realfunster

21 hours ago, webfact said:

This meeting was considered the beginning of an effort to further enhance the cooperation on mass media between the two countries.

That sounds concerning, given the propaganda style 'news' often seen in Russia.

I guess this is Putin's brave new world for Russia, a pivot to countries that were viewed as inconsequential a year ago and before he burned his bridges.......no pun intended in respect of the recent Crimean bridge "incident" 

10 hours ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

Thailand (and the rest of the world) could learn from Singapore...treatment for addicts...death for traffickers!

Typical, knee-jerk nonsense.

Hang ‘em, castrate ‘em, if I ever got my hands on ‘em.. etc, etc bla bla bla.

Reflects very poorly on you and those who liked your post, which was completely meaningless. Two thirds of countries globally have banned capital punishment entirely and most of those that do retain it only use it for crimes deserving of the punishment, such as murder. 

No civilized country employs such a model for drugs offenses…but great, you sounded off and got a few likes from the brain dead crowd.

Here is the group of countries you are joining in executing people …hope you feel a warm sense of pride…

The vaccines were purchased free of will by the Thai government, who should be the subject of your comments. The vaccines are also clearly identified as voluntary. 

I do worry that Thailand is actually slowing drifting towards becoming an economic basket case.

For the last 30 years, the main drivers of growth have been FDI and tourism. The FDI, owing to restrictions in the Foreign Business Act, is typically limited in certain sectors. During this time, to my knowledge, no major Thai companies have sprung up in these industries. 

The only area where Thai companies have done well is quasi-state monopolies or sectors where FDI has largely been excluded.

Think financials, telecoms, resources, real estate and retail sectors. All of these piggy backing off the wider GDP growth generated by FDI.

No major competition or innovation required, just milking a captive market with limited choices. 

It's hard to see what stimulus and opportunities there are for sustained future growth in Thailand, unless they liberalise the service sectors but that would be stepping on some pretty big toes.  

Hmm, not sure what basis he is making this assessment around a year-end return to pre- COVID levels.

From published figures on Thai GDP:

2020: - 6.2% 

2021: + 1.6% (one of the weakest ‘rebounds’ globally)

2022 forecast average : + 3.0%

My calculation makes that 98.2% of 2019 GDP by year-end, so a way to go yet…

12 minutes ago, Gweiloman said:

Which will also allow a lot of Thai produce to be easily and cheaply exported to China. 

Marvelous news !

Hopefully, we can soon start working on reducing the the trade deficit with China, obviously we just needed a new train line to sort this problem out !

20 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

Interesting how they point and name the printing company which is very unlikely responsible for the mess.

A Thai company would not be named due to the defamation laws.

DLR should try a defamation charge ????

Indeed, like many things here, the application of defamation laws are variable on circumstances and relative perceived authority of those involved.
 

Foreign  individuals/companies appear to be seen as fairer game for identification in general, and when the Thai government is involved, they can name pretty much whoever they like without fear of legal issues…. 

Another example of one rule for one..

9 hours ago, scorecard said:

"But he didn’t get to be a billionaire by being delusional."

 

Do some deeper research, he got handed a telecoms license by a scaly, ruthless, violent member of a past coup. Only one license issued, no bids etc.

 

All happened at a time when the Thai law was very specific - all telecoms operations have to be by the state.

 

He charged customers very high user rates, quickly he made a fortune. 

Indeed.

The same applies to many of the entrepreneurial/business “geniuses” in Thailand, who are in fact just part of the oligarchy machinery.

Pretty sure my dog could make a fortune running a monopoly (King Power) or a favorable government concession (AIS). There are numerous other examples…

It’s just a method to give a thin veneer of respectability and legitimacy to the oligarchy’s ongoing cash grab from the Thai populace. 

I see fare gouging and “unpleasantness” around that, as a bigger issue.

There was a great example in the last couple of weeks of a tuk tuk driver attempting to con some Singaporean tourists and then embarking on an impressive expletive ridden rant in English when challenged…

T w a t

Sorry I cant think of something more constructive to say..

20 hours ago, soi3eddie said:

The guy in the story should learn to make the best of the situation and stop whining. There are worse places to be "trapped".

I am sure he is doing fine. Extra few days in Thailand and cover story provided for his boss via media for the delayed return. Job done.

