jimbo38

I was born and raised on a farm. "Tilling" may be the term you use but it was seldom used in our area. I don't need anyone to try and explain farming terminology to me. I'm 72 years old and most likely was farming before you were born.

The harvesters I see up here only have 6 or 8 foot headers. Hardly "monster" harvesters. You want to see monster harversters go to Australia or the western part of the USA.

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I am living within feet of rice paddies. They are just finishing the latest harvest right now. It has been raining every single day for the past month. Every paddy has standing water on it. The paved roads are full of chunks of mud brought on to the roads by the harvesters. They continue to harvest during the rainfall.

The paddies that have already been harvested have been flooded and the tractors are in water up to and over their axles rotary hoeing the soil for the next crop. Three years ago there were no mechanical harvesters. This year there are no hand harvesters. If the rice is lodged badly then they do it by hand but the short stemmed rice doesn't lodge so it is all being done by machines.

This year they brought in a couple of transplanting machines. The paddies planted by this method did quite well. I expect to see a lot more of that for this next crop.

Anyway, you can continue to claim that they can't use machinery on wet fields all you want, but the people up here are doing it every day.

So, whatever.

During the rainy season there is no other way to plant or harvest but by hand. The machines, whether they are planters or harvesters, cannot work in the soft mud.

They work the fields that are totally submerged under water all the time. That's ploughing, planting, harvesting etc. All done with machinery. Under water.

Have you ever been to Thailand??

Ok, thanks for that. You never know!!! Now, if only the US dollar would go back to 40 baat!!!!

Just checking to see if the "income per month" notarized form for the non immigrant "O" retirement extension is still set at 65,000 baat??

Even when using "earnings" in no way do the top 400 make 50% of the nation's earnings. With the top 400 earning around $140 billion and the total national personal earnings being $5.8 trillion, that is still only at 2.5%. Huge for only 400 people, but nowhere near 50%.

What ever!!! The point being that a very small number of people have a huge amount of the wealth. And they really don't need it.

The Wealth Distribution

In the United States, wealth is highly concentrated in a relatively few hands. As of 2007, the top 1% of households (the upper class) owned 34.6% of all privately held wealth, and the next 19% (the managerial, professional, and small business stratum) had 50.5%, which means that just 20% of the people owned a remarkable 85%, leaving only 15% of the wealth for the bottom 80% (wage and salary workers). In terms of financial wealth (total net worth minus the value of one's home), the top 1% of households had an even greater share: 42.7%. Table 1 and Figure 1 present further details drawn from the careful work of economist Edward N. Wolff at New York University (2010).

Bill Gates is a poor example to use. He is a convicted Federal felon. His programs suck. I was there at the beginning. When his dos was the worst of 3 operating systems. Even IBM dos was better than his. And DR dos was waaaaay better. But his mother was on the board of directors or something high up in IBM. She got his foot in the door and they used his dos instead of upgrading their own. His programs are for the most part "crap". But, this is off topic.

Other less famous people have contributed way more to computers. But to get back on the topic. If the top guys shared more they would have more loyal staff. Some of them do that. Some companies have great profit sharing plans.

I worked for a company that did that in the 60's. I was gettng paid as much money in the 60's as I was making in 2006. Plus I got a cost of living allowance that I actually lived on all over the world. After 6 years with the company you got profit sharing. Guys who had 10-12 years with the company made more on profit sharing than on their salary. If KFC institued something like that they wouldn't have problems with their staff. When people know that their bonus at the end of the year depends on the company making profit they make sure that no one steals things etc.

It comes down to treating your employees with respect!!!! You set the rules that everyone abides by, you enforce the rules and you treat the people with respect.

I did a study for one company I worked with just before I retired. I checked with companies that had profit sharing plans. Everyone of those companies had long lines of people waiting to get in and no one wanting to get out. It works.

Not to mention an overstatement of the US population by about 30 million.

Would you care to bet your life on that?? Ok, but the official number is always low. My estimate is at least 30 million

U.S. 311,328,371

Not to nitpick as the point is still valid, but in 2006, at least, the richest 400 Americans were worth about $1.3 trillion, according to Forbes Magazine..As reported in WIki, the net worth of the US in 2008 was $75 trillion. (link)

Ok, maybe it was "400 people get 50% of the INCOME per year". Whatever. My point is that the greed of some people is something that I just cannot understand. No one can possibly EARN that much money. They make the money on the backs of other people. And many of those people are grossly underpaid.

Another thing I can never understand is, why is it that people complain about a worker making a comfortable wage but the same people never complain about the top people being paid multi millions is salary?? No person is worth that kind of money. People who send their companies broke get paid millions in golden parachutes. Why is that ok??

BTW, I worked with Thai kids in a food concession in a US National Park. They worked hard, were diligent, and were pleasant to work with. If someone is having problems with their Thai workers then maybe they should look in the mirror.

Please post in point form what slave conditions KFC imposed????

