As Covid-19 batters Thailand’s economy, even pawnshops are running out of customers

[toolpush]

54 minutes ago, Xonax said:

Trafficking is a huge part of the sex-for-sale industry in Thailand, but only when you see the girls parents or other family members being the traffickers. Many girls from poor families have no other options than to work in the sex-trade, because they, in addition to their eventual children, are required to provide for their parents and often other family members as well. Setting up a state pension fund for the many poor elderly people, should be the Thai governments highest priority.

And where do they get the money from to set up that fund? From the proverbial money tree in the backyard of Parliament House?

[toolpush]

43 minutes ago, pissedoff2am said:

Or you know, we could just stop this experiment of locking down all the not as risk groups and get on with life instead of pretending that we can get to zero covid.

Like Sweden has successfully done? What a novel idea! Daily Covid deaths have hit zero there.

https://fee.org/articles/daily-covid-deaths-in-sweden-hit-zero-as-other-nations-brace-for-more-lockdowns/

[Mr Meeseeks]

49 minutes ago, Xonax said:

Trafficking is a huge part of the sex-for-sale industry in Thailand, but only when you see the girls parents or other family members being the traffickers.

Patent nonsense.

 

That may be true for the 30+ yo boilers that work farang bars and freelance online, but they are a minority on the whole and many girls that cater for local tastes are trafficked in from Laos, Myanmar and elsewhere. Many are underage too, as that is what that market demands.

 

It's an unfortunate fact that many sex-tourists or sexpats conveniently ignore or refuse to admit, as it would cast shade on their own activities.

 

"Thailand is a source, destination, and transit country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labour and sex trafficking."

According to the US State Department's Trafficking in Persons Report June 2016 (TIP), persons are trafficked into Thailand for forced labor or sexual exploitation and Thai nationals are trafficked abroad for the same reasons.

https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/2015/index.htm

 

To remain on topic, most of the girls that work in the aforementioned bars are in some sort of debt bondage, This is especially true of the go-go dancers in places like Cowboy, Nana etc. All owe money and the Indian money lenders can be seen nightly going on their collections, ledger in hand.

[Iron Tongue]

5 hours ago, nightfox said:

I'm sure local loan sharks are doing a roaring trade these days.

And I'm sure your knowledge of loan sharks comes from bad movies.

 

Loan sharks run a business like anyone else.  Their profit is in setting-up loans where the borrower can only manage to pay the accrues interest on-time while never having enough to pay off the principal.  This way, interest owed rolls-in forever and a good 'shark wants his book to be full of on-time borrowers.  It requires intimate knowledge about a borrower's finances so lending to dead-beats or already bankrupt people does not make a profitable business model, neither is beating-up your borrowers.  

In Thailand, the situation is so bad that existing borrowers have lost their jobs and new borrowers are too unreliable to lend to.  Not a good time for even loan sharks.

 

 

[bougnat]

They always have enough money to support a bloated clergy.

the day when the monks will be less fat, we will not speak of misery before.

[Walker88]

2 hours ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

You'll hate Thai conservative and puritanical values even more then. Thailand is a deeply conservative society even moreso than the West.

 

Trafficking and force is a huge part of the sex-for-sale industry which is why it is so big here. 

 

They are very good at hiding it from naïve foreigners though, it's almost an art.

Ah yes, the old myth about it being a 'conservative' and 'puritanical society'.

 

The land of mia nois and a host of other things that don't really fit the classical definition of 'puritanical'.

 

It's conservative in the same way Televangelists are conservative and puritanical. Quick to condemn or look down upon others for doing less than the high and mighty are doing themselves.

 

Most of the women who work in the flesh trade have no other choice, whereas all the hi-sos who keep mistresses and mia nois make a conscience choice.... all while tsk tsking the Isaan women in the trade. Even many hi-so females have their particular peccadilloes. 

[Peterphuket]

9 minutes ago, Donaldo said:

How come that most comments here still still the vaccination as the solution. The problem is not the virus with a survival rate of 99.98 %. By now we know that people who received the experimental vaccine still can get sick and transmit the disease. The real problem has been the total over reaction to the projected threat. A reaction that destroyed the livelihoods of billions of people world wide, created social unrest, increased suicides, caused acute famine for hundreds of millions.. The fall out of these measures will kill many more then those who would have died from Covid 19. The right approach would have been to protect the more vulnerable, increase hospital capacities and concentrate more on treatment then prevention. I still fail to understand the worldwide suicidal knee jerk reaction unless of course there is more to the story as we are let to know.

It's the in doctrine that does it.

[Kalasin Jo]

2 hours ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

You'll hate Thai conservative and puritanical values even more then. Thailand is a deeply conservative society even moreso than the West.

