Thailand inflation/recession

[Yellowtail]

26 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

Don't need to. They are glaring and can be found virtually everywhere. 

I'll take that as a no.

 

You have no more examples, and you were wrong about the example you did provide. Batting a thousand as it were...

 

[StayinThailand2much]

8 hours ago, dj230 said:

Might be a contrarian opinion but if a recession or at least some sort of economic weakness, wouldn't that mean the Fed wouldn't have to raise interest rates? Since demand would fall due to a weak economy.

Well, the Fed is supposed to keep inflation 'down'. Will they overdo it, and create a recession? - No-one really seems to have a clue when and what they plan to do.

 

How will equity markets react? - Opinions are divided. Just read that hedge funds did poorly recently, and the prestigious "Barron's" magazine admitted that a good number of their 2021 stock recommendations did, in fact, poorly. - Makes me actually feel good that I, who hardly knows anything about investing, wrung the financial markets 40% off over the past 15 months. (Just read this morning an article, how some fat-cat professional fund managers 'achieved' 35% capital gains last year, congratulating themselves... - Hello... So did I! LOL.

Edited January 24, 2022 by StayinThailand2much

[treetops]

21 hours ago, lungbing said:

A ready-cooked fillet of fish in Big C was 49 baht in November, went to 59 in December  and jumped to 79 this week.  Not at that price.

I noticed that price hike too, but the sign at the bottom of the display mentioned it was buy one get one free so I grabbed myself a bargain.

[Neeranam]

On 1/23/2022 at 2:41 PM, Adumbration said:

Yes.  Pork is now bouncing off 200 baht a kilo.  How does a workaday bloke with a family get by with a daily wage of 300 baht.

How many people do you know on 300 baht a day, which is below minimum wage?

[BritManToo]

2 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

How many people do you know on 300 baht a day, which is below minimum wage?

Almost all my Thai relatives get less, essentially rural farmers in Nan and Pechabun.

And all my woman's friends in Chiang Mai, they are scraping around to even get 300bht.

One of her cousins gets paid 400bht/day as a 'building gang' supervisor in Mae Rim.

[Neeranam]

On 1/24/2022 at 12:35 PM, spidermike007 said:

America is falling apart, as prices skyrocket. The quality of life back there is falling off a cliff. As some of you know, we thought we wanted to leave Thailand. Until we spend two months in the US, and Mexico. No thanks. I will just try to bury my head in the sand here, as much as possible. 

Probably as they voted in a president who doesn't what day it is, and has the lowest ever ratings of any leader now.

Or it may be due to the excessive quantative easing, which obviously will cause a depression.

I'm going to Mexico soon, what's wrong with it?

[Neeranam]

3 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Almost all my Thai relatives get less, essentially rural farmers in Nan and Pechabun.

And all my woman's friends in Chiang Mai, they are scraping around to even get 300bht.

One of her cousins gets paid 400bht/day as a 'building gang' supervisor in Mae Rim.

Hmmm,  I thought all farmers were rural.

 

[BritManToo]

51 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

Hmmm,  I thought all farmers were rural.

 

There are farmers all around me, and I'm 12Km for the moat in Chiang Mai.

Plenty of suburban farmers.

Edited January 26, 2022 by BritManToo

[Adumbration]

26 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

There are farmers all around me, and I'm 12Km for the moat in Chiang Mai.

Plenty of suburban farmers.

My neighbor works filling the black plastic bags with soil to plant rubber tree saplings.  She gets 1 baht per filled bag planted with a cutting.

[spidermike007]

2 hours ago, Neeranam said:

Probably as they voted in a president who doesn't what day it is, and has the lowest ever ratings of any leader now.

Or it may be due to the excessive quantative easing, which obviously will cause a depression.

I'm going to Mexico soon, what's wrong with it?

We were in Northern Baja. The police, and army presence was unbearable. A dozen guys on the back of a truck, all with high caliber machine guns, flak jackets, and looking like they are ready for war. No thanks. The cartels do not interest me. 

