Thaksins Latest Plans

[bambob]

(The Nation) Thaksinomics in trouble

Date: 8 Jul 2005 22:09:53 -0700

Premier steps in as baht, economy sink

Published on July 09, 2005

The Nation

As the baht droops to 26-month lows and confidence sinks in the

economy, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is scrambling to keep the

ship afloat with fast-acting stimulus patches while steaming ahead with

the massive Bt1.7-trillion mega-infrastructure package.Yesterday

Thaksin called a special meeting at Government House with his chief

policy-makers to discuss ways to restore faith in the flagging economy.

The participants included Somkid Jatusripitak, deputy premier and

finance minister; Thanong Bidaya, commerce minister, Prommin

Lertsuridej, prime minister's secretary; Pansak Winyaratn, prime

minister's chief policy adviser; Viset Choopiban, energy minister;

Pridiyathorn Devakula, central-bank governor; Bandid Nijathaworn,

deputy central-bank governor; Ampon Kitti-ampon, secretary-general of

the National Economic and Social Development Board; and Suparut

Kawatkul, permanent secretary for finance.

Details were not revealed, but a source at the meeting said the Finance

Ministry would come up with incentives and budget spending measures,

while the National Economic and Social Development Board would present

ideas on how to save energy. All government agencies will prepare

proposals over the weekend so Thaksin can put them in a comprehensive

package on Monday.

"We need short-term measures as back-up. At present the government

has only medium- and long-term measures to cope with immediate problems

such as rising oil prices," Thaksin said.

The comprehensive economic plan will be broadcast live to the nation on

Tuesday during the 72nd anniversary celebrations of Montfort College in

Chiang Mai, his alma mater.

"I will talk about the economic issues at all levels, short term,

medium term and long term," he said. "A piecemeal approach

doesn't make sense."

Officials were instructed to work out how to ease in diesel price

hikes.

"There's a psychological problem in that when we raise the diesel

price by Bt0.40 a time, people find it hard to calculate the cost."

Thaksin insisted that the government had followed the right path in

solving economic problems and would stick to its plan to promote future

growth by investing Bt1.71 trillion in infrastructure projects over

five years.

He lashed out at critics who predicted that the country was heading for

stagnation like Singapore.

"Don't curse your own economy. In the capitalist world, without

trust and confidence, money will turn into scraps of paper. Today we

have to ask which direction the Thai people prefer," he said.

"The government has a clear formula, and I am still confident. I did

my homework while I was in China," he said.

Turning into Asia's worst-performing currency after the yen, the baht

slipped to Bt42.10 to the dollar yesterday and was off the lowest level

in 26 months of Bt42.18. A treasury dealer at a local bank said the

baht had been coming under speculative selling in the Singapore market

due to concern over the higher oil prices and the widening

current-account deficit.

Thai stocks have also lost favour, with most foreign brokerages

downgrading the local market due to the sharp economic slowdown, with

no recovery in sight for the rest of the year. Stocks have come under

foreign pressure to the tune of more than Bt4 billion in net sales over

the past week. Key local economists have called for the government to

revise its strategy from promoting growth to maintaining economic

stability.

On Thursday Chalongbhop Sussangkarn, president of the Thailand

Development Research Institute (TDRI), warned that the economy might

run aground unless the government halved the budget for mega-projects

because the current account was taking a beating.

The TDRI sees the current-account deficit climbing relentlessly from

the equivalent of 1.7 per cent of GDP this year to 2.5 per cent next

year, 4.3 per cent in 2007 and 5.9 per cent in 2008, before peaking at

6.9 per cent in 2009. This would be due to high imports of oil as well

as capital goods for the mega-projects during the period.

Thaksin said the government would go ahead with the projects as

planned.

"We studied very carefully before coming up with the investment. The

plan doesn't have any problems and has no negative impacts."

Rather than focusing on guarding stability, as advocated by former

finance minister Virabongsa Ramagura, Thaksin would cure economic

malaise by injecting money into the system.

"One diabetes theory is to cut food and boost insulin, but you starve

to death; the other says you have to control insulin and eat to be

healthy. This theory strengthens your liver. When the liver is strong,

you recover.

"The government chooses to solve economic problems by providing

food," he said.

---

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com

***************************************

should he spend spend spend ???

its the Thai way surely?

spend all your money today before someone else borrows it and never pays it back.

[samran]

haha, Liver-nomics. Economic orthodoxy turned on its head. Pump an already inflationary environment with more money!!

[PeaceBlondie]

Long range planning, in Thailand?

Statistics?

Diabetes? Hey, Samran, I like that term, 'liver-nomics'!!

Where's that ROTFLMAO icon?

My US pensions, denominated in dollars and adjusted for COLA increases, begin to look more and more valuable.

Maybe 50 baht to the US dollar? Maybe 65? Agreed, Allen Greenspan's a bit of an idiot himself at times, but .....but....oh well, I won't say it. It might get me banned or exported...I mean, deported.

[cclub75]

Pump an already inflationary environment with more money!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes. To stay on the "image" side : they can see the obstacle in front, but they push the gas pedal like maniacs.

More seriously... at this point i doubt Thaxsin will find the "1.7 trillons" of bath. He's dreaming. Anyway, he has already the head in the stars ("mercury"), isn't it ?

Again it's pure "talking-talking and no action" like all the government do (or not do) since february (elections).

You have to remember that this plan of "big infrastructures" is not new ! Actually, they bore our ears with this famous plan since a long time already.

But, oh dear, pockets are really empty now. What is going to say mama ? What are we going to do ?

