nigelforbes

I second that. And as far as the Thai airways stock value inside LTF funds being restored, don't hold your breath.

Nobody thought the Fed was done raising rates but many did think they knew what the terminal rate would be. Tbh they could easily have been right, the difference is only half a percent.

You can only buy on the secondary market and you need a boker or a ban intermediary

To add: exports are about 70% (which is goods and services) and international tourism (which is an export service) is 12% of that. I'm trying to write a piece currently that explains how GDP is structured and compiled because few people seem to understand. I'll post it after my holiday.

Because international tourism is classified as an export within gdp. What he's saying is that the export of tourism services should componsate for the downturn in the export of goods, but only if 20 mill. Or more. Exports are exports, be they goods or services.

I appreciate it is a prologue and that the meat is yet to come. I had hoped to draw attention to it by means of my post on the off chance a meaningful debate might follow. I remain unsure however that his comparative analysis is equal or where the source of the investment to pay for the change comes from either. Being a lone wolf, howling in the wilderness, won'take any plan he comes up with, executable, that aspect needs a solution first.

If, not when, and the likelihood of them doing so is remote.

The exports part is correct but the rest of it is nonsense https://tradingeconomics.com/australia/exports-by- country As for why AUD "collapsed"....it's a USD story, just as it has been with every other currency last year, it's got sod all to do with China, Ukraine, Taiwan or the number of penguins in Antarctica. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-10/asx-australian-dollar-wall-street-us-rate-hike-recession/101517662

I haven't read it all but it looks like the OP is getting some useable information, I live in the North so I can't really help that much with Bangkok. What I will say however, since I've lived here for over 20 years and I've lived in San Ysidro near the Mexican border, is that you don't need to worry about good and bad areas here in the same way that you do in Mexico. There aren't really any bad areas, a poor area doesn't mean an unsafe area and attacks or crime against Westerners are rare. Your biggest threat is getting ripped off without you knowing you've paid too much, you're just going have to be careful, many of us have been there at some point.

Touche, written on the fly.

You need to smoke smoking so much, you've ceased to be able to understand posts!

Big C Extra food Court, Khao Man Gai, 50 baht, water free.

More questions: What visa do you have? Here for work, play, school, travel? If you have one, what's your monthly budget? Do you speak Thai? Single or accompanied? How long do you plan to stay? Public transportation or private? Entertainment at night how often, to do what/where? Are you an upmarket, mid market, or happy with down market person?

Do you even know what you wrote because I have no idea what you said!

How do you want to live, like a Thai or like a Westerner? What is your lifestyle, bars and girls or a good book? Do you eat Western food all the time or are you happy with rice? Sketch us a picture and we can answer your question better.

I don't believe it will ever happen.

Technically! Illegal is black or white, either it is or it isn't.

"You can doubt all you want. It's just a sign that new information doesn't sit well with you if it conflicts with your POV". Personally, based on the things you've written, I would attribute that to your naivety and lack of understanding how things in the real world work here. Talking about being pulled off the street and executed by the police, I do know somebody who was pulled off the street, chained to a bed and held for millions of Baht ransom, by the BiB, Lumpini station. The man in question was tracked by his cell phone signal and rescued by the Thai swat team about a week later. The man in question, an American, was an investor in oil and restaurants. Other more seasoned posters may remember the incident, I guess 8 or 10 years ago, unsure.

Please tell me you don't think that the 100 bill. is nothing more than a feed mechanism for brown paper envelopes and that the purpose of FDI is solely to enrich the elite!

In his column in the Post this week, Chartchai compares three economies and their growth in per capita income, beginning as poor underdeveloped nations in 1960. The countries are South Korea, Malaysia and Thailand. Over the next 62 years, Korean per-capita income multiplied 213 times, Malaysia’s 54 times and Thailand’s 73 times, Malaysia started the race 2.4 times higher than Thailand and Korea’s was 0.5 times higher, so not exactly an even start but we’ll overlook that. Chartchai’s view, and he’s an extremely talented economist and writer, is that Thailand’s growth rates are far too low and that producers have been unable to increase their prices to their required level and produce higher value added outputs. This inability to increase prices means the employer can’t increase employee wages so over time their standard of living falls. I think this is probably true but it doesn’t paint the entire picture. I think Chartchai has overlooked some important points. The first is that development of the Korean economy was and still is, strongly aided by the US, even their education system is modelled after the US and its standards and quality are very high. Malaysia has also had external assistance in establishing its infrastructure and educational and medical environment, firstly from the British, latterly from Singapore. I think there is little doubt that outside assistance has created an uneven playing field in Chartchai’s comparison. The other point I think he overlooks is the means to add value to products and the need to introduce quality as an important criteria, exactly where that inventiveness will come from is unclear because much of it is dependent on learning and the education system. As far as I can tell, his focus is mostly on closing the income per capita gap and not on the means for doing that by creating high quality, value added products that are competitive in the marketplace. A focus of higher prices alone is not enough. For that to happen, the country needs higher education standards, to move away from wrote learning and to improve its system of learning, several times over. After all, Chartchai earned his Phd from the University of Texas so he’s well ahead of his many of his peers, he surely must see the problem so it's curious he doesn't mention it. Knowing the solution is not enough, first of all you have to acknowledge that there is a problem to be solved and that requires education and experience. I highly recommend reading Chartchai’s column, it’s very good.

This is money that is injected into new or existing businesses in Thailand, businesses that pay the wages of the Thai staff it is required by law to employ. The money funds existing and future business operations, it pays for ingredients, material, supplies and products that help produce the final product which is the sold or exported and sold. Either way, it's money that helps improve GDP and helps keeps Thai's employed. So yes, it is the commoners.

Any American who starts a business here under Treaty of Amity rules will be listed, as long as they used foreign capital. Those 14 US companies that are mentioned might be restaurants of other small businesses or similar or indeed maybe just collateral. But THB 100 bill. is only USD 3 bill., the economy needs more than 8, preferably closer to 12, to maintain the status quo. https://tradingeconomics.com/thailand/foreign-direct-investment

I agree with the OP, it's important news. When H5N1 can jump from birds to humans, the next step is a very small one, human to human transmission. When that happens, watch out.

You say that you are, "quite aware of how the laws and Thai system work" and that you have, "been coming to Thailand on and off for over 20 years and have lived here almost 10". Great, get on with it, you don't need any input from anyone here, you already know everything! Goodbye and good luck.

Good for you. I've lived here for 21 years and have been a regular visitor for business and pleasure since the late 1980's. I also speak regularly with blah blah blah. So? Listen, if you want to disregard my observations, do so, but don't fight with me and try to convince me that I haven't experienced the things I have.