Prubangboy

As a former Infrastructure policy specialist, I can assure you that your modest contribution via your bill to capital projects is very minimal. Pretending that your few modest fees, $22K in the bank, and local spending is even close paying your way here borders on the zany. You had a free ride when they semi-needed you here. But like artist types who one day wake up to find a dentist living in the loft next door, things change.

If you flush your toilet, you're using their infrastructure. Stop lights? That costs money. This is the usual pretending not to understand loser blather. Your whiny "not sure" gambit is the tip off that you know you're a freeloader. And I thank you for your late entry "I'm a big spender here and the Thai's owe me" obligatory AN post. While you may indeed be rocking your world in Roi Et, all expat remittances are not even a rounding error in an economy this size. Again, the fearless seer, Swissie, foretold this all long ago. Hopefully, he will pop in here with more painful truth.

Again, thanks for pointing this out. Real life examples with real life math are always light on the ground here.

It's a mean ol' world and the Con side is doing a very good job of winning, despite a huge demographic disadvantage. Respect. Someone told (Saint) Obama that he needed to talk tougher. Replied O: "Nah, what I needed was more votes".

Nah, people don't want to pay for non-nationals, in every place in the world. It's a human nature kind of thing. Just like Thai people don't want to pay for your share of infrastructure and government service usage. Yes, it's nice that you stuck $22K in a bank account (assuming you even did, and didn't use an agent). But what have you done for them lately?

That's on a $25K annual remittance as per the table in this thread. If it comes to pass. Many people here don't like that and are engaged in a war against arithmetic, I guess to go along with the war on Christmas. When you lived in the UK, were you happy to see Non-Doms taxed? Did you, like most people there, want them taxed even more? Well, welcome to shoe on the other foot-land. Swissie, one of our deepest thinkers, had a good thread called "The Doors Are Slamming Shut". He meant on low income retiree's options world-wide. Poor places will def be looking to expats to pay up,

Controlling Laos is like inheriting a broken clock. China will have trouble getting paid back on their various schemes. Who isn't in default is the real question.

Not to derail a good convo, but I was a government analyst. This flavor is heavily big government/moderate left of center. Not a single conservative was in my grad school policy analysis program. They have no interest. They have no actionable policies. Reality and problem-solving has a liberal bias. Hillary -the laser-focused super-wonk, is our sexual fantasy. The deep state is real. Fear us.

Super low entertainment/interest/info/social skills poster. BigNok, is that you?

It's not potentially illegal, it's totally illegal to hide income. It def works and many people do it. Including me for 8 years in savvier UK. You're mad at white guys on general and you think anyone who lives in Chiang Mai is broke. I'd say a wake and bake would chill you out. Me? Just smoked a bowl, thanks. Off to the gym.

As long as I'm here (as a mere white guy, not a very special white guy), let me offer a tax evasion tip. Get a Schwab ATM account in a diff name. Take withdrawals from it. Very hard to trace that income received back to you. I did this for years in England.

This is not my experience. My wife had an implant done last year in NC for $7K. In Chiang Mai, $2,800.

I'm not complaining about anything. You are having imaginary arguments inside your head. I hope at least you are triumphant in them. I am a rare "white guy" (like that's a sin) who has residency permission in Laos. Crazy communism and Chinese vassal state status makes that an iffy proposition. That saddo in this thread sobbing about his lack of "rights" here should never think about living in a SEA autocratic place. They just opened a Bangkok Hospital in Vientiane. And yes, it's expensive due to the tiny and captive "white guy" market. It's Bangkok prices in $3 a day-land. Some pasty-faced fellow transplant is dissing me as a white guy. Excuse me while I fall down laughing.

-Truly, could you possibly be any vaguer? I agree with your broad point that medical tourism prices are def shooting up (as are costs in the west). We had major surgery (not merely general surgery) in Mexico. That was indeed about 30% off US prices. But again, we could get it done. In the States, that would have been months of fighting with the insurer and then getting nickled and dimed as to what they'd cover and how much.

Hey, imagine away. Vietnam has shown no interest (and much reluctance) to host retirees. Waiting for Cambodia to "build up their infrastructure" will def exceed your lifetime.