Can you live on 2500 baat per month?. Buy a house, raise a family, educate the kids, pay for transport etc. etc.?? If you can't do those things on your pay then it's slave wages. In the South of the USA the slave owners had to house, feed, and give medical care to his slaves. If he didn't, they died and he lost his investment.

This is my last post on the subject. You, obviously, have no intention of discussing the matter intelligently.

I put it to you one last time. If you don't want to pay employees a decent, living wage then DON'T HIRE THEM. Do the work yourself. But you can't, can you/? Can you do anything other than shuffling numbers around on a piece of paper?? Are you a licensed avionics tech who repairs, checks out, and signs off equipment as being airworthy. If you make a mistake it can cost hundreds of innocent people to die?? Can you weld aluminum, or lay bricks to build a house?? Are you able to do anything of any actual value to people?? If you can, then just do what I suggest, start a business and do all the work yourself.

Oh yeah, btw. Don't you have anything better to do than be on here complaining about "workers"??

I would say "enjoy life" but I doubt that you are able.

Please post in point form what slave conditions KFC imposed. But before you do, please look up what qualifies for "slave"

Yes a 2 way street. Company provides work , employee works and gets paid- full stop.

No one owes you any favors, bonuses or anything else.

Again, do not like the conditions or the pay- move on! I do not recall KFC putting chains or handcuffs on employes hands.

You want communism? Move to Cuba or north Korea , sorry all others have moved to capitalism .

You think you worth more money then the minimum wage? Great go get a job where comPany also thinks you are!!

You seem to operate under the assumption that there will always be a surplus of workers. When there isn't big business is in big trouble.

In the late 90's when things were going well in the USA, Alan Greenspan upped the interest rates. When asked why he did that his answer was that He needed to keep the unemployment rat above 5%!!! He said that if it fell below that then wages would start to rise and as far as he was concerned that would be a bad thing.

Big business rules the governments of countries. When they do they tilt everything their way.

Your black and white statements are full of holes. There is nothing communistic about workers getting fair pay. It makes monetary sense for the employees to have money to spent. And no, not "all others" have not moved to capitalism. Many countries have a combination of socialism and capitalism.

Economies work best when large amounts of money are freely circulating. Pay the employees well, they spend the money on other things, the employees of the companies who make those things buy other things. etc. etc. That's how it works. But when a small number of people have all the money then there is no more economy. No one else can buy anything.

The USA is a perfect example. The latest report is that 400 individuals own 50% of the total wealth of the country. 400 people out of 340,000,000 people. And those 400 won't be happy until they have 100% of everything. And they won't be satisfied when they have that.

Buddhism advises it's followers to treat their employees fairly. The original buddha was pretty sharp. I seriously doubt that any of the 400 individuals will ever achieve enlightenment.

(2 way street?)

Yes, see below.

(Company offers a job and salary, do not like it-move on, have plenty of people who want to work!)

So it's ok to have slave conditions as long as there are plenty people looking for work???

(Wages are set by the government, go sue the government.)

And government is told what to do by rich companies!!!!

(Decided to make trouble for the company because not happy?-say bye bye to a job and go work elsewhere where the conditions are more suitable or fit the needs.)

And that's always easy to do in times of high unemployment.

(As simple as that )

Yes, as simple as that. Which is exactly what I said about big companies just FIRING everyone. Then the owners can do the work themselves and not have to pay anyone else anything!!!! Why don't they do that??? Just fire everyone and do the work themselves. I mean, it's real easy to do isn't it. Doesn't require much.

And for all those people who just love the rich company owners:::

If you don't want to pay your employees a decent living wage then all you have to do is FIRE every worker and do the work yourself. Simple. Then you can keep ALL the money.

We have a elephant refuge in Chiang Rai come up here.========= Where in Chiang Rai is this refuge??

Okay, thanks for that.

I didn't "misinterpret" anything. I just can't, for the life of me, "interpret" any of it!!!!!!!

O-OA-B-X-Y-Z-KL-J-Q-F-R What on earth is all this stuff for??

I haven't the faintest idea what I am doing or why. I just try to write down which documents I need and when and then take them in to Immigration.

Luckily I deal with a fairly nice guy in Immigration. Last time he proudly showed me that my extension was good for one year and smiled. My 90 day address confirmation is usually painless.

If these situations ever change then I will probably change. I'm in the process of checking out alternatives to living in Thailand. Always a good idea to have the scouting done beforehand. You never know what's around the next corner.

but any extension of stay for retirement obtained from Immigration inside Thailand requires the funds to be in Thailand.

What, a US citizen can't use a notarized note from the consulate anymore?????

The crime is that they are working. I know quite a few Thai "students" "studying" in the US. They are all working and making pretty good money. All paid under the table. Most of these jobs are with other Thai immigrants to the US. Usually a restaurant. They are all registered with language schools which they do not attend as often as they should.

If you get an Education visa then go to school.

