Longwood50

18 hours ago, Jingthing said:

As stated before I think both sides of the political spectrum have failed Americans seeking affordable housing. 

And as I have said before, the fact that those who can not afford the housing are in many cases the same people who do absolutely nothing to improve their lot in life by getting skills that provide for a better job. 

If by doing nothing a person recognizes that somehow society will provide them with food, shelter, clothing, medical assistance then why try to provide those things for oneself. 

Since 1964 when LBJ declared the war on poverty the USA has spent an estimated 22 Trillion dollars on poverty programs excluding Medicare and Social Security.  There are 122.8 million families in the USA.  That means over the course of 58 years the USA has spent $179,158 per family.  In 2020 there were an estimated 7.3 million American Families living below the poverty line.  That same 22 trillion equates to $3.136 million per poor family.  Now that is over 54 years so on average each and every year for 54 years the USA has spent $55,809 per poverty family  to "help" those in need.  How has that worked out?  In 2020 there were 11.4% of the USA defined as being in poverty.  In 1964.  That means that the rate is approximately the same if not slightly higher than in the early 1970's despite spending trillions of dollars.  

By contrast a mere 20 years ago almost 50% of the Chinese population lived in poverty.  Today that percentage is approaching zero.  They have no "welfare" programs.  How did they accomplish that in a shorter period of time with a much larger population.  Easy.  They got jobs for their people. 

Liberals don't understand there is a difference between "helping" and "enabling"  If I train a person and allow them to be employable at a living wage I am helping them.  If I hand out money including subsidized "affordable housing" I am enabling them.  The problem does not go away.  Quite the opposite, I have removed the incentive to work to improve my station in life.  It is a very simple economic principle.  It is called a subsidy.  If you subsidize anything you get "more of it"  You provide extra money to unwed mothers, you get more unwed mothers. If you provide more generous food stamp benefits, you get more people who apply  Worst of all, you disincentify those to enter the job market to become self sufficient because they see very little if any benefit from earning a wage and paying taxes versus living off public assistance. 

The answer does not lie with making housing cheaper.  It lies with assisting those to "earn more" to allow them to afford the more expensive housing. 


https://www.heritage.org/poverty-and-inequality/report/the-war-poverty-after-50-years

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1086836/china-poverty-ratio/



 

2 hours ago, 33 RPM said:

grass will perform best in a full sun situation

I use to live in Texas.  Bermuda is used throughout the Southern part of the USA.  It loves sun and is extremely resilient.  They do sell it on Shopee and Lazada. 

Bermuda grass prefers full sun. It is tolerant of both heat and drought as well as dry soil, so full sun during to hotter months is not a problem. It does not do well in shade, however. In such growing conditions -- less than 4 hours of full, direct sunlight each day -- Bermuda grass photosynthesizes less.

46 minutes ago, pontious said:

Anyone know where to buy it.? Mice in the car engine compartment.

I don't know if it works or not.  Some say it does, others say no.  You can however buy it as "essential oil" on Lazada or Shopee.  

1 hour ago, Jingthing said:

 

1 hour ago, Jingthing said:

How do those successful people get richer? Magic? Exploiting gouging poor and middle people isn't a part of it?

Wealthy people get wealthy by providing goods or services that others "value"  You call it exploitation.  Well here are the 10 wealthiest people in the world 

Elon Musk - $218.3 billion. ... Employs 110,000 people 

The average estimated annual salary, including base and bonus, at Tesla Motors is $153,755, or $73 per hour, while the estimated median salary is $160,936, or $77 per hour.

 

Bernard Arnault & Family - $188.6 billion. ...
Employs 19,000 People 
While Louis Vuitton employees earn an average yearly salary of $39,614,
 

Jeff Bezos - $165 .5 billion. ...
Employs  1,608,000 people
Amazon.com Inc pays its employees an average of $101,464 a year.

 

Bill Gates - $130.7 billion. ...
Employs 182,268 people 
The average employee at Microsoft earns a yearly salary of $139,993 per year
 

Warren Buffet - $111.1billion. ..
employees 360,000 people 
he average estimated annual salary, including base and bonus, at Berkshire Hathaway is $131,433, or $63 per hour

 

Larry Page - $111 billion. ...
Sergey Brin - $107.1 billion.

