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Solosiam
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Posts posted by Solosiam
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Well I often wonder about that magic 60 to 70 percent of GDP number. Everyone quotes it, from Bloomberg to the BOI to the BOT. I have reviewed the GDP calculations and found what appears to be a disparity there. The only answer that came to me was that they are using net exports to calculate the 60% of GDP. Perhaps they have a way of backing out imports that are exported again as finished goods and eliminating them from the net export calculations.
I want to believe that BOT, CIA Factbook, BOI, Bloomberg are all wrong. That exports are only say 10% of GDP when netted out. That would mean Thailand is not an export based economy and the baht has little to no effect on the business health of the country. That shrinking exports are irrelevant and can be compensated for with a single highway or one or two Japanese factories. Somehow though, that does not ring true.
Old Man River, you might be right about selling in USD but what does that matter. My books are in Thai baht, I buy in Thai baht, I invoice in dollars but the amount that is transferred is immediately converted into Thai baht when arriving. So I can ship less goods and actually increase the invoice amount when billing in US dollars. By adding currency exchange into the equation, no matter what currency, it obscures the actual measure of goods and services. The only way to know actual volumes of exports is to measure it in home currency.
For clarity, lets take it to an extreme. If I make a widget at $1 and sell it to the US, and next year, because my currency has appreciated 1,000,000 percent (lets say war time germany or zimbabwe currently) and that widget cost $1,000,000. Did my GDP grow if I sold one widget again this year? The only answer is no, GDP did not grow but it is growing in US dollar terms. Now if this were a US denominated country such as Cambodia is, then I might be able to learn something from those numbers. However, in Thailand, its the baht baht baht.
We keep going over this on this thread. It would be easy to swallow the government line, I am sure they would like us to. I think we need to look harder at the data and see if our beloved junta is not propagandizing anything and I see no good reason to confuse our export numbers with a foriegn currency factor of any account. Maybe someone here might know a good reason to do so. As far as I know, the US might be slightly larger than Japan as a trading partner but still is well under half the export market.
They may not be using the US dollar to confuse the issue, but I dont think we should so blindly accept the data without reviewing it ourselves. Again, I think they should measure GDP in Zimbabwe dollars so we can all be happy.
I believe that the measurement used in these circumstances is a CONSTANT DOLLAR calculation, that is inflation etc... are not used in calculating change from a previous year.
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Exports account for a fairly small percentage of GDP, I don't see why people are so focussed on exports whilst talking about GDP.The Thai economy is export-dependent, with exports of goods and services accounting for 68.6% of GDP in 2006.
state.gov
As usual, solosiam shows his ignorance once again!
I quoted the textbook standard DEFINITION of GDP, go and look it up anywhere and that is the formula.
It was defined by the EU, IMF, World Bank and United Nations amongst others.
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Yes but nowhere near as many people would be buying properties (and hence engaging lawyers) for a 30 year lease!
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err...
Thats not how it is calculated, GDP consideration for exports is a NET amount, i.e you take imports off of the impact of exports when accounting for the effect on GDP.
The formulae for GDP is this.
Personal Consumption:
-- Durable goods (items expected to last more than three years)
-- Nondurable goods (food and clothing)
-- Services
Government Expenditures:
-- Defense
-- Roads
-- Schools
Investment Spending:
-- Nonresidential (spending on plants and equipment), Residential (single-family and multi-family homes)
-- Business inventories
Net Exports:
-- Exports are added to GDP
-- Imports are deducted from GDP
simplified it is; GDP = Consumption + Government Expenditures + Investment +Exports - Imports
For clarification the GDP growth that Thailand is talking about is in CONSTANT DOLLAR terms, the exchange rate and inflation differences are irrelevant.
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Down in Chalong Pier, its business as usual - all the bars and restaurants are open.
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The way I would purchase a 30+30+30 lease is by doing my best to determine the risk that I would not be able to execute the renewal options, learn everything I could about how to minimize the risk and then bid on the property accordingly and that is what I advise my clients.
I can tell you feel really strongly about this. What do you suggest as a better option?
Has a 30 year lease EVER been renewed yet?
The land office will tell you categorically that you can only have a lease for 30 years, that is the law - a bit of paper saying that in fact the two parties have decided that they can circumnavigate Thai law doesn't really stand up IMO.
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Exports account for a fairly small percentage of GDP, I don't see why people are so focussed on exports whilst talking about GDP.
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I've always had an issue with the lack of accountability here in LOS. The roots of the problem may lay within the structure of the education system, culture, or any variety of factors... an analysis of that, however, is not the purpose of this post.
I'm posting because I'm a bit ticked about the lack of accountability in a particular situation that has occurred over the past few months:
Long story short - I like cars. I have many and I particularly like SAABs. I found myself a 3-door classic and decided to restore it to day 1 condition.
