spidermike007

As far as I know, it is near impossible to get a loan on rural land here, unless it is Chanote, or close to it. The vast majority of rural land is not. So, it is unlikely there is much in the way of land here which has been financed. Of course, that does not mean the land has not been collateralized, but it is unlikely it was done by the banks. I think the far greater worry for the banks is the repossession of vehicles, and condos. That is going to be very significant, and could very likely be one of the reasons they recently lowered the deposit insurance to only one million baht, per account.

Great question. One many of us have been pondering, no doubt. I do think it will drop quite a bit more. And I am fairly confident the current "optimism" is misplaced. Tourism is not coming back any time soon, and it may be dead as an industry here, permanently. Sure, they may get 5 million visitors, five years from how, but it will likely remain a pale shadow of what it was. Major sabotage, has had it's effect. The rest of the economy is going to be a very rough restart. We shall see how things shake out, but unless there is major political change, and reform here, I see Thailand continuing it's tailspin, and it's hurtling towards irrelevancy.

Breaking promises, not fulfilling his pledges, ignoring his own declarations, and not even attempting to fulfill his obligations as PM are just par for the course, for this man. He is a terrible PM, and does not have a nanogram of leadership skills, in his tiny frame. Plus, he is timid, afraid of his own shadow, and the opposite of strong, on every level. Want to know how I really feel about him?

Spark is excellent. Works with most platforms and operating systems.

He is an overly entitled, ivory tower do nothing man, and he cares not one iota for the people. He is so insulated from the suffering of the masses. These frauds will say or do anything to deflect. The problem for them, is that all credibility is now lost. Nobody believes anything they say, as they cannot be trusted, counted upon, and they are all incapable of leadership. True leaders really are in the service of their people. True leaders act with integrity and in doing so they establish trust. True leaders genuinely value their people and in doing so they create loyalty. True leaders are in the business of assisting people to realize their full potential, and in doing so they inspire excellence. Nobody can demand respect, loyalty or trust, like you constantly do. These things have to be earned. There are no short cuts, no way to cheat the process. Great leaders have integrity and truly value their people. And you do not inspire confidence, as you have never had any follow up in your weak game, you are highly insincere, and grossly incompetent and under qualified for the job. One would think after 7 plus years you guys had time to learn. That does not appear to be the case. Prayuth, you are a terrible leader. Anutin, you are not the health minister. You are the minister of disinformation.

This con artist will say, or do anything to deflect from the reality, that he is the most destructive force in Thai politics, in decades. He has set Thailand back to a shocking degree. All credibility is lost. Anything he says at this point is likely to be a lie, or result in broken promise. It is time that you be questioned. By parliament, by the voters, by all of us. What have you gotten right? It now appears the lack of cases during the 1st wave was dumb luck. So many questions, and so few answers. 1. Why are the good vaccines still five months away? 2. Why not source some good ones in the interim? And why did you choose Sinovac, as the vaccine of choice. It is the cheapest. Is that why? It is certainly not the best, and it is likely the worst among the current choices available. 3. Why can't the private sector import the vaccines directly? Why does the stunningly incompetent government and health ministry need to be involved? 4. Why was there seemingly no planning, when it comes to the vaccination program? 5. Is this really the best they can do? 6. Why has Anutin not been replaced? His political connections aside, Thailand really needs competent leadership at this emergency juncture. 7. Is the government here (and possibly worldwide) totally bought and paid for, by Big Pharma? 8. Do the people of Thailand finally see how they have been misled, mishandled, bamboozled, forsaken, and abused by the hapless army, and the goons in charge? If they could not see it before, it is so obvious now. 99% of the Thais I talk to are so far beyond fed up. And if the 3-5% who drank the kool-aid still believed, after this latest covid debacle, Prayuth, Anutin and the gang have been truly unmasked to a humiliating and inglorious degree. Who could possibly still have any faith in their competence, and sincerity, at this point?

There is bound to be a major reckoning here. You cannot sabotage the economy, destroy tourism, put millions out of work, and not face consequences. It is likely to be far worse than 1997, and several economists have already stated this. It will take years to sort out. Condos are bound to drop significantly, possibly as much as 50% or more, except in the best buildings. Land? Anyone's guess. Likely less than condos, which were way overbuilt to begin with. Build it and they will come. I do not think so. Sheer hubris.