 

Trafficking and force is a huge part of the sex-for-sale industry which is why it is so big here. 

 

They are very good at hiding it from naïve foreigners though, it's almost an art.

Indeed it is. One of the paradoxes of Thailand. Once you step out of the bubbles of Pattaya and other tourist destinations you find a deeply conservative culture. The clothes on the young may still be skimpy but holding hands or kissing in public, even in private but in front of other family members, who are always around at home, is just not acceptable. The numerous cheap  " love" motels and resorts are there for a reason.

[Harveyboy]

1 hour ago, Xonax said:

Trafficking is a huge part of the sex-for-sale industry in Thailand, but only when you see the girls parents or other family members being the traffickers. Many girls from poor families have no other options than to work in the sex-trade, because they, in addition to their eventual children, are required to provide for their parents and often other family members as well. Setting up a state pension fund for the many poor elderly people, should be the Thai governments highest priority.

i agree pensions..but the families would still want more ..girls would still be expected to go work  .. Thais and greed you'll never part it   

[gk10012001]

COVID 19 is not battering the economy.  The Thai officials and their decisions are battering the economy. 

[gk10012001]

One thing I learned after watching all the Pawn Shop TV shows and reading one of their auto biography books, is that pawn shops make most of their money by loaning money or actually pawning items people bring in.  Sure they buy some stuff on the cheap and then re sell it, but the interest on loans is where they make the most.

[gk10012001]

5 hours ago, Asquith Production said:

Im sure they are as some see borrowing as a way out without thinking how they are going to repay. As it says in the article some people do not have anything else to pawn or sell. Its then when loan sharks get ugly. Not a situation I want any Thai to be in.

Burn through cash, then pawn things, then sell things.  Then sign over businesses, then sign over house title.  And along the way some more bad things, pressure the kids to do who knows what, servitude, trafficking, etc.

[xylophone]

1 hour ago, toolpush said:

And where do they get the money from to set up that fund? From the proverbial money tree in the backyard of Parliament House?

Thailand Foreign Exchange Reserves was measured at 234.4 USD bn in Mar 2021

[wwest5829]

2 hours ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

You'll hate Thai conservative and puritanical values even more then. Thailand is a deeply conservative society even moreso than the West.

 

Trafficking and force is a huge part of the sex-for-sale industry which is why it is so big here. 

 

They are very good at hiding it from naïve foreigners though, it's almost an art.

Thanks but I have found, the world over that the most conservative areas are in the rural areas. The big cities, including Bangkok … not so much. What we see is the warning in the rural areas that the big cities are a corrupting liberalizing influence. We also see many among the young flocking to the cities, one for jobs and equally important, to escape the rural areas where everyone knows what you did and with whom every night of the week. As I say, I have been resident in Thailand over a decade and had done my reading before coming. I found it a great study to see my bar girl friend, when her Mother and baby came down from Isaan to wear conservative clothing, even when in the sea. A study in contrasts but not limited to Thailand. No, I have found less hypocrisy here than in the Bible Belt with its highest use of porn in the US.

[tlandtday]

7 hours ago, ezzra said:

Sadly, it is only the tip of the iceberg, worse things are yet to come until most people will be vaccinated, which will be a mammoth job to implement in the coming months...

not if they wake up and reopen the country it seems rather evident that these lockdowns are not very effective vaccinations can continue with an open economy it is this attitude of lockdown and vaccinate that is killing the country

[iamariva1957]

But aren't we all so happy throughout Thailand that the Sand box is so helpful! Maybe we will see some of that money that is supposed to be flowing in reach the other areas of the country? Well... exactly how long can the average person hold their breath? 

[Caldera]

Things might finally get bad enough to motivate the Thai people to rid their country of its thieving elites.

[BusyB]

4 hours ago, Walker88 said:

What job is it that these folks should have taken? A female from Isaan who gets pregnant at a tender age, is forced to drop out of school, and isn't exactly in high demand among employers. For years there was this myth that jobs were plentiful in Thailand's economy. UE was low BECAUSE so many found work in the trades you mention.

 

Perhaps I'm a simp, but I have sympathy for females whose entire life is changed forever from a single act (having sex), whereas there is virtually no price to pay for males who engage in, or even initiate, those sexual liaisons. Never having walked in those shoes, I cannot criticize the subsequent choices such females take. Unlike many western nations, there is no social safety net in Thailand on which anyone can lean to restart their lives.

 

Sorry if off topic.

Have to say 'thank you very much' for this post. Since I know a working class family which is desperately struggling to put food on the table, the level of bigotry and ignorance in some of these threads about 'Thais' is stunning, nay, vomitous, but I can't be bothered to waste my time arguing.

