Thai Govt Aims At Turning Thailand Into Full Welfare State

[webfact]

Govt aims at turning Thailand into full welfare state by 2017

The government plans to turn Thailand into a full welfare state by 2017 and sets social welfare as a national agenda.

The decision was reached during a meeting of the National Social Welfare Promotion Committee. The meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.

The meeting decided to make the social welfare a national agenda with the goal to provide full social welfare to the people by 2017.

The government will develop four social welfare systems - public services, social security scheme, social assistance and a system to help communities to have sustainable strength.

-- The Nation 2010-01-22

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[Reasonableman]

A lofty aspiration long overdue...

[Jingthing]

Paid for how? Tax evasion is a national sport here.

[londonthai]

pie in the sky - looks for me more like an early start to the general election, than a political will.

it's the parliament, which has to aprove the governmental budget every year, who will shape social policies. Somehow I don't see in the present parliament any lobby for the welfare state and no social movement anywhere in that direction. Political parties are taking care of their own business, trade unions are inefective, their bosses are in the pockets of employers and government officials.

[givenall]

Paid for how? Tax evasion is a national sport here.

I thought it was already a welfare state. Every man and woman for himself or herself welfare

[Ijustwannateach]

If they could only tax the grey and black markets- i.e., the street markets and organised crime.

Sadly, I fear they will attempt to do this by raising the taxes of the middle class workers- i.e., me.

[snowflake]

I have no problem with taxes IF they work for the system...

I come from Norway, we pay alot in taxes, but the welfare system is very good...

I do not think that the Thais can do this by 2017...

There also have to be an end of corruption then, more tax money have to be generated... Not by one class but by all classes. The government workers have to learn to do their job without getting paid small brown envelopes...

Get your land paper signed, 10% of the net amount... Sell this need a signature... 5000B... not so much for foreigners but for all Thais... Before that happen, nope, this will never ever work... But a very good plan...

[sunsamourai]

But a very good plan...

a thai plan remains basically a western raving . . .

[TAWP]

More organized theft (taxes) to create handouts, perfect...another country going down the socialist drain of ruin.

[powderpuff]

I guess they have been studying the global messiah BHO.

[Bagwan]

pie in the sky - looks for me more like an early start to the general election, than a political will.

it's the parliament, which has to aprove the governmental budget every year, who will shape social policies. Somehow I don't see in the present parliament any lobby for the welfare state and no social movement anywhere in that direction. Political parties are taking care of their own business, trade unions are inefective, their bosses are in the pockets of employers and government officials.

If Abhisit can field a supporter of this plan in every constituency surely he would get a massive majority in a General Election. If the Army stepped in then Thailand becomes Burma Mk2. Could that happen? Tourists and investment capital dry up and Thailand becomes an International outcast. Have the favoured few the power to face down the masses? Are there enough honest (relatively speaking) cops to maintain control of the streets? Will the majority recognise that this scheme offers much more than Thaksin ever did?

Thai politics has suddenly becomes interesting.

[Bagwan]

Get your land paper signed, 10% of the net amount... Sell this need a signature... 5000B... not so much for foreigners but for all Thais... Before that happen, nope, this will never ever work... But a very good plan...

Then it isn't a very good plan then, is it?

[splodger]

A lofty aspiration long overdue...

education,health care,BAR GIRLS???????????????????????????????

[ace]

"The government will develop four social welfare systems - public services, social security scheme, social assistance and a system to help communities to have sustainable strength."

Bureuacratic mumbo-jumbo - an adequate pension policy would suffice.

[Thailand]

Electioneering pure and simple.

[Reasonableman]

Choose your drain...the current one stinks to high heaven already. Talk about rightist paranoia.

More organized theft (taxes) to create handouts, perfect...another country going down the socialist drain of ruin.

[TAWP]

Please provide an example of any socialist experiment that has worked. Handouts is never the way to go, it is allowing people the freedom to excel that is. Don't exchange a broken system with another. Like fixing a broken leg by starting to bash the other one...

[thaijasmine]

" The meeting decided to make the social welfare a national agenda with the goal to provide full social welfare to the people by 2017. "

A non corrupt police force would be a nice step towards providing " social welfare "

[NADTATIDA1]

TIT FOR TAT

Thailand's human rights situation under Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva was getting worse over the past year, New York-based Human Watch said in its annual report Thursday.

