John Drake

Utterly laughable. Of course, it's a bailout. It's coming from a "fund," created by charging fees to banks who then pass it on to their customers. Aren't banks and their customers taxpayers, too? I mention the celebrities, btw, because they were the ones out front demanding a bailout for depositors who breached the $250,000 FDIC insurance limit. Mark Cubans was especially loud about it. So was David Sacks and other big mouth libertarians who suddenly wanted government money to save their cash and not coincidentally stop QT, so they can go back to ZIRP and free money.

Nothing makes "Barbara" different. She is getting a bailout along with the others who shouldn't be, because FDIC plainly told every depositor when they opened their account that FDIC insurance only covered up to $250,000. Why change the rules after the fact? Because a lot of rich, connected people started complaining over the weekend and tried to start a panic.

Bailing out the rich and connected. And now every bank in the US is guaranteed to bailout depositors to infinity.

Their deposits are different because they are over the FDIC $250,000 insurance.

I don't have nearly enough knowledge about this event to know whether "backstop" equals "bailout." But I do have a question? Is it true that the people getting their deposits back that are over the $250,000 insurance threshold include Oprah, Mark Cuban, Harry and Meghan in addition to all those venture capitalists and tech firms? If so, why? Why are the rules being changed retroactively? FWIW it sure looks like Mark Cuban did: https://www.thestreet.com/technology/mark-cuban-had-millions-at-failed-silicon-valley-bank

A Thai would have a government hospital at least. And they wouldn't need to be flown back home.

These sort of stories so often seem to be about the British. Do other nationalities get in the same situation, in a hospital, unable to pay, and seeking to get home? Or is it we just don't see stories in Chinese, Russian, or French language media?

What can you say?

Going after the cane farmers and other farmers who grow cheap mill crops for poultry and pig farms would mean going after their backers and behind the scenes owners, the two or three major conglomerates who dominate food production, export, and distribution in Thailand. Remember all those contracts to export chicken to Saudi Arabia and China? Got to have cheap chicken feed to do that. And it's in the last ten to fifteen years that Thai sugar production has so dramatically increased, meaning the burning now is worse than ever before. This isn't some "traditional" means of agriculture. It's a newly intensified burn to meet growing export expectations. Thais choking to death to benefit a handful of food conglomerates. https://www.fao.org/3/x0513e/x0513e24.htm#:~:text=Thailand is now firmly established,world's leading sugar exporting countries.

So there is an environmental minister? Never would have guessed it.

I tried this. The pigeons knocked them off everywhere they were intsalled.

I've never seen an ad put out anywhere. When I was heading up a program, I did accept unsolicited vitas and invited some people in for interviews. Mostly, hiring is done through friends--or at least it was in my division. Were I you, I would just go to some of the universities' websites, look into their programs, and then do two things: 1) mail in your vita to the program director and 2) look for the general hiring page on their websites. If you're not too picky, you might look into Cambodia and Laos, too. Vietnam might be hiring again as well.

So what is the minister of public health going to do? I didn't see him mentioned. Isn't this primarily his responsibility?

Yes, this is what happens when you are colonized.

The good news for you is that you will get plenty of stress free opportunities, if that is what you want. You can easily avoid publishing. In fact, most foreigners in Thai universities can't really publish. They're hired because they speak English and have a credential. Few manage to publish in Q1 journals at all. So if you don't want to publish either, you'll fit right in.

Those yellow lines are not that far back. And everyone crowds them in order to try and get a seat instead of standing up. The article didn't say which direction she was going, but if the train was coming out of Bangkok, it would be pretty crowded by the time it got to Wong Wian Yai. Coming from Bang Wa, OTOH, there would be room, but probably no seats. Bottom line: there is always a crush around those yellow lines unless you get on at the beginning of the line.

You will get somewhere between 30,000 and 50,000. There are an exception or two at places such as MUIC on Mahidol's Salaya campus, where starting pay is around 75,000. And MUIC is probably about the best situation you can expect to find in Thailand.

I suppose if you want to get cosmetic surgery or other medical procedures, it might be safer to come to countries such as Thailand, instead of towns along the Mexican border, which seems to be breaking down into an uncontrolled war zone. Musk might want to rethink that Tesla plant in Mexico.

As I said above, the representative said that issue is being addressed. Frankly, I didn't even know it was a problem until it was mentioned this morning. I registered for my account about six or seven years ago with no problem and did so while living here in Thailand and enrolled in SSA with a Thai address and phone number. FWIW, FBU also said they are hiring more staff, some of whom are just coming on in time to deal with all the SSA suspensions. Also said that the number of federal beneficiaries has grown somewhat recently.

He said they are arranging that, too. I got my account years ago while residing in Thailand with no problem. I authenticate through a code mailed to my email account. New ones will now require ID.ME. There was actually quite a bit of info discussed in today's session. Embassy says it will continue to offer these in the future.

Something that came out of the embassy Town Hall meeting this morning was a mention by FBU Manila that things were in the works to be able to submit Form 7162 through the SSA website: MySocialSecurity. According to him, they are trying to incorporate many other services through the newly relaunched site as well.

Another thing I'm completely out of touch on.

The US embassy hosted an online SSA town hall with FBU Manila this morning. According to the man from FBU, suspensions started in March, not as they usually do in February. So, if you didn't get your SSA payment the past few days, that might be the reason.

Ought to do this every day that the morning readings are over 150 aqi. Just ban everything from the roads except buses and taxis. Otherwise stop the police check points while this is going on. Today, I was walking down Phutthamonthon Sai 3 and several large tractor trailer trucks pulled off to the side with their engines idling. Then saw a check point being opened up ahead. Not only cars building up into a traffic jam but trucks idling trying to figure out how to outlast it. And lots of exhaust fumes streaming into the air.

What! Didn't see this one coming at all.