Thomas J

7 minutes ago, bradiston said:

Yes, but a car dealership isn't ordering from a bunch of guys who couldn't organise a cocktail party in a distillery.

You are correct however is the incompetence real or just for show.  In other words is Thailand being covertly coerced into taking Sinovac by default.   If I want to encourage Sinovac and by default discourage the other vaccines because of being coerced, or bribed I want to create the façade, that disguises that motive.  I want to present that I am moving heaven and earth to get Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson while all the time really slow walking the process.   There is absolutely no reason why any of the hospitals should have "closed" their registration for alternative vaccines.  If 5 million were requested, order 5 million.  If 10 million doses were required then order 10 million.  That is not to say that all the the vaccines would be delivered at the same time.  It you order 20 million doses and they come in batches of 1 million doses than just call the people who have signed up in the same order that they registered.  Closing the queue only heightens my suspicion that they really will provide only a smattering of alternative vaccines hoping you will get tired of the wait and take what is coming from China. 

On 7/1/2021 at 2:09 PM, Fat is a type of crazy said:

Often the rich can lower their taxable income by tax breaks - especially on investments. So they pay tax on income  but that taxable  income is reduced by special rules for investors.  1 out of 5 millionaires pays a lower rate than someone making $50,000 to $100,000. 

You are mistaking tax rates for taxes paid.  Of the total income tax paid  I repeat paid, after tax breaks, loopholes and whatever other dodges you think exist, the top 1% pay, I repeat pay, 40% of all the tax.  The bottom 90% pay I repeat pay 39% of all the personal income tax.  The wealthy top 1% earn 21% of all the income reported, but pay 40% of the taxes.  The top 5% of taxpayers earn 36.5% of all income reported but pay 60.3%.  The bottom 50% earn 11.6% of all of the income but pay only 2.9% of the federal income tax.   47% of all returns in the USA pay zero, I repeat zero.  That is why it is so disingenuous when the left quotes that any tax cut benefits mostly the wealthy.  Well DUH, it you cut taxes those who pay the most would benefit the most.  Also, unless you are a product of new math, how can you possibly give a tax cut to 47% of the taxpayers who are already paying nothing.  Even if you cut taxes out entirely - 100%  for the entire bottom 50% of all income earners, that would amount to only a tax break of 2.9%.  Which would be less than if you gave only a 5% reduction in taxes to the top 5%.  

Also that lower rate (cow  excrement) is also a half truth.  If I own 10% of Apple I by default pay 10% of the taxes that Apple or any other company I similarly own.  So if Apple pays hypothetically $1 billion in taxes, my share of those taxes is $100 million.  Then if Apple distributes the remaining $900 million to me in the form of a dividend, I get taxed again on the same money.  It would be 21% on income earned at the corporate level, and ordinary dividends top rate is 37%.  So after taxes not including any state or local income taxes the wealthy investor paid indirectly through their company ownership and directly on their personal income tax return a combined 57.1% on that income.  Show me where that secretary or blue collar worker pays anything like that rate.  Ignoring the tax paid by the corporation on that same income is outright lying.  If I am a stockholder, I am an owner, and any taxes paid by that company are in effect paid by me as one of the owners.  The fact that the company wrote that check instead of me on my tax return is irrelevant. 

https://taxfoundation.org/publications/latest-federal-income-tax-data/

3 minutes ago, KhunHeineken said:

True, but you tend to get what you pay for with

Are you saying that other VPN networks are faster? 

I only looked at the reviews and Nord was consistently at the top of the reviews.  That is if you can believe any reviews on the internet. 

I use Viber but with messenger and line I rarely use it anymore. 

I use Nord VPN.  VPN's have both good and bad to them.  I have to use a VPN to get certain web sites back in the USA.  If those sites see a Thailand server they block access to it.  Also, I have the VPN on my smart TV.  I use internet based TV and again, if the stations see a Thailand address, I can not get those stations.  Also, you get far fewer annoying advertisements from companies who see what you are searching on the internet.  So if you search lets say a Toyota you are not besieged with unsolicited ads from Toyota and Toyota dealers.  

The bad news is that the VPN dramatically slows the upload/download speeds.  Not too important on upload since I upload very little, but things like streaming TV can cause the TV to freeze or pixelate. 

1 minute ago, ubonjoe said:

It is a visa exempt entry not a tourist visa on arrival. Fifteen day visas on arrival are not being issued now.