Even at Bumrungrad, it's at least half off of US costs. Plus: I can stroll into Chiang Mai Ram Hospital any day of the week and get seen. In the states, I'd typically wait a month for even a routine appointment. -Which brings me full circle to my very obvious point that has many a passive aggressive loser posting confused yellow faces and unconvincingly feigning confusion: -Living in Thailand is a super-deal. If they want some chump change from me for using their roads and sewage system, that's fine with me. If I'm a very low income retiree and that small amount will cause me some discomfort, that's on me, not Thailand. When I factor in my savings of state income tax, decreased medical insurance/costs, and not having to run a car; those savings cover all of my expenses, plus about $50 a day to spend. I am literally being paid to stay out of America. I am happy to take that deal.

My experience is very diff. Blood test in NC, USA =$250. In Chiang Mai = $42. What med stuff have you encountered that's only 30% discounted? Even botox is 50% off.

Ask any Kurd that you happen to meet about trusting America. We (means the entire west) only have your back if it's easy and cheap. This is why Taiwan is well-weaponized. And yet, even after Obama (who I love) reneged in a hurry on the Syrian Line In The Sand, poor countries all over the world still believe in America -with one eye kept open while they sleep. When there is no other game in town, an iffy one doesn't look too bad, European people begrudge even having the Ukranians as refugees. Taking money away from their broken budgets or giving up their lives for them? Def a hard sell. And Putin knows it.

Not too many living people remember WW2. I'm a left of center Biden liberal. As to rolling over for a megalomaniac, you may have noticed that we yanks are about 50/50 on doing that next year. Europe has its own rightward pro-Russian shift to worry about. Bottom line: If Putin grabs Latvia, do you want your son to go and fight in that war? Prob not. Shortest possible version: Putin is a very credible threat to use nukes. And that puts us on the back foot and makes us fight with one hand behind our back. I don't like it either.

Nimman is a big draw for Asian tourists and a second entertainment district.

You have def raised an important point about low-spending retiree's here. If your income is a grand a month, and say, $80 of that is now taken off the top, that's def a whack. It's a fluke of the tax code that you have to pay it and more affluent me does not, due to my tax credit. Back home, where 99% of retirees live, having no tax below $25K is a godsend. But no tax paid there means no tax credit to apply here. I have a lot of sympathy for people in your boat. What do you want the Thai's to do?

Who is this "we" you speak of? I am assuming that you, like me, are well, well past draft-age. Europe is broke. And up to their neck in migrants. They will bend over very backwards to split the diff and not fight. Like they did with Crimea. Like Obama did when he retreated from his line in the sand in Syria. It'll be a death by a thousand cuts for Europe, not a dramatic conventional war. If only there was a film about a superpower direct throw down to get the pulse racing. Wait a minute:

They don't love Russia, but a big fellow commie nation right next door being taken down is not in their interest. China's influence in the war has already raised their status. Would China mind if that neighbor was weakened? Sure. As long as we're comically pretending to be geopolitical experts, China's watching how Russia gets sorted out with an eye up the road to Taiwan. If it's a bankrupting slog to only get part of Taiwan, it's a no-go. If Russia can bluff and exhaust its way to getting what they want with no downside for the war, it's more of a go. It's a big bluff poker game. Putin maybe not be rolling tanks through the Arc De Triumph any time soon, but will French youth be willing to dodge bullets to defend Estonia? No. Likewise America's real desire to fight to defend Taiwan is an idea best left untested. I derive these opinions from reading The Economist.

It's not your back yard. Europe will set its pants on fire to avoid a land war. No appetite among brit youth to fight a Great War, partic one where nukes are a real possibility, despite your bland assurances. And China can not let an ally just get trounced. They're in the same quandary as us: how to de-escalate and manage a hot war with a crazy government.

Russia will ultimately win against Ukraine just by hanging on and not outright losing. They have more bodies and money. The USA consults with China before giving Ukraine new weapons. Because China is afraid of Russia using a tactical nuke if they start actually, noticably losing. Russia has a lot of problems, but also a lot of leverage. I wish it were otherwise, but long term, I'd bet on a negotiated settlement that is advantageous to Russia. If Trump gets back in, then it's Russia for the win, sometime in mid-'24.