Such nonsense, from one of the great failures of the Prayuth administration. Only Phiphat, and the PM himself, have done a worse job. He is an abject failure, and his unwillingness to admit fault, take any blame, or admit how poorly he has failed with the vaccination program, says alot about his staggering lack of substance as a man, much less as the health minister, during a national emergency. Anutin is a very sad specimen of a man. He is not doing the gender proud. He is weak, very dishonest, feeble, and likely very corrupt.

Generally speaking, environment is stronger than willpower, especially for someone young. But, a good upbringing at least gives you some tools, and teaches you the meaning of self discipline. I am wondering how so many kids of today are going to turn out. Very few contemporary parents seem willing to keep their kids in line and show them the limits. Without limits, kids are lost.

Getting a mortgage from a Thai bank, as a foreigner, is a tough road. And most would agree now is not a good time to buy. The pain will be felt for many years to come. I anticipate condo prices to drop by half. And the rental market is very soft too. A friend of mine recently moved to Pattaya. He looked at condos in Jomtien. He walked into one of the nicest towers, looked at a 36th floor unit with panoramic views, and when he was quoted 28,000 a month, he offered 10,000. They settled on 13,000. He said the agent more or less admitted the building was nearly empty, and they could not rent to sell anything, at this time. A good friend has a girlfriend who is a senior level manager for one of Thailand's biggest developers. She told him that they have reduced their building by 90% of what it was pre-Covid, which was around 100 developments a year. She said it was nearly impossible to lease or sell anything right now, at prices that make sense. Demand is way down. The Chinese market is nearly gone, Russians and others are very hesitant to commit. And the long term tourists are gone too. So, who does that leave? Wealthy Thais, many of whom see the market collapsing, and would rather wait and see how all of this shakes out, and ex-pats, many of whom are smart enough to be shopping for bargains right now. Anyone interested in buying a condo right now, would be better off waiting awhile. Timing is on your side. Time is now your ally. The economy is going remain devastated here, for a very long time to come. And the longer this goes on, the more people are going to be affected by it, and the more desperate some will become. For the wealthy it barely matters. But, there are many middle class who have money invested, and there are alot of Chinese and Russians who bought, and cannot even visit Thailand. Some of them will want to unload their properties. Wait. The condo market is severely overbuilt. And demand is low, for all but the top buildings.

He is married to a small minded woman, who does not know anything about science, the natural social distancing involved in golf, in addition to the courses being outdoors. Duh! Maybe she never considered any of that. Regardless, if he had not considered divorce before, he should now. There is no reason to spend your life with a petty person, who is mean, spiteful, and has no idea of what the definition of support, or loyalty is. The sooner he can get her out of his life, the better off he will be. See ya! Bye bye. I was mistaken. I somehow thought you were worthy of my love and devotion. Oh, how wrong I was. Bye!

Good points. Well taken. I am not anti-children. I do not have kids, and am grateful for that, but I really like kids. Especially those who are well behaved in public, and those fortunate enough to have grown up in an environment like you created for your son. Later on in life, my bet is that he will be a far more advanced human being, and have alot more self control and discipline, as a result of the boundaries you have set for him. I feel sorry for the ones who have parents who refuse to set boundaries. I asked a good friend of mine why he allows his son to misbehave the way he does. He told me if he disciplines him, he is afraid his son will like him less. I asked him, are you raising a son, or trying to make a friend? He did not have an answer for that. How pathetic.