[KhunLA]

On 1/23/2022 at 2:41 PM, Adumbration said:

Yes.  Pork is now bouncing off 200 baht a kilo.  How does a workaday bloke with a family get by with a daily wage of 300 baht.

 

Last year chicken was 45 baht a kilo today it was 97.

 

Outrageous price increases of circa 100 percent....but...very importantly, don't believe the lies that it is due to covid.  It is because corruption is out of control here in Thailand and there is no one to pull up the 12 or so families that own everything.  

 

They are hiking the prices based on lies and no one (in any position of authority) is stepping in to call them out.

Chicken here, Makro (PKK) still 60-70 baht.

 

Pork, yea, silly 200 ish, and the restaurants aren't buying it, the fake shortage BS, or the pork.  Went for my usually last night, Khao Soi w/deep fried pork patty and told no pork and they won't be having in the future.  Not till the silliness if over.  No prob, the fried chicken was just as tasty.

[spidermike007]

On 1/23/2022 at 8:02 PM, StayinThailand2much said:

Supply chain shortages, thanks to Covid-19 restrictions, lockdowns (esp. in China), and changes in labour availability...

Those are the covers, that many theiving corporations and businesses are using to jack up prices. They are factors. But, not the whole story. Many companies in the US are also cutting way back on customer service. To a shameful degree, and reporting record profits at the same time. Yeah. Right. I am a big sucker. Tell me another story. 

Edited January 26, 2022 by spidermike007

[spidermike007]

On 1/24/2022 at 12:57 PM, RichardColeman said:

My local supermarket in the UK just put up my cream cakes 25% ! I'm furious ! I seriously cannot see anything in the product that could have risen 25%, there's nothing much in it. 

Corporate profiteering, in a time of a pandemic. Utterly shameless bahavior. 

[Yellowtail]

4 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Those are the covers, that many theiving corporations and businesses are using to jack up prices. They are factors. But, not the whole story. Many companies in the US are also cutting way back on customer service. To a shameful degree, and reporting record profits at the same time. Yeah. Right. I am a big sucker. Tell me another story. 

Any examples yet?

[spidermike007]

15 hours ago, Yellowtail said:

Any examples yet?

Hundreds upon hundreds. FedEx rates are up 100% in a year. Supply chain? Please. Sandwiches at delis are up 50%. The cost of bread and mustard? In the US, the prototeering is utterly shameless. 

[Yellowtail]

6 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

Hundreds upon hundreds. FedEx rates are up 100% in a year. Supply chain? Please. Sandwiches at delis are up 50%. The cost of bread and mustard? In the US, the prototeering is utterly shameless. 

You assume because the price is up it the companies are "prototeering"? 

 

What do you base that on?

 

You told the same lies about Verizon

 

Do you not think the price of fuel doubling has a significant impact on FedEx's costs? 

Do you not think the increase in demand has an impact on FedEx's costs? 

Do you not think the inability to hire/contract drivers has an impact on FedEx's costs? 

 

If you don't like FedEx, don't use them. Seems pretty simple to me. 

 

[spidermike007]

6 hours ago, Yellowtail said:

You assume because the price is up it the companies are "prototeering"? 

 

What do you base that on?

 

You told the same lies about Verizon

 

Do you not think the price of fuel doubling has a significant impact on FedEx's costs? 

Do you not think the increase in demand has an impact on FedEx's costs? 

Do you not think the inability to hire/contract drivers has an impact on FedEx's costs? 

 

If you don't like FedEx, don't use them. Seems pretty simple to me. 

 

Thanks, good advice. I have been using DHL as much as possible. They are more reasonable, as they have not been gouging as much as Fedex, lately.