Plus, even some of the Thais who have "green cards" have bogus cards.

If they catch me digging a hole in the backyard of the house that I'm renting here, I can have my retirement extension cancelled. I could be looking at jail time.

The people who were caught were not students, if they were they would have been studying.

I also know some Thais who went over there to get their Masters degree and they did just that. They have the diploma.

I jump through all the hoops to get my permit to stay here. If you want to go to the States then you jump through all of their hoops. And, of course, there are more hoops to get into the States. There are millions of people trying to get in every year.

Call in and see me some time if you're out that way again, the guys in the police box after the 21km post on that road know where I live.

Ok, I'll try this again.

Thanks, will do. I'll write the info down so I don't forget it.

I won't intrude on his privacy but I'm sure he won't mind me mentioning he covered 16,000kms in it last year.

Reduced: 50% of original size [ 799 x 599 ] - Click to view full image

Ha, never thought I'd see my "car" here. As for the economy, you ought to see my food bill!!

It's the system to blame not the individual and anyone who has sat a Thai driving test will know exactly what I mean.

It is NOT the "system". It IS the individual!!!! On the same roads that the tour vans speed excessively most of the rest of the traffic is driving sensibly and courteously. Thais know how to drive safely as well as anyone else. It's just that the "hire" drivers seem to think that they are immune to the rules of safe driving.

I ride a bicycle over 1000 miles per month. The drivers that I fear the most are the "Tour Van" drivers. Of the tour van drivers, the worst are the 4 wheel drives. They are always driving way in excess of a reasonable speed. And that includes the tiny dirt roads going into the mountains.

The members who keep trying to absolve the thai people of any blame should remember that many lives that are lost in Thailand are human caused and could easily been saved.

There is no reason for these drivers to drive so d-amn-ed fast!!!! And, yes, I have seen many of them going downhill out of gear, relying on the brakes to slow them down. This kind of driving is criminal.

Stop making excuses. This young man's death was totally, completely unnecessary. I really feel sorry for him and his wife and family.

I contacted Garmin for my Vista. They had me ship it to the factory in Taiwan.

When it came back to Thailand they wanted $10 import duty even though it had been sent on an RMA. When they found out I was a foreigner they more than doubled the import duty. So I had it sent back to Taiwan and had it reshipped to me in the States. It cost me nothing to get it in the USA. BTW, I would have paid the $10 but I get my back up when people treat me like I'm really really stupid.

The Taiwan office is very good to deal with.

There is a SUBSTANTIAL difference in your monthly check between retiring at 62 or 65. I waited til 65 and am glad I did.

If you retire at 62 you will get the lower amount each month forever. It doesn't jump up when you reach 65.

Each year that you work after 65 also increases how much they pay you. The "cost of living allowance" or "COLA" is a percentage figure so the larger your montly payment the larger the COLA increase will be. Get all the figures, you will be surprised.

Gee and I thought I was the only one using the cell phone to the ear trick!!!! Well, it works.

MODERATORS == Or at least someone in charge. Can you please stop the contributors from including the entire lengthy articles when they add their post. This thread could have been half as long as it is without repeating the entire original article.

(Try living with 5000 Baht in a month or less and support your family back in home at the same time. I'd bet you would be collecting all kinds of "fees" pretty soon if you were a cop here. Of course it is wrong but being hungry makes people do all kinds of things.)

There are many people in Thailand making less than 5000 baat per month. They will go out of their way to help you and then will politely refuse any payment.

Poverty is a terrible and totally unnecessary thing. But, it doesn't excuse criminal acts.

And, by the way, try living on $1000 per month in the USA as I am doing.

I had the same approach one day while resting near Siam. The guy claimed to be a professor of English. He spoke English so poorly that I couldn't possibly believe him. He said that his sister was going to be a Nurse in Phoenix, after he found out where I was from. He wanted me to go and talk to his sister about Phoenix. I, politely, refused to go, saying that I had an appointment soon.

Don't go anywhere with strangers!!!! Your mother probably told you that as a child and it is just as good advice here as an adult.

And this is a "Buddhist" country. Riiiggghhtt!!!!!

Poverty is a terrible and totally unnecessary thing, but there are millions of people in Thailand who are dirt poor, living from day to day wondering where their next meal will come from. Still, they are absolutely honest and decent people who willingly go out of their way to help others AND refuse to take any payment!!!!! THESE people are the true, real

"Buddhists" You have to love them. The corrupt, ripoffs, on the other hand, are something else entirely.

Land of contrasts, indeed.

Just a quick word "off topic" here.

I really wish people would quit talking about us foreigners as being "guests". I am not a guest. I have gone through all the proper procedures etc to obtain a one year extension. I am a "legitimate RESIDENT" of this country. Ok???

Having spent over thirty years of my life in many countries all over the world, I can say that I have had to show my passport in the hotels of most of them. In the States I have to show my drivers license. Big deal.