John Drake

When I first came to Thailand over 14 years ago, my employer required me to use SCB. It worked well. Plenty of ATMs, branch offices, and a reliable online website. All three of those are either now diminished or, in the case of the website, no longer in existence. I had few security concerns back then. And it seems to me, just reading headlines that phone apps have made banking scams, theft, and disruptions much, much more likely than before. Why was all this "convenience" pushed on to us? I'd much rather dial back on the ease of use to a system with more safeguards. The phone apps are theft-in-waiting. And now with this "virtual bank" I wonder if my money will be regarded as "virtual currency" when it disappears into some scamsters pockets with no effective recourse to regaining it.

Please state precisely what you mean by that.

Good and precise criticism. The Thai bank governor doesn't want to do anything. His policy is sit, wait, and watch the house burn down.

They especially should if they are forcing you to use phone apps by discontinuing relatively secure online transactions, closing branch offices, and reducing ATMs. I'm talking about you, SCB.

New meaning for "lifelong battery guarantee."

Unseemly when one grown man needs another to buy him his underwear.

Terrorists thought they were safe and sound. From now on, they'll need to send messages to each other via pigeons.

You can't do that if you devalue the dollar and drive up the price of imports while simultaneously imposing tariffs. It's recipe for inflation. And dollar devaluation is one of Trump's stated policies.

I don't know how anybody can "love" Donald Trump or Kamala Harris as presidential candidates. Look, there is no denying that Trump (and Harris, too) is a stupid person. The difference between the two is that Trump while stupid is on the other hand quite cunning. He's also an uncontrolled narcissist who simply cannot control his emotions. The Taylor Swift controversy is a perfect example of someone not knowing when to shut up and keep quiet. He does do interviews better than Harris and Walz--it might be impossible to find people who do them worse. But for every well played PR move, there is an equally idiotic catastrophe--such as allowing a loon like Laura Loomer on your campaign plane. He's inconsistent and prone to make celebrity news splashing goofs, such as with North Korea in his first term. He ultimately doesn't believe in anything but himself. The trouble is that Harris and Walz may be worse. And with them it's because of what they believe, which they seem desperately trying to hide.

Not to mention a number of politicians who like to walk at the front of these parades. Good chance for Chuck Schumer to show his commitment to the cause.

Who uses pagers? Probably much fewer than 24 hours ago.

Why not? I've been hearing about doom for the dollar since 1971. And it's always the cranks and the kooks who are leading the parade. People like Peter Schiff have been predicting an eminent dollar collapse for 20 years. The only thing that collapsed, however, was his bank in Puerto Rico. They're out there today stronger than ever, doomsday preppers thinking that a dollar collapse is right around the country. They'll spend their lives and go to their graves thinking they were right, while the world marches onwards. With the dollar as the reserve currency.

On the other hand, they could adjust it downward. They seem desperate to get people to come here for longer periods of time and they especially have their eyes on remittances. They might just elect to go with an adjustable table for retirement. That is, if you live in a poorer less populated province, that province's requirement for retirement might be adjusted to 500,000 or 600,000 per year, while Bangkok remained at 800,000. Why not? I actually overheard a conversation among immigration officers at Nakhon Pathom discussing this exact thing.

Are the financial records of Thai financial officials open to scrutiny for investment conflicts of interest? Just wondering.

The head of the Bank of Thailand is a stubborn mule who believes it's better to have a low GDP and an overly strong baht, where Thailand can't compete against its neighbors. Governor paid by the people he is screwing over.

Some things do smell fishy. The US economy may carry debt, but it is the strongest recovering major economy since Covid. And much stronger than Thailand, which also has just announced trillions in infrastructure projects and is still promising 10,000 cash for the digital wallet. Plus the Shins intend to get their people to bust the interest rate at the Bank of Thailand back to much lower levels. Whose economy would you rather have, the US or Thailand's? That's why the baht strength seems scammy.

Wasn't this money supposed to be used for health insurance fees for foreigners? Isn't that what they first touted it as? Now, it disappears into the black hole of "infrastructure development."

Q: What risk is there that Russia uses nuclear weapons or attacks the Baltic republics. K: "I was raised a middle class kid . . ."

Rah, rah, rah. Sis, boom bah.

Europe is a dysfunctional no growth mess.

One thing. Trump has now been shot at twice, which is more than Walz who says he carried a gun "in war."

As the line for imprisonment moves along and those released re-offend, does that mean authorities will soon run out of space and be forced to give early release to the political prisoners?

Childish hyperbole

Hyperbole, hysteria, exaggeration.

There are only a few Thai production companies capable of outfitting major productions, A Grand Elephant, Living Films, and Greenlight. Maybe Hub Ho Hin. Oriental Post and Kantana provide meaningful large scale post production facilities. Might be wrong but I think Technicolor closed up operations in Bangkok. Lots of smaller boutique services, especially for animation. But the point is for the scale this article mentions, plus existing commitments, there likely aren't enough in place services ready.