Govt's approval rating lowest in 2 years

[monkeycountry]

The problem with populist policies is that they seem very attractive to the poor and the poor will not realise the damage until it is too late.

imagine a party that promised to borrow a ton of money from abroad and give all the money as cash to the poor - and actually did as promised. Such a party would be guaranteed to win an election in Thailand.

Of course the dept to GDP ratio would soar and eventually Thailand would no longer be able to borrow money. Thailand would then be forced to stop free education, free hospitals, rice pledging scams etc. All the stuff that usually benefits the poor. And alot of people especially in the government sector would lose their jobs. Private sector jobs such as construction workers would be lost too, as the government could no longer afford to build new hospitals, roads, airports, trains etc. The poor would demonstrate on the streets, but with no money available the government will not be able to help, even if it wanted to. At this time the poor will finally realise what happened, but it will be too late.

The rich will still be fine as they don't really need the government. They can afford private hospitals and schools etc.

Basically it is the same if you give every poor person a credit card or if you give the government one big credit card to use on behalf of all the poor. No money is being made, just borrowed, and eventually the bill has to be paid - with interest!

Edited August 5, 2013 by monkeycountry

[hellodolly]

The problem with populist policies is that they seem very attractive to the poor and the poor will not realise the damage until it is too late.

imagine a party that promised to borrow a ton of money from abroad and give all the money as cash to the poor - and actually did as promised. Such a party would be guaranteed to win an election in Thailand.

Of course the dept to GDP ratio would soar and eventually Thailand would no longer be able to borrow money. Thailand would then be forced to stop free education, free hospitals, rice pledging scams etc. All the stuff that usually benefits the poor. And alot of people especially in the government sector would lose their jobs. Private sector jobs such as construction workers would be lost too, as the government could no longer afford to build new hospitals, roads, airports, trains etc. The poor would demonstrate on the streets, but with no money available the government will not be able to help, even if it wanted to. At this time the poor will finally realise what happened, but it will be too late.

The rich will still be fine as they don't really need the government. They can afford private hospitals and schools etc.

Basically it is the same if you give every poor person a credit card or if you give the government one big credit card to use on behalf of all the poor. No money is being made, just borrowed, and eventually the bill has to be paid - with interest!

That is what the PTP is working on. All ready they have had their back to the wall and had to transfer a huge debt to another department. They have given credit cards to farmers and Taxi drivers. Now the average household debt has shot way up. They are trying to get another 2.2 trillion baht loan. Most of which will only benefit construction companies and Politicians. Also their buddies who know the route and will go in and buy the land up ala Thaksin and turn around and sell it to the government at a huge profit. No benefit to the Farmers High Speed Trains going part way and in some cases part way to where the need for them is not nor ever will be. Chiang Mai for example.

They tried to spend 350 billion baht on a water management scheme that they had not even done the foot work on investigating it despite the fact that the law says they have to.

Thai Visa uses the Nation as their primary source of information. What does The Nation really know. They are always talking about the economic growth yet here we have a PM traveling around the world trying desperately to attract investors to a country that does not have the workers to fill the jobs it has. At least that is what the Government would have us believe. Actually now she is also desperate trying to unload rotten rice at a huge loss.

How often do we hear from the Nation about companies leaving Thailand. We really don't know that. The Nation is a biased rag with reporters incapable of checking facts. They depend on Startling headlines to cover up an article that has little to do with the headline.

[Pikeybkk]

the survey took place at lumpini park yesterday

[Kananga]

What surprises me is it took 2 years for the uneducated to realize it.

When the gullible realize it things will look up.

Do you honestly think the uneducated were polled?

[Robby nz]

I am wondering just where the Govt thinks it will be able to borrow the 2.2 trillion it wants?

They have had to borrow the 350 billion for the flood work from Thai banks, the majority of it (200 billion) from Govt owned banks the rest from 2 other Thai banks.

This is in fact borrowing money from Thai savers.

If there are the overseas investors they say who are keen to invest in Thailand then why did they borrow from their own people?

There is no doubt that there is infrastructure that needs upgrading, such as double tracking rail and upgrading rolling stock, something that would probably pay in a very short time with an increase in freight and passenger numbers.

The rail lot told us recently that they are about to start double tracking a part of the system and will do it out of normal budget.

If this can be done why not the lot done out of normal budget over the next few years?

That would make it accountable rather than part of who knowes what out of a huge loan that will never be accounted for.

[CIHUAHUA]

It reminds me of one of my professors who said "I'm not here to win a popularity contest; Im here to bring down your grades."

[tingtongteesood]

Hardly surprising given what the useless idiots have done to this country, riots, arson, loss of business, that's what happens when you follow orders from a spiteful childish criminal fugitive bent on creating havoc to punish the people of the country he claims to love so much....when will the general public see through all the crap and see the light ? Thankfully, at least a few thousand have and there can only be more to follow if the PT's keep playing silly games...

[Ulic]

The parties approval ratings may be down but she is looking pretty hot.

What does the sister look like?

[drdoom6996]

In the public opinions on political parties performance, Pheu Thai Party won the highest approval rating (4.94), followed by 4.40 for coalition parties and 3.81 for Democrat Party.

Oh my god. They haven't had any good economic news for months, and the dems still rate lower.

What exactly have the Democrats done? Highlight and complain about corruption (of which they're not exactly innocent themselves), criticise the amount of money the country is losing through the rice pledging scheme, complain about inflation, campaign against Thaksin-focused amnesty... that's about it.

They are good at criticising but they don't really come up with appropriate ideas to sort these issues out. And this coming from someone who really thinks the Democrats would govern the country a whole lot better than their Peua Thai counterparts.

Also, the Democrats haven't done much to endear them to large sections of those who just don't like them, although they seem to have consolidated their support in areas that support them.

You mean like the PTP/RED "My Way or the Highway".

[marell]

Poll results that don't include demographics, methodology etc don't really say a whole lot..

[boomerangutang]

The underlying motives for the Shinawatres and PT is to maintain the power seats. That's where they can handle the most money, and (hopefully for them) siphon as much as possible, clandestinely, of course. So,......borrow as much as possible today, because whether it gets paid back tomorrow, is secondary. The important factor is getting hands on money now, while they have the power seats. If the ship of state crashes and burns the year or 5 after they leave office, well...... too bad - perhaps it's just karma, .....whatever, it's not so pressing, when a person is lounging around the cafes at places like St. Moritz.

[metisdead]

An inflammatory trolling post has been removed as well as a reply.

[whybother]

The parties approval ratings may be down but she is looking pretty hot.

What does the sister look like?

You simply don't want to go there.

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