Idea Of Prices Rising A Misconception: PM Yingluck

[Thai at Heart]

How the hell do you control the price of food at street vendors?

Good question. When I read this...

"The government will control the price of fast food at Bt25-30 for popular menu items such as pork fried rice with basil, red curry chicken with rice, and Chinese fried noodle to reduce the cost of living for low-income consumers," said the source.

I am thinking to get prices to 25-30 baht, the government doesn't need to "control the price", they need to "roll back the price" as the number of establishments that still sell at 25 baht is small.

With the thousands of street food entrepreneurs, dictating to them what they charge is a pipe-dream.

i wouldn't want to estimate how many (100k+) noodle stands there are in Bangkok alone, but is she honestly saying they are going to try to limit the price for a meal? Maybe the larger food courts they can, but why should someone be compelled to sell at a loss? At 25 baht, I would imagine they would be loss making. Even in the most draconian state in the world, dictating this type of stuff is largely impossible, what hope Thailand?

[Dante99]

The mistaken "perception" is not that prices are not going up, everybody who pays attention knows that. It is that the government can continue to attempt to create a fantasy about so many issues and think that people are accept that fantasy as reality.

Price controls are a bad joke.

[TAWP]

Asked my gf about this. Incidentally, due to his 'support' for her families region, she is pro-Thaksin. She still managed to go off on a rant about the government and how little the PM knows...

I found it funny anyway.

[Buchholz]

And we all thought the Dems were out of touch with the common man. She is clearly out of touch with reality, perhaps the pressure of the job is getting to her?

Her maid hasn't told her yet.

Perhaps we're being too hard on her.

In Matichon's weekly magazine last month, we were advised :

*Poo is Yingluck's "official" nickname*

Let her be to enjoy her fanciful reality.

.

[chrisinth]

Reading this article reminds me of the children's fable concerning the King's new clothes, To just talk perception, her survey says eggs are less than 3 Baht a piece where I buy my eggs,(Tesco Lotus) eggs are 45 to 47 Baht for 10 that makes them 4.5 + per egg. Limes 7 to 10 Baht a piece???? bottled water up 60%. Last year I paid 10 Baht for 20 liters today it costs me 16 Baht.

The everyday items are up,up,up. The P.M. just needs to face reality and quite trying to spin everything with her "Red" tinted glasses.

Shop at a market and prices will be much cheaper. I pay a small fraction of supermarket prices if I shop at a local market. And the food tends to be fresher as well. Just because you pay a certain price at Lotus does not mean that is the average price across the whole of Thailand. Limes 7-10 baht? LOL. I get 7 for 20 baht at the market, so less than 3 baht each. Maybe you need to shop around a little more instead of just accepting the lotus prices.

Whereas that is true, the prices have also increased at your market which makes it proportional.

[AngryParent]

No. Everything is good! Thailand good, the people good, we love farang, we don't like to murder farang, come buy land it is OK, you can become Thai citizen and live here easy, we are not racist, we are not xenophobic. No corruption, no crime, your money is safe here, we follow human rights law.

See all good!

Just like the above, I have heard lot's of hot air before.

[WhizBang]

This twinkie is well past it's sell by date.

[ginjag]

We surely have to look at the essential everyday goods, (perfumes and the like are out of it) BASIC eating needs,  start with market prices, then Lotus.    Eggs 4 bht each,same..........rice  M 35 kilo, L 22kilo.....pork M 130 kilo, L 110 kilo............chicken M 120 kilo, L 69 kilo.  Oil M 48 litre, L 42 litre.  That is M.market and L Tesco prices, All these prices have risen since NEW YEAR, What is the woman talking about ??????  My 2 weekly trip to Tesco, compared to local market----I do not save the money as my running expenses are on top, so in all I pay the same BUT I will be sure that I have better produce and less likely to be pesticide contaminated than local stuff.

[sparebox2]

She doesn't shop in local wet market.

Prices in Siam Paragon didn't increase much.

[jonclark]

At the end of it, it all comes down to oil and gas prices.

Oil to make the fertiliser, oil to power the tractors, oil to power the generators to provide the electricity to run the processing factories, oil to power the distribution, oil, oil and oil.

I heard from an enormous egg producer the other day, they are actually losing money on selling the eggs ex factory because the cost of the feed has sky rocketed. Driers for this feed eat up huge quantities of lpg, which for industry is now at 29 baht a kilo. They make most of their profit for this year from selling the fertiliser produced from the chicken waste.

Anyone want a weaker baht? Then see the prices go ballistic......

As I'm not an economist perhaps someone who has more knowledge of economics could answer the question, what might happen if the baht was weaken in terms of domestic inflation?? Any takers?

[sparebox2]

So now they want to control how much noodle vendors charge their customers?

"Back to the USSR!"

And soon, Farang cannot hold Thai Baht.

Must you FEC instead.

[Crushdepth]

Just shows how disconnected from reality these people are.

[AleG]

At the end of it, it all comes down to oil and gas prices.