Restoration involved copying the bodykit also to fit a 4-door classic that i have as well. For this job, I went to a particular guy who has previously added a 100K body kit and re-spray on another of my SAABs.
He recommended his brother's paint shop (which was used in the first restoration) and I agreed. The copies of the kits came out ok, and with some fitting, they worked out. The guy does these cars for me more as a favor and as a side-job for him because he likes SAABs as well. He can copy Honda Civic parts all day long and put em on cars in 1 hour for a 10K profit 100x before he can get a SAAB right, it's just that tough. But he accepeted the job.
After some time, 4 months or so, I get both of my cars back, one with the copied bodykit. There were things wrong and he accepts full responsibility and fixes to his best ability.
My main car came back from the paint shop (full body re-spray from red to black, aka change of color). It was terrible. Red shows (which means they didn't sand to the metal, and just sprayed over), and it just looks awful.
I call up my guy and he knows it's bad, because when he dropped it off he noticed some problems, but upon more intense inspection I found it just to be heinous.
Meanwhile, lots of other details and problems with the leather restoration, etc.
In the end, I tell my guy that I'm not paying for the re-spray. (they also cracked my windshield top to bottom when painting, 20k baht from SAAB). He says he understands and says that I should talk to the painter himself to sort it out. The painter calls me, angry while I'm being perfectly polite, and in the end he basically said, "if you're not going to pay, why should i come see it." ( I had requested to have him come see the car so I could point out to him how bad it really was, although my mechanic at SAAB said there is no way the guy would come because he already knows how bad the job is).
My response to the "why should i come see it?" was that he needs to come see the car so he can avoid doing a shitty job in the future for other customers-to-be. If it was him, or another worker in the shop, somebody needs to be held accountable for the mistakes. It doesn't have anything to do with the money, it's the concept of responsibility and accountability of a shop owner to know exactly what is wrong and how it should be fixed so as to not to be a continuing problem.
That conversation was going nowhere, so he just hung up and I called my guy that was over-seeing my restoration. He accepted that he was accountable for the job indirectly by sending my car to the particular paint shop (his cousin's). This guy is a completely stand-up guy and offered to return my money for all that I had done (new body kit, new leather seats, respray, broken window, etc.). Essentially, I would pay nothing. (Actually, he didn't offer to return my money per se, because I haven't paid it yet, but he accepted my non-payment because nothing came out as I ordered it). It was a shame that he was caught in the middle of the bad paint shop guy who had no accountability whatsoever and the customer (me). However, I was impressed at how much of a stand-up guy he was. Very very very very few people in Thailand would do what he did, essentially not charging me for over 100k worth of work.
The problem is, that here in LOS, the stand-up guys are very few and far between, ESPECIALLY in the car business. Almost all of the time, once they've taken your money, that's it. Any problems and they pretend as if they don't even know you. The lack of accountability goes way deeper and spreads far and wide throughout the country, from food services to travel services.... I've had so many situations where "i don't know" was the only answer somebody could give me for a problem. That doesn't cut it for a country which is trying to progress out of the Third World.
Long post, I'm sorry. Just peeved and wanted to get it off my chest.... but lack of accountability is a very real problem in Thailand, and it needs to be addressed before Thailand is to become a true World City.
Its because they are driven out of business by paying for others mistakes, obviously you didn't let him pay 100k out of his own pocket for trying his very best to help you, right?
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Thaivisa's getting to be quite a weird place nowadays, Seems to be getting filled with the Tinfoil hat brigade.
..says a member who's here for 1 month...
LaoPo
Not that it makes much difference, but 3 years actually, just recently created a new login as I couldn't work out how to change my name.
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Title is misleading in the title but not in the article.
Isn't this just an advert?
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Not sure I understand, the international arrivals terminal is not a different country, did you leave Thai airspace or something. Is there a piece of the story missing?
Else its a bit of a non-story really.
"I got on a plane and then a bus, the bus driver made a mistake and then someone fixed it"
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What does Vietnam offer that Thailand doesn't?
War history, communism and people who are a little bit different, but don't smile too much. Don't think Thailand has too much to worry about.
Persoally I don't know anyone who has been to Vietnam twice, whilst at the same time don't know anyone who has only visited one time in Thailand.
Sounds like you don't know too many people. I know many of both types that you "personally don't know."
lol, yes that's why Vietnam is 20 years behind Thailand in terms of tourism, no? and why we are all posting on a Vietnamese website, oh wait...
lets face it when most people think of Vietnam they think of war, I'm sure that will change much later on, but just don't know what it can offer that Thailand cannot.
