Thai Chamber Urges Shift Of Money From Populist Schemes To Flood Recovery Efforts

[rubl]

B300-400 billion, where could they find that sort of moolah. How about dumping the rice pledging scam, and continuing the current price guarantee system, which actually gets the subsidy to the farmers?

Besides saving huge amounts of money, there would be the side benefits of punishing all those stockpiling and importing rice ready for the scam to begin, and keep the rice price and Thailand's market share (relatively) constant.

Of course it won't happen, because everybody knows it's Thaksin's baby, and the Supreme Leader must be obeyed. The barter system is his preference; everybody that had their home flooded will receive a chook, 2 cucumbers and a carrot.

How about freezing some of the last administrations bank accts and assets (there's plenty of "dark funds" there)???? EG: where the eff did 20Bn Baht go for flood mitigation alone???? People in the south (this is absolutely magic!!!) who were effected by the Mar. - Apr. floods were PROMISED a measly 5,000 baht for each household affected HOWEVER, only received 2,500 baht per household - oh and the catcher was that some of those areas were not affected at all.... For that matter where did the 1.4 trillion baht BORROWED from MANY countries go??? Sure as heck didn't go into the infrastructure!

And while we're at it, maybe also block the accounts of all previous governments PM's, MP's, etc. A bit of detail on money flows rather than just '1.4 trillion, where is it' would also be appreciated. All to avoid double standards, to promote reconciliation and transparency, etc., etc.

Mind you the THB 410 billion reserved for the controversial five months lasting 'rice price pledging' scheme seems the easiest way to finance the recovery of the flooding disaster and a bit to spare on the start of prevention schemes rather than re-action schemes

[nicky1982]

Much of the damage done by flooding is because of corruption, because of bent politicians and corrupt officials, greedy industrialists, illegal logging etc etc.. Why should people who have not been affected by this flooding pay for someone elses mistakes... PTP promised the people those populist policies and should deliver... first the pay rises .. The people were promised and they should get..!! Dont blame the rain for political negligence... We know the brother and sister team to blame....!!

The pay rises won't cost the government anything, of course, but it might make things more difficult for small businesses recovering from the floods if they need to pay it.

I think people who have small businesses are still recovering from 2008 when Suvarnabhumi Airport got shut down and then we have on top of that the economic crisis plus the Bangkok riots .. Now we have this with the flooding and i would say if thaksin shinawatra comes back what looks very likey that could cause more problems for Thailand .In all honesty this is not good for small businesses ...

[rubl]

Much of the damage done by flooding is because of corruption, because of bent politicians and corrupt officials, greedy industrialists, illegal logging etc etc.. Why should people who have not been affected by this flooding pay for someone elses mistakes... PTP promised the people those populist policies and should deliver... first the pay rises .. The people were promised and they should get..!! Dont blame the rain for political negligence... We know the brother and sister team to blame....!!

The pay rises won't cost the government anything, of course, but it might make things more difficult for small businesses recovering from the floods if they need to pay it.

The government has been very anxious to convey the message of financial compensation and support in order to entice businesses to follow their example of THB 300/day and THB 15,000/month wage/income for some selected (selective?) groups. That costs the government, that costs me as tax payer.

The very controversial 'rice price pledging' scheme with THB 410 billion allocated for a FIVE months period (2011-10-07 - 2012-02-28), with major crop damage now, should have a bit to spare for flood related damage and recovery

Edited October 15, 2011 by rubl

[Thaddeus]

^ ^ ^ ^ there's 400 Billion Baht available v v v v v

Ssshhhh.... keep that to yourself.... wouldn't want the Isaan Granny thinking that she may have given enough already.

[scotbeve]

Much of the damage done by flooding is because of corruption, because of bent politicians and corrupt officials, greedy industrialists, illegal logging etc etc.. Why should people who have not been affected by this flooding pay for someone elses mistakes... PTP promised the people those populist policies and should deliver... first the pay rises .. The people were promised and they should get..!! Dont blame the rain for political negligence... We know the brother and sister team to blame....!!

