spidermike007

2 hours ago, Rickman66 said:

What does a flag fight got to do with what's going on in the world numb nut?

Are you always verbally abusive? Is that who you really are? 

2 hours ago, Scouse123 said:

 

Except on the full moon parties, I suppose.

Correct. And those are quite easy to avoid. 

All of the Southern Islands have been decimated over the years with way too many tourists, way too much development, and a commercialism that's rivaled only by Southwestern Bali, which is hell on earth. The only southern island left that has any semblance of normalcy is perhaps Koh Phangan, which is still quite delightful. 

5 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

AFAIK most countries are trying to strike trade deals with each other, and ignore the actions of an economic half-wit in the White House. China appears to be the chief beneficiary.

 

It is written in tablets of stone tariffs are inflationary.

 

If some poster wants to cite a case where they have not been, I am listening.

You are absolutely correct, Trump getting elected and behaving as he's been recently has been a wet dream for China and the CCP, he is making them more influential by the day, and he is turning a lot of folks towards China who previously felt adversarial towards them.

What a spectacular goon, my guess is that history will record him as one of the dumbest, most ignorant, and greatest  failures ever. No doubt the 2nd worst president in US history. 

That's about the same as the average IQ in Washington DC. 

I know a lot of Thai people that aren't particularly good at science or math and may not score high on an IQ test, but on the street smarts measurement they're off the scale, so how do you measure practical intelligence and what does an IQ test result really mean? 

I find it very inspiring and having studied Hinduism and read a lot of ancient Hindu scripture it makes a lot of sense. The idea of a six year old Mozart sitting down and composing concerto's? I don't think happens in a vacuum. The treatises say that we take that mastery with us, that the soul carries it for and that you end up being born with a great talent or a great gift. That to me makes a lot of sense, disappearing into a void of nothingness? Nah, I don't need that level of hopelessness. 

In regard to coming back as an animal or an insect according to the Hindus that's called transgression, not reincarnation and it only happens to those who have really truly misbehaved, in a horrific manner. 

Like Amin, Castro, Hun Sen, Marcos, Mugabe, Stalin, Hitler, and quite possibly Trump and Miller, who have behaved in a truly heinous fashion, or imposed a tremendous amount of suffering on the poorest of the poor, throughout the world. 

2 hours ago, DrPhibes said:

Agree, I just got back 3 weeks ago (go back every year to work for 3 months) and have to say, even those well off financially are somewhat depressed.  Some of that comes as the America they grew up with and loved is being morphed into something where a kid can't just walk alone or bike blocks away to a friends house without someone wanting to call child services on the parents.  The idea a kid should never get hurt physically from playing or having to deal emotionally when your friends don't like you one day (but are back being friends 2 days later) or that a kid should never cry.  Crying as a kid means their upset about something but does not always mean something is wrong.  There is less socializing as people are more and more glued to screens in all forms, creating real emotional isolation and I think people subconsciously are aware of it leading to a mild type of depression.  It is also the 1st time in American history that the generations coming up will generally be worse off than their parents and grandparents unless handed generational wealth.  Lastly, there is also the gut feeling that now we, the US, are the bad guys in the world right now when we used to stand up for what was right.  Pretty much summed up here.

 

 

A lot of very good points that you raise, and there's no doubt that Trump is diminishing America's standing throughout the world to a dramatic extent in such a short period of time. But the thing I do give him credit for is breaking down the delusion that America is a truly great country, and a country that's worth immigrating to. I think a lot of the world is having a rethink on that one. 

The secondary aspect is that as you say we are becoming weaker and much more sensitive, and thin-skinned as a people, and in general mankind is becoming a victim culture and a snowflake culture. This is perhaps the weakest generation in the history of mankind. 

59 minutes ago, Mike_Hunt said:

 

Are you suggesting that the annual inflation rate is 20%? Do you have any evidence to support this claim? Have you considered the mathematics behind it?

 

 

Yes. I go back a minimum of twice per year and virtually every one of my staples has gone up 10 to 15% every 6 months. All of my family is back there and I have dozens of friends and they all report the same thing, inflation has not slowed down, and prices continue to soar to the point where it is an out of control economy. It is totally unsustainable. It will implode and it is going to be very, very ugly when it does.

I'm not going to give you citations because it's a useless task arguing with you. I'm just telling you my experience on the ground. 20% minimum. 

29 minutes ago, Mike_Hunt said:

 

This report is bunk.  

Well you have absolutely no credibility on this forum, so what you say doesn't really mean anything to anybody. 

And I would expect you to be a follow the narrative kind of bloke. 

8 minutes ago, TroubleandGrumpy said:

Where were you located - I was in New Delhi. D o you know what I am talking about when I mention what you have to experience to know about it?? 

Of course. You have to experience India to know what it's all about, it's truly one of the most unique countries in the world, and it's not a place for easy travel nor easy living. I lived and worked there for 18 months in New Delhi. I would much rather have preferred Mumbai (Bombay), which I think is a fantastic city. Delhi is quite dull. 

It was a great experience and I wouldn't trade it for anything. I would go back for another visit in a nanosecond, and we are planning a visit next year. But I would never choose to live in India. There are so many reasons why so few expats choose India for retirement. 

After pausing his “Liberation Day” tariffs that sent levies surging for dozens of countries’ exports to the United States, Trump has sought to make a number of bilateral trade deals that would open American businesses’ access to foreign markets and boost US manufacturing. The deadline is July 9. Trump has just two deals to show for his efforts over the past two months.

Trump and other world leaders had hoped to use the G7 meeting in Canada this week to hammer out more. The announcement of new deals could have solidified confidence that the US and global economies could avoid a recession this year – a major question mark that most economists believed was a distinct possibility just a few weeks ago.

