biervoormij

Sorry but I found your original post irritating. You are asking for hard working Americans to suck it up while you set in Thailand living it up and getting your monthly government check. Then saying lucky me my government check will get bigger with my new COLA. I feel for all the Americans that are living pay check to pay check and are going to have to suck it up. I just wanted to point out that these working Americans are the reason you get that government check and they may never receive one themselves.

You seem very reliant on Social Security and I would point out that it is part of the system and it is currently taking care of you. I know we paid into Social Security and should get the benefits but your current checks come from money being paid by workers in the US now and the money you and I paid in was spent a long time ago.

You missed a couple of names. I assume you would not like to visit a place and run into Uttradit or Sparktrader.

It is just a guess. If he was going to have to pay the 20% capital gains tax on the 1 billion I think he would have only got the 44 billion that he invested. I really don't know so your guess is as good as mine but do you think he does not have a way to offset the capital gains? He has also fired a lot of the IRS staff and the inspector generals that would look into this. Rich people in the US find ways out of paying taxes and most of them pay a lower percentage than the working class. A middle class worker is in the 28% tax bracket but long term capital gains are taxed at a max of 20%, Trump as a billionaire has had years where he paid $0 federal tax and as someone that is not a billionaire I can not say that.

Bought for 44 billion and sold for 45 billion. Valued at 33 billion. This all seems like very strange accounting but I am sure there will not be any capital gain taxes paid on the 1 billion he made in profit.

Is the price in the store really $3 or are these only commodity prices? A Google search says the "As of March 29, 2025, the average price of a dozen large, Grade A eggs in US cities is around $5.90," I checked the web page of a grocery store I use to shop at in Texas and the price is not close to $3. I see the graph on the page you included but the text does not seem to match. Eggs US decreased 2.81 USD/DOZEN or 48.30% since the beginning of 2025, according to trading on a contract for difference (CFD) that tracks the benchmark market for this commodity. Historically, Eggs US reached an all time high of 8.17 in March of 2025. source: USDA A $2.81 decrease from $8.17 is not close to $3.

I agree that he must have some type of mental illness. Why would a Ozzy bloke go around Bangkok trying to buy a Maga hat just to piss off other foreigners. This thread would be funny if it was not so sad.

I did some looking into why I could not get an OTPs on Skyp and other people had no problem. I came to a point where I assumed it depended on the exchange that the number was in and the * numbers seem to follow this logic. US banks use short code SMS messages for OTP and I think some VOIP exchanges do not support short code SMS. I selected a number in Las Vegas and it did not have an * but Reno does so I guess I could change but think I will wait and see if my US Sim will work. One thing I forgot to say in my other message I also had a problem with the initial setup of localphone. It asked me for a number to verify and my Thai phone number never received a call. I used my Skype number for the initial verification and that worked without a problem. I did not want to transfer my Skype number over but I did not see that as an option. I want to keep the Skype number working until I have added a new number to all my accounts and then later remove the Skype number.

I must have missed this I only read the following on the same webpage you have and figured it was worth a try but when I requested the number I forgot to look for the *. My mistake. Can I send SMS messages to my Local Numbers? This feature is currently only available for our UK and US * access numbers. When you send an SMS to your Local Number we will forward it on to the corresponding contact at our normal SMS rates. * Not all of our US access numbers are SMS-enabled. If you change “Your Location” those locations that are SMS-enabled will be marked with a *.

I started a localphone account and requested and received a US phone number but it does not seem to support SMS messages. I plan to use it for calling but would have liked to have text support as well. My Skype number did not receive bank OTPs but in the past my banks would do an automated voice call so this may still work for me. I have also ordered a US Sim so hope to have 2 phone numbers to replace my Skype number in the near future.

In the past Google Voice could not be setup from Thailand. Has this changed? It is a very good summary but on some of them you do not list if they have a phone number subscriptions. I need something to be able to receiving texts or calls from banks for the authentication.

ChumpChange great post!

Thanks for the laugh! Not sure if I would have got the joke if I had not just read Mr BS's poll but gave me a laugh.

Really you will stay outside the country for 6 months rather than pay a thousand baht? Are you staying that to make a point or are you serious? I save a lot of money living here rather than my home country so it will require my tax bill be a lot higher than USD 30 to spent 6 months in a different country. I should decide what my line is but unless they go to a global income tax it is not going to make it worth leaving the country for me.

The partial load did reduce the price but I was also concerned about arriving ahead of the delivery truck. Him doing other deliveries along the way resolved that issue for me. Hope you find something that works well for you.

I think they do but you should double check with them. They will not let you ride with them in the truck and because of this I traveled on my motorcycle between my old and new home. I only filled about 1/3 of the truck so it was considered a partial load and the trunk made various stops picking up and delivering other loads on the route. This allowed me to arrive a number of hours before the truck. This worked out well for me.

I used Lalamove about 18 months ago and was happy with the price and service.

I have only visited Nha Trang so will not be any help with your questions but my main concern would be the lack of a retirement visa in Vietnam. Hope you find a way around having to leave the country every 3 months.

I was suggesting you try Maps.me but if it does not fill your needs no problem.

I wonder if Georgia would be next since Russia has occupied parts of Georgia since 2008. Also since Georgia does not have a border with a NATO or EU nation it might be considered less important to protect. I am sure that Russia is also very upset with Finland becoming a NATO member. That is a very long border.

I mostly use google maps but I keep the app Maps.Me on my phone for the times I lose internet. The Maps.Me app allows you to download maps when online and then seems to work OK when the internet disappears. Not sure how good it would be for you since you take a lot of out of the way roads but might be worth trying. I have tried using the google option to download maps but have found it does not work as well without internet.

https://www.axios.com/2025/02/06/doge-staffer-resigns-racist-social-media-elon-musk

Giving some 20 year old former hacker access to everyone's social security numbers and personal data. What could go wrong? The deep state may be the least of your worries with Big Balls playing with your social and all your other info in government systems. One of these wunderkinds had to quit after being linked to racist posts on X. Scary these people have not gone through any type of background checks.

Are the pictures from the Red Lotus Viewpoint? I have attempted to see red lotus from a few places and these photos you have seem much better than what I have seen. I think I may go to Udon in 2026 to see the red lotus but not sure if it is worth the ride.

When you did all this for the filing what language did you communicate with. My Thai would not be up to the level required and I doubt my local RD office will have the English level either. The money I remit to Thailand is not from income but from savings but have no idea if they will accept my foreign bank account totals as proof. I don't plan to attempt to file for 2024 but may attempt to file next year for 2025 because I will be remitting a lot more than the 100K baht that I did in 2024.