BAAC halts paying farmers with its 5 billion baht inter bank loan

[SICHONSTEVE]

Does anyone else see corruption and manipulation on display and not from the government?

1. threat by its union: In the good old days of unions, organized crime and political parties used to have a stranglehold on some unions. The mafia and the teamster in the USA , the Labour party and the coal miners in the UK. Is the PDRC getting help from its friends/proxies at the "union"?

2. rush to withdrawal money from the GSB: Has the PDRC and some of its media supporters encouraged and pushed the rush in an effort to cause panic?

I actually don't see corruption and manipulation but I do see extreme panic and desperation!!

[givenall]

I don't get it.

The headline says

BAAC halts paying farmers with its 5 billion baht inter bank loan

but it goes on to say that the bank recieved money from the government to pay the farmers.

Simple question: Are they going to be paid or not?

Should tell the farmers wait for your tern. they need the money to fight the PCRD and other oppositions in the same they have spend all Thais treasury money

[geriatrickid]

Does anyone else see corruption and manipulation on display and not from the government?

1. threat by its union: In the good old days of unions, organized crime and political parties used to have a stranglehold on some unions. The mafia and the teamster in the USA , the Labour party and the coal miners in the UK. Is the PDRC getting help from its friends/proxies at the "union"?

2. rush to withdrawal money from the GSB: Has the PDRC and some of its media supporters encouraged and pushed the rush in an effort to cause panic?

The unions in the west are not the same as the unions here. There are little in the way of national unions here, they are mostly attached to a single business. Such as the BAAC has its own union, and the GSB has its own also.

Also you quoted political party and mafia alliances, the PDRC is not a political party or an organized crime syndicate, it is a protest movement. I doubt they have had time to forge alliances, and if there were any such alliances I can pretty much guarantee they would not be on the side of the democrats, they would align themselves with the polar opposite wouldn't you think?

Stop trying to bring the PDRC into this, the media would have been waiting for a chance all day long to tie this with the PDRC and not even the bullshit Thaksin funded Khaosod even come up with anything. They don't need to do it, they knew already what the results would have been, I was waiting for this since Saturday when the GSB story broke..... It ain't rocket science... Millions of Thais hate this government, enough to also hate the GSB for supporting the government and its corrupt and failed rice policy.

The PDRC is a defacto political group. It's leader Suthep is the former chief organizer of the Democrats. He was the face of the Democrat party in the south. He is joined by most of his key organizers. Basically, the PDRC is the Democrat party of the south. You cannot deny that. In respect to the pseudo union, as previously pointed out, the union is not a union in the conventional sense. All major service unions are open to political interference and manipulation as they do not operate with the same transparency as do actual service based unions elsewhere. This is why there is a similarity to the Teamsters or Labourers unions of the 1950's to 1980's in the USA.

The millions of people who you say hate the government, are unlikely to have bank accounts at the GSB. They are more likely to have their accounts at SCB, BB, TMB or K. The GSB isn't the bank of choice in the south or in Bangkok.

[ramrod711]

Let the farmers charge the bank interest for unpaid monies to them and see how that fly's

The BAAC is obliged and lawfully required to pay farmers for their rice, fact, end of story, get on with it and stay out of politics,

Imagine if you had interest owing you money on deposits and the bank refused to pay it,,, reckon you would be just a little p*ssed-off yeah...

Where do you suppose the bank should get the money? I can just imagine your howls of rage if your bank started giving away your assets. If the government wants to pay the farmers, they have one legal option, sell the rice. But they can't do that, can they? The reason they can't is simple, because they are so stupid they screwed themselves in this massive Ponzi scheme. Idiots.

[rickirs]

This article is at best confusing with contradictions. The Government Bank makes loans to the Government to pay the farmers; the Government incurs the debt. The Government then directs the borrowed funds (aka "cash") to BAAC to pay the Farmers. There is not a baht of BAAC customer deposits involved in this transaction. In fact BAAC likely charges a fee to act as Payor for the Government that contributes to its own profits without ANY RISK; it gets money, it pays money. So now BAAC decides it will not pay the farmers and returns the funds back to the Government because it believes the loan has insufficient collateral. So what? The borrowed funds did not originate from BAAC and no debt is owed to BAAC, so why would it be concerned with loan collateral? It appears BAAC's decision is not financially motivated but politically motivated that smacks of corruption.