 

Lies about Verizon? In speed tests I took in November of 2021, I consistently got speeds of under 10mbps in four different areas of Los Angeles, plus San Diego, Orlando, Tampa and Daytona Beach, on two different late model smartphones, while paying 15% more than I did a year ago. A year ago the speeds were consistently double that. In addition, the wait time for customer service were averaging 80 minutes. So, I ask you, what do you think I am lying about? A rather strong accusation, with nothing to back it up.

 

Price gouging has been so bad, that Biden set up a task force to investigate it. The evidence of it is so vast, you would have to be hiding from truth, or blind to not see it. 

 

The Department is also committed to preventing hoarding and price gouging for critical supplies during this crisis. To combat this misconduct, the President issued an Executive Order under section 102 of the Defense Production Act, which prohibits hoarding of designated items, and the Department has created the COVID-19 Hoarding and Price Gouging Task Force.

 

https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus/combattingpricegouginghoarding

 

Hospitals are charging up to $650 for a simple, molecular covid test that costs $50 or less to run, according to Medicare claims analyzed for KHN by Hospital Pricing Specialists (HPS). Charges by large health systems range from $20 to $1,419 per test, a new national survey by KFF shows. And some free-standing emergency rooms are charging more than $1,000 per test.

 

https://khn.org/news/article/covid-testing-has-turned-into-a-financial-windfall-for-hospitals-and-other-providers/

 

Meanwhile, North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein asked residents to report pandemic-related price gouging. North Carolina has a price-gouging law, and Stein has taken companies to court before for pandemic-related price gouging.

 

https://consumer.healthday.com/amid-covid-19-test-shortages-price-gouging-is-on-the-rise-2656328938.html

 

William Lazonick, professor emeritus of economics at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, said the companies raising prices are large enterprises that should know how to solve their supply chain issues — and one way to do that is invest in people and pay them equitable wages. 

“They’ve become so focused on just getting their stock prices up,” Lazonick said. 

 

https://www.marketplace.org/2022/01/20/why-are-company-profits-rising-despite-inflation/

 

During the past two economic quarters, businesses outside of the finance industry have seen their largest profit gains since 1950. According to data from the Commerce Department, corporations’ profits increased by 37 percent during that time period, compared to data from the previous year.

 

https://truthout.org/articles/using-inflation-as-an-excuse-corporations-raised-prices-increased-profits/

Edited January 27, 2022 by spidermike007

[BritManToo]

On 1/23/2022 at 5:33 PM, spidermike007 said:

This may be the first time in history we are experiencing this level of inflation in the West, combined with record low interest rates. It will lead to a massive collapse and correction. It cannot be avoided. The balloon is way, way over inflated. 

Did you forget Germany in the 1930s?

[spidermike007]

8 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Did you forget Germany in the 1930s?

I am not aware of how low interest rates were in Germany in the 1930's. I was lead to believe they were fairly high. This is the absolute crux of the coming crisis. 

[ExpatOilWorker]

It has been 40 baht for as long as I can remember,  now it is 45 Baht!!!

 

[Yellowtail]

1 hour ago, spidermike007 said:

Thanks, good advice. I have been using DHL as much as possible. They are more reasonable, as they have not been gouging as much as Fedex, lately.

 

Lies about Verizon? In speed tests I took in November of 2021, I consistently got speeds of under 10mbps in four different areas of Los Angeles, plus San Diego, Orlando, Tampa and Daytona Beach, on two different late model smartphones, while paying 15% more than I did a year ago. A year ago the speeds were consistently double that. In addition, the wait time for customer service were averaging 80 minutes. So, I ask you, what do you think I am lying about? A rather strong accusation, with nothing to back it up.

 

Price gouging has been so bad, that Biden set up a task force to investigate it. The evidence of it is so vast, you would have to be hiding from truth, or blind to not see it. 

 

The Department is also committed to preventing hoarding and price gouging for critical supplies during this crisis. To combat this misconduct, the President issued an Executive Order under section 102 of the Defense Production Act, which prohibits hoarding of designated items, and the Department has created the COVID-19 Hoarding and Price Gouging Task Force.