Again, thanks.

(Have to say, this thread is relatively (!) humane.)

Edited July 23, 2021 by BusyB

[gk10012001]

On an indirect positive note, the USD to Thai Baht exchange rate was 1 USD to 32.9 Baht today.

[ThailandRyan]

1 minute ago, tlandtday said:

not if they wake up and reopen the country it seems rather evident that these lockdowns are not very effective vaccinations can continue with an open economy it is this attitude of lockdown and vaccinate that is killing the country

So the virus itself is not a threat, and people are not filling up the hospitals because they don't have covid. Additionally, opening up the country as you subscribe to will not add an even bigger burden on the medical staff or facilities in your view? Do you really believe this?, Can you please tell us more as maybe we can all learn from your scientific evidence.

[elnet1]

8 hours ago, NONG CHOK said:

I never thought I'd ever see the day when the soi dogs have done a runner in Pattaya.

Times are tough, people have them over for dinner

[Dont confuse me]

My sisters friends cousin a lad of 26 yrs no underlying health issues a recipient of two vaccines in the UK has caught the new strain he is in hospital, his wife of 18 moths has been told, "HE MAY   HAVE TO LEARN TO WALK AND SPEAK AGAIN! 

Apparently this new varient/strain  is not known to be fatal but can cause other unpleasant issues.

In Spain this week in the province of Valencia 29 vaccinated health workers tested positive again it doesn't appear life threatening but some unpleasantness experienced.

It's a virus! Viruses mutate that's what they do and will continue to do so until eradicated or lie dormant most of the time until something or someone triggers them back into life, you know like the flu!

 

 

 

[Walker88]

2 hours ago, Donaldo said:

How come that most comments here still still the vaccination as the solution. The problem is not the virus with a survival rate of 99.98 %. By now we know that people who received the experimental vaccine still can get sick and transmit the disease. The real problem has been the total over reaction to the projected threat. A reaction that destroyed the livelihoods of billions of people world wide, created social unrest, increased suicides, caused acute famine for hundreds of millions.. The fall out of these measures will kill many more then those who would have died from Covid 19. The right approach would have been to protect the more vulnerable, increase hospital capacities and concentrate more on treatment then prevention. I still fail to understand the worldwide suicidal knee jerk reaction unless of course there is more to the story as we are let to know.

I think a sharper pencil would help your math.

 

Here are the figures from John Hopkins:

 

Worldwide cases: 192,578,206

Deaths* 4,135,859

 

That is a death rate of 2.15%, not the .02% figure you quote.  Thus the actual survival rate is 97.85%. *John Hopkins takes a country's 'official' figure, so does not include the 5,000,000 total of deaths in India now being reported by several groups studying data in India. The death rate may well be closer to 4% worldwide.

 

If your "99.98%" figure was correct, only some 38,500 deaths worldwide would have been reported.

 

I remember from around 3rd grade where the teachers said "Percent means hundredths".

Edited July 23, 2021 by Walker88

[malibukid]

2 hours ago, Kalasin Jo said:

Indeed it is. One of the paradoxes of Thailand. Once you step out of the bubbles of Pattaya and other tourist destinations you find a deeply conservative culture. The clothes on the young may still be skimpy but holding hands or kissing in public, even in private but in front of other family members, who are always around at home, is just not acceptable. The numerous cheap  " love" motels and resorts are there for a reason.

i agree its not a good place to have a GF.  in France they kiss on main street.

[BritManToo]

9 minutes ago, Walker88 said:

That is a death rate of 2.15%, not the .02% figure you quote. 

Still no big deal IMHO.

When it's up to 10% death rate in the UK/US/EU I'll be more (but not much more) concerned.

[malibukid]

1 hour ago, gk10012001 said:

On an indirect positive note, the USD to Thai Baht exchange rate was 1 USD to 32.9 Baht today.

i am waiting for it to hit 36

[Mr Meeseeks]

1 hour ago, wwest5829 said:

from Isaan to wear conservative clothing, even when in the sea.

That's probably because they don't want to get brown skin.

[nightfox]

7 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

At recovering their money how? By taking the loan collateral? Or in hiring thugs to torment the families? Just  qyestions.

You pretty  much answered your own question.

[wwest5829]

5 minutes ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

That's probably because they don't want to get brown skin.

Ha! yes, well when working in the fields. When Mother and child were not visiting, no problem with the bikini in the pool and dressing sexy when we went out to eat in Pattaya.

[ThailandRyan]

9 minutes ago, nightfox said:

You pretty  much answered your own question.

Ergo, why they were rhetorical questions

Edited July 23, 2021 by ThailandRyan