[JesseFrank]

This article is at best confusing with contradictions. The Government Bank makes loans to the Government to pay the farmers; the Government incurs the debt. The Government then directs the borrowed funds (aka "cash") to BAAC to pay the Farmers. There is not a baht of BAAC customer deposits involved in this transaction. In fact BAAC likely charges a fee to act as Payor for the Government that contributes to its own profits without ANY RISK; it gets money, it pays money. So now BAAC decides it will not pay the farmers and returns the funds back to the Government because it believes the loan has insufficient collateral. So what? The borrowed funds did not originate from BAAC and no debt is owed to BAAC, so why would it be concerned with loan collateral? It appears BAAC's decision is not financially motivated but politically motivated that smacks of corruption.

No Sir, the government instructs the Government savings bank to make an interbank loan to the BAAC, so that the BAAC can pay the farmers as it doesn't have sufficient liquidity currently.

At the same time the government who is responsible for the payment to the farmers, promise the BAAC that they will deposit enough money so that they can pay back the loan to GSB, which is due in 30 days.

The BAAC is not born under a chicken and know that the government has not kept a single promise of all the promises it has made the past two and a half years, and is aware that the government is already a few hundred billion Baht behind on it's payments to the bank.

So it rightful declines the kind offer from the government and GSB, as it is well aware that they will be the dupe in a month from now.

[EyesWideOpen]

I hope someone in the future makes a documentary about the rice scam.

I am sure the full details would be astounding. Regarding this topic, I bet

that the mini run on the bank was a real eye opening experience for the

GSB. And a horrific harbinger of the future if they kept on the path of making

rice loans.....

[Sunderland]

This article is at best confusing with contradictions. The Government Bank makes loans to the Government to pay the farmers; the Government incurs the debt. The Government then directs the borrowed funds (aka "cash") to BAAC to pay the Farmers. There is not a baht of BAAC customer deposits involved in this transaction. In fact BAAC likely charges a fee to act as Payor for the Government that contributes to its own profits without ANY RISK; it gets money, it pays money. So now BAAC decides it will not pay the farmers and returns the funds back to the Government because it believes the loan has insufficient collateral. So what? The borrowed funds did not originate from BAAC and no debt is owed to BAAC, so why would it be concerned with loan collateral? It appears BAAC's decision is not financially motivated but politically motivated that smacks of corruption.

I will be honest and say that I am not sure how this all works. Is the BAAC merely a channel for the payment of rice farmers?

If I were a GSB customer, I don't think I would be confident about the government being able to pay back the loan to the GSB any time in the future, let alone one month from now. There should be safeguards to ensure that savings would not be threatened in any way, but this being Thailand I would not be sure about anything. The laws in this country are too fickle and open to interpretation according to whichever way the wind happens to be blowing on any given day.

In conclusion, if I were a GSB customer, I would also withdraw my money and invest it elsewhere for now.

[gamini]

The bank is most likely completly confused as to the criteria to use for payout.

The suggestions have been, first come first served, in order of receipt of worthless paper for rice, Chiang Mai first, those in dire need first, families of those who killed themselves, etc. The one given seems that the farmers who were paid today, got about 1/2 of what was owed them.

It seems that the entire caretaker government is in panic mode, shock at their perdictment, thus they appear completely unable to function at a worable level. For the sake of the country get someone on the 'Bridge' who can dock this vessel, confine the incompentant lot of them to quarter, and turn them over to the proper authorties to answer charges against them. Just make sure the bozos at DSI and the Labor and Foreign Ministers are put in padded cells for the protection of others.

Make Suthep PM and soon all will be fine

[telecom]

I hope someone in the future makes a documentary about the rice scam.

I am sure the full details would be astounding. Regarding this topic, I bet

that the mini run on the bank was a real eye opening experience for the

GSB. And a horrific harbinger of the future if they kept on the path of making

rice loans.....

I bet there won't be too many board members of the GSB getting ANY sleep tonight.

Tomorrow will be very interesting indeed. 100 billion of withdrawals perhaps?

The second day of the Northern Rock run was caused them to shut their doors and scream for help.

They can say 30 billion won't impact us as much as they like, we will see what tomorrow brings. If my theory is correct, I can see the banks closing the doors to stem the outflow. This is what will make up other people's minds.

BKK represents 40% of GSB total deposits, that is 40% of 1.7 trillion (680 Bn). They have a liquidity of 180 billion now (about 10% liquidity left)...... Interesting.... interesting indeed.

