Walker88

The dollar isn't the reserve currency because of oil. It's the reserve currency because it has the largest and most liquid markets...fixed income and equity. Virtually any amount of funds can be moved in and out with no difficulty. Even if Saudi and China move to price oil in yuan, it will make no difference. The yuan is never going to be a reserve currency so long as the CP is in power. Capital restrictions make the yuan almost meaningless. People who are not economists or traders have been barking about the end of the petrodollar for years. It shows a total lack of understanding of international finance.

Mostly I agree, but not 100%. The fellow is just starting out. He may not even know what questions to ask, and certainly doesn't want to show ignorance in front of potential partners. If he gets started by asking on a Forum, he gets some idea of issues he hasn't even considered. If he gets more serious, he will have some idea of what he should then ask a lawyer. Even a lawyer might forget to mention a thing or two, so if an issue has been raised on a Forum, the guy will remember to ask. The Learning Curve has to begin somewhere. There are many negative comments in this thread (not yours; yours is practical advice). There are many people who did start a business in Thailand and who have done very well. I bought a business early on in Covid time. I had never run such a business, though as a former hedge fund manager I have analyzed a thousand companies (and even govts) and kind of know what to look for.....even where fraud takes place. My business is profitable and profits are growing by the month. It's entertaining and I know I am providing gainful employment for some hard-working Thai people. I know other business owners who have done similar things, even in businesses in which they had no previous experience. Knowing other owners is good because we share both ideas and potential dangers we might have run across. One major thing I have learned is that there is a massive advantage being an American, because you can own 100%. No need for a Thai partner. That alone cuts out many possible problems. Navigating Thai laws and even idiosyncrasies is quite possible. Perhaps surprising to some, not all Thais are thieves just looking for an opportunity to rip off some foreigner. I bought in order to have a new challenge, as I'm already set financially. It's fun, and with the proper precautions and care, I recommend it.

The OP gave me the impression he was not planning to be a silent partner, so that is why I shared my experience. Yes, if he's in Thailand on a Marriage or Retirement Visa, and never plans to get a Non-B, then he would not need to WP. In fact, legally he would have to remain 100% silent, as any input would equate to 'work'. Because I own via the Treaty of Amity, which means I am sole shareholder, I was required to obtain a Non-B. I don't know the OP's nationality, but if he is from the US, he can be a 100% owner, and thus would need a Non-B. I don't see why so many get their panties in a twist when posters with experience offer advice.

As can be seen from my above post, there are differing opinions on what is required. I suggest you ask your lawyer, because the last thing you want to do early on is violate a Thai law/requirement. My Work Permit has a notation stating I am a Director. Work Permits I have seen from foreign employees of other companies lack that notation. The poster who took exception to me either knows everything or suffers from Dunning-Kreuger Effect. As expert as he may be, I still suggest asking your lawyer. Everyone in a position of authority in the Thai govt told me I needed one, so there's that. Perhaps if you are entirely hands off---just the owner, maybe even residing outside of Thailand---there is a way around it, but from the OP post, it seems you will have some input into how your restaurant/business is run. When the bank accounts for my business were opened, each bank needed me, as Director, to come in and sign a few dozen documents, plus I had to have a company stamp to stamp them. The banks also needed my Work permit, even though they knew full well I wasn't working. Again, just be certain what you need or do not need. Lacking a necessity would cost you a lot, so if a Work Permit is not required, make sure you have an official Thai Govt document that states that.

That 'nonsense' was told to me by an Immigration Officer and my Thai accounting firm. Each time I go to renew my Non-B Business Visa, the IO ALWAYS asks for my Work Permit, even though I do not work and am just the owner of the company. When I first went to Imm for my Non-B, I explained the entire situation to them....I was the buyer/owner of a company, I would be the sole shareholder, and I would not be working. They then told me, "You still need a Work Permit", which is an entirely different Ministry (Labor). So off to Bang Na I went and got it. Maybe you know something the Immigration Officers do not. You should head straight to Chaengwatthana and let them know.