Much of the damage from flooding is because of lot's of water my friend. Just kidding, I blame the water because like the brother and sister team, water always takes the path of least resistance.

As Bakseeda says..... bent politicians, corrupt officials and government. Sutheps places in the forests would be a fine example to start with!!! Especially since the "flood relief" money that was sent (only half or 2,500 baht) to families there whether they were effected or not. Or the 70Bn baht for flood mitigation that only 20Bn baht was used.... Show us where that money went during Mark's tenure.... Oh wait.... the flame throwers don't believe this. Suthep was an angel of course!!!! And boy oh boy, didn't he like us foreigners!!!???

[scotbeve]

B300-400 billion, where could they find that sort of moolah. How about dumping the rice pledging scam, and continuing the current price guarantee system, which actually gets the subsidy to the farmers?

Besides saving huge amounts of money, there would be the side benefits of punishing all those stockpiling and importing rice ready for the scam to begin, and keep the rice price and Thailand's market share (relatively) constant.

Of course it won't happen, because everybody knows it's Thaksin's baby, and the Supreme Leader must be obeyed. The barter system is his preference; everybody that had their home flooded will receive a chook, 2 cucumbers and a carrot.

How about freezing some of the last administrations bank accts and assets (there's plenty of "dark funds" there)???? EG: where the eff did 20Bn Baht go for flood mitigation alone???? People in the south (this is absolutely magic!!!) who were effected by the Mar. - Apr. floods were PROMISED a measly 5,000 baht for each household affected HOWEVER, only received 2,500 baht per household - oh and the catcher was that some of those areas were not affected at all.... For that matter where did the 1.4 trillion baht BORROWED from MANY countries go??? Sure as heck didn't go into the infrastructure!

And while we're at it, maybe also block the accounts of all previous governments PM's, MP's, etc. A bit of detail on money flows rather than just '1.4 trillion, where is it' would also be appreciated. All to avoid double standards, to promote reconciliation and transparency, etc., etc.

Mind you the THB 410 billion reserved for the controversial five months lasting 'rice price pledging' scheme seems the easiest way to finance the recovery of the flooding disaster and a bit to spare on the start of prevention schemes rather than re-action schemes

I agree (finally!!! ) with all you say above rubl and yes, the rice pledging scheme will be heavily abused by the middle man during this period as there's a fortune to be made by doing so. Though I think the costs of rebuilding will be much higher than 410 Bn Baht.

[whybother]

I think people who have small businesses are still recovering from 2008 when Suvarnabhumi Airport got shut down and then we have on top of that the economic crisis plus the Bangkok riots .. Now we have this with the flooding and i would say if thaksin shinawatra comes back what looks very likey that could cause more problems for Thailand .In all honesty this is not good for small businesses ...

If any small business was STILL recovering after 2008 probably should give the business away.

[whybother]

As Bakseeda says..... bent politicians, corrupt officials and government. Sutheps places in the forests would be a fine example to start with!!! Especially since the "flood relief" money that was sent (only half or 2,500 baht) to families there whether they were effected or not. Or the 70Bn baht for flood mitigation that only 20Bn baht was used.... Show us where that money went during Mark's tenure.... Oh wait.... the flame throwers don't believe this. Suthep was an angel of course!!!! And boy oh boy, didn't he like us foreigners!!!???

I thought the then opposition's complaints about the flood relief money was that the Democrats spent 50bn baht on flood relief, but said that they only spent 20bn baht.

[scotbeve]

As Bakseeda says..... bent politicians, corrupt officials and government. Sutheps places in the forests would be a fine example to start with!!! Especially since the "flood relief" money that was sent (only half or 2,500 baht) to families there whether they were effected or not. Or the 70Bn baht for flood mitigation that only 20Bn baht was used.... Show us where that money went during Mark's tenure.... Oh wait.... the flame throwers don't believe this. Suthep was an angel of course!!!! And boy oh boy, didn't he like us foreigners!!!???

I thought the then opposition's complaints about the flood relief money was that the Democrats spent 50bn baht on flood relief, but said that they only spent 20bn baht.

Pardon me whybother.... you're correct. It was in fact 50Bn baht in which only 20Bn baht was spent. I stand corrected.

