A classic example of people with Big Eyes living a Champagne lifestyle on Beer Money wages.

More so than in many Countries, this need for everything shiny new is driven by " Face " .The need to have the very latest Expensive Smart Phone, a Car they cannot afford to put the Gas in, and Kids at Schools that have " prestige ", that many cant afford to pay the fees on.

When I first came to Thailand 15 Years ago, the majority of people were dreaming of  owning a Refrigerator, and a fairly decent Motorcycle.

Now ! They dream of a 6 bedroom House, a brand new Car or Pickup Truck and the latest in all the Household Gadgets and Phones.

And all this Consumerism has been driven by slack lending, which has led to the massive Household Debt to GDP Ratio of close to 100 %

For many, the reason they cannot make ends meet is that they are in Debt to the Hilt, and cannot borrow more to fuel their extravagant lifestyles.

On top of their current lack of income problems, the rice growing families of Isan and, presumably, the central plains are not going to get much out of this year's harvest.   In southern Isan the rice fields are lakes of rain water having nowhere to flow.

7 minutes ago, Cake Monster said:

And all this Consumerism has been driven by slack lending

And the stupid soap operas they are obsessed with! You know, the rich family, the expensive car, the big house, the poor maid and the ladyboy! ????

1 hour ago, dkg224 said:

Well no s**t. Why did they even need to run a poll to see this. Just go to any village in Thailand and see how most of the people there live. 
Basically almost live as hunter gatherings getting some shrub branches here and insects there, rice paddy crabs and snails. 
but like someone said they still find money to buy the lottery number they dream about and you forgot about buying Lao Khao. That’s an important one 

They also have smart phones often own brand new motorbikes as do many of their kids, some have pick-ups too  They are not all poor in the village where I live There's combine harvesters and tractors too, all new or new ish

47 minutes ago, Surasak said:

Someone suggesting a wage increase, which will push up inflation, then the circle will continue.

won't help us either

1 hour ago, ChrisKC said:

This "survey" showing an average of less than 20 people in every province is not representative or statistically significant and it is worth only ignoring it. 

that goes for all "dusit" polls

1 hour ago, Road Hog said:

It gets very hard for most Thai's as prices goes up even for the basics, but their wages stay the same. Most Thai's that I know have 2 or more jobs now just to make ends meet.

There are a few in our village that never work who seem to be doing just fine

1 hour ago, Caldera said:

As long as Thais with a monthly income of 20,000 baht choose to buy the latest iPhone for 40,000 baht, their salary will never be enough.

This is very true of most Thai's 

They mostly,  live way beyond there means.

But they are not interested in changing there ways.

And what ever government they have,  it will make no difference to this mind set they chose to have.

 

15 hours ago, Sparktrader said:

Some massage girls make 4000 baht a day. Work 20 days a month, AVG 3000 baht is 60,000. Rent 3,500. Saving 50,000. 

Yeh and prime minister or generals even make more money. IF you would have daughters, you would recommend them to start working in the prostitution industry?? 

Edited October 11, 20223 yr by toho

1 minute ago, toho said:

Yeh and prime minister or generals even make more money. IF you would have daughters, you would recommend them to take up prostitution??

If i was a woman i might do it myself

1 minute ago, Sparktrader said:

If i was a woman i might do it myself

Also being a man you can start. Good luck.

15 hours ago, Sparktrader said:

Some massage girls make 4000 baht a day. Work 20 days a month, AVG 3000 baht is 60,000. Rent 3,500. Saving 50,000. 

And are "massage girls" classed as "most people"?

Mind, it would be interesting to know which/what type of people were interviewed for the poll!

For instance, you could interview 1067 hotel managers nationwide and get a different reaction than from 1067 farm labourers!

14 hours ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

It was about Thais generally , not the minority  those who work in the sex industry .

   What made you think about girls working in the sex industry , rather than those working in legitimate jobs ?

Not a criticism, just an observation from my perspective, that the sex industry, existing since time immortal might well be considered legit, as it is in various cultures.

2 minutes ago, sambum said:

And are "massage girls" classed as "most people"?