Depending on who you are and what you do, it is wise to avoid Kaspersky. If there is nothing you do that would be of any interest to the SVR/FSB/GRU, then there is nothing to worry about. I always laugh when people fear being bugged or monitored by CIA or NSA. Those orgs couldn't care less most people exist. Terrorists or adversaries like russians, chinese, iranians or north koreans maybe, but everybody else is irrelevant to them. The irony is that most people give away all of their personal information without even being asked. Companies build profiles of folks who use their services, run algorithms on sites visited/comments made/purchases made/etc., and can pretty much tell what time in the morning someone takes a dump. Facebook is altruistic, just trying to bring people together? Ha!

If you are an owner or director of a Thai business, you do need a work permit, as well as a Non-B Business Visa. If you are American, you can own 100% of the company, owing to the Treaty of Amity. If non-American, 49% is your limit. You need trustworthy Thai partners and a good point-of-sales system. You need CCTV cameras for obvious reasons, including insurance. You need to be on top of all supplier issues, and link orders with incoming supplies. There are many licenses required for any business, so look it up depending on what sort of business you intend to run. You say 'restaurant', so that would mean alcohol, food and music license. There is also a sign tax, but if the sign contains any Thai characters, the tax is less. Good idea to get SHA+ approval, too, as you never know when the next epidemic will arrive. For every non-Thai employed or who is a director, you must have at least 4 Thai employees. There is some slack granted if any employee is from an ASEAN country. You need to register at DBD, provide a shareholder list, at least pretend to hold shareholder meetings, register for VAT payments, make sure your staff is on Social Security, and keep every possible receipt and record (giving copies to your accountant). To open a bank account, you will need lots of documents. Best to just ask the bank. Having more than one bank is also wise. There is lots of bureaucracy, but not many legal issues if you follow the rules. Maybe you will get shaken down from time to time, but a payment usually suffices.

I looked up 'curmudgeon' in Merriam-Webster, and it linked to his Facebook page.

I don't mean to be flippant or harsh, but the way to 'find yourself' is to forget yourself. Be for other people and everything you worried about "you" disappears. I'm assuming you have no major health issue or no major biological issue with your brain, like depression, bipolar, etc. I never saw anyone who engaged in navel gazing come out better. People either become even more self-absorbed or else become victim to a 'guru' who preys off people in search of 'something'. Thinking of 'you' is not going to solve the problem of thinking about 'you' too much. That's like trying to cure your lung cancer by smoking more. I'm not a believer in anything, so going off with monks or gurus would bore me to tears listening to that nonsense and banal drivel.....no matter the faith. They have no non obvious answers to anything, just gibberish. After 2000 or so years they have their shtick down, but it's still gibberish. A recent post by a member suffering, as I do, from prolixity mentions being forever curious. Focus on something outside of yourself. Give yourself to others. Be a friend. Lend an ear. Be a buddy. Compliment somebody. Give something to someone in need. All that creates 'meaning' and takes focus off one's self. We humans are primarily social creatures. Unless one is trying to solve a riddle or produce the Unified Field Theory, going off by one's self just makes people worse. The world becomes all about "Me", and that is the road to perdition. Forget "You" to find you.

I assume you actually know this answer. Consider lines of force on a spinning sphere. Get a top, make it spin, then spray colored water above and below its equator. See the lines the ink leaves. Then imagine yourself standing atop the top, and absent gravity, then standing on the bottom of the top looking up. Note the direction of the flow top and bottom. If you want perpetual curiosity and sporadic impishness, then you would like to be, or have been, Richard Feynman. His brilliance and curiosity are well known, but did you know he used to sit on the roof of a building at Caltech, buck naked, and play the bongos? That might qualify as impish. He was also the sort of man who had the kind of passions that would find joy in the agogos of Walking Street in Pattaya or Nana Plaza in Bangkok. Sadly, longevity wasn't to be for him, nor he for us. Cancer took him relatively young.