A visa exempt entry is now 45 days not 30 now.

Much thanks Ubonjoe,  It has been a few years for me.  But is the rest of the information correct.  

Now is there any true reason why only predominately Sinovac is available in Thailand.  Now which word would be the most accurate, Bribery or Coercion. 

You can get an O-A in the USA but O Visa only here in Thailand.  Biggest difference is that the O-A requires health insurance and a police background check.  

If you come to Thailand on a 30 day tourist visa on arrival you can apply for an extension.  After the first extension of 60 days, you can apply in Thailand for the non-O visa. 

It is then an annual renewal of the 1 year extension. 

 

28 minutes ago, Fat is a type of crazy said:

- just look at who pays taxes in America  in terms of percentage of income.

This shows me how little you actually have researched who pays taxes.  In the USA 47% of the people pay zero income tax.  The top 1% of wage earners pay 40% of all takes while the bottom 90% pay only 39%  And somehow that is not progressive? 

Now as to the statement that we all start out the same is idealistic and unrealistic.  The fact that people were born in the USA alone gives them a huge advantage over 95% of the world's population.   My parents were not Kennedy's Rockefellers, Gates, or Bezos.  Does that make me disadvantaged.  Sure but there is a huge difference between saying that some have a greater advantage versus my social situation makes it impossible for me to succeed.   As previously mentioned huge number of Asian immigrants come to the USA, many impoverished. they did not enjoy a US education, and many were not able to speak English when they arrived.  Yet, they flourish, they study, they work, they save, they start businesses.  That is personal initiative and they faced a much steeper climb than those born in the urban areas of New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, or Detroit. 

How do people make it better. The same way they have for centuries.  They work hard, save, and pass the benefits on to their descendants in the hopes of paving a better life for them.  The majority of the immigrants who came to the USA were not wealthy.  They studied, they worked, they got jobs, they educated their children, pushed them to aspire to achieve more than they did, and hence the next generation had it better.  This idea that somehow government can ideally make everything equal is akin to taking water out of the deep end of the pool and pouring it in the shallow end and expecting that will raise the level of the shallow end. 

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4193565-what-take-to-be-in-top-1-percent-not-much-you-think

The latest government data show that in 2018, the top 1% of income earners—those who earned more than $540,000—earned 21% of all U.S. income while paying 40% of all federal income taxes. The top 10% earned 48% of the income and paid 71% of federal income taxes

6 minutes ago, wprime said:

While you're correct in that the environment they grow up in has the biggest impact, your belief that people are born with equal abilities is false.

I would agree with you.  I have two children.  My oldest daughter is very artistic but can not do math well.  My younger daughter is like me.  She could not draw a straight line with a ruler, but she is a Certified Public Accountant.  Now both are smart but in different ways. 

Somehow there is little question that blacks have as a percentage of their population a greater percentage of people with athletic ability.  One only needs to look at the makeup of the NBA, NFL, MLB, track & field events etc to see blacks achieve at the highest levels.  To somehow believe that physical gifts of athletic ability are unequally passed but all other abilities are absolutely identical is ludicrous. 

That is not to say that one race is superior it is merely saying that the the attributes given vary to a greater or lesser degree between the ethnic groups.  As previously mentioned, you have a large percentage of those with Indian heritage who are skilled at Match, Science, and Computer Technology.  Now is some of that cultural?  Likely, but it is also true that that same ethnic group even if they are pre-disposed to learning Math, Science, and Computer Technology has to have the innate ability to be good at it.   Case in point, my ex wife is one of the smartest and successful people I have ever met, yet give her a quadratic equation, or an accounting exercise and you might as well given her the problem in Mandorin Chinese.  She just can't do it.  With me, you can give me pencil and paper and ask me to draw a silhouette of a person, and I can't even draw a good stick person.   We are not all born with the same genetic predisposition to be good at everything. 

6 minutes ago, Surelynot said:

True.....I really miss the eloquence and insightful remarks from the 'chosen one'.

Well Surelynot he learned that it was more important to "sound profound" than actually say anything that was profound. 

There is no question that his delivery, the cadence, tone, volume etc were far superior to George HW Bush, George W. Bush, and certainly Trump and Biden.  They were on par with Bill Clinton and perhaps better.  Obama's tone sounded "pleasant" to listen to.  But if you were pressed to explain any of his rhetoric you could not do it.  It was a series of words strung together into sentences that sounded pleasant but were incoherent of any meaning. 

