The Poorest People

[Felt 35]

Never look down on anyone unless you’re helping them up.

Jesse jackson

[geriatrickid]

I would suggest the the vast majority of working farangs are under sixty. Most of the guys I know are between 30-50, working in offices, as either MD or other Senior VP roles...hardly the demographic described by Bendix.

No argument from me on the age of workers as per Polecats kindly jab in the right direction. My comments were not appropriate for the group you reference.

However, I do wish to point out that while the people you reference exist, they represent a shrinking minority of farangs in Thailand. Here's why; The number of companies that qualify for bringing in such expats tend to be big foreign multinationals. So what's that number altogether? Fortune 500? Fortune 1000? Let's say 2000 for arguments sake. What's the typical number of such expats per company? If it's a South korean or Japanese entity, there might be 10-20, but if its your typical western company, I think you might see numbers that average lower say 2-10. The positions you describe are expensive to fund and companies just don't have the money to do it. GM used to be a leader in expat packages. Today its doing everything possible to get rid of those jobs. Go down the line of banking and investment firms, Same deal. Even the accounting firms that used to be a nice place to go work are cutting back as their clients cut fees. So the SVPs and MDS of economic substance you refer to might number in the low thousands in a best case scenario, while support staff such as engineers, IT and technical expertise might be higher. I'll give an example closer to home, my former employer a Fortune 500 once had approx 25 expats in Thailand. Today, I think it is down to 3. My employer prior to that had a massive asia pacific operation. It was gutted in favour of hiring lower cost locals. All this was done in the past 5 years. I don't believe the number of well paid expats outside the petro industry is there anymore and I'd wager that in the next year those numbers will shrink even more.

As such, the presence of your group while important gets swamped by the large number of retirees and semi retirees.

Fair enough geriatrickid, although if this is true:

the reality is that most of the farangs in Thailand are over 60.

then we're not really talking about workers, but retirees (or semi-retirees).

Ahh. Me bad. Your point understood. Putting things in context does help. Thank you.

[Ajarn_Jonesy]

I feel that i am highly qualified to make that statement, having lived among the poorest in asia and seeing how much they waste. Alcoholics drinking their entire month's paychecks on a single night's drunk and only having enough money left to buy some plastic wrapped junk food for their hungry children. No pitty from me, except for the children that they breed that will grow up to be just like them.

apparently ignorance is bliss with you. You should remove the name "jaideeguy" from your name.

Smoking marijuana, snorting coke, shooting Methamphetamine while your children watch as they are starving for food in the metropolis like LA, Detroit and NY is different?

This happens all over the world not just in Asia. These people are missing something called opportunity and education, so blaming and condemning them because of they are a product of their environment is utterly pathetic.

Correct.... It is easy for us to see them and make judgements, have to remeber we have three fingers pointing back at us..... However ours is not the right to judge. Ours obligation (whether from moral/religious or whatever) is to do everything we can to help them..... What they do with that help is between them and their maker so to speak....

[Misplaced]

I feel that i am highly qualified to make that statement, having lived among the poorest in asia and seeing how much they waste. Alcoholics drinking their entire month's paychecks on a single night's drunk and only having enough money left to buy some plastic wrapped junk food for their hungry children. No pitty from me, except for the children that they breed that will grow up to be just like them.

apparently ignorance is bliss with you. You should remove the name "jaideeguy" from your name.

Smoking marijuana, snorting coke, shooting Methamphetamine while your children watch as they are starving for food in the metropolis like LA, Detroit and NY is different?

This happens all over the world not just in Asia. These people are missing something called opportunity and education, so blaming and condemning them because of they are a product of their environment is utterly pathetic.

Correct.... It is easy for us to see them and make judgements, have to remeber we have three fingers pointing back at us..... However ours is not the right to judge. Ours obligation (whether from moral/religious or whatever) is to do everything we can to help them..... What they do with that help is between them and their maker so to speak....

AMEN! AMEN! AMEN!

Can I say that even if I am a Buddhist?

[RoyJones]

Never look down on anyone unless you're helping them up.