Mind, it would be interesting to know which/what type of people were interviewed for the poll!

For instance, you could interview 1067 hotel managers nationwide and get a different reaction than from 1067 farm labourers!

Looks like there is 1 million of them.

2 hours ago, ChrisKC said:

This "survey" showing an average of less than 20 people in every province is not representative or statistically significant and it is worth only ignoring it. 

Over 85% worldwide struggle

10 minutes ago, Orinoco said:

This is very true of most Thai's 

They mostly,  live way beyond there means.

But they are not interested in changing there ways.

And what ever government they have,  it will make no difference to this mind set they chose to have.

 

"In my day", before the "never never",  we saved up to buy things that we wanted!

Mind you, that was in the days of black and white TV, and bicycles were the main means of transport! ???? 

14 minutes ago, Sparktrader said:

If i was a woman i might do it myself

And leave no time for trading forex ?

4 minutes ago, Sparktrader said:

Looks like there is 1 million of them.

So are you saying that because there are "1 million of them", they are "most people"?

14 hours ago, MrJ2U said:

Amazes me.

 

One kilo of raw chicken wings from Tesco's was 440 baht.  A day and half wages.  

 

In the US the same Kilogram of wings would be around 260 baht.  

 

Huge problem having two families own Tesco's, Big C, Makros, and 7/11.

 

Total monopoly. 

And as we know monopolies mean larceny, lower quality and indifference. Look at True Visions. The quality of the programming is an abomination. The selection of movies is so poor. They likely are unwilling to pay more than 100 baht for a fee to show a movie. Shame on the government for allowing it. 

 

And shame on the government for putting the people in this position. They shoulder much of the blame for the economic morass the people find themselves in. An alternative to pre-historic politicians must be found. 

27 minutes ago, Bday Prang said:

There are a few in our village that never work who seem to be doing just fine

And their daughters/granddaughters are doing what?

3 minutes ago, sambum said:

So are you saying that because there are "1 million of them", they are "most people"?

There are 200 different jobs. Which one job has most people?

5 minutes ago, itsari said:

And leave no time for trading forex ?

In between customers

2 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

And as we know monopolies mean larceny, lower quality and indifference. Look at True Visions. The quality of the programming is an abomination. The selection of movies is so poor. They likely are unwilling to pay more than 100 baht for a fee to show a movie. Shame on the government for allowing it. 

 

And shame on the government for putting the people in this position. They shoulder much of the blame for the economic morass the people find themselves in. An alternative to pre-historic politicians must be found. 

And True Vision attitude to complaints sucks as well! I suspended my service for 3 months, and they said that I hadn't and tried to charge me for it.

I ended up taking the "box" and the card into their payment centre, and telling them what they could do with it!

5 minutes ago, Sparktrader said:

There are 200 different jobs. Which one job has most people?

Where's the "Confused" button when you need it?

2 minutes ago, sambum said:

Where's the "Confused" button when you need it?

Go and survey 5m people. See you in 10 years.

4 minutes ago, Sparktrader said:

Go and survey 5m people. See you in 10 years.

My point was that was the 1067 people interviewed a fair cross section of the community, or not!

 

Welcome to the new world order Thailand great wef reset via covid theatre ! We all in this together ???????????? exception to the rules super wealthy political elite life went on with life flying in private jets etc, having parties while rest of us were under lockdown tyranny by so called democracy  countries instead prisoners or corperation that our independent country's leaders sold us into .. 

Edited October 11, 20223 yr by Mad mick

Chinese tourism will not bring any relief, Chinese tourists don't spend locally, only to big operators.

8 minutes ago, sambum said:

My point was that was the 1067 people interviewed a fair cross section of the community, or not!

 

Most surveys are 600 to 1000

Worldwide people are struggling

15 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

Thaksin would do a hell of a lot better then the goons in power now who have looted the coffers....

I seem to remember Thaksin and sister did a magnificent job looting the coffers, in fact they got filthy rich in their time in power.

I figure you have a shortvor a very selective memory.

That said, I read in internet, papers, whatever, things are not going dandy elsewhere also.