nigelforbes

I agree. I'm sat at home with two air purifiers running and the pollution reading is very low. I bought an air purifier for the truck cab and it works well. I expect about six weeks of this, that's a small price to pay for the rest of the year.

And, air currents blow South, South West over the South China Sea, West over Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos and into Thailand. This means Vietnam gets clean air whilst Thailand picks up the residual effects of any burning in those three countries: https://www.windy.com/?16.387,103.363,6

We just returned from Hua Hin, back to Chiang Mai. The narrow strip of the coast feels mostly pollution free but looking down the coast the near distance soon disappears into a smoggy haze. The AQI numbers also confirm that the air is not exactly crystal, presumably it's air from Bangkok and Cambodia blowing across the gulf. The worst part is the journey there, we drove. Some areas worse than others but all mostly not good. For sure the air quality seems better than here so enjoy your stay away.

Oh I get it OK but it's clear you don't understand weather phenomena such as inversion layers and their effect on air quality. A dozen or so posts further back is an explanation, with pictures, read it and learn!

I think my first forum discussion with expats and westerners in Thailand on pollution was about twenty years ago, I'm struggling to see what has changed since then. The pollution levels have become much worse, that is certain. AQI reporting is now much more extensive, twenty years ago there was only 5, pollution measuring stations in the North, 4 fixed, one mobile. Public awareness and interest has increased substantially also, local burning bans are also enacted each year, in my amphur we're forbidden to burn anything from 14 February onwards....that's about four years old. There's also agreement that cross border airborne pollution is part of the equation, twenty years ago it was dismissed out of hand. The pace of change is very very very slow.

There might be an anecdotal clue by looking at what Brits do, do they use UK or Thai addresses when dealing with government? Overwhelming they use UK addresses, your poll seems to point towards Americans doing similar.

I read in the last week that circa 90% of all hotspots in Thailand were in National Parks or in protected areas. Burning in those areas is not suggestive of crop burning. A local "expert" in my area is adamant a majority of burning is done by rural dwellers trying to promote mushroom growth, he constantly posts picture on Chiang Mai Facebook to confirm his theory. Am unsure. I do know the inversion layer plays a much bigger role than most people realize but many won't hear of it, in their minds the problem is stupid farmers and corrupt and incompetent government, it's gets tiresome and boring listening to it after a while .

I agree completely, few others understand or realize the significance.

Let's deal with the easy one first. If you click on the attached link and spend no more than 5 minutes reading the contents, you'll better understand the currency manipulation issue which the link puts into perspective. In short, if Thailand is a currency manipulation, using the criteria the Federal Reserve Bank describes, so is Switzerland, Germany, Taiwan and a host of other countries. If you think Thailand's numbers don't add up, it's probably because you don't understand them, the attached Baht Thread may help that. https://www.cfr.org/article/tracking-currency-manipulation You wrote that you were in Pattaya on NYE 2021, at that time Thailand had recorded about 2 million cases which is about 3% of the (70 mill.) population. That is hardly every man and his dog. Late December 2021 was also a seasonal low point in the number of cases hence it's not very surprising that the hospitals were not exactly overloaded. The following link describes. https://covid19.who.int/region/searo/country/th After you've pondered those things, feel free to come back to me with any questions.

That's one million per depositor per bank. If you have ten accounts, all at different banks, you're covered for 10 million.

+1

The rules in Thailand have changed as a result of new Anti Money Laundering regulations that Thailand is obliged to enact unless it is viewed as a safe haven for illicit funds and all that entails. Subtle and some not so subtle changes have already taken place in the banking sector over the past 18/24 months which is why passports are now required to transact in branches and it's harder to open . Expect the trend to continue as the government over reacts.

UK and US banks act in the same way in regards to cash, multiple small deposits of cash that exceed the threshold are flagged. How they do this I don't know. Here's the UK Gov. info on this subject, the Thai system is very likely to be similar: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/money-laundering-understanding-risks-and-taking-action-for-money-service-businesses/understanding-risks-and-taking-action-for-money-service-businesses

BOT sets the rules. Banks and money changers are agents of BOT, empowered to enforce policy. All foreign currency exchanges are reported to BOT, the ID card or the passport identifies the customer. I do not know what controls BOT or the banks have in place to enforce this policy. But I do know it is enforced because I have been called by BOT to ask what I was doing with multiple funds transfers from overseas and what was the purpose. I doubt there will be an issue at say the 25k level but above that level I don't know. No, all forex transactions are not electronically interconnected throughout the country but for rate purposes, FOREX is.

The situation with cash here is similar to in the West where maximum limits exists, that also applies to cumulative smaller amounts which when combined, exceed the limit.

Anything over USD20k has to be declared to Customs when entering the country. If you didn't do that, there may be questions.

Yes, that's the up to date version, well done, that's a good find. 98 million accounts containing less than 50k Baht, the remainder, about 13 million, have balances over 50k. Broadly 88%.

There is no more surprise in these numbers today than there was the last time they were posted, half a dozen years ago when they said exactly the same thing.

But for the record, I lived in Beijing and Guangzhou during 1993/94, worked here between 1995 and 1996, lived in Hong Kong from handover in 1997 until 2002 when I retired and moved to Thailand. I was living in Bangkok when they were pounding the piles for the sky train on Sukhumvit, long before the new Thermae opened.

I've lived here full time since 2002 and part time since 1996. My wife has a tour guide license but hasn't worked in employment for six years, she currently runs her own business. She has never worked for the government. When I wrote, "provide some authoritative links from well know reputable sources to confirm the things you said", perhaps you didn't understand what authoritative sources means. I did not mean a quote from some hack who talks about "plenty of whispers". Even the link that you did provide still didn't confirm the things you said so please try again.

I agree, it is possible to cherry pick high quality investment grade bonds but only in the knowledge that they also are only debt and can fail.

My wife was paid, maybe she was the only person in Thailand, you think! As for the rest of it, provide some authoritative links from well know reputable sources to confirm the things you said, otherwise it's all just nonsense and hot air.

Think positive, it means the tourists will be better able to afford their hospital bills hence the economy will improve.

No GDP model shows Consumer Debt as a component. Consumer expenditure and Consumption are elements, Government (Public) Debt is an element, private debt is not.

True that cash is a depreciating asset currently but it is also a protected asset, unlike equities and bonds which are depreciating but not protected. And cash depreciates in line with the rate of inflation, equities can depreciate in the blink of an eye and be gone for ever.