In many respects he was like a computer voice recognition program.  He could recite but not truly communicate. 

One thing to check out is if you want her to use your last name while here in Thailand.  My fiance is Thai but married a Norwegian man and became a Norwegian citizen.  They divorced over 2 years ago.  In order to change her name she would have to have the papers certified back in Norway, stamped by the Thai Embassy in Norway, presented to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bangkok and then taken to the Amphoe along with her birth certificate to get her name changed.  Perhaps Ubon Joe  might know the specifics but I would check on the steps before leaving the USA.  Far easier to get certified papers of U.S. marriage approved by U.S. agencies and Thai Embassy in the USA while there rather than here. 

11 hours ago, poskat said:

all this is is them saying that any problems/side effects you get from the vaccine will be treated at the patient's cost, not as part of the vaccination fee

Well today it has been announced that there will be a 1,200 baht fee for providing the vaccine by the hospitals. 

The idea that somehow you interpreted that means any side effects are extra cost is a stretch.  When you go in for a vaccine for the flu do they put in the price list on their website of 800 baht a similar disclaimer that it does not include any doctors fees or expenses from a negative reaction.  No.   They were simply giving themselves the "fine print" so that when you got to the hospital after paying your 3,400 baht you could not refute the fact that they told you that it did not include all of the expenses. 

 

31 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

IMO it's easy to identify the woke, as they betray themselves every time they  say something that sounds profound but in reality means nothing.

Yes exactly.  There were those who talked about how eloquent Obama was as a speaker.  Yes, he "sounded" good but if you listened to the content it was a series of words articulately to sound profound but his words really said nothing. 

Take the post I responded to and I quote 

much a community values social cohesion and recognizes the benefits of minimizing social inequalities

What the heck is social cohesion.  In terms of minimizing social inequalities, that too is dribble.  I am not the son of Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos so I guess I am a victim of social inequality.  The liberals seem to believe that all outcomes must be identical in order for their to be "equality"  The truth is that there should be equality in opportunity not in outcome.  Those that work hard, study, are entrepreneurs, inventive, frugal etc will and should be those who enjoy the rewards for their efforts.  To do otherwise goes down the path of failed socialism where it is believed you can take from those to produce based on their abilities and redistribute to those who have needs.  Sorry, but human nature is what it is.  Try having two children and telling one of them to mow the lawn for $10.00 and afterwards taking $5 back from that child to give to the other who did nothing and see how that works out the next time you want the lawn mowed. 
 

22 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Assuming all races have equal abilities.

What if Asians are better at hard working and making money?

You are absolutely correct.  Somehow there is this notion that each ethnic group possesses the identical set of abilities.  There is some reason beyond just preference that causes the people from India to be particularly skilled at mathematics, science and computer technology.  I do think however that a huge part of the underachievement in the black community is cultural.  They grow up seeing single parent homes, unwed mothers, drug use, fathers and brothers in prison, the lack of recognition for school achievement etc and they see this as normal and emulate it.  Conversely, the Asian community has traditionally valued keeping the family intact as evidenced by 80% of Asian children being raised in two parent homes.  They push hard their children to excel at education.  I suspect if the black community revered the straight A student as much as they do the persons talents at football or basketball you would have far more black students hitting the school books instead of dropping out of high school.  The dropping out of school pretty much guarantees that their chances of having a career that takes them out of poverty is gone. 

As a former bank executive I can tell you that government insurance even in the USA is intended to cover a limited number of bank failures.  So if your concern is a specific bank, than by all means divide it up.  If you are concerned about the viability of the government, or banking system here in Thailand put your money in a large USA, Swiss, UK, or German bank.   There is not enough money in the USA to bail out all of the USA banks in a total collapse.  The same is true here in Thailand.  That is not to say you might not get your baht, but after the government prints all the necessary baht, you might need all the 5 million just to buy a plane fare to leave. 

21 minutes ago, Hal65 said:

Thanks for the info guys. Is there a good place to get a second hand foundation?

I would be a bit cautious about purchasing a second hand foundation.  You have no idea where it has been, what it might have been exposed to or what animals might have also been bed partners with the prior owner. 