Jesse jackson

Thats the best post. This is what seems to be lacking with most people

[philliphn]

Jesse Jackson is a millionaire who made his money in the poverty bussiness. He should listen to Obama, when Obama says that Black Americans need to take responsibility for themselves, and father their own children. By this Obama means behave in a law abiding and responsible manner.

It is my opinion that the lack of education is one of the keys to addressing poverty. Do the Thai power elites have a vested interest in educating the average Thai citizen. They don't behave as if they do. It is harder to remain in control for these power elites, if their population is more educated, and correspondingly aware. This seems to me to be one of the fundamental factors that maintains poverty in Thailand. Combine this with a lack of oppourtunity. You then get the "mai pen rai" attitude. This attitude fits well with the fatalistic Budhist religion. This religion says just accept it. Don't let things cause you sorrow or dsitress. The sad thing is that this philospohy is not unrealistic when one considers the reality of life for the average Thai citizen. Don't get confussed and think that I am slagging of Budhism. I am not and it is not my intention to do so. Over all I have a lot of interest in the Budhist religion. Budhism in my mind is just as valid as any other religion.

I can understand financially poor people wanting some pleasure in life, and wanting to escape the misery and drudge that is a part of most peoples lives. I myself do not choose to seek this escape and pleasure in drunkeness. Instead I have planned and am building my escape tunnel. This escape tunnel has taken me a lot of years to build. Much effort and hard difficult often unpleasant stressful work. It helps when we learn to delay the desire for instant gratification.

Learning to delay the desire for instant gratification, planning for the future, are very helpful as strategies for escaping poverty. However, their must be some reasonable hope. Some people don't have a reasonable hope. If that is the case then just escaping, if only for the drunken evening, is better than nothing. Though this may be less than nothing, if it causes you to neglect the children that you fathered, and reach a level of irresponsibility that is so destructive as to make the sky weep.

We are all Human Beings. We all have our fallabilities. Some might say that I was very wasteful, when I bought a 2 year gym membership in the USA for $800.00 for two years. I have weights at home. The road is free even if cold to walk on. I would say that I can easily afford this. It reduces my stress, and makes me healthier. I am not depriving any dependents of any thing by this. Other than the orphans that I could have donated funds to at the Baha Batay Orphanage in the Phillipines. Well I am no saint. A poorer person might just have a drink of whiskey. I have a better alternative. It is helpful to find the better alternatives!

I am over simplifying this very complex issue. This is because of my limitations. I am not saying that the solution to poverty is simply get an education, learn to delay gratification, and find better alternatives to stress reduction. This is just my two cents worth!

[pampal]

as usual, this has gone way off topic

[polecat]

as usual, this has gone way off topic

No it hasn't. People are still discussing poverty/low income in Thailand and what they spend their money on. I'm actually amazed we are still on topic and it hasn't turned into a thread about the correct shape of pizza or whether onion mix has any place in burgers.

[myauq]

as usual, this has gone way off topic

No it hasn't. People are still discussing poverty/low income in Thailand and what they spend their money on. I'm actually amazed we are still on topic and it hasn't turned into a thread about the correct shape of pizza or whether onion mix has any place in burgers.

pizza should be round and cut into triangular pieces. but dam_n it onion mix has absolutely no place in burgers! anyone disagree... bring it on...

...sorry, what that about money and stuff in thailand?

[polecat]

You see, you've gone and ruined it myauq. Now we'll never know whether my idea of castrating the poor will catch on

[polecat]

A poorer person might just have a drink of whiskey.

For $800 it'd be a pretty good whisky.

[tmd5855]

If you're going to waste your time pitying others, maybe you should try pitying yourself.

I think the OP went to a Village, spent some money and was resentful that the locals had the audacity to try to enjoy themselves, maybe he would have preferred them to fall to their knees and worship him cos he has more money than some of them.

Then again, you can't come to Thailand and meet a poor girl half your age and expect her to have a rich family can you ?

Yeah, I know, ThaiVisa members in the main marry rich Thai women, but the majority of Farangs in Thailand don't.

Strange how anonymous internet forums have such a large percentage of Farang that have married wealthy Thai women from influential families.

Ditto, Ditto et Ditto