Prayuth, you failed utterly, miserable and totally. When your nation needed you, in a time of emergency, you were absent from the job. You deserve all the criticism, scorn, and humiliation that can be heaped upon you. If you were a man with any dignity, what you would be saying to parliament, and the Thai people is something like this: I know, I know, I know. I should have reacted when the outbreak happened back in December, and done the right thing by shutting down that area in Samut. I know. I should have taken the vaccine thing more seriously. I know, I should have had a more qualified health minister. I know, my pathological fear of the optics of a lockdown are causing many more cases than need be. And I know, I should have been more diligent with the borders, I should have cracked down on corrupt immigration officials, and kept my promise to fight corruption, and I should have used my army soldiers for something. I forgot there are 550,000 of them. They would have been perfect for controlling the border. And they would have actually been doing something to benefit the people and they would have been protecting the nation, for a change. I also forget that is why we have soldiers. How very dumb of me. It appears I am nowhere near as smart as I think I am. I do realize I should have and could have done better. Do you want me to resign now? I know that is what you are thinking. I probably should. It sure would be the right thing to do, but since I rarely ever do the right thing, I wouldn't even know how do make that happen. Just call me a failure. I know it is true. What about the road blacks that were promised? 88 of them, if I remember the top cop creep bragging. If anything or anyplace should have been locked down, it should have been all highways and roads leading OUT of Bangkok. DUH! You don't impose all these sadistic restrictions on the common man, and then avoid taking the simplest and most sensible precautions. You know what that is called? Dumb, reckless, callous, and failed policy. Lastly, you do not inspire confidence, as you have no follow up in your game, you are highly insincere, grossly incompetent and under qualified for the job. One would think after 7 years on the job, you have had time to learn. That does not appear to be the case. You are a terrible leader. Get out. Get our now, you are not wanted, you are not needed, you do nothing, and you are despised.

You know what I consider to be a selfish person? One with children (or dogs) who do not behave, and let them run around and terrorize the neighborhood, a movie theatre, a restaurant, or anyone around them. And when you say something to them, they reply with something inane like "they are four year old children. How am I supposed to control them, or keep them quiet?" My response? So, who is the parent, and who is the child, in this equation? Gets them every time. Food for thought for lousy parents with rowdy kids.

They mistakenly added two extra zeroes. What they meant, and what is likely to happen, is they will get 5,000 Russian tourists, if all restrictions are lifted, and an adult in the room acknowledges that any incoming tourists, who have been fully vaccinated with any vaccine other than the Sinovac, and have been tested, are taking an infinitely greater risk by coming here, than any Thai is taking by being around them. So, who are the zombies now?

What high season? That is almost an oxymoronic phrase at this point. Will Thailand ever see another high season? Possibly not.

As a spectacularly corrupt franchisee, put him in the general prison population, so he can get to know some of the guys. A fun experiment. Does this Narong actually think any of us believe this top cop is not getting special treatment? Of course he is. This entire thing is a charade. He will not be convicted, and even if he is, he will never serve time. The most important thing to remember, is that Prayuth has a mandate, to protect all corrupt police, immigration, customs, administration, provincial and local government officials. Period. Nothing has changed. If anything he drained the swamp of 7 foot alligators, and replaced them with 14 foot crocodiles.

Is there a relatively simple way for a Thai to get a good vaccine here, like Moderna or Pfizer, if they are willing to pay for it, and under 40 years of age? Is this an impossibility, at this point?

A real poll would likely show numbers closer to 98% disapproval. There is no leadership here. Remember the junk about the Covid Czar? Huh? What happened Prayuth? Did you lose interest? Could not keep that small mind of yours focused? Not enough fun or profit for you? You continue with your daily lies, and you are at a stage where nobody in this nation, other than some of the generals and cabinet ministers take you seriously anymore. You have undermined your own credibility time and time again, with bad information, fake news, broken promises, and terrible leadership. Do you even know what the definition of leadership is? True leaders really are in the service of their people. True leaders act with integrity and in doing so they establish trust. True leaders genuinely value their people and in doing so they create loyalty. True leaders are in the business of assisting people to realize their full potential, and in doing so they inspire excellence. Nobody can demand respect, loyalty or trust, like you constantly do. These things have to be earned. There are no short cuts, no way to cheat the process. Great leaders have integrity and truly value their people. And you do not inspire confidence, as you have never had any follow up in your weak game, you are highly insincere, and grossly incompetent and under qualified for the job. One would think after 7 plus years you have had time to learn. That does not appear to be the case. Prayuth, you are a terrible leader. So, if you were a man of integrity, the man you led the nation to believe you were, when you seized power 7 long years ago, you would resign tomorrow. You will get kicked out sooner or later anyway. Why not just accept the inevitable? You are not the PM for life, that you think you are.

Who on earth is making this stuff up? The country's economic stability remains good and its strong external position can handle global volatility, the ministry said in a statement. Huh? $110 billion from tourism has been entirely erased. Exports are down. Factory production is down. Just look around. The local economy is in tatters. Such fake news. Such hogwash. None of the officials seem prepared to embrace truth, and they seem to be loving Rudy talk. Truth is not truth.

