Trading Chickens For Trains

[jomama]

From The Age newspaper, Australia

By Paris Lord, Bangkok

January 30, 2006

JUST how many chickens is a fighter jet worth?

Thai economists are trying to work out the answer as the Government is hoping to barter chickens and rice to pay for everything from military aircraft to subway trains.

When Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra opened the bidding on Thursday for Thailand's Bt1.7 trillion ($A58.63 billion) public works program, he said his Government was interested in alternative "financing mechanisms" — namely, bartering.

The highlight of the new projects is an expansion of Bangkok's public transport system, expected to cost Bt550 billion. The Defence Ministry also wants to barter for fighter jets it is considering buying from Russia, Sweden or the US.

Mr Thaksin's Government believes that bartering for such big-ticket items would help keep the country's foreign debt ratio below 50 per cent of gross domestic product.

The scheme envisions trading farm goods already in government stocks, such as surplus rice, instead of using cash for at least part of the payment to foreign companies.

A barter trade committee has been created in the Commerce Ministry to assess the bids for the public works projects and negotiate how much chicken, rice or tapioca could be used to finance the deal.

Final regulations on bartering are expected in mid-February, but foreign companies are sceptical.

Nazir Rizk, who heads the Thai subsidiary of French engineering conglomerate Alstom, doubted whether barter was the best payment option. "A company like us, we don't do barter, we sell trains. We cannot sell chickens," he said.

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I wonder how many chickens Taksin would take for Shin Corp.?

Ahh, hubs, cradowns and brainstorms

[PeaceBlondie]

Incredible. You can just imagine that some high-rolling financial wizards from mega-rich industrial corporations are negotiating a trillion-baht deal.

Farang: Okay, we'll build a new skytrain system, rails and cars, for 896 billion baht for you, na?

Thai: Oh no, sir, we'll pay you 88,987,489 CHICKENS for that.

Farang: Excuse me, but in my commodity trading days, when I traded porkbellies, I never even saw the belly of a pig. I wouldn't know what to do with 28 chickens, let alone that many. Can we talk high finance, sir?

Thai: Chai, khrap. I'm a Thai and I have chickens. Wanna see me do a chicken dance?

Edited January 30, 2006 by PeaceBlondie

[meadish_sweetball]

Yep, Mr. Shinawatra sure is trying hard to sell those chickens.. same thing in the negotiations for Swedish jet fighters earlier. What surprises me the most is that he does not realize most people are not interested in this type of barter. How about I propose to Immigration that I pay my yearly 400,000 extension money in woodchips instead?

[BKK90210]

Well...It doesn't hurt to try!

Hmm...I think it's very reasonable offer...but bad timing!....with all that bird-flu epidemic going on..

[sriracha john]

I wonder how many chickens Thaksin would take for Shin Corp.?

but bad timing!....with all that bird-flu epidemic going on..

The Sydney Morning Herald:

A special barter trade committee has been created in the Commerce Ministry to assess the bids for the public works projects and negotiate how much chicken, rice or tapioca could be used to finance the deal.

That's why Tapioca is the future gold...

Edited January 30, 2006 by sriracha john

[BKK90210]

I wonder how many chickens Thaksin would take for Shin Corp.?

but bad timing!....with all that bird-flu epidemic going on..

The Sydney Morning Herald:

A special barter trade committee has been created in the Commerce Ministry to assess the bids for the public works projects and negotiate how much chicken, rice or tapioca could be used to finance the deal.

That's why Tapioca is the future gold...

Just tell them...may be the chicken, rice, or tapioca...don't really worth much seperately...

But boy...if you could shift some of your over-weight, over-high paid low skill employees to work on the new secret recipes of those combination...and once your found it...you could set up a resturant francises...then do a spin-off a few yearS later as a "MUST BUY new hot IPO"...then you will see how many billions of our low life chickens + rice + tapioca are really worth. The key here is diversification in the company folks. Where are these guys got their MBA anyway?...if they can't even sell the chickens..how are they expect to govern our country is beyond me! It's not what you sell...but how you sell it!

Just some of my enterprenuer thought

Edited January 30, 2006 by BKK90210

[stumonster]

I presume the Thai government does not actually raise chickens ( Ministry for Chicken Products?? ) , so they would first have to purchase the chickens with which to barter with. I wonder how much they pay for the chooks and which company they are purchased from?

[steveromagnino]

I presume the Thai government does not actually raise chickens ( Ministry for Chicken Products?? ) , so they would first have to purchase the chickens with which to barter with. I wonder how much they pay for the chooks and which company they are purchased from?

Nah - they be virtual chooks.

We are the hub of tub. Tubs o' finger lickin goodness dat is.

Actually, I suspect they cut a deal with CP or similar.

[Simmo]

Farang: Okay, we'll build a new skytrain system, rails and cars, for 896 billion baht for you, na?

Thai: Oh no, sir, we'll pay you 88,987,489 CHICKENS for that.