I'm forever curious and hope it never stops. My father often tells me that is the secret to life. It it extends my life, great, as that means I can pursue more interests. As a kid I used to have get on the bike and ride to the library, pour through the cards, then go see if the book I wanted was on the shelf or out on loan. I always found something new to get me on the bike and to the library. It's so much easier today, but I fear too many people waste their existence watching TikTok instead of, for example, looking at the latest images from the Webb, following new discoveries at CERN, seeing how russia is getting its butt kicked in Ukraine, pursuing another pilot rating, collecting amber from northern Burma that has lots of entrapped bugs (some are fakes, some not...and a Japanese university tested some of it and found it to be older than the dinosaurs), finding more obscure JS Bach works (as the OP notes), or picking up the guitar and trying to learn everything from SL Weiss' Passacaglia to Duane Allman's Little Martha. The range and scope of things to do and learn is endless. Of course we each decide how to spend this brief existence, and for some people, there might be meaning watching endless banal TikTok vids or sitting on a barstool every day from noon to pass-out discussing sports or politics or nubile women with their equally obese mates, They can all knock themselves silly, per their choice. Nobody gets a prize anyway, except death. (By the way, TikTok is for people without talent to produce content for people without taste. Yes, that's arrogant. Sue me. Oh, and it's also a disinformation and influence tool of the commie chinese). Eventually we'll all be in the box or the urn, everything we ever did no longer of any meaning as the Universe goes on without our consciousness, but before entropy wins, what the heck. There is always something interesting to do or learn.

I tend to fall in lust with women, at least in Thailand. I have homes in two other countries, and I rarely if ever fall in lust there. I do like my homes, however, even if I mostly live a platonic life there. Thailand, however, brings out the dopamine in me. Get a good intake of pheromones, coupled with a pleasing form and lovely eyes, and I get a nice dopamine rush. If I connect with my lust target, I get the oxytocin boost, then if we spoon after the fact, vasopressin makes me somewhat attached. Nature and biochemistry are wonderful things. The high from a connection, especially if the vasopressin does its job, lasts about 3 months. Scientists have measured the effect in controlled settings. After that, it is possible that one habituates to the woman, in which case 'having her' becomes a biochemical need. Have lots of sex and post-coital spooning, and the oxytocin and vasopressin additionally solidifies the 'love'. "Love" does waver, however, and we don't always feel it even in a long relationship. It ebbs and flows with our hormone levels. We fight an internal battle between the instinct that drives us to spread our seed far and wide, and fidelity to one person to whom we have made a commitment and who might be a co=protector of our already-propagated gene pool. Clinically it's not very romantic, but it is what it is, and we are good at deluding ourselves into thinking love is something spiritual or magical, when it really is just chemicals and pulsing neurons and instinct. Though @jerrymahoney might come and correct me here, I believe it was Oscar Wilde who said, "Love is a gross exaggeration of the difference between one person and everybody else."

No. Sometimes there is only one side. Examples...jeffrey dahmer's victims had no fault. Ukraine has no fault. dahmer and putin are both psychopaths. Just 100% guilty. Oh, unless you think dahmer's victims gave him bad recipes, or there were nazis hiding in hospitals, schools and shopping malls in Ukraine. The beating might have more to the story, but nothing justifies what the french-algerian did to the Thai man.,

As with any belief system, from religion to nationalism, there is a wholesale version and a retail version. By that I mean the theoretical belief system (wholesale) and how the masses actually practice it (retail) One barely has a connection to the other, as at the retail level everything from superstition to bias to insecurity to delusion enters into the picture. Proponents of any wholesale version tend to be in positions of authority, and their primary goal is control, which is to say maintaining their privileged position. The more persuasive they are---persuasion involves everything from creating feelings of guilt to outright criminal charges for not observing the tenets---the better they are able to control and keep their exalted status. Every nation, even society, every culture and every tribe likes to think of itself as unique and special. There really isn’t an objective reality, though one could construct a benchmark and judge ‘uniqueness’ against that, but we don’t do that. Instead, we give every nation, culture, society and tribe the proverbial Participation Trophy. Everybody’s a winner and everybody feels good about themselves, whether a society ever offered any value to the species or not. I’ve had the opportunity to reside in 10 countries, for a minimum of two years in each. Every single one believed its culture was unique, special, gifted, the best. Among the 10 nations every major faith was represented, and in most all the believers were absolutely certain that theirs was the One Truth. These faiths also have wholesale and retail versions, the retail usually characterized by older superstitions upon which the supposed One Truth was spread like butter on bread. In fact, the superstitions are much stronger and sit at odds with the actual dogma, but everyone just ignores that and calls themselves pious or spiritual. We all can name examples, so I'll refrain. Often the beliefs, including about each society’s icons, are delusional. To remain within the boundaries of forum decorum, I’ll use as an example Popes of the Catholic faith. Ostensibly infallible, it’s pretty easy to see some---like Alexander VI---were pretty nasty and immoral. Nobody is infallible and nobody is semi-divine. Iconoclasts do society a service. Ideally, a society is respectful and loyal to principles, not persons, but humans seem to need gods in a variety of forms (sadly, even the USA). So what is "Thainess" ? It seems to be whatever anyone wants to think it should be, whether it is or not. All of the "isms" and "ness" any society has are primarily---at the retail level---refuges into which one retreats to stand against "others" and outsiders. It's institutionalized tribalism, the same as any nation or society's self-defined identity. Individuals may be weak and vulnerable, but when retreating into a group or tribe, they feel stronger and more secure.

