. Claritin helps tremendously for me and it usually breathing much better within an hour. I rarely sneeze in life outside of CM but sneeze 5-10 times a day here. Still not much but the stuff I spit up is disgusting.

This is a 4 day holiday, which for a Thai with very little holiday is significant, it is a great temptation to go to Chiang Mai for New Year and experience the famous cold weather (which seems not to be here this year).As in every country on a big holiday the major sights suffer badly from the congestion. On Friday and Saturday the road north (towards Pai) was a nightmare and tomorrow the road south will be worse. I feel sorry for those who have so little holiday opportunities they end up travelling and sightseeing at such a congested time but it doesn't necessarily make them stupid because it is repeated even in those countries with more vacation choices.

Yosemite Park in America is a Zoo during the summer holidays. Not just a Thai thing. What makes it hard here is that this is a recent development in Thailand. Thais are mobile now and have money. It will only get worse or better depending on your perspective.

If you leave for another country, chances are you'll just be exchanging one set of problems for another.

I have never understood this thought process. I usually live where I can enjoy life. Life is too short and I won't throw in the towel and say this is as good as it gets. It's odd, I'm confident this doesn't apply to you, how people can't find happiness and only see problems.

My bet is they put some thought into it and it might just work. Maybe inconvenient but if it eases the congestion - GREAT. I would think, pretty sure I'm correct on this one, the Thais in charge of traffic have a much better understanding of what "might" work.

What they have done at Huay Kaew rd the last 2 days is amazing. I would of thought it would create a mess but they eased congestion by 80%. From hellish traffic 12 hours each day to practically no traffic on the way to Doi Suthep. Now that all changes when near Doi Suthep but whatever.

re.

Another issue I have is that AQI isn't measured where the tourists are which are near the roads

it is ! ... pic taken 21 dec 12

6 feet from the road at thaphae gate !

dave2

Wow, is that the only measuring device. I thought they had a few throughout the city.