On 9/7/2022 at 7:26 PM, Muzzique said:

They offered to put me up in a  hotel but the thought of 4 days in Brussels left me nauseous. There is a big difference between Rio and Brussels. One is the azzhole of the world and the other is Rio.

Not a pleasant situation but a few days in Brussels is really not that bad…

You can also jump on a train for less than an hour and you are in Ghent or Bruges.

As a beer lover, I might be biased ????

Bulk purchasing is not really in the psyche of most Thais, it’s more of a day to day thing.

Many in Bangkok don’t have cooking facilities or freezers in their rooms, so eating out or buying take away it is…

What this a chap is doing is what many western families have been doing for decades. My old dear used to love taking advantage of sales at supermarkets and would  bulk cook a few things to put in the freezer for a few weeks until it was all eaten. 

Likely the future of food in Thailand will be different, with more people cooking at home as eating out becomes more of a luxury, than the norm. I have certainly observed a big increase in the microwave ready meals range at seven, for example, although Thais still like their fresh cooked food a lot more. 

7 hours ago, BKKTRAVELER said:

This man is clearly part of the problem then. Let's hope he never gets anywhere near being PM in the future.

 

There should be hefty fines and it should be fully enforced.

 

Then, people will start following the rules and we'll stop reading news about dads crying about their 14 years old daughters dying because being on phone while on their bikes... Or because no helmet, no seatbelt, DUI, speeding, ignoring traffic lights or whatever that is.

 

You can't have it all. Enforce strict traffic laws or keep having skyrocket high road death numbers.

I don’t know his views on road safety but the main objection he is making is around the potential for further corruption in the system as well as affordability of such fines for an average working Thai. The current proposal is around European levels. Perhaps they can look at more commensurate fine ranges for cars vs motorcycles.

This proposal reeks of the RTP shrugging their shoulders about road safety and simply asking government for higher fines just to incentivize their people to do their job. I don’t know why the RTP don’t install more speed/junction cameras, sure that would be a good earner for them with little effort, win-win.

We have seen with COVID, that Thais are fairly willing to adopt certain behaviours and develop a social norm on mask wearing etc, I don’t know why they don’t launch consistent and frequent media campaigns on road safety to make it socially unacceptable to do certain things on the roads…

As for the fourteen year old, unfortunately, I think we are dreaming if we think any of this is going to impact any time soon on the rural back roads, where quite simply there is no police presence and people have limited options on education and transport.

5 minutes ago, Sydebolle said:

but it is paid with taxpayers money so everybody chips into education funds as ultimately everybody benefits of an educated work force. 

That's at the heart of this and any socially funded schemes unfortunately. 

If you don't get the funds in the government coffers, then it's hard to support social projects.

In Thailand, many individuals and companies are operating either outside of the tax system or playing the tax system. It's a few years old now but I recall reading an article that only around 3 million people are paying income tax in Thailand. 

With some of the newly touted and implemented changes around weed and casinos, I wonder if the government are starting to feel the pinch and have decided that it's better the state should benefit from these things and not the black market. 

And I haven't even started on the corruption impact on public spending yet...

3 hours ago, wombat said:

Curious wants to know what the correlation between the Frogs and LOS is?

France is consistently one of the highest visitor countries, maybe even number one IIRC, so I guess they are comparing the relative recovery of two “heavyweights” on the global tourism scene. 

2 hours ago, Surasak said:

Am I correct in my thinking, there were severe floods in Bangkok, maybe 1992?

Something like that, maybe more around mid-90s. When I bought my house in late 2000's the owner regaled me with tales of the epic flood (I think he mentioned '95) being around 1m deep in my soi in relatively central Bangkok.

8 hours ago, webfact said:

Prof Seri said one is needed to be erected from Pattaya to Cha-Am. This would create a massive fresh water lake in the Gulf of Thailand changing industries and tourism for ever.

Hmm, I understand the distance between Cha-am and Pattaya, across the Gulf of Thailand, is 100km. Taking an educated punt that this would be the biggest and most expensive Thai infrastructure project ever, and by some margin.

Seems plausible. 
 

Even if they do build it, it’s just kicking the can down the road and they will still have to effectively control the water levels in “Lake Thailand”.

Based on previous experience, I can’t say I am particularly confident they can do that…
 

I also wonder if Prof Seri is on the board of any companies operating in a related business? ????????