[lovetotravel]

Doesnt anyone just do their job anymore here without messing things up and sticking thier noses in anothers pile of dung ? ... <deleted> does it have to do with the BAAC where the money comes from surely they are charged with paying the farmers and thats it... you got some bloody money now pay some farmers with it... jesus if its a f up by the gov let them get crucified for it and not the poor farmers.

<deleted> use the money to pay the farmers now you have it.... these people in these pin head depts dont give a crap about those they are supposed to be helping its all political...

Boy are we seeing one screwed up system and country ive never seen anything like it here all at once in so many depts ... its like watching someone having seizures, on purpose.

Would you pay your neighbours mortgage, if he asked for your neighbourly help, and said "I promise you, if I can't pay you back what I ask to borrow from you, you can have my car worth the same amount you lend me." (when the car hasn't been paid off too!!!) ???

The ones having seizures are the gits in PTP who siphoned off the money in the whole big scam. Are you waking up yet?

The PTP is interested in only the amnesty bill and making themselves rich. They've achieved nothing else since being in power. And the supporters haven't figured this out yet.

[noitom]

When he saw in yesterday's news that the Thai rice farmers were funding their planting through begging from foreign tourists at the airport, he decided to pull the plug on the loan. What he said about lending customer's money is incorrect if in fact this was a loan from GSB for the purpose of paying farmers. If it was this type of loan, it would have been segregated from other customer accounts.

[Dogmatix]

So this is what has become of Yingluck's announcement that the Finance Ministry had successfully managed to secure funding to pay the farmers from a secret sources through its own monumental efforts - a short term inter-bank loan from another state bank. And now it has to be repaid due to a run on the lender and threats from BAAC's union. So basically the Finance Ministry has achieved nothing after attempting a cheap sleight of hand trick to deceive BAAC's union.

Why didn't Yingluck and Kittirat prepare the funding to pay in October on time? Poor farmers.

[Dogmatix]

Doesnt anyone just do their job anymore here without messing things up and sticking thier noses in anothers pile of dung ? ... <deleted> does it have to do with the BAAC where the money comes from surely they are charged with paying the farmers and thats it... you got some bloody money now pay some farmers with it... jesus if its a f up by the gov let them get crucified for it and not the poor farmers.

<deleted> use the money to pay the farmers now you have it.... these people in these pin head depts dont give a crap about those they are supposed to be helping its all political...

Boy are we seeing one screwed up system and country ive never seen anything like it here all at once in so many depts ... its like watching someone having seizures, on purpose.

Would you pay your neighbours mortgage, if he asked for your neighbourly help, and said "I promise you, if I can't pay you back what I ask to borrow from you, you can have my car worth the same amount you lend me." (when the car hasn't been paid off too!!!) ???

The ones having seizures are the gits in PTP who siphoned off the money in the whole big scam. Are you waking up yet?

The PTP is interested in only the amnesty bill and making themselves rich. They've achieved nothing else since being in power. And the supporters haven't figured this out yet.

You are right. The point is that the BAAC could be left holding the bag, since the government is unable to borrow legally to pay the farmers. It only issued a non-binding comfort letter to GSB to guarantee its inter-bank loan. The current government decided to dump the Finance Ministry's debt incurred in bailing out the insolvent financial institutions in 1997 onto the Bank of Thailand's balance sheet to make itself look better. BAAC could be left with a similar hole in its balance sheet. We are not talking bout debt backed by the full faith and credit of the Royal Thai Government here. We are talking about unsecured loans which should rate for a much higher interest rate than GSB was offered. Similar problem with the govt's attempts to auction B20bn in notes to commercial banks. They got bids for some of it but for more much higher interest rates than they were prepared to pay. Same even happened to the government guaranteed bond auction of B50bn that did have a govt guarantee before the dissolution of Parliament. Kittirat cancelled the whole thing because he didn't like the bids which were only for a portion of it. Now he would probably give his right arm to bids at those prices. He seems to be constantly two or three moves behind the game and always trying to overplay a weak hand.

[iancnx]

Looks like the BAAC is in bed with the Democ rats and Suthep.

The government gave them the money to pay the farmers and they still refuse to pay the farmers.

Such a shame. The farmers union refusing to pay their own farmers even though they have the money.

Does anyone else see corruption and manipulation on display and not from the government?

