spidermike007

Prostitution should be legal here, and everywhere. As long as two consenting adults engage, that is all that should be required, as long as it is done with mutual respect. They are trying to make prostitution legal in New York right now. It will be the first state, in a puritanical nation, that is very, very confused about its sexuality. Hope it happens. I am sure the fake puritans are fighting it all the way. But, what do they know about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?

Absolute, hypocritical hogwash. These kinds of moronic utterances, have nothing to do with reality. It is usually perpetrated by people who have rarely left their own countries, and know little about the world. These same people would experience tremendous shame, at seeing people who are poor, and would cry about how unfair the world is. Nobody ever said the world was a fair place to live. Some are simply less fortunate than others. Many of us on this forum, have been blessed with good fortune in this life, and to take advantage of that, by moving to a nation that is less expensive, has a far higher quality of life than what we experienced back home, friendlier women who know how to manifest the dignity within femininity, and nicer people, is smart and visionary, in my opinion.

I think in life, we have to learn to ignore nonsense, ignorance, and stupidity. It means less than zero to me. I live my life, treat people fairly, behave with honor, and respect, and take care of my own. One has to be able to take satisfaction in a life well lived, and just ignore the noise. 

In other words, do something to benefit the masses for a change. We know you were installed to protect the elite, those in power, the police, the super wealthy and those that are connected. We know that. But, does that mean that you cannot do anything to help the plight of the average Thai? Really? Another five years of nothingness?

Incompetency is always ugly. But, when it is coupled with extreme indifference, apathy, fake puritanism, and obsession with control, it is far uglier. The army is the worst thing that has ever happened to this nation. They serve no useful function, that I am aware of. 

16 hours ago, Thongkorn said:

The rather brilliant King Chulalongkorn Went to England to ask Queen Victoria for help, Because France was in the process of Colonizing Thailand. Queen Victoria Listened and had a word with her relatives in Germany, England and German stopped France from Colonizing Thailand, 

Sounds like a brilliant move to me. 

1 hour ago, Morty T said:

Yep, 3% unemployment rate, really bad. Under the last administration it was 18%+ and that was going to be the new norm. Super low IQ, yeah right. 

I remember during the campaign, Trump said the unemployment numbers were being fudged, and that the real unemployment figure was near 30%. How miraculous that this stable genius was able to lower it from 30%, to 3%, in 18 months. A near miracle! 

17 hours ago, chilli42 said:

I do agree that income inequality is widening and that the middle class is being crushed ... saw a recent statistic that 39% were “poor” (not making ends meet).  All this while the rich keep getting richer.  That said, this has been a long time in the making (Clinton, Bush, Obama).  The single biggest catalyst was low interest rates and QE that enabled share buy backs and unprecedented M&A activity further strengthening monopolies ... with none of the benefits of lower interest rates flowing to the less fortunate.  In a bizarre twist, the economic conditions faced be the least prosperous voters are why Don and his merry band of mischief makers were elected ... people wanted to change the trajectory of their misfortune. The Donald and Republicans have done nothing to address the issue and one might argue the new tax code will just continued to widen the divide.  However, the blame for the existence of this problem can not be placed entirely on the existing administration.

 

As for tariffs, it’s just noise. They come, they go.  It’s a political tool that can and should be played.  It’s worked well with Canada and Mexico to secure better terms for the US.  China a tougher nut to crack but confrontation with China is unavoidable.

True that. While the corporations went on a spending spree, few employees got the raises they were promised, and companies like AT&T let tens of thousands of workers go. All this was about, was an obedient man, following the orders of his corporate masters. Trump never met a lobbyist he could say no to. It is about the re-population of the swamp, with 12 ft. crocodiles instead of 8 ft. alligators. The average American got nothing, except another trillion a year added to their deficit legacy.

Flooded with cash from the Republican tax cut, US public companies announced a whopping $436.6 billion worth of stock buybacks, according to research firm TrimTabs. Not only is that most ever, it nearly doubles the previous record of $242.1 billion, which was set during the first three months of the year. 

Apple alone announced plans for $100 billion in buybacks. Big banks such as Wells Fargo(WFC), JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Bank of America (BAC) each said they would buy back at least $20 billion of their own stock after the Federal Reserve gave them a clean bill of health late last month. 

The buyback boom is terrific news for shareholders — and corporate executives. When companies repurchase vast amounts of stock, they provide persistent demand that tends to boost share prices. Buybacks also artificially inflate a closely watched measure of profitability known as earnings per share.

https://money.cnn.com/2018/07/10/investing/stock-buybacks-record-tax-cuts/index.html

I wonder if, and how he will respond to being the leader of a "democratically elected" government. This guy is not used to being told what to do, except by the guys who put him in this position. He can handle it from them. But, from the opposition party? Expect a coup in the house!

I have no idea if he was an effective general, nor what it takes to do so. Not like he has been challenged with overseas conflicts, where he needed to show his military acumen. In the past five years he has demonstrated how incredibly inept, incompetent, non visionary, and hapless a leader he is. Hopefully, he will be taken to task for his continued astonishing levels of incompetency. 

Some interesting facts pertaining to this issue.

4. Formerly known as Siam, the Kingdom of Thailand was never a European colony, although it was sometimes under Chinese or Japanese influence. 

6. The British and French Empires annexed some border areas in Thailand, but never managed fully to control the state or most of its territory – unlike virtually every country in the region.

7. Britain and France ultimately decided that it was wiser to allow Thailand to exist as an independent buffer between their respective colonies in the region. 

8. Britain had colonized Burma to the west and Malaya to the south, while France had colonized Indochina (Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam) to the east.