[Harmonica]

(The Nation) Thaksinomics in trouble

Date: 8 Jul 2005 22:09:53 -0700

Premier steps in as baht, economy sink

Published on July 09, 2005

The Nation

As the baht droops to 26-month lows and confidence sinks in the

economy, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is scrambling to keep the

ship afloat with fast-acting stimulus patches while steaming ahead with

the massive Bt1.7-trillion mega-infrastructure package.Yesterday

Thaksin called a special meeting at Government House with his chief

policy-makers to discuss ways to restore faith in the flagging economy.

The participants included Somkid Jatusripitak, deputy premier and

finance minister; Thanong Bidaya, commerce minister, Prommin

Lertsuridej, prime minister's secretary; Pansak Winyaratn, prime

minister's chief policy adviser; Viset Choopiban, energy minister;

Pridiyathorn Devakula, central-bank governor; Bandid Nijathaworn,

deputy central-bank governor; Ampon Kitti-ampon, secretary-general of

the National Economic and Social Development Board; and Suparut

Kawatkul, permanent secretary for finance.

Details were not revealed, but a source at the meeting said the Finance

Ministry would come up with incentives and budget spending measures,

while the National Economic and Social Development Board would present

ideas on how to save energy. All government agencies will prepare

proposals over the weekend so Thaksin can put them in a comprehensive

package on Monday.

"We need short-term measures as back-up. At present the government

has only medium- and long-term measures to cope with immediate problems

such as rising oil prices," Thaksin said.

The comprehensive economic plan will be broadcast live to the nation on

Tuesday during the 72nd anniversary celebrations of Montfort College in

Chiang Mai, his alma mater.

"I will talk about the economic issues at all levels, short term,

medium term and long term," he said. "A piecemeal approach

doesn't make sense."

Officials were instructed to work out how to ease in diesel price

hikes.

"There's a psychological problem in that when we raise the diesel

price by Bt0.40 a time, people find it hard to calculate the cost."

Thaksin insisted that the government had followed the right path in

solving economic problems and would stick to its plan to promote future

growth by investing Bt1.71 trillion in infrastructure projects over

five years.

He lashed out at critics who predicted that the country was heading for

stagnation like Singapore.

"Don't curse your own economy. In the capitalist world, without

trust and confidence, money will turn into scraps of paper. Today we

have to ask which direction the Thai people prefer," he said.

"The government has a clear formula, and I am still confident. I did

my homework while I was in China," he said.

Turning into Asia's worst-performing currency after the yen, the baht

slipped to Bt42.10 to the dollar yesterday and was off the lowest level

in 26 months of Bt42.18. A treasury dealer at a local bank said the

baht had been coming under speculative selling in the Singapore market

due to concern over the higher oil prices and the widening

current-account deficit.

Thai stocks have also lost favour, with most foreign brokerages

downgrading the local market due to the sharp economic slowdown, with

no recovery in sight for the rest of the year. Stocks have come under

foreign pressure to the tune of more than Bt4 billion in net sales over

the past week. Key local economists have called for the government to

revise its strategy from promoting growth to maintaining economic

stability.

On Thursday Chalongbhop Sussangkarn, president of the Thailand

Development Research Institute (TDRI), warned that the economy might

run aground unless the government halved the budget for mega-projects

because the current account was taking a beating.

The TDRI sees the current-account deficit climbing relentlessly from

the equivalent of 1.7 per cent of GDP this year to 2.5 per cent next

year, 4.3 per cent in 2007 and 5.9 per cent in 2008, before peaking at

6.9 per cent in 2009. This would be due to high imports of oil as well

as capital goods for the mega-projects during the period.

Thaksin said the government would go ahead with the projects as

planned.

"We studied very carefully before coming up with the investment. The

plan doesn't have any problems and has no negative impacts."

Rather than focusing on guarding stability, as advocated by former

finance minister Virabongsa Ramagura, Thaksin would cure economic

malaise by injecting money into the system.

"One diabetes theory is to cut food and boost insulin, but you starve

to death; the other says you have to control insulin and eat to be

healthy. This theory strengthens your liver. When the liver is strong,

you recover.

"The government chooses to solve economic problems by providing

food," he said.

---

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com

***************************************

should he spend spend spend ???

its the Thai way surely?

spend all your money today before someone else borrows it and never pays it back.

Why aren't you in school, bambob? Do your children know what you're doing?

[penzman]

Well, he's decided not to talk for a while, once again, because of reporters criticizing the way he runs the country.

He once said:

"A company is a country. A country is a company. They're the same. The management is the same"

I wonder how his personal fortune is doing these days compared to the country's economy?

[Harmonica]

Well, he's decided not to talk for a while, once again, because of reporters criticizing the way he runs the country.

He once said: 

"A company is a country. A country is a company. They're the same. The management is the same"

I wonder how his personal fortune is doing these days compared to the country's economy?

"A country is a Company" is what Ross Perot -- a brilliant & well known billionaire said in a presidential debate a long time ago. He was also asked, "what experience do you bring to the table?"

He answered that he had absolutely NO experience in creating a (?) trillion dollar deficit!

The personal fortunes of George Bush, Tony Blair and other leaders of rich countries did not suffer whatsoever during the 2000-2003 Bear market.

Mr. T has actually lost a considerable amount of money since January 2004 when the Thai stock market topped.

How quickly we forget the 2001-2004 period of prosperity that happened on his watch!

But we're just talking economics/money here -- what about the hundreds of thousands of deaths caused by outright lies regarding the recent war in Iraq? ... and combine that with NO remorse, no apology! Wouldn't surprise me one bit if you hippies blame that on Thaksin too!