I once had a woman who purchased a "beautiful mattress set" at a garage sale back in the USA.  After a few weeks her son became ill, and alter she noticed the mattress and the wall adjacent to where his bed was turning black.  It had mold.  In addition to the hospital bills for the boy, the carpet needed to be replaced, the walls disinfected primed and then repainted, and she was now in my store to purchase a new mattress set. 

Sometimes things don't turn out to be bargains and a used box spring in hot humid Thailand doesn't sound high on my list of things to trust. 

I use to own a furniture store.  The term box spring is still used but rarely do you see a true box spring.  The box underneath the mattress had springs in it and hence the term box spring.  You still see some but mostly in very high end mattress sets because of the cost.  Today you see foundations.  A foundation is any flat hard surface.  In the USA foundations are basically a wood frame box.  I have seen mattresses for sale here so I would expect that they could sell you just a foundation.  The idea of a second mattress is not the best idea.  Mattresses need to lay flat.  Without a foundation they will bend and within a very short period of time the springs in the mattress will be ruined. 

Now perhaps it is the cynic in me or the fact that during my 72 years I have seen too many baited hooks but I noticed this disclaimer on the hospital website for the 3,400 baht fee for two Moderna jabs.  Is there any likelihood that "consultation" will not be mandatory by the hospitals thereby allowing them to charge an undisclosed Doctors Fee after you have paid your 3,400 non-refundable deposit for the Moderna vaccine. 

I have recently read that both Spain and the U.K. have shown good results in developing better resistance by using a combination of vaccines instead of two shots of the same vaccine.  The studies appear to show that a first dose of Astra Zeneca followed by a second jab of Pfizer particularly boosted the immune response.

I have not seen much on other combinations such as Astra Zeneca and Moderna or any of the vaccines combined with the J&J vaccine.  
Has anyone seen information on which combinations are considered the best and in which order you are suppose to take the jabs.  The one study said that taking Astra Zeneca first followed by Pfizer produced a better result than reversing the order. 

Also are some vaccines not recommended for women?   I see articles on not recommended for under 50 but there doesn't seem to be any differentiation its risks between men and women. 

Anyone else notice the headlines of vaccines arrived only include Sinovac and that those ordered are other vaccines?  

You are correct that there are few groups without a history of oppression.  Even with all the cry about slavery.  The term slave has its origins in the word slav. The slavs, who inhabited a large part of Eastern Europe, were taken as slaves by the Muslims of Spain during the ninth century AD. Slavery can broadly be described as the ownership, buying and selling of human beings for the purpose of forced and unpaid labour.

The countries of North Africa captured slavs to bring back to their country  The barbary pirates captured slaves to sell.
 

There are an estimated 27 million men, women, and children in the world who are enslaved — physically confined or restrained and forced to work, or controlled through violence, or in some way treated as property.

Therefore, there are more slaves today than were seized from Africa in four centuries of the trans-Atlantic slave trade [11 million total, and about 450,000, or about 4% of the total, who were brought to the United States].

So somehow this idea that slavery is unique to the United States and applies to only the black population is categorically false.   I also push back against the narrative that the blacks because of slavery were disadvantaged.  You will have a hard time convincing me that the average black living in the USA does not enjoy a far better standard of living than if slavery never occurred and they were born in Africa.  

Prior to LBJ's great society social programs which were sold as lifting the impoverished minorities, the rate of business ownership and home ownership of blacks was approximately the same as whites.  Incentivized by the government to take welfare the black population went on a continual decline in terms of business ownership and home ownership. 

As said, it is hard to find an ethnic group that at some point has not been persecuted, imprisoned, and enslaved.   You have the Asians in the USA forced into labor as coolies yet Asians today do not just ok, they are the top of the heap in terms of education and income.  My ancestors came from Ireland.  The Irish were treated as bad if not worse than slaves by the British.  In the USA when the Irish came, they were often banished to regions outside the main urban areas and forced into the worst jobs.  One only has to google No Irish Allowed, or No Irish Need Apply to see how they were discriminated against.  Yet they too rose from the ghetto's.  

In summary, I believe in equal opportunity for all and special privilege  for none.  This woke culture were months are dedicated to a specific racial group, where flags are dedicated to a specific racial group, where loans are targeted towards a specific racial group, where hiring practices are legislated to favor a specific racial group is not equality.  And the constant focus in every aspect of our lives about its racial component does not let racism die, rather the constant focus on race emphasizes the differences rather than the similarities we all have.  People become friends based on things they have in common, not on things that the do not share.