Thai Commerce Ministry faces public anger over cost of living

[hellodolly]

"It's just a perception that goods are expensive," she added.

If you have a plush government job, she muttered under her breath.

Maybe she has time to read a book before meeting the press next time. She might come up wit some famous brainy quotes like these:

“...let them eat cake” or “smear caviar on the stairs, so that the mob breaks its bones on the way out.”

Or maybe she should never use skype. Also fire every one of the bozos on her staff that lets her speak with out some one with intelligence OKing it before she opens her mouth.

[hellodolly]

Shocked that policies like raising the minimum wage and full employment is leading to higher prices, well I never. And then there is the weather, the price of eggs has risen 30% in the wet season. But wait, I see a host of statistics to be released clearly showing no price rises at all.

Just like in the UK the minimum wage allows for complete useless morons to actually get paid instead of kicking them into the reality that life is not one long bone idle holiday.

Thats funny, I was always under the impression that it allowed people to better feed their families and try to live better after working for such crap wages doing the work that all the lazy arse management class cant do while earning their 100's of thousands for screwing everything up......Banking industry is just 1 of many examples.....

Employers have been screwing the working classes since time began, and people with your attitude just add to the problem....yeah lets just kill all the poor and have done with it eh????

As for Thailand well, happy to take your money for votes and not think of the consequences? Som nam na!

The Thai economy (if thats what you can call it) needs a huge reality check.........More importantly a huge clean out of the rubbish running it, but we all know that wont happen so can be only down from here.

I for one would like to see Thailand judged on its standards rather than western standards. As long as there are farangs around willing to shove it down the throat of Thailand that they are being used irregardless of how the Thais feel there will be unrest in the working class. I know many Thais who live in what I would call poverty conditions but they are happy.

It is one thing to live in Thailand because it is cheap or what ever reason you have it is another thing to start telling them they are wrong because the country you choose not to live in does it different.

None well most of us don't like what we see but there is nothing we can do about it unless you own a company then you can help your employes. But we have no right to tell them to change their attitude to match are's. Allow them the dignity of where own opinion.

I remember when my wife finaly got her mother out of a dimp. When I saw the place she had goptten her I said I would give her more money so she could get a nicer place. I thought it was a dump she said oh no this was a nice place. I kept my mouth shut.

[MaxYakov]

Prices of many items have a lot to do with the global economy, out of the influence of Thai governments. Raising the minimum wage was an election promise of both sides and to my opinion quite a good idea as there hadn't been any substantial raise in a very long time and it's struggling at 5000 Baht a month.

Thailand's problem is in productivity and efficiency. It keeps amazing me to see 8 staff in a 7Eleven spending more time with each other than on customers, TOT that sends 6 people to install a simple telephone line spread over 3 visits, the army of people in banks that fiddle around with paper and stamps ignoring huge ques, and I can go on and on about this.

Why with the high wages is it possible to get a kilo of pork or beef in the shop at better quality and lower prices in western Europe than here in Thailand?

If Thailand would learn to use less people to do the same job the wages could be raised even more, tackling another problem of inequality here as most of the money that is made ends up in very few pockets. The latter will be the most difficult problem as it's them who pull the strings in the system.

Have 10 people working in 7-11 is the government's way of keeping the unemployment rate down.

Or is it 7-11's way of actually getting some work done?

Id love to see a time and motion study done in Thailand!!! how they ever called it a "tiger" Ill never know?

Yeah, like the old, worn-out, show tiger in 'Two Brothers' (2004). GDP per capita is not exactly impressive at #87 by the World Bank's ranking here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PPP%29_per_capita

Edited September 8, 2013 by MaxYakov