 

https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus/combattingpricegouginghoarding

 

Hospitals are charging up to $650 for a simple, molecular covid test that costs $50 or less to run, according to Medicare claims analyzed for KHN by Hospital Pricing Specialists (HPS). Charges by large health systems range from $20 to $1,419 per test, a new national survey by KFF shows. And some free-standing emergency rooms are charging more than $1,000 per test.

 

https://khn.org/news/article/covid-testing-has-turned-into-a-financial-windfall-for-hospitals-and-other-providers/

 

Meanwhile, North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein asked residents to report pandemic-related price gouging. North Carolina has a price-gouging law, and Stein has taken companies to court before for pandemic-related price gouging.

 

https://consumer.healthday.com/amid-covid-19-test-shortages-price-gouging-is-on-the-rise-2656328938.html

 

William Lazonick, professor emeritus of economics at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, said the companies raising prices are large enterprises that should know how to solve their supply chain issues — and one way to do that is invest in people and pay them equitable wages. 

“They’ve become so focused on just getting their stock prices up,” Lazonick said. 

 

https://www.marketplace.org/2022/01/20/why-are-company-profits-rising-despite-inflation/

 

During the past two economic quarters, businesses outside of the finance industry have seen their largest profit gains since 1950. According to data from the Commerce Department, corporations’ profits increased by 37 percent during that time period, compared to data from the previous year.

 

https://truthout.org/articles/using-inflation-as-an-excuse-corporations-raised-prices-increased-profits/

You said Verizon was making record profits, that was shown to be a lie. 

 

You have claimed FedEx was price-gouging and have shown nothing to support it. 

 

I don't doubt the Biden Administration is doing all they can to blame the private sector for their incompetence, but when you intentionally drive the price of oil up 60% in a year, prices for goods and services are going up. 

 

[Yellowtail]

41 minutes ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

It has been 40 baht for as long as I can remember,  not it is 45 Baht!!!

 

Still a bargain.....

[spidermike007]

32 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

You said Verizon was making record profits, that was shown to be a lie. 

 

You have claimed FedEx was price-gouging and have shown nothing to support it. 

 

I don't doubt the Biden Administration is doing all they can to blame the private sector for their incompetence, but when you intentionally drive the price of oil up 60% in a year, prices for goods and services are going up. 

 

Blame oil. Blame the supply chain. Blame the labor shortage. Defend the corporate world all you want. It does not change criminal gouging one iota. We see what we want to see, and we interpret the world around us in different ways. 

 

What they fail to mention is dramatic price increases across the board.

 

FedEx Ground reported record earnings for the quarter and revenue growth of 27%. The revenue increase was primarily driven by strong growth in business-to-business shipments and a 14% rise in revenue per package.

 

https://investors.fedex.com/news-and-events/investor-news/investor-news-details/2021/FedEx-Corp.-Reports-Record-Fourth-Quarter-and-Full-Year-Results/

 

[Yellowtail]

1 hour ago, spidermike007 said:

Blame oil. Blame the supply chain. Blame the labor shortage. Defend the corporate world all you want. It does not change criminal gouging one iota. We see what we want to see, and we interpret the world around us in different ways. 

 

What they fail to mention is dramatic price increases across the board.

 

FedEx Ground reported record earnings for the quarter and revenue growth of 27%. The revenue increase was primarily driven by strong growth in business-to-business shipments and a 14% rise in revenue per package.

 

https://investors.fedex.com/news-and-events/investor-news/investor-news-details/2021/FedEx-Corp.-Reports-Record-Fourth-Quarter-and-Full-Year-Results/

 

Do you understand the difference between revenue and profit? FedEx's net profit margin is less today (~6%) than it was in 2019 (~7%) and you claim they are price gouging. 

 

Why does it surprise you that when the cost of fuel, labor, equipment and overhead all go up

 that shipping costs go up as well? 

 

What did you major in?