bangkokcitylimits Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 If all foreigners, or let's say 90% would leave this country and tourists stay away... What would be the effects, such as hundreds of thousands of foreign money-supported families would suddenly become poor, but more on larger scale what would it do to the national economy and how they would develop themselves ? Just wonder... Would many things such as rice and gasoline would become cheaper again ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huey Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 It would depend on the reasons for most leaving. However I would probably be happy to be amongst that 10%. Especially if by forginers you mean everyone who is not Thai, (ie Chinese, Burmese, all other Asians as well) It would certainly be interesting however, I can't imagine a positive scenario in which that would happen. But you sound like you think that without the few pennies some old farangs toss up too Issan for their x-bar girls is gonna make some kind of meaningful, even measurable difference to the economy, and thats just funny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanForbes Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 Nothing much would happen except the government would put up more signs saying how much better the poor people of Thailand were for having rid themselves of tourists and expats... despite the obvious signs of the opposite affects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nidge Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 I'd be in that 10% too hopefully. I'm sure it will make little difference to me as there are few foreigners where i live. Going on holiday will probably be cheaper as hotel costs would be based on Thai occupancy rather than tourists. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPPR2 Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 I doubt very much would happen. My response is based under the premise that all the foreign manufacturing would stay. The question itself needs far more information. What foreigners? Westerners, Chinese, Japanese, etc? I could think of a few areas specifically that could benefit from a foreigner departure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzaa09 Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 A PARADISE, IT WOULD BE.......SIMPLY LOVELY. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cardholder Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 A PARADISE, IT WOULD BE.......SIMPLY LOVELY. But, of course, you would not be here either zzaa ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a51mas Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 OP. if and when you leave, please take your rubber dolls with you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yermanee Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 It would depend on the reasons for most leaving. However I would probably be happy to be amongst that 10%. Especially if by forginers you mean everyone who is not Thai, (ie Chinese, Burmese, all other Asians as well) It would certainly be interesting however, I can't imagine a positive scenario in which that would happen. But you sound like you think that without the few pennies some old farangs toss up too Issan for their x-bar girls is gonna make some kind of meaningful, even measurable difference to the economy, and thats just funny. Wow, Anyone else you hate ? Yermanee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samran Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 Oh dear - our bi-monthly 'if it wasn't for us, Thailand would fall in a heap' thread, soon to be followed by replies how dastartly the locals are with cries of 'xenophobia' and 'racism' and how the lady at the local mom and pop shop charges me more and thus we are all discriminated against and how that is the 'final nail in the coffin'. What would happen? Not much probably. Thailand would have lost more as a % of GDP during the Asian financial crisis. Funny with that though, very few people went hungry and life kinda went on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdinasia Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 Oh dear - our bi-monthly 'if it wasn't for us, Thailand would fall in a heap' thread, soon to be followed by replies how dastartly the locals are with cries of 'xenophobia' and 'racism' and how the lady at the local mom and pop shop charges me more and thus we are all discriminated against and how that is the 'final nail in the coffin'. What would happen? Not much probably. Thailand would have lost more as a % of GDP during the Asian financial crisis. Funny with that though, very few people went hungry and life kinda went on. While I agree with the first part (the reasoning for this thread....) the last part is certainly arguable simply in the form of foreign direct investment etc ... Thailand is the producer of light pick-up trucks for the region, but when the car companies go etc ... The consequences of trying to get rid of foreigners would be dire (locally and globally .... but more locally) and would carry over to the export market. Had Thailand lost tourism in 97 as well as just the Asian financial crisis it would have been much much worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSingh Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 If what is said by the OP were to happen, there would be an absolutely incredible wave of Human Trafficking issues & a surge of Thai Passport applications to satisfy the S*x Trade throughout Asia & the rest of the World, without a doubt.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loz Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 Oh dear - our bi-monthly 'if it wasn't for us, Thailand would fall in a heap' thread, soon to be followed by replies how dastartly the locals are with cries of 'xenophobia' and 'racism' and how the lady at the local mom and pop shop charges me more and thus we are all discriminated against and how that is the 'final nail in the coffin'. What would happen? Not much probably. Thailand would have lost more as a % of GDP during the Asian financial crisis. Funny with that though, very few people went hungry and life kinda went on. Farang spending is reportedly 7% of GDP, is it not? Based on figures quoted in the "don't respect farang" article. A piffling amount. I'm sure they couldn't give a toss. Many certainly act like it. And why not? its their train set. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Berkshire Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 But you sound like you think that without the few pennies some old farangs toss up too Issan for their x-bar girls is gonna make some kind of meaningful, even measurable difference to the economy, and thats just funny. Yes, pretty funny. And as Samran pointed out, this thread will undoubtedly bring out the worst in farangs who like to blame the Thais for their lot in life. Simply, Thailand "wants" the tourists and the FDI, and they'll keep getting it. Tourism makes up only about 6-7% of the GDP, but does bring in hard currency. FDI does the same and creates jobs. As for longstay expats, it reminds me of the old SNL skit, "The guests who wouldn't leave." The Thais put up with it, but aren't exactly bent on increasing the numbers (who could blame them--they get enough complaints from the ones already here). But the impact of longstay expats on the economy is so inconsequential and insignificant as to not even be worth talking about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Berkshire Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 Oh dear - our bi-monthly 'if it wasn't for us, Thailand would fall in a heap' thread, soon to be followed by replies how dastartly the locals are with cries of 'xenophobia' and 'racism' and how the lady at the local mom and pop shop charges me more and thus we are all discriminated against and how that is the 'final nail in the coffin'. What would happen? Not much probably. Thailand would have lost more as a % of GDP during the Asian financial crisis. Funny with that though, very few people went hungry and life kinda went on. Farang spending is reportedly 7% of GDP, is it not? Based on figures quoted in the "don't respect