1. threat by its union: In the good old days of unions, organized crime and political parties used to have a stranglehold on some unions. The mafia and the teamster in the USA , the Labour party and the coal miners in the UK. Is the PDRC getting help from its friends/proxies at the "union"?

2. rush to withdrawal money from the GSB: Has the PDRC and some of its media supporters encouraged and pushed the rush in an effort to cause panic?

Just a couple of the daftest posts I have seen today. And the pair of them will be back with more tomorrow. Sad!

[Baerboxer]

Let the farmers charge the bank interest for unpaid monies to them and see how that fly's

The BAAC is obliged and lawfully required to pay farmers for their rice, fact, end of story, get on with it and stay out of politics,

Imagine if you had interest owing you money on deposits and the bank refused to pay it,,, reckon you would be just a little p*ssed-off yeah...

And which specific "laws" require the BAAC to pay the farmers? BAAC act as payment agents on behalf of the government who must supply the actual funds to be used. They ain't got the cash free to do it. All disappeared - Woosh!! Despite promise after promise after promise.

It is the caretaker government's legal responsibility not the banks or anyone else's and their cock up too.

You can't make convenient "law" up and change the rules as you go along - as PTP are finding out.

[Baerboxer]

So this is what has become of Yingluck's announcement that the Finance Ministry had successfully managed to secure funding to pay the farmers from a secret sources through its own monumental efforts - a short term inter-bank loan from another state bank. And now it has to be repaid due to a run on the lender and threats from BAAC's union. So basically the Finance Ministry has achieved nothing after attempting a cheap sleight of hand trick to deceive BAAC's union.

Why didn't Yingluck and Kittirat prepare the funding to pay in October on time? Poor farmers.

They only do anything when forced to do so. Then as little as possible to try and stall the farmers.

So Yingluck's promise that farmers would be paid today, then amended to "starting' today was based on this and only this.

No wonder she refuses to meet them.

An incredible amount of people are in dire straights and suffering real deprivation - but one family has massively increased its wealth. Hopefully the NACC will show some balls with its probes and not allow this crap heap to be conveniently swept under the carpet.

[Squigy]

STOP playing with peoples lives!! It is going to come back and bite you in the near future.

[monkeycountry]

Seems we now have another twist, the credit agencies are rearing their heads,

According to an official who asked for anonymity, Moodys Investors Service and Fitch Ratings conducted conference calls with Thai officials last week, to get data needed for the annual review.

On the row between the government and rice farmers, they understood that it is just a "technical" default on debt to farmers as a result of political conflicts.

So the finance ministry has told them that it is the fault of the protesters (political conflict) that the farmers haven't been paid.

Do they really think Moody's and Fitch will believe that ?

The PTP added that they could not yet give them the data, as after 2 years, the PTP had not yet managed to calculate the losses from the rice scam. This combined with blaming the protesters for the scams failure assured Moody's that everything was under control :-)

[telecom]

Doesnt anyone just do their job anymore here without messing things up and sticking thier noses in anothers pile of dung ? ... <deleted> does it have to do with the BAAC where the money comes from surely they are charged with paying the farmers and thats it... you got some bloody money now pay some farmers with it... jesus if its a f up by the gov let them get crucified for it and not the poor farmers.

<deleted> use the money to pay the farmers now you have it.... these people in these pin head depts dont give a crap about those they are supposed to be helping its all political...

Boy are we seeing one screwed up system and country ive never seen anything like it here all at once in so many depts ... its like watching someone having seizures, on purpose.

Would you pay your neighbours mortgage, if he asked for your neighbourly help, and said "I promise you, if I can't pay you back what I ask to borrow from you, you can have my car worth the same amount you lend me." (when the car hasn't been paid off too!!!) ???

The ones having seizures are the gits in PTP who siphoned off the money in the whole big scam. Are you waking up yet?

The PTP is interested in only the amnesty bill and making themselves rich. They've achieved nothing else since being in power. And the supporters haven't figured this out yet.

I am sorry lovetotravel but you are totally wrong.

They achieve a lot.

They blew 100s of billions in the flood crisis only for it to flood again the next year and the best they came up with was pushing water out of the rivers with lots of boats.

They have completely undid all the work and investment in the north and the farming industries, and now the rubber and rice projects have ruines their respective industries for years to come and those farmers will now starve in the future or go and do something else.

