How is it so many THAI People Survive in America When You Cannot

[EVENKEEL]

5 hours ago, jackdd said:

 You probably won't find many retirees who have 5k+ USD per month who decide to live full time in Thailand.

And, you know this how??

[Skallywag]

20 hours ago, ThomasThBKK said:

No i would open an office here from my company and employ dozens of thais and pays millions of baht in taxes like i do in other countries including the US - but i am not allowed to and it's not worth it to go through any of this just to pay taxes to the almighty thai govt.

Why are you complaining if you are already wealthy from your "company" which is so successful in other countries?  What does this company provide that Thailand is missing out on?  

 

[geronimo]

The answer to your question Sir is this,

 

We are all different, yes there are Thais who go abroad and do well, just as there are westerners who do the same, and regarding the number of affluent Thais where you are, I'd say they are either part of a wealthy family that are established there, or living off ill-gained money.

 

Thais are very hardworking and if they came out there in the 70s or 80s, then they would have done very well indeed. Anything Thai is gobbled up over there.

 

Regarding the "many" expats who end up in Thailand without a pot to <deleted> in, some are running away from themselves, some have been the victim of a love thing gone wrong, some have nowhere else to go, but I'd dare to say that the majority of expats in Thailand are living the dream life.

 

You don't hear much from them, as they have no real desire to tell anyone how happy they are.

[NanLaew]

11 hours ago, sanemax said:

He emant that foreigners cannot do any work they want to in Thailand

The dwindling number of work occupations that are proscribed to foreigners in Thailand aren't exactly the high-income jobs that western people travel half-way across the world to do.

 

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some umbrellas to paint.

[ThomasThBKK]

12 hours ago, Skallywag said:

Why are you complaining if you are already wealthy from your "company" which is so successful in other countries?  What does this company provide that Thailand is missing out on?  

 

 

I am not complaining, i couldn't care less, i am explaining why people here don't start businesses. Which might make it seem that foreigners in Thailand are incapable and Thais overseas are somehow better, but it's simply due to the freedom to do business in other countries.

 

And Thailand is missing out on taxes and employment, and thus even more taxes.

More business and competition is always better for a market, except you are some rich thai crony who wants to have the market for himself to exploit the poor thai population. 

 

Why do u think the US or Singapore, HK and co are such rich countries, because the ease of doing business is excellent, they are welcoming founders, that doesn't exist here and that's also why Thailand will be a 2 tier country forever. There's not a single unicorn startup in Thailand, and as the second biggest SEA economy that's a joke.

 

It's all glaring obvious just looking at the venture fund stats for Thailand: https://techsauce.co/saucy-thoughts/thailands-startup-ecosystem-long-road-ahead

 

What's there not to get? It's a glaring obvious thing.

 

 

 

 

[Just Weird]

14 hours ago, sanemax said:

He emant that foreigners cannot do any work they want to in Thailand

Did he?  You may be right but that's not what he actually said so why, apart from Thai-bashing, would he have said it?

[sanemax]

5 hours ago, Just Weird said:

Did he?  You may be right but that's not what he actually said so why, apart from Thai-bashing, would he have said it?

Thais are successful in the USA because they can work there , foreigers are not as successful in Thailand because we cannot work (t)here , is what he meant

[Skallywag]

1 hour ago, ThomasThBKK said:

More business and competition is always better for a market, except you are some rich thai crony who wants to have the market for himself to exploit the poor thai population. 

Agree with all your comments, yet as you say Thais/Thai government does not seem to want it. 

Maybe the junta, the monarchy, losing "face",  or as you say rich thai cronies.  It is what it is.  

[bwpage3]

22 hours ago, wwest5829 said:

Yes, I can check all those boxes. $1292.00 a month in Social Security and I draw a like amount from my retirement/savings. $2400.00 I maintain will not get me the used car, motorbike, 4 bed/3 bath rental home with utilities, food, car insurance, 6 pills daily I take. OK, maybe in a rusting out trailer in FL or AZ ... Many of the working middle class have sought lower cost countries for retirement including those with national healthcare schemes.

If you check all the boxes and you have your house and car paid for, why wouldn't $2400 cover your utilities, food, insurance in the USA?

Utilities electric, water, trash, internet, phone $400 a month

Food $400 a month

Insurance medicare $200

 

It seems to me if a person has to run off to Thailand to rent a place, they didn't have all the boxes checked when they retired?

After working 30+ years in the USA, one would expect you would have everything you could ever need and have it all paid off?

[bwpage3]

23 hours ago, NanLaew said:

Then it behooves you to come up with a newer, valid statistic or reference than what you claim you are seeing at temples in FL.

Sorry it doesn't behoove me to do anything.

 

Honestly you miss the point.

 

Thai's can survive in America, American's should be able to as well!