farang" article. A piffling amount. I'm sure they couldn't give a toss. Many certainly act like it. And why not? its their train set. The 7% you're referring to is most likely tourists numbers, less than half of which could be attributed to "farang" tourists. Regional tourists make up more, i.e., Chinese, Japanese, Korean, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PattayaParent Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 If all foreigners, or let's say 90% would leave this country and tourists stay away... What would be the effects, such as hundreds of thousands of foreign money-supported families would suddenly become poor, but more on larger scale what would it do to the national economy and how they would develop themselves ? Just wonder... Would many things such as rice and gasoline would become cheaper again ? Foreign banks would make a lot more money in fees for transferring money from Farangland to the foreign money supported families. Why would petrol get cheaper? It's not Thailand that sets the world price. And I would hazard a guess that there's a lot more Thais that eat rice in Thailand than Farangs, so the price wouldn't change much as there'd still be the same demand / supply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
farang000999 Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 Prices would go down. Tourists would come back! :jap: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpmsprtd Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 @ Berkshire - "But the impact of longstay expats on the economy is so inconsequential and insignificant as to not even be worth talking about." I'm not so sure. Your statement may be true in Bangkok and similar areas, but the impact of long-stay expats on the economy (and culture) in Northern Thailand is significant. Not only is it worth talking about, it's worth studying. Has anyone seen any readable studies on "Effects of Long-Term Expats on Northern Thailand Culture and Economy"? There would have to be at least two separate areas of study, the northeast and the northwest. (I would be more interested in the northeast as I have not yet been to the northwest.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdinasia Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 6-7% of the GDP is not a piffling number (and all of that is FX.) Then you must accept that FDI dries up as well as losing export markets for totally Thai products. I think the word you are looking for is not "piffling" but instead "crippling". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beetlejuice Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 I heard if Ian Forbes alone was to leave the country and close all his bank accounts, that the Thai economy would collapse. As for the rest of us average peasants, our absence would not make the slightest difference and we would not be missed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cardholder Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 Oh dear - our bi-monthly 'if it wasn't for us, Thailand would fall in a heap' thread, soon to be followed by replies how dastartly the locals are with cries of 'xenophobia' and 'racism' and how the lady at the local mom and pop shop charges me more and thus we are all discriminated against and how that is the 'final nail in the coffin'. What would happen? Not much probably. Thailand would have lost more as a % of GDP during the Asian financial crisis. Funny with that though, very few people went hungry and life kinda went on. Farang spending is reportedly 7% of GDP, is it not? Based on figures quoted in the "don't respect farang" article. A piffling amount. I'm sure they couldn't give a toss. Many certainly act like it. And why not? its their train set. US$ 41 billion is obviously a piffling amount to Mr Loz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krading Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 Suppose tensions between China and America worsen to the point of war, who do you think Thailand would side with? With most of the Thai polititians being of Chinese heritage doubt it would be the US. Next comes the threat of interment camps and all of a sudden a mass exodus of 'foreign devils' is underway. Possible? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark45y Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 I live on the industrial East coast of Thailand. This is where the auto manufacturing plants and oil refineries are. There are a very large number of Western supervisors working here. I don't in the short term the Thais could take over the roles currently provided by Westerners. It would even difficult to replace the Canadian chopper pilots of which there are quite a number. Tourist and ex pat dollars are greater than local dollars because they are new money coming in and not recycled dollars. For example if a Thai buys something from a Thai the money is not new it was already in Thailand. If all the Falang left the economy would collapse in about 6 months from lack of supervision and lack of new money entering the economy. Thailand is certainly not alone in this predicament. A lot of countries rely on Western supervision and or foreign workers. Singapore had the same problem in the 1960's and addressed the problem. Their solution however includes foreign investment and employment. Thailand's success is predicated on similar scenarios. More foreign investment, supervision, education. Thailand is one of the worlds major exporters of light trucks but none of those trucks was designed in Thailand. But that is the answer to long term prosperity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark45y Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 Suppose tensions between China and America worsen to the point of war, who do you think Thailand would side with? With most of the Thai polititians being of Chinese heritage doubt it would be the US. Next comes the threat of interment camps and all of a sudden a mass exodus of 'foreign devils' is underway. Possible? I don't think you have to worry about internment camps. The war would be over in 20 minutes. Both sides would lose and the world as we know it would cease to exist. America can't fight the Chinese in a conventional war. Nukes would be the only option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mstribling Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 Who would the Thais side with, America or China? Easy both. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mstribling Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 China's a paper dragon. The only reason they have a military is for internal control. Sadly, the question isn't America fighting China. It's will America fight for China? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Berkshire Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 By the way, what is the point of this exercise? The OP is asking a hypothetical question which will never happen. Sort of like asking "What would happen if everyone who owned a car decided to drive at the same time?" Or "What would happen if half the male population on the planet turned gay?" Or "What would happen if hell freezes over?" Pointless because it will NEVER happen. But I'm sure in his mind, the OP has a point. Unfortunately, I don't think he's going to get the answer he's looking for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Berkshire Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 China's a paper dragon. The only reason they have a military is for internal control. Sadly, the question isn't America fighting China. It's will America fight for China? Since the Chinese also have nukes, I'd hardly call them a "paper dragon." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mstribling Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 It's just online conversation. No harm. It's fun. Like playing marry, kill, boff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Berkshire Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 It's just online conversation. No harm. It's fun. Like playing marry, kill, boff. Understand...although I'm sure you realize the OP has an agenda. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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