Employs 150,028 people
The average estimated annual salary, including base and bonus, at Google is $138,383, or $66 per hour, while the estimated median salary is $154,276, or $74 per hour.
 

Larry Ellison - $108.2 billion. ...
Employs 132,000 people 
The average estimated annual salary, including base and bonus, at Oracle is $136,410, or $65 per hour, while the estimated median salary is $135,962, or $65 per hour.

Now Jinthing,

Tell me how much more "enriched" the world would be if these people were all miserable failures 

Tell me exactly which of these people you feel exploits the worst.  It seems only one company Louis Vuitton has an average wage of under $100,000 and that is because a huge proportion of its employees are retail sales clerks. 

Now tell me for those people working at Google, Oracle, Amazon, and Microsoft all making over $100,000 is that Exploitation or Oportunity. 

Basic economic principle.  You reward things you want to have more of and you punish (tax) things you want less of.  You reward buyers of electric cars to incentify buyers to acquire them, you tax gas guzzling cars to have fewer of them. 

The same is true for entrepreneurs.  Those who are successful should be rewarded not punished for their success.  The world is enriched by the products and services their success has brought.  And the millions of employees all enjoy a higher standard of living because they were successful. 

At $130.7 billion I suggest that Bill Gates has received the least compensation in return for the productivy the world gained by Microsoft.  His software so increased the wealth of the world by an exponential amount.  You want MORE Bill Gates, not less of them. 

No one forces you, exploits you to purchase any product from Louis Vuitton, Oracle, Microsoft, Amazon, or anyone else.  You do so because YOU FIND VALUE in what they offer. 

1 minute ago, Jingthing said:

So its class warfare then?

Which class do you reckon is winning?

To an OBSCENE degree.

No, not class warfare.  This idea that you can somehow confiscate unlimited amounts from those who contribute to the tax system to give to those who don't is nothing more than blatant communism. 

In economic terms you always get what is rewarded.  If those who are productive members of society are rewarded you get more of them.  If you reward those who live off the government, you will get more of them. 

Also an important point is that if I am self sufficient I am not a slave.  If I am living off what the government sees fit to bestow on me, I am essentially a slave beholden to them. 

From an economic standpoint you want more "successful" people and fewer that are economically dependent. 
 

I empathize with the Russian and Ukrainian people who are stuck in other countries.  Unless they came with some hard currency like Euro's or USD whatever purchasing power they thought they had with Rubles is now worth either very little or nothing at all.  If they can't access money back from their home country or use credit cards I can't imagine what alternatives they have. 
 

On 3/5/2022 at 2:43 AM, webfact said:

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) aims to attract 10 million foreign tourists

I love these posts.  I am not sure if the TAT really quotes them or they are reported to just to get a reaction from people.  It seems each week sometimes more than once a week I see a similar headline with a new number of tourists to be attracted and a new group of people whether that is Chinese, Russian, Indian etc to be targeted.  If they really are making these predictions, I suspect they are using the following wheel to assist them in coming up with the number of expected tourists. 

On 9/12/2021 at 10:18 AM, cmarshall said:

Rents are a problem and the government should give more tax advantages to renters since currently all such advantages go to homeowners.  But buying a house is not a very useful solution to high rents.  Seems worse to me

I love these people who say " the government should give"  Who the heck do you think the "government is"  It is the taxpayer.  

This notion that you can just give "college" "healthcare" "rent"  or anything else for FREE and it doesn't cost somebody something is just mindblowing that anyone can be that naive.  

All you have to do is look at the rampant hyper inflation in the USA that is caused by the government printing money that it did not have. 

Also the building owner of a rental unit is "the owner" so whatever tax benefits come from being an owner are reflected in the rent the building owner charges.  Take away those "benefits" and the rent has to go even higher. Also the homeowner in my state pays real estate tax each and every year which the renter does not.  That real estate tax goes to pay for municipal services such as police, fire, roads, and schools which the renter is getting without paying any real estate tax. 

