jaywalker2

So now it's only 2 1/2 times the cost in its home country instead of 3 times. Great. That's why we have so many posts on this forum that go something like, "What's the cheapest wine I can buy without throwing up."

Because when deciding where to live the cost of living is a major consideration

VAT is a regressive tax -- it favors the wealthy. So you lower the tax on the rich to 15 percent and to pay for it you raise the VAT, which hurts the poor and middle class the most since they have to spend most of their income to live. This is a blatant play by the rich and corporations to steal even more of the economic wealth of the country. And don't bother trying to say it will stimulate economic growth. This has already been tried in other countries (like the US) and they're all drowning in debt.

Well, he's not a doctor anymore. He lost his license to practice. https://torontosun.com/news/local-news/mandel-ontario-doc-loses-licence-for-anti-vaxx-disinformation

That explains Joe Rogan, I guess

An interesting tidbit is that the Cochrane Review that was used to disparage the use of masks had ties to the notorious Brownstone Institue, the ultra-conservative libertarian "think tank" that has devoted itself to attacking all government measures to mitigate the pandemic (Jay Bhattacharya, Trump's choice to head the NIH is one of its writers): "Readers will recall that Brownstone’s Tom Jefferson was First Author for John Conly’s now discredited anti-masking study at the Cochrane Institute (actual scholarship here), and that Brownstone’s Carl Heneghan was functionally an Unlisted Author, though he didn’t list himself in credits. Neither disclosed their Brownstone affiliation. All this violated Cochrane’s famously strict standards, although when Cochrane Library editors “engaged” with the authors while writing their “Statement,” these matters never came up. Suffice to say I don’t have a great deal of confidence in how Brownstone, or its authors, do business." https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2024/12/jay-bhattacharya-trumps-pick-to-head-the-nih-is-a-eugenicist-charlatan.html

If they're work correctly and consistently, it appears masks are effective in reducing transmission of respitory diseases, including Covid 19 https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/cmr.00124-23

Sorry, never even heard of them

It did bring back a lot of memories though. Beatlemania is something that's never going to be duplicated.

Just finished The Count of Monte-Christo, a French remake of the famous Dumas novel. It's quite well done, great acting all around, particularly by the actor playing Edmond Dante. At almost 3 hours, it's quite long but never gets boring. I got it at TGX and it was a fairly fast download.

What's interesting to me about Trump's Cabinet choices is the lack of any sort of ideological consistency. Trump is well known for his support of traditional Christian values (appointing some of the most conservative Supreme Court justices in years) and his attacks on "woke" ideologies. His attacks on transgenders have been particularly notable. His selections for Cabinet posts haven't necessarily reflected this conservative ideology. Scott Bessent is an example of this. To the Maga community, Soros is the devil incarnate so to have one of his acolytes as Treasury Secretary is intolerable. Bessent also was a big donor to the Democrats before he swtiched his loyalty to Trump. Plus, he has been an open advocate for gay rights, which is likely to inflame the Christian right supporters. RFK Jr himself ran on a platform of traditional Democratic principles, which he felt the party had deviated from in recent years. His surgeon general choice was a strong supporter of the Covid 19 vaccine, which has the anti-vax crowd on Twitter up in arms. His Transportation Secretary is a union supporter. Trump cares less about ideology than he does about personal loyalty. His first cabinet was stacked with billionaires and that appears to be the case with his second Cabinet as well. Despite his campaign rhetoric, he is completely comfortable with the current social regime dominated by financial elites. Loyalists, elites, and Fox news celebrities. That's the Trump Cabinet.

Treasury Secretary candidate Scott Bessant is the founder of the macro hedge fund Key Square Capital Management. Bessent was once the top money manager for George Soros. Another top pick from the world financial elite. He's actually a gay gobalist (he'll be the first overtly gay Cabinet member if approved) and was a big donor to the Al Gore campaign.Look for him to try to mitigate Trump's pledge on tariffs. Commerce Secretary? Billionaire Howard Lutnik, the chief executive officer of Cantor Fitzgerald, another big global financial firm. Drain that swamp, baby. These guys will working their butts off for the working people, I'm sure. Surgeon General? Janette Nesheiwat, whose main claim to fame seems to be that she's a frequent contributor to Fox News, which is where Trump seems to be getting his a lot of his Cabinet ideas. She was also a big advocate for the vaccines, anti-vax lovers. When it comes to hawking supplements, of course, no one beats Dr. Oz, who's created a $100 million empire promoting dubious supplements and fake cures like homeopathy, psychic medicine, conversion therapy, green coffee extract for weight loss. He will now be in charge of the Medicare and Medicaide programs. He'll probably cut funding and tell the elderly to buy his supplements. Surprise pick? Lori Chavez-DeRemer, a former Republican house member from Oregan and big union supporter. The Teamsters have even approved of her.

So basically you would be shacking up with a human sex trafficker. Is that right?

