Thailand's think tank: Govt cornered to dead-end on rice scheme

[smileydude]

Thailand has a Think Tank ? i know it has a lot of thick tanks but a thinking one ? hmmm a novelty

FYI: There are 6826 think tanks all over the world.

Thailand has 8 think tanks but the one quoted most often is TDRI because they focus on policy research unlike many US think tanks like Brookings Institution which tend to focus on international issues like politics, environmental etc. Most of the other Thai think tanks are located in Universities like ISIS and Sasin in Chula.

The only thick tanks I know of in Thailand are the PTP and Shin clan.

Edited February 5, 2014 by smileydude

[Skint]

How many more <deleted> rice topics are needed?

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

[ratcatcher]

Well, we all saw it coming and were powerless to avert it.

I guess the only positive is that it may be the nail in the coffin of PTP for a while.

it is a crying shame the damage it will do to the country.

Can anyone suggest anything that the Farang who love this country can do??

I will be honest, I feel that the best thing I can do is just wait outside until the shit stops flying around. I still keep sending money to the family.

What are you afraid of? If you have family here and are entitled, by virtue of a visa, to stay here for a certain period, wouldn't you want to be with them. You don't mention where you come from or where your family is.

However, just remember, the money trail must not be broken.

There are many thousands of foreigners here with families, I doubt too many are checking airline costs..............just yet anyway.

[boomerangutang]

What I find most interesting is that nobody is really saying who has pocketed all the money from this insane corrupt program......Middle men are vaguely alluded to, and that is about all we get. But one thing we know for sure, the farmers do not have the money. :-)

I'll say who has pocketed the lion's share of the hand-outs; the millers. Thai rice millers are, with few exceptions, Chinese-Thai. The instigators of the rice hand-outs are Chinese-Thai. 1 + 1 = 2

I don't think anybody is blaming Thaksin for this utter horlicks his rice scam has been.

I am. He largely instigated the rice scam, and has several times during the preceding months, T has continued cheer-leading it.

[Gweiloman]

As these irrefutable statistics greet the cold light of day, there is no escaping the fact that this programme has been among the most corrupt of it's kind anywhere in the world. Those at the top of the rung profited the most - as they were intended to - while the whole industry collapsed, as personal gain was placed front and centre above the national interest and Thailand's standing as the world's premiere exporter of rice - something that now is but a distance memory for generations to come. This Pheu Thai administration - in two and a half short years - has brought the country to financial ruin. It has sullied the professional reputation of its credit, and it has created a mutiny of opposition from within the country - from the people on the streets, from the banks, and from the farmers themselves. It will be the instrument that brings down this administration. It was inevitable, though, that before that happened, that it would reach a point where it would be stripped of its power to forge ahead with this particular addiction to massive graft. It has reached that point now. Without a parliamentary mandate, without the sanction of the EC, amidst an impeachment investigation by the NACC, and finally resistance from the banks themselves in a reflex of pure instinctual self-survival - this administration has been thrown involuntarily into a detox room, while the rest of the country now prepares to go forward and tries to heal from the experience that this party has wrecked on the country.

True but didn't I read that Y.S.' personal wealth increased by 50 million in the time she's been "in charge." Soooooooooooooooooooo...... mission accomplished some might think.

Yes, for someone who's never had more than 5 million in their life, 50 million might seem a lot. For some others, this is chicken feet.

[atyclb]

What I find most interesting is that nobody is really saying who has pocketed all the money

from this insane corrupt program......Middle men are vaguely alluded to, and that is about

all we get. But one thing we know for sure, the farmers do not have the money. :-)

Unlikely thai media would publish names of suspects fearing "criminal defamation" suits or reduced life expectancies. Criminal defamation actually protects corruption and propagates it.

[Thaddeus]

As these irrefutable statistics greet the cold light of day, there is no escaping the fact that this programme has been among the most corrupt of it's kind anywhere in the world. Those at the top of the rung profited the most - as they were intended to - while the whole industry collapsed, as personal gain was placed front and centre above the national interest and Thailand's standing as the world's premiere exporter of rice - something that now is but a distance memory for generations to come. This Pheu Thai administration - in two and a half short years - has brought the country to financial ruin. It has sullied the professional reputation of its credit, and it has created a mutiny of opposition from within the country - from the people on the streets, from the banks, and from the farmers themselves. It will be the instrument that brings down this administration. It was inevitable, though, that before that happened, that it would reach a point where it would be stripped of its power to forge ahead with this particular addiction to massive graft. It has reached that point now. Without a parliamentary mandate, without the sanction of the EC, amidst an impeachment investigation by the NACC, and finally resistance from the banks themselves in a reflex of pure instinctual self-survival - this administration has been thrown involuntarily into a detox room, while the rest of the country now prepares to go forward and tries to heal from the experience that this party has wrecked on the country.

True but didn't I read that Y.S.' personal wealth increased by 50 million in the time she's been "in charge." Soooooooooooooooooooo...... mission accomplished some might think.

Yes, for someone who's never had more than 5 million in their life, 50 million might seem a lot. For some others, this is chicken feet.

Chicken feet?

[JRSoul]

Yes, for someone who's never had more than 5 million in their life, 50 million might seem a lot. For some others, this is chicken feet.

Chicken feet?

He's spent too much time in China.

[soalbundy]

It is a real shame. This rice scan is much worse than what I initially though of.

I am wondering how soon the government will announce the names of the criminals who knowingly stole the money.

They all should get proper jail time.

It will be interesting to see whether or not the criminals will be properly punished.

They might escape from Thailand just like the big boss in Dubai did.

Is Yingluck clean? We all wonder how she is going to handle this.

I should think that all of them have had their sticky little fingers in the till, so no jail time. Is Yinluck clean ?...only when she has had a shower.

[Old Man River]

It is a real shame. This rice scan is much worse than what I initially though of.

I am wondering how soon the government will announce the names of the criminals who knowingly stole the money.

They all should get proper jail time.

It will be interesting to see whether or not the criminals will be properly punished.

They might escape from Thailand just like the big boss in Dubai did.

Is Yingluck clean? We all wonder how she is going to handle this.

They cant announce the names as it is the government itself that stole the money. I hope the NACC gets enough proof to charge the government and disband it for once and all maybe some jail-time for some of its members and of course the one who chaired it is fully responsible.. I believe that was Yinluck.

The NACC has been open about those they are looking at. The list of names they are looking at is public. The NACC seems to be focussing on a reported G to G transaction that may not have actually existed. If they decide to go after YL, it will not be for direct corruption, but because the whole program was failing, but she continued it. From the beginning, one of her very senior economic advisors, Dr. Virabongsa, predicted doom for this program, still it did help the PTP get elected in 2011' so it continued despite the apparently obvious problems as had been previously predicted. Even after the IMF (world Bank), came up with staggering estimations, YL has continued the program.

Some believe she made another mistake in dissolving parliament before planning how to get the farmers paid, but that is between her and her constituents who have voiced their anger by blocking roads.

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

[ChrisY1]

Just have to start with Red Shirt Arrisman......the future Richard Branson of Thailand.....only Arrisman stole his wealth!

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app