Oil to make the fertiliser, oil to power the tractors, oil to power the generators to provide the electricity to run the processing factories, oil to power the distribution, oil, oil and oil.

I heard from an enormous egg producer the other day, they are actually losing money on selling the eggs ex factory because the cost of the feed has sky rocketed. Driers for this feed eat up huge quantities of lpg, which for industry is now at 29 baht a kilo. They make most of their profit for this year from selling the fertiliser produced from the chicken waste.

Anyone want a weaker baht? Then see the prices go ballistic......

As I'm not an economist perhaps someone who has more knowledge of economics could answer the question, what might happen if the baht was weaken in terms of domestic inflation?? Any takers?

Energy prices, in the form of oil and gas imports would increase, and as a result production and distribution of goods would also increase. Increased prices = inflation. Q.E.Doh!

Edited May 4, 2012 by AleG

[p_brownstone]

To talk of price controls on Street Vendor food is palpable nonsense.

Yes the Government can mandate Baht 25.- per dish but for how much food per serving?

Try that and the size of each serving will simply be reduced so next they will have to dictate what weight of Noodles in Bahmee Luk Chin Pla, then how many Luk Chin, Kieow etc. etc..

Totally impossible to enforce.

Patrick

Edited May 4, 2012 by p_brownstone

[drdoom6996]

The biggest ''misconception'' to date have been Thaksin and his puppet family. To think what we could have been spared had the timing been different.

To think that the increased prices I and my wife like many others have paid of late are according to Yingluck and her band of dreamers nothing more than, ''figments of our imagination.''

Rather like her delusion that she is actually a Prime Minister and fit to lead the country.. ;

+1

[drdoom6996]

Almost everything I buy has gone up since the flood and not come back down. Are she and I living in the same country? Or has she hooked up with brother somewhere?

[ratcatcher]

She doesn't shop in local wet market.

Prices in Siam Paragon didn't increase much.

Actually, the dear woman (Yingluck) has probably never been shopping on her own, probably never in a 'wet market' (Emporium in the rain?).

She has been pampered from birth with maids and assistants, cooks and chauffeurs etc.

Thus it must be difficult for her to comprehend how a single working mother, with one or two children, can make ends meet after paying rent and utilities, school fees, buying clothes for school and then trying to feed her family basic meals.

Many Thais exist on noodle soup and street stall food or from a Mama packet. Water is usually the drink of necessity. The vast majority of rural Thais and poorer city Thais do not shop at Lotus and Big C.,. Life is getting harder for them every day. Hopefully the government will try harder to help.

[Theyreallrubbish]

Reading this article reminds me of the children's fable concerning the King's new clothes, To just talk perception, her survey says eggs are less than 3 Baht a piece where I buy my eggs,(Tesco Lotus) eggs are 45 to 47 Baht for 10 that makes them 4.5 + per egg. Limes 7 to 10 Baht a piece???? bottled water up 60%. Last year I paid 10 Baht for 20 liters today it costs me 16 Baht.

The everyday items are up,up,up. The P.M. just needs to face reality and quite trying to spin everything with her "Red" tinted glasses.

Bought 30 eggs for 84 Baht at Tesco yesterday.

One of the rare cases where buying in bulk was cheaper.

As the more common example, a 12 pack of toilet tissue was 57 Baht, a 24 pack was 147 Baht!

[hansnl]

When it comes to day-to-day living costs the PM is disconnected from the real world; this can happen when you are rich and price rises really don't bother you due to your large bank accounts.

Any politician, in any country, you can not trust.

Any politician will lie to the public about anything in the drive to stay in power.

I do think that maybe the followers of Thaksin Ltd are starting to see the light.

And something must be done, pronto.

Hence the lies.

[sparebox2]

And we all thought the Dems were out of touch with the common man. She is clearly out of touch with reality, perhaps the pressure of the job is getting to her?

Her maid hasn't told her yet.

Even her maids shop in Siam Paragon.

Any reason why would her maids go to wet market?

[avalonmick]

She's wrong, but it can depend on what you mean by prices. The official Dow Jones CPI figures for Thailand show CPI rises in April of 0.42% for the month and 2.47% for YTD - low, but still going up.

"Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is preparing to tell Thais that their perception of soaring prices is just that, a perception."

<deleted>?? And this statement is followed by a statement that prices are trending downwards.

I think this may be a really bad case of selective data!

The biggest ''misconception'' to date have been Thaksin and his puppet family. To think what we could have been spared had the timing been different.

To think that the increased prices I and my wife like many others have paid of late are according to Yingluck and her band of dreamers nothing more than, ''figments of our imagination.''

Rather like her delusion that she is actually a Prime Minister and fit to lead the country.. ;

The ministry of commerce is saying prices are rising but Yingluck is saying they are falling.

Maybe Yingluck should talk to her ministers occasionally.

Posted with Thaivisa App http://apps.thaivisa.com

Edited May 4, 2012 by avalonmick

[avalonmick]

At the end of it, it all comes down to oil and gas prices.