The zeitgeist is certainly changing. Where it's headed is anybody guess

His father, Fred Trump, was a rich real estate developer and Donald inherited a huge amount of money -- how much is in dispute. Some have put the figure at $450 million but Trump has claimed that number is way too high. Whatever the case, he's not a self-made man. He was helping run his father's real estate business when the DOJ sued them for refusing to rent to black applicants.

Trump said during his first term that he tried to get rid of carried interest but "they" wouln't let him do it, thus admitting he's working for someone else.

That doesn't mean they do it. I didn't do it for the first 14 years I was here.

Yeah, like the Burmese and Cambodians run down to immigration and report every 90 days. Or maybe they do it online with their laptops, huh?

No need to have this cumbersome system. In Japan, you are issued an alien registration card, which you carry as identification. You only have to report when you change your address or other major life events and reporting can be done at your local district office. Usually, no waiting at all. Once I was late reporting something. No fine. I just had to write a letter of apology. Japan had a strong bias against foreigners but it's immigration system was very humane.

Actually, I discovered that there are numerous online notaries now that are accepted in most states in the US including Florida. You do a video conference with a notary, upload your identification papers, fill in the forms online, and you'll get the documents returned in a pdf via email with the notarization seal. The going rate seems to be $25 for the first seal, $10 each for any others and $10 or $15 per witness when needed. A real estate attorney might also be able to provide the same service in case you're using one. The embassy, by the way, is practically useless. You need a month lead time, $50 per seal, you've got to find your own witnesses and they each have to have their own appointments. Thanks US government.

I don't think all Thais are poor and never said that. But prices in most markets these days tend to be driven by the high end segment, which is why housing has become unaffordable for ordinary middle-class people in most major markets. Real estate markets are notorious for boom/bust cycles. Just the other day a major developer clearly said that they were targetting the luxury market because most Thais were too indebted to afford buying a house and the lower end of the market was stagnating. As an aside, Trump declared bankruptcy with his companies six times. In fact, he said it was a smart business decision because you get to wipe out your debts. Many developers end up in bankruptcy at one point or another. And if the market is doing so well here, why the desperatioin to change the laws? When Srettha first tried to change the ownership structure to 99 year leases and 100 percent foreign ownership for condos, he gave as his reason the need to attract more foreign buyers. I don't even know why this would be controversial it's so obvious.

Housing is not a like a watch, so the comparison is moot, and to compare Bangkok to New York is ridiculous. The market is completewly different These condo projects force up land prices, which in turn forces up rents. Housing is a need, it's not optional. Even a 35 sqm condo downtown is renting for 25, 30,000 baht and how many Thais do you think can afford that. Vendors get forced back to the provinces and your middle class Thais get forced further away from the center and their jobs. Sure, there's the BTS and MRT (both expensive vis a vis Thai salaries) but people used to be able to live close to where they work There used to be communities. Not anymore. Maybe you've forgotten that the area around Lumpini, Chidlom, Ploenchit, Witthayu and lower Sukhumvit was once a thriving cultural area, replete with streeet food, vendors, affordable housing and entertainment options. Even places like Udomsuk now rent rabbit hutches for 20,000 as ordinary workers are forcesd out of the city. Look at One Bangkok. Is another megamall downtown wiith attached luxury condos that only the rich can afford what's really needed? The government has been trying to force out people living on public land in places Bon Kai and Makasan for years and eventually they'll succeed and we'll have more luxury condos in buildings that are only a quarter full bought with laundered Chinese and Russian money. And now the government is urgently considering measures to solve the traffic problem. Well, hey, maybe if you had affordable housing close to where people work and didn't swallow up the land with malls and luxury condos the traffic problem wouldn't be as bad and the city wouldn't feel increasingly sterile. Salaries in New York and London dwarf those of Bangkok, where the minimum wage is still around $10 a day. You can't even buy a burger in New York for $10. Even so, housing in major US and Canadian cities has become unaffordable for ordinary workers. No wonder so maany people still live at home and refuse to get married and start a family. Then everybody moans about the coming depopulation crisis. Yeah, well who caused that?

I've been watching outerbanks, a teen drama about class warfare in North Carolina, treasure hunting, teen love, the importance of family, and all sorts of other things. A completely unbelievable plot, but fast paced and there's something about it that's got me hooked even though I keep telling myself I'm going to stop watching. I'm on season 4 now. Available in the usual places.

This is bull crap. The problem is that developers have put up a huge number of ridiculously expensive condos and now can't unload them. Look at Sinhorn Lumpini. A 2-bedroom condo goes for 180,000 baht a month. How about buying a condo at The Embassy on Wireless Road? That will only set you back over 8 mllion for a 35 sqm. condo. Too small? Don't worry, upgrade to 46 sqm for just 14 million. It's scandalous what they're been allowed to do. And since Thais can't afford them, you have to change the law to attract those "rich" Chinese who have already lost a bundle in the real estate crash over there. Another problem is that these luxury developments drive up prices all through the food chain. I get pissed off just thinking about it.