PM Declares War Against Loan Sharks

[webfact]

 

PRIME MINISTER SRETTHA Thavisin today (Nov.28) declared war on loan sharks and vowed to salvage the people who may currently owe debt to them.

 

Calling informal, illicit loans the masters of “Modern World Slavery”, the prime minister said the people nationwide are believed to have a combined sum of no less than 50 billion baht in debt to loan sharks against whom the authorities will dutifully take legal action.

 

Those who may currently be indebted with incredibly high interest rates collected by loan sharks will be completely salvaged “once and for all” by the authorities, according to the Pheu Thai-backed prime minister.

 

The Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Finance and the police will coordinate for the planned implementation of the government’s integrated measures against the informal, illicit money lending to the extent that debtees be finally ridden of debt burdens, be able to stand on their feet and keep themselves from being illicitly indebted again, Srettha said.

 

By Thai Newsroom Reporters

Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin. Photo: Thai Rath

 

Full story: THAI NEWSROOM 2023-11-29

 

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[ezzra]

27 minutes ago, webfact said:

Those who may currently be indebted with incredibly high interest rates collected by loan sharks will be completely salvaged “once and for all” by the authorities, according to the Pheu Thai-backed prime minister.

 

What a load of populist BS, what? is the government going to to pay the debts of the people? and say they do, people will stop going to loan sharks when the banks turns them away? loan sharking has been around for centuries and will be for centuries more...

[VinnieK]

That should fix it.

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Those who may currently be indebted with incredibly high interest rates collected by loan sharks will be completely salvaged “once and for all” by the authorities, according to the Pheu Thai-backed prime minister

Best of luck with that..... the biggest loan shark near me wears a brown uniform to work.

[mikebell]

I've got déjà vu.  Every other politician has said this for the last 18 years of my life here yet nothing has changed.

[bamnutsak]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

whom the authorities will dutifully take legal action.

 

I can't figure out if the PM is simply an imbecile, or a fool, or both.

 

What legal action will the authorities take?

 

4 hours ago, webfact said:

are believed to have a combined sum of no less than 50 billion baht in debt to loan sharks

 

Does anyone have a feel for the accuracy of this estimate? 

[sirineou]

3 hours ago, ezzra said:

What a load of populist BS, what? is the government going to to pay the debts of the people? and say they do, people will stop going to loan sharks when the banks turns them away? loan sharking has been around for centuries and will be for centuries more...

Some of it it is but not all.

If a person does something illegal, the gains from such endeavour a re subject to sanctions.  

So if the goverment wanted to cancel such  debt, they could and if such loan shark was to try and collect, such person could be put in jail. 

Now , how many people would screw with this thugs is another story .

If people know who these loan sharks are, you can bet the cops do too. If they wanted to do something . they could easily shut it down before it started. 

[Pouatchee]

51 minutes ago, mikebell said:

I've got déjà vu.  Every other politician has said this for the last 18 years of my life here yet nothing has changed.

 

yup! spot on. prayuth said the same thing... nothing changed

 

asians are addicted to gambling (so are many foreigners... but more so with asians it seems) and as long as they are loan sharks will keep raking it in 

 

 

https://www.gatewayfoundation.org/addiction-blog/gambling-addiction-asian-american-communities/#:~:text=Some of the Asian Americans,help cope with their experiences.

 

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9670317/#:~:text=Cultural conceptions of luck or,gambling in the Asian community.

Edited November 29, 2023 by Pouatchee

[lordgrinz]

46 minutes ago, bamnutsak said:

 

I can't figure out if the PM is simply an imbecile, or a fool, or both.

 

Like the last PM, they would fall under the "village idiot" category.

[PETERTHEEATER]

I assume that the PM has tried to borrow from loan sharks to fund his 10k public handout and is personally horrified at the interest charges.

[sammieuk1]

But,! but! what are the police and army going to fund those little Ferrari extras 🤔

[spidermike007]

I wondered how long it would take for Sretta to start making Prayuth style declarations. How long have you lived here? How often have we seen promises like this? These guys are infamous for pledges, declarations, proclamations and promises. Few are even remembered, much less followed up upon two weeks later.

[Hakuna Matata]

This is a step in the right direction. Also don't forget about the gun control.

[digger70]

Yea right , Pigs might fly. 

People know and the cops know who the sharks are they can stop them anytime they want , but they don't .

Too many donations and too many influential people running the Shark Game .

[Walker88]

If any Thai people actually believed that pabulum, they would rush out today and borrow every baht they possibly could from loan sharks, assuming their new master would grant them a debt jubilee.

[Morch]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

 

PRIME MINISTER SRETTHA Thavisin today (Nov.28) declared war on loan sharks and vowed to salvage the people who may currently owe debt to them.

 

Calling informal, illicit loans the masters of “Modern World Slavery”, the prime minister said the people nationwide are believed to have a combined sum of no less than 50 billion baht in debt to loan sharks against whom the authorities will dutifully take legal action.

 

Those who may currently be indebted with incredibly high interest rates collected by loan sharks will be completely salvaged “once and for all” by the authorities, according to the Pheu Thai-backed prime minister.

 

The Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Finance and the police will coordinate for the planned implementation of the government’s integrated measures against the informal, illicit money lending to the extent that debtees be finally ridden of debt burdens, be able to stand on their feet and keep themselves from being illicitly indebted again, Srettha said.

 

By Thai Newsroom Reporters

Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin. Photo: Thai Rath

 

Full story: THAI NEWSROOM 2023-11-29

 

- Cigna offers a range of visa-compliant plans that meet the minimum requirement of medical treatment, including COVID-19, up to THB 3m. For more information on all expat health insurance plans click here.

 

Get our Daily Newsletter - Click HERE to subscribe

 

He should declare war against whomever chose his attire.

[Laughing Gravy]

Here we go again. Let me give you a tip! pssssst check out those with brown shirts. Then those in other uniforms. I reckon you would sweep up.

[NoshowJones]

6 hours ago, mikebell said:

I've got déjà vu.  Every other politician has said this for the last 18 years of my life here yet nothing has changed.

True, as well as the politicians, the soldiers have also said it.

[ourmanflint]

Family "loan sharks" are very important in Thailand, every Chinese family has some old lady who lends money to the locals when they need it. Ours does, and she is no shark, yes she makes money from it, but she provides a very important service to those left out of the system

[Dogmatix]

The authorities will see to it that the loan sharks can no longer charge more than a 15% interest rate per year from any of their debtees, the prime minister said.

 

555.  Most recent governments had an initiative like this but nothing palpable came of it.  The large loan sharks all pay for protection or are family of police, military, local officials or politicians..

 

"Debtees". A ridiculous made up word.  Never heard of debtors.

[hotandsticky]

7 minutes ago, Dogmatix said:

The authorities will see to it that the loan sharks can no longer charge more than a 15% interest rate per year from any of their debtees, the prime minister said.

 

555.  Most recent governments had an initiative like this but nothing palpable came of it.  The large loan sharks all pay for protection or are family of police, military, local officials or politicians..

 

"Debtees". A ridiculous made up word.  Never heard of debtors.

 

 

The 15% max interest rate is already in force  -  and, yes, it is applied. 

 

A friend's wife hocked their house at a rate on 8% per month. When the house was sold to repay the debt the land Office insisted that the interest owed was reduced to the equivalent of 15% p.a.