connda

Protectionism doesn't foster free-trade and lower consumer prices. If you can't compete, either get out of the market or figure out ways where you can compete. Figure out what China needs and promote your manufacturing base to produce the widgets China needs. If you're going to join the BRICS, Thailand, you better figure out how to compete in that economic union - tariffs ain't gonna cut it. And you don't "reduce domestic production costs" by rising tariffs on imported parts and by rising taxes - and saddling your manufacturing base with freaking carbon taxes.

Take a look another way: China is producing goods at a lower cost and providing consumers with value. So communist China is out free-marketing the countries who advertise themselves as free-market democracies and bastions of freedom - who then screw their consumers by levying taxes and tariffs on the low priced goods that their own country can produce themselves. I find it amazing the Western consumers pick up their government and media talking points and verbally bash China for being the lowest priced seller of consumer goods. All they do is give their own government permission to tax those items and make them more expensive for themselves while the government pockets the taxes and tariffs and spends on items that don't help manufacturers - like dropping carbon taxes. Making inexpensive foreign goods don't make local manufacturers "more competitive." Shaking those manufacturers who can't compete out of the market makes the market more competitive and those who CAN compete fill the vacuum. "China subsidizes it's manufacturers! Arrrrgghhh!" Well - get a clue Thailand et.al. Ditch the self-imposed economic constraints on your manufacturing base - like freaking Carbon Taxes! Morons!

Notice the theme here: Carbon taxes Tariffs on lower priced products from China Taxes on lower priced imported products More creative taxation now targeting non-resident/non-citizens Tax tax tax tax tax Who does it most seriously impact? The poorest segments of society. In the meanwhile inflation is screwing the middle class and poor. Ironically the village poor may be the least impacted as locally grown foods, produce, and single-item noodle-shop foods tend not to go up in price as there is huge pushback at the local level. But go to a corporate grocery or other stores in cities and you see the inflation in spades. Items increasing in price by 20% to 60% or more over the last four years and those prices will never go back down. On the flip side, consumers like myself simply stop buying discretionary junk and processed foods which are targets for inflation and shrinkflation. So taxation and inflation, especially carbon taxes, are going to drive the commoner-classes into neo-feudalism. Which may be the point after all.

I know - impose a carbon tax! That will solve it!

Given enough time and no matter how much effort is made to suppress it, the facts regarding the efficacy and safety of Covid mRNA vaccines and the how and why the FDA allowed their released on the public will eventually rise to the surface and be published in the same news media which suppressed facts countering their efficacy and safety in the first place. It will just take time. Legal battles in the courts will pry the lid off of any corporate malfeasance. And if they are 100% safe and effective? That will come out in court too. Let the games begin and let the chips fall where they may.

The poorest segment of society get a break and then the government steps in to protect the profits of Thai corporations by screwing the poorest segment of society seeking to economize. Happiness to the people!

Folks - read this and chill. Wait until 2025, see what happens, then plan and act accordingly.

I think ya'll are wayyyyy to worried about something that hasn't happened yet. Wait until 2025 and see what transpires. Until then? Relax and chill out.

From the weather forecasts I see for Northern Thailand, I don't see any rain in the forecasts until mid-next-week. Haven't had any rain since the doom and gloom forecasts began.

It's sad. But by now even the most ignorant of the ignorant should understand never to trust what comes from a cold-call. But? The most ignorant of the ignorant still are ripe targets for scams. One thought though. The scammers seems to know what's in the farmers account. Oh well. As PT Barnum said, "There is a sucker in every crowd."

I expect all of the hard-core Russian hating neocon/neolib lovers will be mouthing the words, "bub bub but but we never saw this coming" when the nuclear bombs begin to fly. You all will just stand there slack-jawed watching the horror that the refusal to even consider negotiations with non-Western nations will lead to. But you say, "Russia (China, Iran, DPRK and The Axis Of Evil) must be overthrown - war war war - no negotiations, kill them all down to their last dog - Arggghhh - nuke 'em if they don't surrender!" Then: "bub bub but but we never saw this coming - they were bluffing" Just keep stoking the hate filled rhetoric, your leaders do hear you - "Our citizen want War - War it is! No negotiations ever. Bomb them into the stone ages. Russia (China, Iran, DPRK and The Axis Of Evil) must bow down and surrender to the will of the West or else!" <BOOM> 🤣 😄😂 😄😂 😄😂 😄😂 😄😂 "Oh connda, Russia's bluffing! They must surrender because Putin is Hitler. You can't talk to those borsh-eaters - they are evil Ruskies. They need to be put down like the dogs they are don't ya know! You must be Putin's Puppet! And Jeffrey Sachs too! Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha" Cooler minds aren't going to prevail. you want global war? Enjoy your war and you're hate-fest. I'm outta here.