16 hours ago, mahjongguy said:

The OP, if the ground is settling nowhere near the drain connection,

The erosion is next to the lateral that leads into the drain box in the street.  Pehaps you are correct that it is a leak in the main that is washing the soil away.  

16 hours ago, bluejets said:

Normally running storm water into sewer lines is forbidden....

They are storm sewer drains in the street.  Not sanitary sewers. 

7 hours ago, mahjongguy said:

The lateral drains have two 30cm x 30cm covers on each side of each house that are flush with the ground. Even in a downpour they prevent the water from getting more than a centimeter deep, and only for a few minutes.

That is exactly the system here.  There are concrete covers over the entry access to the storm sewer pipe that runs paralel to the houses.  Our home has a lateral that extends from the street pipe into the yard.  I suppose it is possible that the pipe in the street has shifted and the water running through it is escaping and causing the erosion.  I can envision how with the lateral pipe getting suction from the moving water how it might be sucking the water along with sand from inside our yard and causing the erosion also.  

That is why I am hoping to find someone "knowledgeable" about these types of drainage system.  The typical Thai will pour cement, use duct tape, and and ample amount of silicone to fix just about anything with no experience as to whether any of what they have done is effective. 

1 hour ago, SiSePuede419 said:

Basically a pipe with holes on the top covered in some kind of metal mesh screen (we call "hardware cloth")

I am familiar with French drains.  They would work to carry the groundwater out but they are at the top of the soil surface.  The main storm sewer drain is about 2 meters below ground and it is already in place.  So if I put in a French Drain my only place to drain it would be to drill a hole in my concrete fench to allow a pipe to carry the water to the street. 

There is a pipe that runs through the village street with drains that allow the rain water to be carried away.  When the village was built underground pipes connecting the yards of the home were laterally installed to allow the ground water from the yards to flow into the main storm sewer pipe.  Now those pipes "we believe" are creating a sucking action that is sucking the sand in the yard and creating a large area of erosion.  

I am not sure exactly how this needs to be fixed.  If the pipe leading to the storm sewer is capped the water collecting in the yard will also cause erosion.  It would seem to need some sort of screen to allow water to pass but prevent soil from being sucked into main storm pipe.  

Having used some "Thai" workers they all will tell you they know how to fix it.  However my experience is that they are willing to express their ability to do anything despite the fact they know nothing about how to really fix it. 

I would think that someone who has worked in the construction of a village and has installed similar lateral drains might be a good place to find a competent repair person. 

We tried calling Huay Yai water and sewer who feigned they only fix the street and don't know of anyone. 

Does anyone have a suggestion of who might be competent or a supply house that would know of workers who deal in this sort of repair? 


 

2 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

What is your reporting office.

Yes using the new system.  At least this time, I was able to submit.  In prior systems never could even get that far.  My office is Chonburi.  I don't know if there is an error on what is recorded in the system that is causing the reject.  I only know when I go in person I never get any questions, only a quick update so I would "think" if there was a problem I would be notified but then again this is a Thailand government office and online system.  

36 minutes ago, petermik said:

Get it done ASAP....it will improve the value of the vehicle no end

Perhaps there is some credence to vehicles close to the ocean being subjected to salt and therefore more prone to rust.  With that said, I am from Michigan where the roads are continually salted during the winter to prevent icing.  Factory protection appears to be more than adequate to prevent them from rusting so I doubt the salt air is more corrosive.  

Though I don't live on the coastal areas I see many older cars here in Thailand all with their bodies still in good shape.  I have yet to see one with the rusted body panels that I got use to seeing in the USA before the companies started corrosion protection 

17 hours ago, Snig27 said:

Never been able to make it work (the new or the old). 

I am the same as you. Most of the time I was unable to even submit.  Now I can submit but it says rejected but no reason given other than to contact the local immigration office.  I have gone now for upwards of 3 years for my 90 day reports and they are always approved quickly there.  It just would be nice to avoid having to make the trip and wait in line and do them online.  

We replaced two AC units last year and went to inverter models.  One because it started to leak the other because it was old and oversized and therefore not energy efficient. 

The first one was an LG 12,000 BTU.  I would not reccomend.  The original Carrier unit failed and the unit was one the repair person had in stock.  The unit cools just OK and it has a tendency to both gather mold and spit water from the fan blades when it first starts to cool. 

