KhunLA

Powell would be out of a job, what ever that is or was.

More silliness ... ... what countries did Trump invade ... who did he send to and where are the death camps ... anyone made to wear armbands And here I thought falsehoods weren't allowed on AN.

Don't mean sh!t to me, unless it affects the exchange rate, which surprisingly has held steady at the 3rd of the month so far. 3rd is when our govt Soc Sec is DD in TH, for those non Yanks. If inflation goes up in USA, well, that's a plus for Yank expats. Exciting ... nah, but great comic relief as the haters go nuts with their silliness. I don't even reply to most posts, as learned not to debate with the mentally ill ... since they're apparently stress out enough. Facts may push them over the edge ...

That's the 'art of the deal', any deal. Ask for a loaf of bread, but settle on a half loaf. No different than when I was Union rep. That's why the tariffs were put on hold. Everyone gets time to think & negotiate, or threaten and rattle the sabers. Until it's go time. Then we'll all see how it pans out in a month or 2. Don't think there is any surprises here. Not many, if any, country or more importantly, politician, can afford a halt in trading, or high tariffs, if not producing in country. Which the USA does not. Or if your country can't feed or energize itself. USA will end up with better trade deals under Trump, than before 2025 started.

Shutting the border ... too easy ❤️ Have to disagree with the 'criminal in waiting' ... " “There’s no more hope for entering legally as long as Donald Trump is there, and anyone telling you otherwise is lying,” he added." That is and was never a legal way to enter the USA. Just an accepted 'catch & release' program, under Obama & Biden, that if not a registered criminal, if even having ID to check, then you simply got a court date at Imm court, for your case review, but released to do whatever. Go to a sanctuary state, CA & NY, register Dem and 'Live the Dream' You cross the border without registering first, you violated imm law, and you are a criminal, an illegal alien.

I agree a shift has to happen, and been stating that myself, once or 20+ times, and in theory, tariffs should force manufacturing back to the USA. But enough to be independent before mid term, simply isn't going to happen, and if CN got pissed off and stopped essential exports to USA, then USA would be screwed. Look what happen to the auto parts supply chain during covid. Lucky most cowered & complied and didn't really need, but new production of autos sure did slow down, along with waiting for new parts to repair & maintain their POS. How much stock of antibodies do you think is warehoused, and would last how long ? For USA's sake, would love to see an intense trade war, as would force the USA to once again manufacture things in country, and be independent of exports. But that's not going happen, unless Reps keep Congress at mid terns, which probably isn't going to happen. Along with Vance having to win in '28' & '32'. No major shift will happen in 4 yrs, let alone <2 yrs now. If economy takes a nosedive, which it will, then Reps will lose Congress at mid term elections. Then deep state is back in control.

Ignorance is Bliss ... BRICS comes into play also ... " India " Auto industry components ... And the grid ... @marin best to do your own research

Live at Beckley WV for about a year. Lovely state and people. Shame my salary sucked, or I would have stayed. First place I lived, away from home & all things familiar. From Philly metro, to backwater, out of the main town of Beckley, in middle of nowhere and loved it. Loaded up my 'station wagon' with $200 borrowed from my brother and off I went, to the unknown. On topic ... yea, Trump needs to be careful with trade war with CN. Actually one, if push comes to shove, USA can't win that fight. CN controls the supply chain of medicine, auto & grid components. USA isn't close to filling that void now or the immediate future if they are cut off from CN exports.

Not amused or wish death or harm on people, but overloading a boat in open waters ... well, you can't fix stupid. People die every day, get over it. It's nature. I make fun and chuckle about my own pending death. Was actually talking about that yesterday at dinner. Got on the subject of when I die, and told the wife to wrap me up in plastic, the duct tape the hell out it, before putting my butt in the hole, so the worms & bugs don't get to me. Her response ... hell no, you're going in the chipper, and then the compost pile. Nothing goes to waste in nature. Told the bi-atch I'm coming back to haunt her A$$

to the title ... ... may want to pay attention to a few of them, as you may learn something. A little deprogramming from MSM would help most people

Think that falls under an obvious "user error" voiding any warranty Live with your choices ... besides, sharks have to eat. Nothing should go to waste in nature.

And if CN stops exporting rare earth minerals to SK ? I'd say CN has quite a bit of influence what SK does. Leading opposition candidate for president in SK is pro CN ...

In true OTT reporting .... "USD skyrockets agaist THB to new high" 5 day miraculous strength of USD

I thought AU has free universal healthcare, guess not. $100 for a simple test

Agree, as is ours, tho a wee bit further. I just figure if someone is dumb enough to buy 10 eggs at a time (if eating a couple a day), then probably dumb enough to make a special trip 5-10 kms away for 10 more And on the inflation thing, someone mentioned, 25 yrs ago, eggs were 3 for 5 baht, and now about 5 baht each. So 3X the cost ... BUT ... minimum wage as kept up with most basic food items prices. As was 100+/-, 25 yrs ago, and no 300-350 baht a day. Imported crap, yea, much higher, but has nothing to do with TH.

Google translate works fine for reading Thai. They even have apps that will translate speech, and you could easily express whatever, enough to get by. I've yet needed to write Thai, in any situation, and can read anything with G translate.

Along with really stupid. 10 would last me & wife, 2 days, maybe. Rack of 30 are considerably cheaper, without the need to go to the store again. If not driving an EV charged at home w/solar, the petrol would cost more than the eggs for some

Yea ... what he said. All one needs, is enough to talk to chickies, or whatever you preference is Know enough to get by, but not for an in depth conversation with a local. Vocabulary is not that varied, or brain quick enough to translate. Although, any intelligent local I'm going to have a conversation with, knows enough English to converse with me.

So I don't repeat myself ... https://aseannow.com/topic/1324427-speaking-thai-is-it-necessary-these-days-for-an-expat/ https://aseannow.com/topic/1308492-does-it-make-a-lot-of-sense-to-learn-more-thai-after-knowing-the-basics/ https://aseannow.com/topic/457190-what-level-of-speaking-and-writing-thai-are-you-at/ https://aseannow.com/topic/668641-speaking-thai-in-thailand-is-useless/ https://aseannow.com/topic/1246116-did-you-try-to-learn-thai-how-did-you-get-on-how-old-were-you-was-it-worth-it-regrets/page/4/ https://aseannow.com/topic/1212744-permanent-residence-thai-language-ability/

Actually a very slight increase lately. BUT, down quite a bit from the high earlier this year. Can't say the same about everything else. Seems every week or so, something is up 10-20%

I've converted to Islam, now have 3 wives, from 3 different continents, 2 goats & 3 sheep LIVIN' the DREAM 😎

Thankfully the wife doesn't need batteries ...

You could always get married ... Multiple accounts are annoying, then every 9 months or so, they call to have you move it around, so not taxes. Think it's just a ploy to sell you insurance. Why the wife likes buying land instead of opening yet another account at another bank. Better ROI anyway.

Thought there was plans for some type of peace agreement in the works, now or in the future. Why would the Thai gov't give these people anything, but a bullet in the head ... IMHO Guess peace is only one sided ...

One can only hope ... That would up the quality of expats ... or not. They'd have to ban the use of agents though, or it would be moot requirement. Those agent fees would go from 10-15-25k to 100-200k ROCK ON