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Richard4849

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Posts posted by Richard4849

  1. I don't see any equivalency with people wearing Che shirts, which are rather cool, to people dressing up with Nazi symbols. Nazis were pure evil. Che had some good points and some bad points, but the romantic attraction to idealistic adolescents is undeniable.

    Wear a Che or Fidel t-shirt in Miami's Little Havana and let us know how you make out. Point is, someone will be gravely offended by your fashion choice.

  2. + 1 and get rid of rest of sexpats and losers etc I say charge 20,000 a month for a visa will soon get rid of riff raf and those of us left will be happy to pay to get rid of dross and low life forang sexpats

    It seems that there are losers who claim to be able to afford 20,000 baht a month - might as well get rid of them too. :whistling:

    Why not make it 200,000 baht a month and get rid of a bunch more losers?

  3. There are 128,000 "high net worth individuals" in Thailand according to the Swiss Private Bank Julius Baer. By high net worth, they mean holding over USD 1 million in liquid assets -- apart from their primary homes.

    That's a heck of a lot of people.

    As a percentage of the population, it's hardly anyone.

    Thailand is not yet a rich country.

    But it does cast a bit on doubt on some of the ridiculous assertions that wealth is controlled by a few dozen / a few hundred / or even a few thousand "elite" families, and off-limits to all others.

  4. Are we talking about opportunity or corruption?

    The connection between middle class percentage of the population and corruption is directly correlated. Dominant middle class = low corruption and more opportunities for social mobility. Low middle class = massive corruption and low opportunities for social mobility. This is all obvious.

    And is Thailand's inequality coefficient widening (like most Western nation's are) or narrowing?

    That's a good question, most western nations aren't widening or narrowing but remaining within a tight standard deviation. There are a few countries where the middle class is getting squeezed like the U.S. but with a population of 300 million and a 14 trillion GDP there are numerous reasons for this which are not comparable with Thailand's economic or political situation.

    At any rate if the major western countries suffer a prolonged economic contraction Thailand will also suffer. A large portion of Thailand's economy hinges on exports mainly to the developed world. The entire ASEAN region will go through a recession.

    There are huge opportunities here for anyone who is hard working and who has a little ambition. Your suggestion that the "elite" has a lock on opportunity is simply silly, and a slap in the face to the tens of thousands of Thai families who have made it into the middle and upper classes by the sweat of their brow.

    Judging by the politics the elite _does_ have a lock on opportunity. If you have a dozen or less tycoon families controlling all the politics then they by default control access to opportunity and the immediate social welfare of the people.

    This isn't rocket science here.

    You really do have no idea what you're talking about.

    First you talk about the "elite" with their fancy overseas educations and their hardly being Thai.

    Then you reference the dozen or more elite families supposedly running politics? You mean, like the Yubamrungs, Asavahames, Khunpluems, Silpa-archas, Chidchobs and others who are hardly educated peasants and can hardly speak English?

    Those guys? The real "elite" would laugh at you including them in their company.

  5. If you'd like, take out the handful of billionaires in your "academic works".

    There are thousands upon thousands of ordinary Thais who have pulled themselves up (yes, from their bootstraps) to become millionaires on their own merit. I know a good handful of them personally.

    I know even more who have pulled themselves up from the farmer class to the middle class. Homes, cars, overseas trips -- all the trappings of the middle class.

    You paint a picture that is completely inaccurate, and one that plays into the myth that there are no opportunities here. I can only guess that you spend your time around people with no skills or ambition whatsoever, who sit around moping that they are poor without ever doing a darned thing about it.

    It must be sad.

    I'll ignore your little pissant insult and address this with just a few facts for you to consider.

    Countries with a dominant middle class invariably have much lower corruption than countries without a middle class. Thailand's middle class is obviously rather weak and despite the "thousands" you claim to know it's obvious that it's always hurt Thailand's long term development in this regard.

    Thailand consistently ranks in the near bottom on corruption indices. The "elected" officials you see in Thai politics are nearly all plutocrats. When was the last time Thailand had anyone in office that was due to merit or ability? Name one PM that fit this profile. Better yet how many are from a middle class background?

    The gini coefficient which measures wealth inequality. In developing countries a higher gini coefficient indicates more serious political/economic issues than a country with a naturally huge GDP like the U.S.

    http://en.wikipedia....ini_coefficient

    Thailand has horrible inequality.

    Are we talking about opportunity or corruption?

    And is Thailand's inequality coefficient widening (like most Western nation's are) or narrowing?

    There are huge opportunities here for anyone who is hard working and who has a little ambition. Your suggestion that the "elite" has a lock on opportunity is simply silly, and a slap in the face to the tens of thousands of Thai families who have made it into the middle and upper classes by the sweat of their brow.

  6. Most of the wealthiest people in Thailand do not fit your description of "elite". They're mostly a generation or two away from having mud between their toes.

    If you're talking about the titled nobility, they are getting poorer and poorer and losing whatever significance they once had on a daily basis.

    Here we go back to this myth again. There have even been several academic pieces of work done that go through the largest billionaires in Thailand and outline how they got their wealth. You remind me of a tea party activist..albeit a Thai version. You constantly imply that it's possible for everyone to be rich through boostraps, hard work, and meritocratic means while brown nosing the status quo. The tycoon class (billionaires and double digit millionaires) is far out of the reach of normal people and has been this way in SE Asia since post-WW2. The ones who are part of this either A) political connections or B) generational blood ties to wealth. The people that talk up being "poor" 2 generations ago still had political connections or wealth family members that got them where they are. There may be very rare exceptions to that but they are extremely rare.