[whybother]

As Bakseeda says..... bent politicians, corrupt officials and government. Sutheps places in the forests would be a fine example to start with!!! Especially since the "flood relief" money that was sent (only half or 2,500 baht) to families there whether they were effected or not. Or the 70Bn baht for flood mitigation that only 20Bn baht was used.... Show us where that money went during Mark's tenure.... Oh wait.... the flame throwers don't believe this. Suthep was an angel of course!!!! And boy oh boy, didn't he like us foreigners!!!???

I thought the then opposition's complaints about the flood relief money was that the Democrats spent 50bn baht on flood relief, but said that they only spent 20bn baht.

Pardon me whybother.... you're correct. It was in fact 50Bn baht in which only 20Bn baht was spent. I stand corrected.

Correction again: They actually spent 50 billion, but for some reason reported that only 20 billion was spent.

http://www.thaivisa....ost__p__4742532

Edited October 16, 2011 by whybother

[scotbeve]

As Bakseeda says..... bent politicians, corrupt officials and government. Sutheps places in the forests would be a fine example to start with!!! Especially since the "flood relief" money that was sent (only half or 2,500 baht) to families there whether they were effected or not. Or the 70Bn baht for flood mitigation that only 20Bn baht was used.... Show us where that money went during Mark's tenure.... Oh wait.... the flame throwers don't believe this. Suthep was an angel of course!!!! And boy oh boy, didn't he like us foreigners!!!???

I thought the then opposition's complaints about the flood relief money was that the Democrats spent 50bn baht on flood relief, but said that they only spent 20bn baht.

Pardon me whybother.... you're correct. It was in fact 50Bn baht in which only 20Bn baht was spent. I stand corrected.

Correction again: They actually spent 50 billion, but for some reason reported that only 20 billion was spent.

http://www.thaivisa....ost__p__4742532

By gum!!! You're correct again!!!! So, the main question (which appears to have been unanswered and remains unanswered) is with that much money spent what was actually done and what was the money spent on (my own words...)?? Thanks for pointing that out to us again whybother!

[TAWP]

It was spent on the things outlined - not everything is a conspiracy.

[scotbeve]

It was spent on the things outlined - not everything is a conspiracy.

Yesss TAWP,

It seems Ms. Titma gave up trying to grill Mark of the budget usage for flood prevention because she was not going to get a straight answer(?) - what's that song by Sade??? Oh yeah, smooth operator!!!!

[MikeyIdea]

Maybe!!! but he does have a valid point - the rice pledging scheme and numerous failed Thaksin policies and Yingluck's (destined to fail policies) have damaged Thailand immensely and will continue to do so, not that those gullible and uneducated Thai's in the North realise this fact.

Why was Thailand not REMOTELY prepared for this??? Don't forget!! this country has been ruled by Thaksin related/styled governments for a big majority of last 2 decades so they must take the lion's share of the blame and please don't say to me that this disaster came "out of the blue" as they are becoming more and more regular, seemingly because of global warming!!!.

What's all this lovey dovey thing about uniting together and joining hands???? The way I see it is that Yingluck is out of her depth on this and has asked for help from Abhisit and other parties irrespective of their affiiations because they are more experienced and cleverer than her and her imbecilic "dummies in arms" that make up her cabinet, allied to the fact that she is incapable of handling something as desperate as this situation:!!!

If only Abhisit was still in control!!!!! He cannot stop the rains but he would do a darned better job of alleviating the problem and preparing for future ones!!!:jap:.

Again trying to make political capital at a time of national emergency.Your points are not even made with insight and intelligence, just childish - "cleverer than her, imbecilic dummies in arms etc" - and badly informed Thaksin bashing.

Grow up.

You write like you think that the reason why Thailand has not acted long-term to prevent flooding is not for political resons. Now, wouldn't that be un-informed?

Long-term flood prevention takes 10+ years and 500+ billion bath to implement

Who has been in power the most in that period and why do you think very few long-term projects were started? Was it perhaps because the person in question didn't see any need to start something that another prime minister 10+ years later would reap the benefit from?