"In addition to Russia, four countries rejected the vote, namely Belarus, North Korea, Syria and Nicaragua." Perhaps the putin apologists will come on here and tell sane people that we're 'being fooled by CNN or Western media' about the 4 real paradises in this world of Belarus, North Korea, Syria and Nicaragua. Yes, those apologists have 'done their research' and won't be fooled by graphic images of wanton slaughter and butchery ("crisis actors", no doubt), and they know full well that almost every Ukrainian, prior to March of this year, either spent their days goosestepping or re-reading Mein Kampf..

Since seizing another nation's territory, then conducting a fake referendum is okay with Thailand, Malaysia should conduct a referendum in the south to get back land that was once Malay, Laos could try something up north, Cambodia to the east, and most certainly Myanmar could hold a referendum in Tak and Chiangrai. When Thailand is reduced to Bangkok and Pattaya, perhaps the rest of the world will abstain if Thailand barks at the UN. Dante said it best long ago: "The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those, who in a period of moral crisis, maintain their neutrality."

What is the source of all of your inside info that 'somehow' you know what the real world thinks is wrong? Must be some of that "internet research"

Absolutely. What's a couple dozen war crimes...I mean why let slaughtering kids in schools or patients in hospitals or shoppers in markets get in the way of a photo op and all that added 'prestige' of hosting an APEC event while his armed forces brutalize innocent people? Really, hasn't this 'cancel culture' gone too far! A man of such 'accomplishment' as putin gives Thai people 'face' when he visits. Talk about a 'quality tourist'! Little vladdy has more dosh that elon musk! Consider just some of his accomplishments.........putin made his name mercilessly slaughtering 200,000 men, women and children when he was put in charge of tamping down that little wayward area called Chechnya. Heck, he even set the stage for the carnage by his false flag attack on a russian apartment building. And the way he deals with critics is the envy of miscreant dictator wannabes like 45: he had journalist Anna Politskovskaya shot in the head. He took out Alexander Litvinenko with polonium tea. He shot Boris Nemtsov so close to his Kremlin office the windows rattled. He opted for dioxin to take out former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, but only succeeded in disfiguring him. "Sadly", he sent a couple of incompetent GRU goombahs to the UK to try to erase Sergei Skripal with some Novichok, but instead killed a Brit. Oh, and just to show how resourceful and inventive the little guy is, he took a man suspected of being a CIA asset and fed him alive into a furnace while the man's wife and children were forced to look and listen to the man's horrific screams. The kiddies sure aren't going to forget that! Morality is for other people. Didn't Edmund Burke say that?

Actually, I am morally superior to putin. Of course the Morally Superior bar is set pretty low when a psychopath killer is the standard. Rational actor? Bombing schools, hospitals, shopping malls and markets? putin falls into that historical category of vile miscreants like hitler (yes, Godwin's Law revoked), stalin, mao, pol pot, idi amin and others......the embodiment of evil. If putin is your standard for morality and rational acting, then Hell is actually a paradise with great barbecue and sun tanning with copious amounts of SPF666.