Oil to make the fertiliser, oil to power the tractors, oil to power the generators to provide the electricity to run the processing factories, oil to power the distribution, oil, oil and oil.

I heard from an enormous egg producer the other day, they are actually losing money on selling the eggs ex factory because the cost of the feed has sky rocketed. Driers for this feed eat up huge quantities of lpg, which for industry is now at 29 baht a kilo. They make most of their profit for this year from selling the fertiliser produced from the chicken waste.

Anyone want a weaker baht? Then see the prices go ballistic......

As I'm not an economist perhaps someone who has more knowledge of economics could answer the question, what might happen if the baht was weaken in terms of domestic inflation?? Any takers?

Prices will shoot up - as someone else said up there: oil oil and more oil is needed to run everything, and the cost of oil goes up if the currency is weaker, so the cost of everything goes up, including street vendor food because they use LPG and petrol.

[avalonmick]

I actually agree with her. The high inflation numbers are indeed a misconception. The price of perfumes, tablet pc's from China (lol), expensive watches, airfares to the Maldives, visits to Angkor Wat, tickets for the Manchester derby, Burberry items have indeed never been cheaper for Thais. Also the fact that a lot of food items have doubled in price, or 30% up, is just not true. You just get 2 pound instead of 1 kilogram, beer and water is served and sold in smaller bottles (as if we didn't notice!), and even a nice portion of noodle soup is not what it used to be, I mean where is the red pork?

perfectly true: imported goods are cheap because the bhat is being held artificially high by the BoT.

FX traders are already betting on a bhat fall soon. It can't last.

[TeddyFlyfisherDavis]

This chick needs a night out on the town, bent over a pool table...Because that is what she is doing to her own...Lies, lies, lies....! No sarcasm this time...The people in "charge" need psychiatric help... And I base my statement on the headline...

[warfie]

The idea of Yingluck having any clue is just a misconception...

[mic6ard]

Somebody is definitely in a dream and imagining thing, I must be in a nightmare in which everything is going up, while the gov't is in a dream where everything is either stable or dropping.

[sparebox2]

At the end of it, it all comes down to oil and gas prices.

Oil to make the fertiliser, oil to power the tractors, oil to power the generators to provide the electricity to run the processing factories, oil to power the distribution, oil, oil and oil.

I heard from an enormous egg producer the other day, they are actually losing money on selling the eggs ex factory because the cost of the feed has sky rocketed. Driers for this feed eat up huge quantities of lpg, which for industry is now at 29 baht a kilo. They make most of their profit for this year from selling the fertiliser produced from the chicken waste.

Anyone want a weaker baht? Then see the prices go ballistic......

As I'm not an economist perhaps someone who has more knowledge of economics could answer the question, what might happen if the baht was weaken in terms of domestic inflation?? Any takers?

Prices will shoot up - as someone else said up there: oil oil and more oil is needed to run everything, and the cost of oil goes up if the currency is weaker, so the cost of everything goes up, including street vendor food because they use LPG and petrol.

Don't worry, Thaksin has made a deal with Hun Sen to flood Bangkok with Petroleum from the Gulf of THAILAND.

Edited May 4, 2012 by sparebox2

[rubl]

As rising prices are a misconception, on the 27th of April  Virabongsa Ramangkura, chairman of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's advisory team, proposed raising by 1 percentage point the value added tax (VAT), which currently adds 7 per cent to the cost of consumer products.

[warfie]

When I buy my goods, fuel, vegetables, eggs, meat, etc. and the vendor asks for more this week than s/he did last week, I can just pay the same as last week and tell him/her that it's ok, Yingluck says it is just a misconception...

[Thai at Heart]

At the end of it, it all comes down to oil and gas prices.

Oil to make the fertiliser, oil to power the tractors, oil to power the generators to provide the electricity to run the processing factories, oil to power the distribution, oil, oil and oil.

I heard from an enormous egg producer the other day, they are actually losing money on selling the eggs ex factory because the cost of the feed has sky rocketed. Driers for this feed eat up huge quantities of lpg, which for industry is now at 29 baht a kilo. They make most of their profit for this year from selling the fertiliser produced from the chicken waste.

Anyone want a weaker baht? Then see the prices go ballistic......

As I'm not an economist perhaps someone who has more knowledge of economics could answer the question, what might happen if the baht was weaken in terms of domestic inflation?? Any takers?

Prices will shoot up - as someone else said up there: oil oil and more oil is needed to run everything, and the cost of oil goes up if the currency is weaker, so the cost of everything goes up, including street vendor food because they use LPG and petrol.

Oil is priced in USD, today at the pump for example we pay about 40 baht (1.30 per litre), if the baht weakens from 30 to 40, your 40 baht/litre would all other things being equal (using a bit of economics wording), your 40 baht price at the pump would go up commensurately. This is why people wishing for a weaker baht to make their forex go further in Thailand, would have to eat the fact that just about everything would increase because of Thailand's reliance on imported oil and gas.