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i am getting a laugh at reading these topics. every single topic starts "i want to open X business in Thailand" and every response tells them that only an idiot would do such a thing, that thais are going to rob them blind, that they will have to pay off corrupt police and mafia figures.
i just have one question, if it is impossible to open a successful business in thailand, how come everywhere i go i see people in business? lets put on our red thinking caps now....
Quite simply, those people have not yet lost all the money they started with. Please note the "not yet".
Or, they have other income sources sufficient to cover both their living expenses and their business current losses.
Actually I run a quite successful business here, as my only income - It's not making money as a business yet but I'm quite well paid and we are aggressively expanding. I know many people who are making some very good money here, even a couple of bar owners... But it's always people who have been here for a while and didn't jump into anything.
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One wonders if they can ever run out of ways to shoot themselves in the foot. It seem infinite...
Who?
The Korean criminals?
Samsung?
AIS or whoever?
South Korea's turning into one of the most corporately corrupt places in the world, where they let off criminals because they are "too important to the economy".
Thaivisa's getting to be quite a weird place nowadays, Seems to be getting filled with the Tinfoil hat brigade.
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What does Vietnam offer that Thailand doesn't?
War history, communism and people who are a little bit different, but don't smile too much. Don't think Thailand has too much to worry about.
Persoally I don't know anyone who has been to Vietnam twice, whilst at the same time don't know anyone who has only visited one time in Thailand.
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Her yelling and the bouncers +pointing to me was what freaked me out.
if the customer doesnt pay for the order , then the cost will come out of the waitresses wages , same goes for mistakes with change. many businesses here operate like that.
(i was in a bangkok bar called gullivers with some friends recently , and a waiter came over to me with an order slip from a month previously when i had had a snack there whilst sitting with the same friends , the waiter said i hadnt paid for the food and it had been deducted from his wages , i had actually paid for it by leaving money with my friends who stayed on after i left.
we spoke to the management and asked to see the till receipt from that day , but they were unwilling to produce them , needless to say we didnt pay again.)
So how do you know that your friends actually paid for it?
Sorry, but it doesn't seem like a scam to me.
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Of course it's possible, the problem is with people who wouldn't dream of opening a business in their own country, coming here and thinking it's going to be a breeze, or opening a business for all the wrong reasons (an excuse to stay here).
If you have good experience of Thailand (say 1-2 years min), a good idea, a business plan, money to bide over whilst the business grows and trustworthy partners - there is no reason that you can't start a very successful business.
Problem is when you don't have any/all of the above.
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Which bank are you going to borrow 7 million baht from?
Sounds like a really bad idea to me, why not just take a year off and come and tour around.
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This would probably be at least the same ratio as in just about any other country in the world.
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Depends wherabouts in Thailand you are, Phuket will be the highest wage.
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Whats the point in having a Pitbull?
Seriously, why would you choose this breed over any other - they are bred solely for their aggression and fighting ability. I just don't get why anyone would choose this over a normal dog.
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projector.co.th
Although it looks like you will be paying around 90,000 baht for the projector here, better to fly to HK and pick one up for less than half that, they are 42,000 baht in Hong Kong.
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I attended a childrens birthday party at the Movenpick resort in Karon just yesterday. Very nice hotel with some great childcare facilities etc... I was pretty impressed.
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At least it's good to see your pro-Thai
1. why are you talking about fleeing the country ?
It's about TOP executives from a very large Multinational, not criminals.2. "false business promises" was the phrase everybody talked about, wasn't it ?
3. Bail doesn't mean anything; it's the interpretation of the Thai Police/Justice.
4. I would like to see from WHOM the "over 1,000 complaints filed" are coming from. Any details ?
5. Millions of Dollars: any details ?
We're following 'news', printed by the press who's making a big deal about it but so far we actually don't know anything by facts.
Your quote: "apart from this I don't see how it would be any different." Really ?
So, you think the Police/Justice would arrest Thai TOP executives after Farang companies file complaints of 'false business promises' ?
How naive.
If I'm wrong, read my signature
Laopo
It was a Korean newspaper which printed most of the information I read about the case.
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/natio...9/123_9817.html
Here they are talking about 1 billion baht worth of unpaid contracts and damages. http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp.../298554/1/.html
Sounds like you are suggesting that top executives can not be criminals, which is a bit strange - considering that's exactly what the top executives of many large companies have been found to be in the past few years.
You can call me naive, but personally I think it's naive to think that Thailand would risk the loss of the entire Samsung business and alienate potential Korean tourists for a little bit of money, in a tiny business dispute.
Especially when you consider Samsung's breadth of work here in Thailand, they have just been awarded a $1.1 billion contract by PTT, literally the day after these arrests.
Samsung Executives Arrested In Thailand
in Thailand News
Posted
Strange to be quoting forum rules at me when you keep trying to flame me and call me stupid, which is AFAIK strictly against the forum rules.