Farang: Excuse me, but in my commodity trading days, when I traded porkbellies, I never even saw the belly of a pig. I wouldn't know what to do with 28 chickens, let alone that many. Can we talk high finance, sir?

Thai: Chai, khrap. I'm a Thai and I have chickens. Wanna see me do a chicken dance?

LOL ... genius

[Crossy]

Farang: Okay, we'll build a new skytrain system, rails and cars, for 896 billion baht for you, na?

Thai: Oh no, sir, we'll pay you 88,987,489 CHICKENS for that.

Typically Thai / farang rip off, those chickens are worth 10,068 Baht each!!!

[PeaceBlondie]

I ain't got none MBA in economics (although my oldest son earned one of those last month!). So, the Ministirrer of Commerce and the Ministerrer of Agriculture get together with the Exchequer of the Treasury (who's really an ex-checker from Tesco Lotus), and they agree that Somchai Sansapatchapoobooaranasornachat will sell his 11,239 chickens to Poonabang Ratsanassapapapapa, who will then barter tapioca for oleomargarine to Khun Imastarofporn, and she'll have her massage ladies barter with.......

[Jersey_UK]

JUST how many chickens is a fighter jet worth?

Thai economists are trying to work out the answer as the Government is hoping to barter chickens and rice to pay for everything from military aircraft to subway trains.

Bearing in mind this will be a long term deal as it will including the cost of spares and technical support then a lot of these chickens will not yet have been born.

So in this case perhaps it could be said that..........Thaksin is counting his chickens before they are hatched. :D

On a more serious level ............doesn't anyone in Thailand realise that making these proposals (I know Thaksin did not start them) just makes Thailand look like a 4th world country full of complete morons?

[GuestHouse]

One of the problems with these deals is there is an invetible distortion of the market.

Somewhere down the line someone (Probably Somchai Sansapatchapoobooaranasornachat - or one of his Chinese cousins) gets to decide the price of chicken.

And many a Baht slips between the paperwork.

[sriracha john]

I ain't got none MBA in economics (although my oldest son earned one of those last month!). So, the Ministirrer of Commerce and the Ministerrer of Agriculture get together with the Exchequer of the Treasury (who's really an ex-checker from Tesco Lotus), and they agree that Somchai Sansapatchapoobooaranasornachat will sell his 11,239 chickens to Poonabang Ratsanassapapapapa, who will then barter tapioca for oleomargarine to Khun Imastarofporn, and she'll have her massage ladies barter with.......

'sriracha john' posted 2006-01-30 15:22:28

Minister of Information and Communication Technology Sora-at Klinprathum

Does Khun Sorealot...

'sriracha john' posted 2006-01-30 14:13:52

Deputy spokesperson of the Thai Rak Thai party Jatuporn Prompan

Is Khun Jackofftoporn....

well done, PB.... I like yours too..

[andyfletch]

One of the problems with these deals is there is an invetible distortion of the market.

Somewhere down the line someone (Probably Somchai Sansapatchapoobooaranasornachat - or one of his Chinese cousins) gets to decide the price of chicken.

And many a Baht slips between the paperwork.

Which of the 10 new lines is that?.........and how much will have been built before the price of chickens is decided?

If construction has started and the price of chicken changes, then there will be the inevitable liquidated damages claims ( chicken sh1t), delays, cracks in the trackbed, fires in the kitchen (" oh dear, I'm sorry, we can't pay you, our currency has just gone up in smoke" said Somchai in press release today) and numerous other excuses for the inability to bring a job in on time and within budget

[cclub75]

On a more serious level ............doesn't anyone in Thailand realise that making these proposals (I know Thaksin did not start them) just makes Thailand look like a 4th world country full of complete morons?

Not at all. It's all about face.

They don't try NOT TO PAY for trains, because indeed the gvt will have to pay for the chicken, before to barter.

They just want to disguise the trade deficit. It's always the same : they enjoy to apply little dirty tricks, and they can't imagine that people will laught about it.

-Thaksin : "i need my 1500 billions THB of investment to keep injecting the ya-ba dope into the economy so my people keep going sabai sabai and buy pickups, and mobile phones and houses with mortgage"

-Minister : "Impossible sir, if we do so, the trade deficit will explode, and thus the THB will be in a hot clay pot, and thus interest rate would soar, and we will have a big crisis, and thus we would lose next general elections. "

-Thaksin : "mai pen rai, we barter for chicken. It will do the job. Nobody will pay attention".

[PeaceBlondie]

I suspect that the Prime Minister is so infatuated with saying fatuous things to fat Somchais about fattening up the flatulent Thai chickens, that the PM has forgotten what the outside world thinks and believes. He thinks you can bamboozle economists of multinational conglomerates into thinking that no chicken in Thailand ever had avian flu, the drug dealers were all eradicated in 90 days (along with innocent Hill Tribe people), pornography is eliminated, and poverty will be a thing of the past by 11:34 a.m. on 9 February 2006.

Hmmm, only nine and a half more days, and every Poonasat and Pornporn will be prosperous people.