They completely bungled the tablet scheme and lost a lot of money there too, mostly in graft and out and out theft and only less than 1% of kids have tablets.

They have made Thailand look like a laughing stock in front of the entire world with all their abuses.

They have put Thailand's sovereignty almost into negative status.

They have put the import/export industries into negative deficit, and Yingluck when asked what her government had achieved in power, she said I am proud of what we did for improving exports when in fact they had declined..... lol..... <deleted>?

I could go on and on, but I need to sleep now, but you get my drift.

So it would probably been easier for me to list what they have actually 'positively' achieved..... Nothing.

Oh hang on...... Thailand is the hub of everything, Thailand is so superior, Thailand leads the way, Thailand has a demcratic system Yingluck wants to promote worldwide....hahahaha.... lastly Yingluck strengthened alliances with Turkmenistan by vowing to return to promote Buddhism in that 100% Islamic state.

Yep, this will have been a memorable government alright.

Edited February 17, 2014 by telecom

[monkeycountry]

Thai farmers must be able to stand o their own 2 feet in their up-country.

They should not come to Bangkok and beg for more Tax Payers money to subsidies their corp.

you go and tell them....you know all the real answers dont ya... but begging for what your owed just isnt on is it....

Half the economics experts on the planet, including those in Thailand, have told both the PTP and the farmers that the rice scam would eventually collapse. Neither the PTP nor the farmers cared one bit, they thought they had found a money tree, and together they started plundering it, promising eachother cash for votes. Well, suddenly the tree ran out and now both the farmers and the PTP are dumbfounded. As a tax payer I am glad the tree ran out and I do not feel the least bit sorry for either the PTP or the farmers - and I definately do not feel I owe any of them anything whatsoever! Edited February 17, 2014 by monkeycountry

[monkeycountry]

Does anyone else see corruption and manipulation on display and not from the government?

1. threat by its union: In the good old days of unions, organized crime and political parties used to have a stranglehold on some unions. The mafia and the teamster in the USA , the Labour party and the coal miners in the UK. Is the PDRC getting help from its friends/proxies at the "union"?

2. rush to withdrawal money from the GSB: Has the PDRC and some of its media supporters encouraged and pushed the rush in an effort to cause panic?

The unions in the west are not the same as the unions here. There are little in the way of national unions here, they are mostly attached to a single business. Such as the BAAC has its own union, and the GSB has its own also.

Also you quoted political party and mafia alliances, the PDRC is not a political party or an organized crime syndicate, it is a protest movement. I doubt they have had time to forge alliances, and if there were any such alliances I can pretty much guarantee they would not be on the side of the democrats, they would align themselves with the polar opposite wouldn't you think?

Stop trying to bring the PDRC into this, the media would have been waiting for a chance all day long to tie this with the PDRC and not even the bullshit Thaksin funded Khaosod even come up with anything. They don't need to do it, they knew already what the results would have been, I was waiting for this since Saturday when the GSB story broke..... It ain't rocket science... Millions of Thais hate this government, enough to also hate the GSB for supporting the government and its corrupt and failed rice policy.

The PDRC is a defacto political group. It's leader Suthep is the former chief organizer of the Democrats. He was the face of the Democrat party in the south. He is joined by most of his key organizers. Basically, the PDRC is the Democrat party of the south. You cannot deny that. In respect to the pseudo union, as previously pointed out, the union is not a union in the conventional sense. All major service unions are open to political interference and manipulation as they do not operate with the same transparency as do actual service based unions elsewhere. This is why there is a similarity to the Teamsters or Labourers unions of the 1950's to 1980's in the USA.

The millions of people who you say hate the government, are unlikely to have bank accounts at the GSB. They are more likely to have their accounts at SCB, BB, TMB or K. The GSB isn't the bank of choice in the south or in Bangkok.

My gf has 200-300k in GSB. She lives in the south and hates the government. Anything else you want to tell us about GSB customers? :-)

Btw, she did not pull out her money today.

Edited February 17, 2014 by monkeycountry

[hgma]

A new 'People's TRT Army' is lurking in the dark, waiting for their opportunity...

Loansharks.

My thoughts are with the families of farmers who couldn't face their family anymore.....

Unbelievable Suffering!

[aimbc]

Thai farmers must be able to stand o their own 2 feet in their up-country.

They should not come to Bangkok and beg for more Tax Payers money to subsidies their corp.

you go and tell them....you know all the real answers dont ya... but begging for what your owed just isnt on is it....