9. In addition, through adroit diplomacy and selective modernization, the rather brilliant King Chulalongkorn, who reigned 1868-1910, did his part to save Thailand from European colonization.

https://www.theglobalist.com/thailand-southeast-asias-buffer-country/

On 1/23/2015 at 5:50 PM, Evilbaz said:

See a lawyer - you may be entitled to up to 50%

Can she prove she earned the funds for the purchases?

Did she pay tax on those earnings?

Etc etc.

Very, very good advice. The law here is not always in favor of the Thai partner. It depends on the situation. Even a letter from an attorney with a threatening tone, might cause her to sign the car and truck over to you. I doubt you can do anything about the house, but it is worth a consult with an attorney. Just make sure they come very highly recommended. There are alot of incompetent lawyers here, that are more than happy to take a retainer, and do very little work. 

1 hour ago, heybruce said:

Adding to the injustice, Thai people have discovered craft beer, and many have learned how to brew it.  They want to set up commercial breweries (I want them to do so also) but Thai laws make it impossible to start small and grow large. 

 

Thailand; land of "Take care of the rich, screw the rest".

Very true. The obstacles to set up a micro brewery in Thailand are indeed very difficult. Just another case of the government denying the people a higher quality of life, and a choice, based entirely on money and power. Of all the administrations in the past few decades, this army govt. is the worst, when it comes to the choice of money over the people. 

1 hour ago, Tagged said:

Even worse than United states? You know the simularity of american beer and a canoe is? F close to water! 

When was the last time you were in the US? There are now tens of thousands of micro breweries that are producing world class, award winning beer. You might be thinking of the old days, of Schlitz, Miller, Coors, Budweiser, and that other garbage. Those days are long gone, and have been replaced by an astonishing array of amazing, hand crafted, small production, unpasteurized, delicious beer. Very few are exported, as the local demand is so high, and the production is so low. Some of the lowest quality craft beers in the US, are far, far better than Leo, Singha, the local version of Heineken, or the insipid Tiger.

There are some things in life that people simply have to experience first hand. Riding a roller coaster. Catching a wild brook trout. Running a mile for time. Dating someone out of your league…this is what life is all about. If you’re a baseball fan, you have to see a game at Wrigley Field. If you eat food, you have to try the spicy fried chicken at Gus’s Fried Chicken in Memphis. You just have to. You haven’t lived until you’ve experienced that chicken. 

Likewise, if you’re a beer drinker, there are certain beers you have to drink. At least once. We’ve thought long and hard about what those quintessential beers are—the ones that everyone should try—and we’ve come up with a hearty list of 100 that define the American craft beer scene. Some of these beers would be considered the best beers in the country, if not the world. Others can hold their own, but earned a spot on this list because of the role they played in the craft beer movement. Is this a definitive list of beers everyone should try? Dear Lord, no. If you truly love beer, you should try them all. Even the bad ones. At least once. But this list will get you started. 

Here’s the first round from the master list—we’ll be counting down all week. We hope you’re thirsty.

https://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2014/05/100-craft-beers-you-have-to-drink.html?a=1

The question is, are they ready to abide by the agreements that they sign at these summits? Thailand has a long history of signing an accord, and ignoring whatever aspect of the accord does not suit them, at a later date. The 2012 accord is a good example. Thailand agreed to allow importation of all alcoholic beverages from any nation within ASEAN. They signed the charter. How many Bingtao beers have you seen at Tesco lately? It was completely ignored, after the beer conglomerates paid off the politicians here. 

7 hours ago, daveAustin said:

Yes, I remember that in the days when it was anywhere between 6-8% depending on the batch. Nowadays it's all harmonised swill at around 5%. Yuk!

 

That's roughly four GBP for a crap bottle of local dishwater. Leo was alright up until couple years ago. Don't mind paying for a dark Beer Lao or more again for a Belgian beer, but that sort of price for sub-par local tat is insane.

The entire beer industry in Thailand is rigged. The senators are all on board. The ASEAN provision that was signed back in 2012 that allowed for the importation of all alcoholic products from all ASEAN nation was signed by Thailand, then property ignored, once the big beer monsters started paying off the politicians here. 

Thailand probably has some of the lowest quality beer in the world, for the money. I would choose beer Lao anytime, over Thai beer. In Laos, a liter of Beer Laos draft, at a bar is barely 50 baht. 

39 minutes ago, NightSky said:

 Very interesting about the cooking oils, I also like the rice bran oil however I thought olive oil had a low flash point.

Olive oil is a very healthy choice. Ignore the part that says vegetable oil. It is nonsense. Otherwise the chart is fine, except it ignores sunflower oil, which is readily available here, and rice bran oil, which is very hard to find outside of Thailand. 

13 hours ago, tlandtday said:

The US is only dependent on China because they have allowed a dependency to be created through unfair practices and exiting of manufacturing.  Put the tariffs in place and all this goes back to the USA.  

It would take 15 years for the US to transfer manufacturing back to the US. Trump is long forgotten by then, and so is the war on globalization, which is as natural as water flowing off a mountain, after a storm. The relics will resist change with every molecule of their being. Will it make any difference? 

All the tariffs accomplish is to create a massive tax hike, for the American people, slow down the economy, and demonstrate what a terrible negotiator Trump really is.

Despite government protestations to the contrary both here and in the US, inflation is rampant. Prices are going up everywhere I look. The official inflation numbers here in Thailand are 0.4%! That is about as phony as it gets.

I see products I paid 100 baht for last month, having gone up to 120 baht. That is a 20% increase. I see rents going up, real estate prices going up, gas going up, car repairs going up. Sometimes by 5%. Sometimes by 40%. And they have the nerve to quote 0.4%! Such unbelievable nonsense. BS on a mega level.