herfiehandbag

I think it is very likely that it is the intention, probably not for him but for those he is "beholden to".

Well perhaps, from one perspective, they have - they have just released a chunk of cash for their mates to spend...

9

Who will receive the money? Where will the money go? Who will manage its disbursement? Who will manage/arrange/be responsible for it's repayment? Or am I just being silly?

Predicting how much is going to be spent on Loi Kratong. It is just meaningless drivel isn't it? Anyway, he failed include one important "statistic" - an estimate of the amount that will be extracted by shaking down anyone selling or consuming alcohol!

I think that you have to take into account the "vested interest" of whoever "is casting the influence". If he is an investor in, let us suggest, overseas property, or has children being educated overseas, then a strong Baht is good news. If he is in the business of catering to visiting tourists, then not so. Of course the Baht is not open to manipulation, I mean, that would be dishonest, and putting one's own personal ( or class) benefits over the interests of the country as a whole, and no Thai would ever do that...

Why borrow? All they have to do is Mark time for 3 months, carry on as they are doing, flog a few more doughnuts and they will have the money...

8 were all they could afford, but were sufficient to provide attractive incentives to the Generals/politicians involved. Deployment and use were not considered.

His reputation on such matters is, umh, as full of holes as a Swiss cheese?

You really don't need Nomura's research tool known as the Tourism Recovery from Inbound International Passengers Tracker (TRIPTracker), to work that one out! Snowball and Cookie (the Chihuahuas) suggested it to me when they were having their breakfast the other day!

No. I don't "identify" as anything. I am an Englishman, who happens to have long had a curiosity to learn about the world around me — and (I hope) an ability to keep an open mind and an interest in sorting out the changes being wrought every day. Maybe I should have taken the grumpy old expat option...

Poor so and so, couldn't even go for a quiet beer! Shouldn't chuckle...

Virtual I expect!

Well who would have thought it...

Why not, works well with the motorcycle taxi lads, no? Why on earth does a bloke or blokess delivering noodles for Food Panda need a numbered jacket? Because the proles have found a new way of scraping a living. We must control them, so we can collect the appropriate "informal fiscal contributions"!

Yet another example of that peculiarly Thai governing classes skill in "Podiatric marksmanship"!

They obviously didn't think much of my suggestion to rename "The Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM)" to "The Department for Clearing out the Drains when there is Nothing else to do in the Dry Season (DCDNDS)".

Funny isn't it. Some months ago they were blethering on and on about the cashless society coming to Thailand, and now they are shutting down one of the pillars of the new "cashless" system. I suppose that it is all about control - Paypal is basically not owned, controlled or delivers it's profits to the Thai establishment, so it goes. No doubt other International money transfer and payment channels will follow - should fit well with the trumpeted. ambitions to attract the wealthy tourists and expats! I don't use PayPal very often, mostly for receiving fees from some online teaching and for buying second hand books from the UK. I suppose I could use my UK PayPal instead, and transfer the money in and out of my UK account. Interestingly transfering money between my Thai PayPal to my Thai bank takes up to a couple of days, whereas between my UK PayPal and my UK bank it is instant.

Oh I think that you can expect that as long as there is a benefit to the comic opera chorus, in terms of ensuring the "uniform" loyalty of their key support groups, and various "other benefits" then they will continue to control, ration and allocate the "really good stuff" (Moderna) accordingly. It is, quite simply, how they work.

I have been thinking this through for some time now. I will declare that I have a minor interest in a small (single shophouse) bar in Chiang Rai. I think, that in certain "farang orientated" areas (Pattaya, Hua Hin) there is certainly a desire to clear out the hotchpotch of small independently owned bars. This will clear the way for special " Casino" zones a- la Sihanoukville. The money making potential of which can hardly have gone unnoticed amongst the influential. Similar - but perhaps real estate based ambitions - may apply to Soi Cowboy and Nana Plaza. I also suspect that there are those amongst the influential who may be interested in becoming major players in the Thai orientated nightlife scene. Elsewhere, the smaller places (such as Chiang Rai) are probably just collateral damage. Covid restrictions provide an opportunity.

If you have any to spare perhaps you could gift one to the chap who posted immediately before you - it should guarantee a spectacular meltdown!

It would seem that this fellow was neither a sociopath nor a murderer, but a radical (?) student journalist. Now I don't particularly agree with some of the views he professed, but then I come from a very different background and society. If I had been a Thai student at that time, developing my political philosophies under the (rather nasty) regime then in power, that may have been very different.

Yes, either they are labouring under the misapprehension that 80 is close to 100 or they are really motoring...

Yes one can only speculate - but you are on safe ground speculating that somehow loss of face on the part of the comic opera chorus line was involved; along with "inadequate unofficial financial arrangements"...

Well it is the internet - and the word "Marxist" was used several times...