connda

For Sale (Kai) is one of the most popular signs posted thought out Chiang Mai. People are attempting to sell at a loss and there are not takers. Hello 1997!

Most Thais are up the their eyeballs in debt. And their banks are too. Faux prosperity abounds. "Look - I have TV, Trucks, Cars, House, Bling and more Bling. I 'rich' man." Me: I own everything I own debt free. I have savings and investments. I don't claim I'm 'rich man' because I don't give a **** about status!

Who is twisting anyone's arm to take that position?

Translated: How can we tax the plebs who made money as well as protect the solvency of Central Banks. Plebs should never have windfall profits, only banker.

Yeah, I know a bunch of guys who came here annually. I fill them in on the details of New Normal Tourism in Thailand and they travel elsewhere or just don't travel. Nobody is returning here under the current set of absurdly restrictive rules.

Ah-huh...right! Thailand and the MOH just need a few days to kick Omicron's butt and it's back to business.

That should drop tourist arrivals in 2022 down to 10 million at best. Why? Every time a new variant is hyped they'll close down the tourism infrastructure. In the meantime open up all the roads for domestic travel for New Years just like during Songkran at the beginning of the Delta outbreak. Then lock the country down a month later. They could of controlled the Delta outbreak, and they could control the Omicron outbreak. It's almost as though they don't want to. They are again taking step to facilitate the spread. Now figure that out. Wash, rinse, repeat ad-infinitum.

Exercise. No prescription needed.

Speaking of that. What ever happened to the Swiss guy how was attacked in his yard by a Thai with a revolver who jumped his fence. The Swiss guy disarmed him but killed him. So much for defending yourself if you're a farang. That story just disappeared. For all we know the guy is languishing in Thai prison for defending himself. So yeah. If you are a foreigner I guess you're suppose to just get shot or hacked to death.

Imagine if it was England and the reverse happened. It would be in world news as well as being touted as an act of racism and hate. Here in Thailand? Police may get around to it sometime. No biggie. Farangs are rich. He should have bought the Thai a beer or two. The attack won't get further than regional news.

This should be an excellent thread as those whom believe their feces smell like lilacs and roses, and that their personal status in the scheme of the Expat community is one of floating "above the riff-raff and lowly common class." You people simply floor me. ???? Where do you come from? I've shared my background - share yours. What makes you - Special? If you're so critical of the "working class" then share some of your esteemed CV so we can understand what makes you so --- respectable and above the 'common class' you disparage? "I'm better they you, you, you - commoners. You, you - Workers!!!" <laughs> Of course you are. Ya'll are God's Gift To The World. So share with us.

But it is incredibly honest work. I look at people who worship money as do so many upper-crust prigs (bankers, techno-neo-riche, and what I see are people who would sell their souls for wealth, power, and control. And if that includes crushing and impoverishing the 99% in order to add to their wealth and power - well, break out the steam rollers and let's get to crushing. Generally these 1%er have so much wealth that they are able to purchase the souls of the "leadership class" who then do their bidding. You know - put the commoners in their place. Strip their wealth and assets (You'll own nothing and you'll be happy). Impose social controls (freedom to travel and congregation and to breath freely - or have a beer in a pub). Is anyone here a 1%er? Let's here from you. <laughs>

Very Brit. I actually went to school there as a kid. Buckingham College in Harrow (ain't there anymore). Dad was an upper-level military attache which made him a "somebody" back in post-WWII Britain. What did I learn from an upper-crust Brit school? "You can't have any pudding if you don't eat your meat!!!" Really. Post WWII austerity was a very real thing. I kid you not. But also, the education they provided was light-years ahead of the US - at the time. Then we returned to the US and I was just another military brat. Most of us had similar experiences. Wait a minute! I believe we just nailed it. There's my "social class." Military brat: I'm independent little s**t with a life-long attitude toward authority figures as well as their narratives, as well as a man who maintains that perceptual framework throughout his life. ✅ Social Class - Military Brat

BTW - OP. Please chime in. What's your social class my friend? Anyone want to make a bet we won't hear another word for the guy who started the thread. Why? Seen it too many times before. "Wizzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz - plop" <sound of a bobber hitting the water>

Yeah, US truck drivers pulling down six figures. Let not even mention the jack an underwater welder who works on oil platforms can make. Class <laughs>

It's possibly the silver spoon embedded in your nether regions which impairs your ability to empathize. Just a guess.

I've been all three. Where am I now in the scheme of things? Retired. I've done some of the dirtiest, grubbiest, dangerous work imaginable (look up the 10 most dangerous job in the US and done 5 of them if you don't include the military), I spent 8 years in the military (that makes 6), left, graduated at the top of my class out of university, and spent my last career years working a nice clean (sometimes rather cold - worked in server rooms a lot) job as a computer engineer and eventually migrated into management positions, not particularly out of choice but by upper management requesting that I fill in managerial gap - I could interface between labor and management. And I've no regrets about anything I've done. All those experiences shaped me. So? What class am I? Do I give a flying ****? (<--- that's my Military and blue-collar guy speaking) No! Not really. Plus people's fortunes wane and wax with the fickleness of fate and luck. People with high risk tolerances probably have been both broke, rich, and all points in-between. So really? What difference does it make what class another person is unless you are a status conscious prig - and I'm not - as I can related first-hand to all of those classes - and I thoroughly respect them all. What about you OP. Do you speak Oxford English as well as Latin and hobnob with the "upper-crust?" Or are you a Thai? Or just "gone native?" What drives your interest in social class? ????

I've messed with them telling that I want the puu sung ayuu (old people) price. Then I challenge their respect for the elderly. Then I get "the face." Uggh.

It's all about money. If you pop positive farang? You're an automatic ticket to a 100,000+ THB medical bill for a money-hungry private hospital that the government promises to feed rich farangs to. But? You know that coming in. Personally, with the exception of returning expats, who in their right minds want to bet they'll be a positive PCR test upon arrival or during their stay which may be a false positive. You know what's going to happen? I'd never come here as a tourist under those conditions. Especially with kids. It's asking for a lot of unnecessary anguish. There are other countries you can visit with none of this drama and potential expense and forced medical incarceration.

We usually go once or twice a year. Haven't been since Feb 2020. Nice park, pleasant atmosphere. Yeah the dual pricing sucks. I've been able to talk them down to a Thai price once. They just put on their "confused" face with wife and myself talking Thai at them. It's worth the 50 THB not to have to see that face again.

Unless you're a farang. I believe that private hospital injection's price includes insurance against adverse effect. I could be wrong.

Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 16:18

So what's this mean for border runs?

Bingo! There's what it's really all about.

Yong back in the spotlight again. Translated: Take whatever you're given, don't complain, and be happy.