    Even Li Kai Sheng of Hong Kong talks down his family's privileged roots and portrays this myth of being a street peddler selling plastic flowers. Every billionaire in SE Asia does this in interviews because it's part of the myth and they know if people focus on their privilege too much then it really hurts the status quo.

    There's no such thing as real meritocracy in SE Asia.

    My gosh, you are so wrong that it's shocking.

    If you'd like, take out the handful of billionaires in your "academic works".

    There are thousands upon thousands of ordinary Thais who have pulled themselves up (yes, from their bootstraps) to become millionaires on their own merit. I know a good handful of them personally.

    I know even more who have pulled themselves up from the farmer class to the middle class. Homes, cars, overseas trips -- all the trappings of the middle class.

    You paint a picture that is completely inaccurate, and one that plays into the myth that there are no opportunities here. I can only guess that you spend your time around people with no skills or ambition whatsoever, who sit around moping that they are poor without ever doing a darned thing about it.

    It must be sad.

  7. I'm surprised no one here mentioned Bella Napoli in Soi 31 yet. One of the biggest pizzas I've ever had in my life, baked in a real wood-fired oven, for a reasonable price (starting 200 THB afair). Some good pasta and meat on the menu, too. Overall a rather small menu, but that's usually a good sign of quality for a restaurant. Better than those doing everything but nothing really good.

    I've also liked Basilico (Soi 20, Soi 33) and another one quite near to Basilico in Soi 33 (can't remember the name).

    another i found recently that is arguably even better is Mama's you can find this in the soi between Soi 19 and Soi 21 Asoke

    You mean "Big Mama" which I really disliked btw (even though quite some friends recommended it). Food wasn't good and seemed rather cheap.

    Bella Napoli is good, but the menu is pretty much limited to pizza and pasta.

    I used to like Basilico, but something seems to have happened and it's no good anymore.

    I like the larb kai pizza at Big Mama's.

  8. The "Legal Imperialism" is indeed a problem which is growing. More and more governments and parliaments for that matter think they are entitled to impose their legislation on the whole world, where obviously they collide with other legislations.

    The most well known collisions are in the taxation, where many governments try to levy taxes on revenue, which has been made and taxed elsewhere already (double taxing). The most extreme here is the USA, which taxes not on where the revenue is generated or where the subjects resides, but purely on nationality. If you are a US citizen, you have to pay taxes to Uncle Sam even if you live and work outside the US and in fact have never been in the US. But at least the US government makes this abundantly clear and rules and regulations as well as court prejudices are available, no secrets there.

    The Thai government, however, (and the parliament and the Courts) keep the rules and regulations as well as all prejudices about this law we talk about here, totally secret. Not even in Thailand can we learn the scope of this law, study cases and learn what is permissible and what is not. There are secret lists of publications forbidden in this country, but the list is not published. There are tens of thousands of websites blocked in this country, but which they are and why they are blocked is a matter of National Security and thus not published, in many cases not even examined by a Court or explained to the owner of the website.

    So I ask all those here who defend and slavishly follow this law just because it is the law, how on earth can a US citizen, educated and living in the US know about this law in Thailand? He probably saw this ominous book and read it, no problem here, he is in the US and the freedom of speech protects his right to do so. In fact, any third party or government agency trying to prevent him form doing so would commit a crime.

    And he wanted to make this publication available to those who do not speak English, again an acted protected by the US Constitution.

    And now, he travels to Thailand and all of a sudden is considered having committed one of the worst crimes, punishable with up to 15 years of prison.

    His crime is so abominable that the Deputy Prime Minister in this country had to set up a "war room" to fight ... against whom? Thai people, freedom of expression?

    No matter how I look at it, Mr. (bottle of Gin) should be set free and all charges must be dropped. Anything else is a crime against humanity.

    Unfortunately, whatever is the fate of this poor fellow, we will never know the exact reasons why he was arrested, and convicted or set free.

    The way this law is applied here is the real insult.

    Do we have any choice but to "slavishly follow" this law? What's your alternative?

  9. Richard aren't you a teacher with a TEFL?

    Just wondered, as you are asking about other people's jobs, I sure you will be happy to answer.

    Yes Richard, please tell us about your life in TEFL and why you scan english speaking forums looking for foreigners criticizing Thailand? Are you happy doing this? Why do you care about what foreigners think?

    I'm not and never have been a teacher -- with or without a TEFL. Is that your idea of an insult, to call someone a "teacher"?

  10. Why on earth anyone would not want someone to be answerable to charges is beyond my comprehension. :blink:

    Well are you in anyway familiar with the local justice system?

    The word 'justice' doesn't really fit in to a description. :rolleyes:

    You're fond of making statement like this, but so far have come up with no evidence whatsoever -- whether anecdotal, empirical, or other -- that there are more innocent people locked up in Thailand than in other country.

    Regardless, it is the place the crime was committed and the only place where a trial can take place. There is no alternative, other than letting him go free to (potentially and allegedly) kill someone else.

    For the record, is that what you want? And where are the "many" people who feel the same way?

    *chirp* *chirp*

  11. When someone puts forth a theory that bewilders me, it naturally occurs for me to try to understand how they came to such a conclusion.

    I'm a curious guy who always looks to increase his knowledge. It's called intellectual curiosity.

    I ask questions, and usually people don't have a problem answering them.

    Then again, some people refuse to answer them and instead resort to personal insults such as calling people "insecure".

    Have a good day.

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