I've had the pleasure of residing in ten countries since university, at minimum for 2 years at a time. All have their drawbacks, all have their upsides. Over time, and with experience, one comes to accept the drawbacks and celebrate the upsides. Thailand is a pretty easy and pretty comfortable place to live. Immigration issues will never go away (especially if one is on a Non-B Business visa and is a business owner, as the IOs try to extract as much in 'tributes' as they think they can get; the most sought after IO, for which applicants actually pay to get, is the "M" area at Chaengwatthana). But that minor irritation is once a year. Absent that, it's all biscuits and gravy. I had enough snow as a child; unless one is an avid skier, snow gets old at about age 22. If I feel the need for snow I can buy one of those little desk ornaments one shakes and flakes fall on a mini-landscape. Rain can be a pain, but it's also sometimes exciting. The other day it fell so hard I could barely hear the thunder. Thai food is a joy, and there's plenty of other cuisine if one needs variety. Suvarnabhumi is a hub, so getting anywhere else in the world---should one get foolish and wish to go somewhere---is a piece of cake. Commo is generally easy and reliable. There's golf for those who like that, or beaches for others. Staying in shape is easy, as there's plenty of good gyms and the climate is conducive to year round sports. Should a man find himself in need of company, Thailand does offer that, too (not that I would ever give in to that temptation). Oh, maybe the air in Bangkok is not healthy, but that and Immigration 'tributes' are about all the negatives I can muster. Enjoy what Thailand gives you.

ZERO chance the coward putin comes to APEC. The 'best' anyone can hope for is a video. putin is afraid of getting close to his own advisers while inside the kremlin. Remember his 10 meter table? No way he'd risk a plane ride to a country with less than robust security capabilities. His plane would be a target and so would he when on the ground, in a hotel, driving to and from meetings, etc.

I'm not sure your comment makes any sense. Politicians have precious little to do with the dollar's rise. The Fed is an independent body, and it is the Fed that sets rates. Pols can scream at the Chairman, but he is under no obligation to listen to them. Also, the money spending policies hardly make the dollar rise. A number of things are responsible for the current blowoff top in the dollar. First is the US is not dependent on russian gas, so its near term prospects are better than the EU. Second, UE is at a multi-decade low, brought down to 3.5% from the 6.8% 45 left in his wake. Interest rate differentials---as the Fed raises rates---also favor the dollar. Other countries---Thailand included---have to be more cautious raising rates to keep up, as Household and corporate debt are massive after the debt-fueled "boom' from 2011-2019. Let's also toss in that markets tend to move in a direction that hurts the greatest number of people. Much of the world went to one side of the proverbial boat---believing the dollar could only go down. Believing that, companies were comfortable borrowing in dollars. That's all well and good until the dollar begins to rise. Dollar debtors then have to buy into a rising dollar market to get the $ they need to service their loans. EVERY nation in the world is wildly indebted. Worldwide debt is approaching $300,000,000,000,000. The US may be the biggest sovereign debtor, but on a relative basis it is better off than some, including Japan. Other nations mask their debt by its presence at different levels, like States, Provinces and Municipalities. EVERY nation mortgaged its future. What the US might have going for it is its relative energy independence, its diverse and robust economy, its military strength, the size of its financial markets and ease of entry/exit, and the relative strength of its banking system after the moves Obama made post 2008 (reduce leverage, sell off bad debt, issue new equity), which is the polar opposite of what Europe did. (Europe printed money, gave it to banks, then told banks to buy sovereign debt of EU nations----that lowered rates for sovereign borrowers and manufactured capital for banks,, but they're interdependent; if EU rates rise, all that manufactured bank capital falls in value and makes the NPLs in a banking system that is 3x EU GDP---vs .8x in the US---an issue again.) The next few years in the world are likely to be quite ugly, as the combo of the worldwide debt bubble and climate change will hit everything from employment to food production. The dollar's current meteoric rise is a harbinger.

Those barking about 'genital mutilation' are equating removal of some useless skin with the removal of one of life's greatest pleasures? Only one gender is a victim in post-natal surgery, and it isn't the gender with penises. Personally, I think the 'convertible' is much more sporty looking than the 'coupe'. You might have a different opinion for your Army of One. I'm grateful my parents made that decision for me, rather than 'let me decide' and have to undergo a procedure (or not) as an adult. It has saved me time washing up, may well have prevented a UTI or two or a penile infection, and that skin removal never got in the way of me enjoying the biological imperative. As an aside, is this thread finally going to dethrone "Do You Believe in God and Why" as the longest ever?

Plain Speaking scene from The Maltese Falcon. Spade meets Gutman for the first time. This is the first scene Sidney Greenstreet ever filmed, as he was new to acting at an advanced age. "I tell you right out that I'm a man who likes talking to a man who likes to talk"

The ferris wheel scene in The Third Man...Welles is phenomenal in this scene.