Govt aims at turning Thailand into full welfare state by 2017

A social security system,imagine what the rate for unemployment would be.....250 bt a week?

[jontom]

TIT FOR TAT

Thailand's human rights situation under Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva was getting worse over the past year, New York-based Human Watch said in its annual report Thursday.

Govt aims at turning Thailand into full welfare state by 2017

A social security system,imagine what the rate for unemployment would be.....250 bt a week?

Does Abhisit really expect to be in Government in 2017? Where is the smiley Army general when you need him? I suppose the off topic one is close to an army person, you know the ones that run Thailand.

[KhaoNiaw]

A social security system,imagine what the rate for unemployment would be.....250 bt a week?

There are already unemployment payments for a limited period for those who pay into the social insurance scheme. I can't remember the details but I think it's something along the lines 50% of the last salary for a period of 6 months.

[SomTumTiger]

What people need are decent schools, decent health care, decent roads, decent food, and decent access to jobs. If that is welfare, so be it.

[mommysboy]

If they could only tax the grey and black markets- i.e., the street markets and organised crime.

Sadly, I fear they will attempt to do this by raising the taxes of the middle class workers- i.e., me.

You really sicken me!

[geriatrickid]

Norway's welfare state exists because of its oil revenues. Canada's welfare state exists because of its natural resource revenues.

Portugal, Greece, and Spain's welfare states are near collapse because they do not have the revenues to support the programs.

How will Thailand pay for its welfare state. Let's see the revenue generating plan first.

[mommysboy]

Norway's welfare state exists because of its oil revenues. Canada's welfare state exists because of its natural resource revenues.

Portugal, Greece, and Spain's welfare states are near collapse because they do not have the revenues to support the programs.

How will Thailand pay for its welfare state. Let's see the revenue generating plan first.

The point is you just have to start somewhere - it's a noble aim, and of corse it will have to be paid for. You sicken me too!

[nasajsc]

excellent idea - all the foreigners can stop supporting their isaan girlfriends uncles and aunties

and grandmas and brothers and sisters and third cousins...

[hawthorne]

"excellent idea - all the foreigners can stop supporting their isaan girlfriends uncles and aunties

and grandmas and brothers and sisters and third cousins.."

no you are confusing the lottery with the social system, but I agree be interesting to see anyone say they do not need the handouts any more. Also there goes the need to send daughters off to work in seedy joints.

Such a novel idea to get people to work so they can pay taxes to later have the government take care of themselves. Now they only need jobs at honest tax reporting companies and all is fine. This looks like a very hard task ahead.

[mogoso]

I guess they have been studying the global messiah BHO.

The same organization "Acorn" that put Barry in office,( by hook or by crook) has gone international. Look for it in a lot of places with its community organizers.

[jbsears]

Please provide an example of any socialist experiment that has worked. Handouts is never the way to go, it is allowing people the freedom to excel that is. Don't exchange a broken system with another. Like fixing a broken leg by starting to bash the other one...

Examples of socialist experiments that have worked: Sweden, Norway, Denmark, France, UK, and Canada. Socialized education and health care are the building blocks for the market and competition to excel. Without socialized education and health care, the divide between the working class and the elite expands to the point where the elite have an unfair advantage at birth. Socialism in the form of education and health allows for equal opportunity and greater competition which creates greater innovation and increases the standards of living. The benefits of capitalism work best when there is a strong system of entitlements in place to allow for increased competition. We do not need pure capitalism or pure socialism, but markets to function in conjunction with socialistic programs that allow all people to start on an equal level.

[Johpa]

More organized theft (taxes) to create handouts, perfect...another country going down the socialist drain of ruin.

Perhaps you should ask the poster snowflake just how miserable life is for the Norskes, or the neighboring Svenskes, or any of the other Northern European folks who enjoy a dose of socialism mixed in with their capitalism. And it is not simply oil revenue that allows this dose of socialism as another poster opined, it is the vision and the willingness to see that a progressive tax system works in everyone's interest. One can still become very wealthy in those ruinous socialized countries (they are not really socialist in the way that ignorant Americans use the term), but there are limits placed upon extreme wealth so as to maintain a stable and relatively happy society, a goal still shared by many wealthy Europeans yet a goal now discarded by many in that isolated world of the USA.

Thailand's politicians should be applauded for even mentioning this lofty goal, even if implementation is but a pipe dream and currently it is perhaps a mere political ploy. But at least it gets the concept out there.