The reality Thailand needs to face, is that the vast majority of tourists they were getting pre-Covid, were Chinese, Indians and Malaysians, who were lower to middle income people, who did not spend alot here. That is most of what they will get when tourism resumes, but in far, far lower numbers than before, for obvious reasons. Tourism is dying a slow death here. And with the extremely timid officials here, it is now a weak, sickly animal grasping for breath. Sure, some will return. Maybe one million in 2022, if all restrictions are lifted. Maybe. And maybe as many as 5 million a year, by 2026. Maybe. That is a good thing for most ex-pats, who do not have tourism related businesses. But for the Thai people it will be devastating. Long term. Official sabotage, is the best description for it.

I have a streaming box from True fiber. Comes free, as part of their internet fiber package, which is about 1000 baht a month, for a 1GBps connection. Blazing fast. On the box I can get RT, Al Jazeera, and a few other channels, live. Also, get Haystack, and many other news outlets streamed, in addition to Red Bull sports, and some movie channels. But, I download nearly everything. Here there are seemingly no restrictions on downloads. I have hundreds of full seasons of TV, in HD. And thousands of movies in HD, on multiple external hard drives, and memory sticks. Amazing. Nearly everything is available for download.

Take the dinosaurs down. Anything that can be done to weaken these fools, make their jobs harder, embarrass them, humiliate them, oppose them, resist them, confound them, berate them, and show them how much they are despised, is a good thing. It is only a matter of time.

In the seven years this morbidly toxic regime has been in power, they have succeeded at very few projects, initiatives, or proposals. They have not succeeded in improving life for anyone, but the super rich, well connected, and those in power. But, they have succeeded at one thing. Instilling a tremendous degree of fear into the masses about Covid. They have done this with such skill, and determination, it shows you that they are not as stupid as we thought they were. Incapable, yes. Destructive, yes. Lacking any care for their own people, yes. Lacking vision, yes. Stupid, no.

For an administration that has ignored the environment, let the air degrade to a dangerous level, and done nothing to protect the nation on any level, this is the grandest form of hypocrisy possible. Feel free to cite some environmental promises that were followed up on, if you can. Otherwise, this is just more deflection from men with a staggering level of incompetence and indifference toward their land, water and the common man. So, what about air quality, while we are on the topic of the environment. For 6 or 7 months of the year, the air terrorizes this nation. And have they done anything about it? There is a very simple solution to this problem. If the authorities were interested in solutions. The burning has to stop. There are alternatives, to this 19th century technique of burning after the sugar cane harvest. Either the government starts to encourage farmers to switch to more environmentally friendly crops, or they start to penalize farmers for burning. This heinous burning, is leading to a tremendous degree of environmental degradation, and alot of lung disease. So here is what I propose- 1. Fine the farmers 5,000 baht for a first offense, and give them a stern warning, that burning is now prohibited, and the second fine will be very harsh. 2. For a second offense, fine the farmer 100,000 baht, and warn them that if the burning continues, their land will be confiscated. 3. On the 3rd offense, confiscate their land. Period. No questions. No legal proceeding or appeals on the part of the farmers. Allow others to come in and purchase the land at a fair price, with the caveat that sugar is prohibited as a crop to be grown on that land. The news would travel faster than the toxic smoke, and farmers would change their ways overnight, and move into the 21st century. The government should offer incentives, for the farmers to switch crops. This is 2021. Rice and sugar worked in previous centuries. Now, they do not make any sense. Too labor intensive, too much degradation of the land, water, air, and resources. Let's get with the times. Let us move forward. Then they can move on to tackle the sale of diesel vehicles, and the government's enthusiastic support of such. It is inane in this day and age. Most nations are moving away from diesel for good reasons. When they are not well maintained, they foul the air, with large, nasty particles. And who properly maintains their vehicle here? Lastly they can convert all of the 10 remaining diesel and coal fired power plants. Thailand has already done a very admirable job with renewable power plants. There are over 50 powered by hydro, geothermal, wind, solar and biomass. That is impressive. I know I am dreaming. It takes a progressive administration to do these kinds of things, and Prayuth and his gang are as regressive as they come. The youth must prevail. At the risk of a 15 year jail sentence, as they are trying to impose of the man who is the only hope this nation has in Thanathorn, the dinosaurs must be forced to the side, and the youth must figure out a way to lead this nation forward. Otherwise, it is nothing but darkness, that will prevail.