Half the economics experts on the planet, including those in Thailand, have told both the PTP and the farmers that the rice scam would eventually collapse. Neither the PTP nor the farmers cared one bit, they thought they had found a money tree, and together they started plundering it, promising eachother cash for votes. Well, suddenly the tree ran out and now both the farmers and the PTP are dumbfounded. As a tax payer I am glad the tree ran out and I do not feel the least bit sorry for either the PTP or the farmers - and I definately do not feel I owe any of them anything whatsoever!

True man true...tough love. Let's not forget that the policy only benefited less than 50% of the total rice farmers. The ones that needed the most, the smaller guys, didn't qualify for it. So it was basically helping the better of farmers. To put things in perspective, every Adult, children and babies had to contribute at least 14,000+ baht per person to the policy. So a family of 4 will have to pay 56,000 baht. I agree with you, I think they spent more than enough. It's time to find out where the money and rice went.

[monkeycountry]

This article is at best confusing with contradictions. The Government Bank makes loans to the Government to pay the farmers; the Government incurs the debt. The Government then directs the borrowed funds (aka "cash") to BAAC to pay the Farmers. There is not a baht of BAAC customer deposits involved in this transaction. In fact BAAC likely charges a fee to act as Payor for the Government that contributes to its own profits without ANY RISK; it gets money, it pays money. So now BAAC decides it will not pay the farmers and returns the funds back to the Government because it believes the loan has insufficient collateral. So what? The borrowed funds did not originate from BAAC and no debt is owed to BAAC, so why would it be concerned with loan collateral? It appears BAAC's decision is not financially motivated but politically motivated that smacks of corruption.

Noone trusts anything the government says anymore, and as the GSB and BAAC are government owned, there is not much confidence in those two banks either.

The banks tried initially to stay clear of this disaster, but the government forced them into it. The customers have no way of controlling or checking which money is used for what, they simply have to trust the banks, but now that trust is gone, and so people pull out their money worrying that the banks may collapse, and their money will be lost.

Government guarantees to cover the banks are also worthless now as I am sure any rice farmer will confirm for you.

A run on the bank has happened to many banks all over the world in the past and has nothing to do with corruption, but simply collective customer fear of a bank collapse. Ironically it is often the bank run, caused by the fear, that ends up causing the collapse.

[Thai at Heart]

Any movement is causing a run on any institution lending the money. What a complete fiasco.

[slipperx]

Does anyone else see corruption and manipulation on display and not from the government?

1. threat by its union: In the good old days of unions, organized crime and political parties used to have a stranglehold on some unions. The mafia and the teamster in the USA , the Labour party and the coal miners in the UK. Is the PDRC getting help from its friends/proxies at the "union"?

2. rush to withdrawal money from the GSB: Has the PDRC and some of its media supporters encouraged and pushed the rush in an effort to cause panic?

Well you are right about the miners but I don't think the banking staff in Thailand are quite so militant. More like they are afraid for their jobs.

I think the PT and GSB were the people causing panic. It is astoundingly idiotic and naive for a bank to publicise it is hand out a highly legally questionable loan and highly politically charged loan of tens of billions of baht supported by a love letter from Kittirat.

Any apprentice banker would know circumspection is essential. But knowing that the inexperienced young CEO of the GSB is a protege of Thaksin since the tender age of 25 might indicate something and also show how PT are seeking to control everything from buying political parties (one of the the reasons the PPP was dissolved) to buying generals, police and constitutional court judges, allegedly and so I have read. Maybe a very good argument as to why such practices undermine the fabric of society.

Nepotism is not democratic!

[Crushdepth]

Has Yingluck actually apologised to farmers at any point? Or is that beneath the high and mighty?

[kimamey]

How long before we have accusations of fake bankers, fake financiers and fake customers wanting their money back?

What about fake politicians?

[kimamey]

Thai farmers must be able to stand o their own 2 feet in their up-country.

They should not come to Bangkok and beg for more Tax Payers money to subsidies their corp.

Small subsidies to help farmers are OK as it will stop people leaving the land which could end up with Thailand having to import rice. The massive over pricing was wrong and was probably meant to encourage votes for PTP but since that was the price agreed that is the price that should be paid. The farmers have given the rice for the price that the government agreed on.

They're going to Bangkok because that's where the government offices are but they're protesting in other places as well I believe.