Then he abruptly left early. Trump and his economic team have long promised deals that have been “coming soon” for weeks. So far, only the United Kingdom and China have agreed to frameworks for US trade negotiations.

The UK signed its agreement at the G7 this week. And China met US trade representatives in the United Kingdom last week and agreed to the terms of a previous arrangement after tensions escalated in recent weeks. Well, at least sort of.

But Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick once again promised last week that new trade deals are right around the corner. “There are so many coming,” Lutnick told CNBC last Wednesday. “You’re going to see deal after deal, they’re going to start coming next week and the week after and the week after. We’ve got them in the hopper.”

At the G7, the US and Canada agreed to a 30-day timeline for a bilateral agreement, but a Canadian proposal privately broached with Trump that exchanged defense spending increases for a reprieve from Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs didn’t appear to gain any traction, two officials said.

A pull aside between Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba didn’t yield the agreement that Japanese officials had hoped for weeks could be finalized at the summit. Meanwhile, Trump left behind in Canada a number of world leaders with frayed nerves but no new trade deals at the clock ticks down to zero.

“So we’re beginning to see some effects. We expect to see more,” Fed Chairman Powell said during his post-meeting press conference. “We’ve had goods inflation just moving up a bit, and, of course, we do expect to see more of that over the course of the summer.”

So where does this leave us with the "world's greatest negotiator" having only negotiated one deal and a very abstract framework for a second? Are things not going according to plan? Did Trump overestimate the influence of America in 2025? Is the world shunning the US? 

Well I think it's good news that this kind of report is being released and is getting attention, it certainly goes against the covid narrative, and it certainly defies what Big Pharma, the CDC, and the WHO has been trying to convince us of all along.

I was always a bit of a vaccine skeptic and thankfully information like this confirms what many of us thought might be the case. 

4 hours ago, Photoguy21 said:

If the car and the guy are the ones shown in the photo then there is no way the car driver would not have seen him.

Unless he took his eyes off the road to look at his phone, to determine where his next pickup was, instead of doing that before he started driving. That would be where the negligence came in. 

6 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

I used to be somewhat against the idea of ‘self-insuring’ – it was the last resort, something I never wanted to consider. But now, I completely understand why people feel pushed into it.

 

It’s not a choice, it’s a consequence. I often wonder what premiums will look like in 20 years – if they're already this high, how much further can they climb?

 

Having comprehensive cover through my employer has been a blessing of the past years. But as is often the case, when the job ends, so does the policy. There’s no option to carry over that corporate cover to a personal plan, which means starting afresh (first hand experience of this a couple of times) – and with that, comes the realties of facing exclusions for any pre-existing conditions.

 

Even worse: our family’s premium has almost doubled this year from to around $6,600 USD. Naturally, I refused to renew. But any new policy comes with the inevitable catch: exclusions on pre-existing conditions.

 

Then there’s the situation with Thai insurers. Many impose a moratorium on serious illnesses like cancer. So if you go for a check-up and something suspicious shows up – say a mass on the lungs – and it’s within the six-month exclusion window, you’re out of luck. Coverage isn’t truly continuous or secure.

 

Frankly, we’re held by the short and curlies. And as we age – like you, Spidermike – adequate cover becomes less a matter of cost and more an impossibility.

 

This, in my view, is one of the most pressing issues for long-term expats in Thailand today.

 

We can get our Marriage Visas, Retirement Visas, even the 20-year Thai Elite Visas… yet there’s no meaningful pathway into the national healthcare system. There should be. A system where we can contribute – financially and consistently – and in return, be entitled to care at public hospitals.

 

Take the UK as an example: the NHS surcharge for those on a Spouse Visa or ILR is currently £1,035 per year (roughly 46,000 baht). That seems entirely reasonable – even by Thai standards – and something many of us would gladly pay for reliable, long-term security.

 

As it stands, the only real options are:

Be wealthy enough to self-fund your healthcare indefinitely, sticking with the same insurer to avoid exclusions (but you're looking at over 600,000 baht per year for such cover)

 

Or, acquire Thai citizenship and join the public healthcare system - not possible for most who haven't been working here for 3 years.

 

Well… there’s one more route, but wives' tend not to let us marry a Thai government official just to piggyback on their health coverage!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well the one possibility that you didn't mention is using the best public hospital that you can find. I have one in Bangkok that I use for things that are of a serious nature and the treatment is outstanding and world-class, and the cost is affordable. Even for things that were of a fairly serious nature, they never even approached the amount that you're looking at, as an annual premium. 

And then there is a great deal of satisfaction in just saying no to the insurance mafia. 

1 hour ago, NickyLouie said:

 

Are you that daft ?

 

The car made a wide turn and approach well before running the guys head over.

 

 

 

 

Forgive me, your highness. I did not realize there was a video link. You are correct. Looks like he was distracted and was not looking at the road? 

35 minutes ago, riverhigh said:

"The biggest element is the total loss of moral authority".

 

When I first came to Thailand and walking in a park, I saw an elderly Thai scolding another person for not standing to attention to the 6 pm national anthem. Roll the clock forward 20 years, I now see Thais merrily walking and talking in the park and completely oblivious to the 6 pm national anthem. "Moral authority" , "blind authority"  .... call it what you will  but it's definitely in the decline. You can now go to Thai karaoke parties and see young Thais make fun of traditional (brain washing) songs they learnt at school. Changing of the guard and most probably for the better (smile).

 

I agree with your preference for the PP. IMHO the election was a complete shambles. The Pheu Thai party and the unelected military senate/ government agencies have no business in being in power. Just my outsider opinion. 

 

I think what your interpreting as a moral decline is actually an awakening on the part of the youth, and the realization that the authorities and institutions that they may have once respected, no longer deserve any of that respect.