The second model was the Daikain Smart top of the line.  Very good.  The unit cools adequately and we noticed a drop in our AC bill each month from about 4,600 bath to about 2,400 baht.  

22 hours ago, ukrules said:

Nothing lasts forever

You are correct.  I am not saying that people should not buy a crypto currency.  What I am saying is they should not be deluded into thinking it is somehow a risk free way to make huge profits.  

They should understand that crypto currency price increases are due entirely to one buyer being willing to pay more than a previous buyer despite the underlying cryto currency doing nothing to enhance its value. 

In a traditional investment such as a Coke, the company can make more money by reducing expenses, selling more product, entering new markets etc.  Not true with crypto currency.  It makes no profit, and can do nothing to enhance its value.  That places it clearly in the type of asset that a person buying it can only rely on someone who places a value on it higher than the person who currently owns it.  Now why does that price increase?  Strictly based on the perception that the value is rising and therefore the person should buy before it gets any higher.  That is the classic definition of a 'greater fool"  At some point, whether 1 year, 1 decade or 1 century the last fool pays the highest price for the crypto and the price cascades down.  I also believe that crypto purchasers are ignoring that governments around the world may very well start to impose some sort of regulation and reporting on crypto currency.  If that occurs that will negatively impact the price of the crypto currency.  Will any of these things occur?  Who knows.  I just know I saw the exact thing happen with "flipping houses" in California because we all know that you can't lose money on real estate.  I saw it again with the dot.com where people were making fortunes trading companies that had no profit, nor any prospect of ever making a profit.  That hysteria eventually cratered.  I just personally don't like putting any money into something that does not produce something and does not make a profit.  

1 minute ago, Sparktrader said:

Wrong for 13 years. Thats pretty good. Always easier to find a bad judge and do the opposite.

You know you really should learn the lesson that it is better to keep quiet and let people think you are ignorant than to open it in print and remove all doubt.  

Do you do the speech writing for Joe Biden?  That last sentence is absolutely unintellgible. 

3 minutes ago, Sparktrader said:

You didnt even know the btc founder name was made up!

 

Basic info. Quit while you behind.

Yes it was "made up"  however the quote was attributed to his pseudonym.

It is good "you have so much knowledge" that the rest of the world is too stupid to know. 


You are exactly what Steven Hawking described.  Someone "so sure".  I can tell you from my days at Merrill Lynch. You are identical to those who said the same thing about the dot.com stocks. 

21 hours ago, happydreamer said:

Longwood, some of what you say has a lot of merit.  But this argument that it's not tangible

You miss the point.  intangibles can still have value.  Goodwill in a business is not anything that you can put in a drawer, look at or spend but it does have value.  A business with identical hard assets such as plant, machinery, equipment, account receivable may very well be worth much more because of its "intangible" goodwill.  That may represent a deep customer base and longstanding great reputation.  That makes it worth more than the identical company only a business a short time, with a lousy reputation. 

Again, and to repeat myself for the last time.  You may very well make money on crypto currency.  People made money selling worthless swamp land in Florida decades ago.  However THE ONLY WAY AND I REPEAT THE ONLY WAY that someone makes money on crypto is if there is a bigger fool ready to buy it.  Crypto produces nothing, achieves no earnings nor ever has the prospect of any earnings, Its value goes up strictly because of the "perception" that it will go up.   Just like a ponzi scheme eventually runs out of new customers to sell to and it collapses at some point any thing that relies soley on a new purchaser paying more will eventually run into the last fool willing to buy.  In the meantime many will turn a profit but in the end, it can not last. 

18 hours ago, Sparktrader said:

Of course, while Dimon has his own personal beliefs – they don’t quite measure up to the position of JPMorgan. In recent years, the largest bank in the U.S. by assets has rolled out its own digital currency, JPM coin, has moved hard into crypto asset research and, in August, has opened access to crypto funds for its wealthy clientele.

Yes and the major financial institutions also rolled out billions in derivatives that eventually proved worthless.  The fact that someone is willing to sell them only proves there is a fool willing to buy them.