Thais say they are Buddhist if it fits their needs, like the elite, but trust me - but the elite are secular.

I ❤️ the hypocrisy. Gambling is bad. You gamble, we catch you we throw you in prison. Gamble bad for you, bad for society. Than... Casino good. You gamble at casino, government make money. Gamble at casino is good, good for society. 🐂💩

The promised "Bird-Flu Pandemic" will put an end to that. Well - unless Casinos are "Essential Businesses" this time around. Now that I'm thinking about it, they probably would be.

Ya'll do know what I'm talking about. Let's not play word-games like you both have just done. Ya'll know I'm talking about a path to citizenship based on the marriage being the only criteria. With a foreign woman married to a Thai guy - the marriage itself IS the only criteria needed. And if a foreign woman has a Thai guy's kid, the marriage plus the child give her an accelerated path to apply after one year. There is nothing similar for foreign guys married to a Thai woman or a Thai woman who has had his child. The criteria for citizenship is the same as for any other person seeking citizenship - with the exception of a foreign woman (better - with the guy's kid). She has an accelerated path based on the marriage (child) alone. All I want is the same path based on my marriage as a foreign woman.

Not the same criteria as a foreign woman married to a Thai guy. The marriage alone is the criteria.

Phew - me too, I was worried about bob's wife suing me...................👨‍❤️‍👨

"There are points of no return. The next thing that Russia will have to offer will be the document about [the Kiev government’s] surrender." - Konstantin Gavrilov, Russian chief delegate to Vienna talks on military security and arms control “Russia has already lost this war.” - Jake Sullivan, US Security Advisor Kick back on watch the nuclear fun. Cue "Dualing Banjos" https://youtu.be/NFutge4xn3w

Mods - you can close this thread. Thanks.

Ok - so what about the Immigration laws that allow a foreign woman married to a Thai man to have a path to citizenship but not a foreign man married to a Thai woman? This is gender discrimination too.

The promised "Bird-flu Pandemic" will drive a stake though the heart of Thai tourism as well as any plans to be the "hub" of anything.

Your attitude is part of the problem bob, not part of the solution. But what should we expect from supposedly wealthy, bitter alcoholics?

They are just regular people like you and me Jingthing. Walk up, introduce yourself, tell them you would like to really know more about Russia culture, invite them to lunch, sit-down with them and talk. And remember you a talking with one person or family out of a population of 147 million people. Just like in the US, your gonna come across widely diverse opinions, but you may be able to catch common themes. I think you have a wonderful idea. We are not our leaders. So perhaps where are leaders fail at diplomacy we ourselves can promote grassroots diplomacy by talking to the people we are told are our "enemies." You'll come away better informed and many of your biases will be shattered. That's one of the reasons I've traveled the world when I was younger - to challenge my own biases about other cultures.

This article by world renowned economist Jeffrey Sach outlines the history of the conflict and Russia's attempt to negotiate security guarantees with the US since the breakup of the USSR. Professor Sachs has advised world leaders and US presidents. He provides a voice of reason. And I agree with him: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Why Won't the US Help Negotiate a Peaceful End to the War in Ukraine? For goodness' sake, negotiate! For the fifth time since 2008, Russia has proposed to negotiate with the U.S. over security arrangements, this time in proposals made by President Vladimir Putin on June 14, 2024. Four previous times, the U.S. rejected the offer of negotiations in favor of a neocon strategy to weaken or dismember Russia through war and covert operations. The U.S. neocon tactics have failed disastrously, devastating Ukraine in the process, and endangering the whole world. After all the warmongering, it’s time for Biden to open negotiations for peace with Russia. https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/role-of-us-in-russia-ukraine-war

I now say that the Atomic Doomsday Clock is about 15 seconds from midnight. We are wayyyy past where we were during the Cuban Missile Crisis when I was doing "duck and cover" drills under my classroom desk. That was futile - we lived on a SAC base and would have been vaporized. I "ducked" nuclear annihilation in 1962, I don't think we make it though 2024. Why? "Russia's bluffing," is going to get us all killed. Which in the minds of the billionaire psychopaths on this planet may actually be the point. If the airways still work after the first EMPs what you'd hear from the MSM pundits when shtf is "We never saw this coming...." Willful ignorance is bliss.