[wwest5829]

25 minutes ago, bwpage3 said:

If you check all the boxes and you have your house and car paid for, why wouldn't $2400 cover your utilities, food, insurance in the USA?

Utilities electric, water, trash, internet, phone $400 a month

Food $400 a month

Insurance medicare $200

 

It seems to me if a person has to run off to Thailand to rent a place, they didn't have all the boxes checked when they retired?

After working 30+ years in the USA, one would expect you would have everything you could ever need and have it all paid off?

Where are you living? What is your monthly budget? No travel? No property taxes. Look, this is my reality, your’s may be quite different. Nonetheless, there are thousands of working middle class from western countries retiring, in part to lower cost countries for a reason that is in part financial. 

[BritManToo]

48 minutes ago, bwpage3 said:

It seems to me if a person has to run off to Thailand to rent a place, they didn't have all the boxes checked when they retired?

After working 30+ years in the USA, one would expect you would have everything you could ever need and have it all paid off?

Unfortunately for me my (former) Brit wife unchecked all my boxes for me the same year as I retired.

Almost exactly 30 years after we married.

Edited November 10, 2019 by BritManToo

[Damrongsak]

One brother-in-law works 5 1/2 days a week as a chef in a Thai restaurant and his wife works in another.  He makes money on the side repairing cars.  A couple of his vehicles were free, aside from a bit of repair parts.  They recently bought a house after about 8 years in the U.S.  They rent out one bedroom.  Their daughter will soon marry an American and has a job at a state-owned liquor store.  Her son is studying graphic arts at the local University, apparently with tuition assistance.  He works part time as well.

 

 

Another BIL came 30 years ago on a tourist visa and overstayed.  He worked very long hours at a bagel shop.  Married a Thai gal just for the paperwork and got legal.  He eventually bought a bagel shop in NY.  He sold it and moved to the Tampa, FL area and I think he bought a modest little house.  He also bought a few rai of land in Loei for retirement.

 

Sis-in law also worked in restaurants and recently bought out a Thai restaurant that she and her daughter run.  She divorced her Thai husband and married a half-Thai American.  They bought a house and also rent out a room or two. Her daughter (a college grad) married an American and just had a child. 

 

We also know a Cambodian family who came as refugees.  The guy worked for years as a heavy crane mechanic and port master at the local port.  They eventually bought and operate a small resort motel on a 200 km² reservoir. Good, hard working people.

 

Incidentally, it took 10 years to get immigrant visas for the SIL, BIL and their families.  (I didn't know the families came with the package. ????)

[NanLaew]

14 hours ago, bwpage3 said:

Thai's can survive in America, American's should be able to as well!

Thanks to some great and informative posts, the Thai people that we see 'surviving' in America covers a much broader social spectrum than the obviously wealthy ones the OP sees at FL temples. Their network of support enables the new arrival to focus on their primary goal which is to work towards making a better life and living in the USA.

 

On the other hand, the generation of Americans that find themselves socially and financially adrift in Thailand for the most part didn't come here to work towards making a better life and living in Thailand. The fact that they weren't permitted to work here wasn't a concern as this was 'paradise found' where a very acceptable standard of living could be maintained on a modest income from overseas.

 

That was then, this is now.

 

I can see the OP's point but things have changed both in Thailand and the USA. The US citizen/retiree/divorcee in Thailand who is either financially or health challenged has probably burned the bridges that allows him/her to easily cash in and go back home. Their family may have also grown or otherwise moved on and aren't there to help put the training wheels back on or provide a bed. There may be a degree of personal pride that makes them unwilling to consider any social welfare and assistance that their state may provide. Meanwhile, the Thai worker in the US who fails to make the grade there and decides to go home is returning to a country that in the same period of time has dramatically changed and will more easily step back into the life and work style that Thailand offers its own. No fellow Thai will look down on them as a failure unlike when the westerner goes home with his life's belongings in a green, plastic Big C carrier bag.

[Onrai]

On 11/9/2019 at 4:11 PM, alex8912 said:

They don’t have to go to Canada or Mexico every 30 days. You just are being narrow minded and not really getting it. I wish I could just come to Thailand for 90 days straight easily NOPE

I can only assume you don’t know how hard it i to get a visa to the USA. It may be a 10 yr multiple entry but the US, it may be for 90 days but that is totally moot if you can’t get one. I have talked to way too many people that have been denied a USA visa to have any illusion it is easy to get. I might also add that Thailand is the only country I have been to in SE ASIA where you can get a visa on arrival for free- Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam all require visas. The general visa stay is 30 days. So the only difference with thailand is that you can get a visa on arrival for free and have to pay in the surrounding countries. You can also apply for a non-immigrate type O visa which, if I remember correctly, is a 90 day visa. Pain in the butt to get one but nowhere near as hard as a USA visa.