Thailand's selfish super-rich

[MGP]

What about the Shin clan who absolutely love their country and country men and women, isn't their aim to do good for all ( of their own family ) ?

Do you realise how many previous lifetime points they had to accumulate, to become so wealthy?

Indeed! They have probably been investing in a good-rebirth insurance plan, like the Dhammakaya, for eons

As a matter of fact, the Shins are one of their main donators.

Buying Your Way To Heaven: Thailand’s Dhammakaya

http://penhpal.com/2011/02/buying-your-way-to-heaven-thailand%E2%80%99s-dhammakaya-cult/

Dhammakaya: Traditional Buddhism Or Commodification?

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/354829-dhammakaya-traditional-buddhism-or-commodification/

[belg]

in the west, those people got rich with ideas and inventions and business that grew over the decades

overhere : people got rich by stealing from the taxpayers and exploiting the poor

tax on unused land, would be a nice start to redistribute the wealth in this country

[sangfroid]

What about the Shin clan who absolutely love their country and country men and women, isn't their aim to do good for all ( of their own family ) ?

The Shin clan do indeed love Thailand so much for what she can do for them but not for what they can do for her.

The Shin creed

"Ask not what you can do for your country, ask what financially raping your country can do for you.

[rametindallas]

I wish the Singha corporation would give back and stop going up on their beer.

they just had a massive hit in payroll costs as entry level workers went to Bt. 300, everyone else had to get similar raises to keep the 'pecking' order correct.

[Fookhaht]

This is partly a religion issue, and the difference between East and West resulting from this. Philanthropy as we know it began during the heyday of Purgatory Theology, when rich people left their whole life savings to Churches, Poorhouses, Hospitals and food-for-poor schemes. The rich person was paying to have his time in Purgatory cut, a small amount of money would get you 40 days reduced, some very rich people paid for 40,000 years less time in Purgatory. If you believe in Purgatory or not, the social consequences of this were very positive, people tried to live good lives and if they didn't manage that they would upon death leave a fortune to the poor and hungry in society. This was because in Purgatory (a sort of Hell_Lite) you weren't spending eternity in the Cellar as it were, but you were still suffering for a good long time. Greedy selfish money-men were forced to drink molten gold in Purgatory, liars had their tongues nailed to the floor, murderers were hewn upon the block. These are real incentives to live a good honourable life, or at the very least to give all your money to poor people when you died.

I wouldn't be so sanctimonious about the East. Do you know what "tam-boon" means in Thailand? It's making merit, and millions (if not billions) of baht are channeled into religious institutions here for the purpose of earning a higher status in the "next life." Same motivations. Learn your hosts' culture, friend.

Edited April 17, 2014 by Fookhaht

[arthurwait]

in the west, those people got rich with ideas and inventions and business that grew over the decades

overhere : people got rich by stealing from the taxpayers and exploiting the poor

tax on unused land, would be a nice start to redistribute the wealth in this country

To the Shins ?

[MMarlow]

Inheritance tax anyone?

What about it?

[uptheos]

What about the Shin clan who absolutely love their country and country men and women, isn't their aim to do good for all ( of their own family ) ?

Do you realise how many previous lifetime points they had to accumulate, to become so wealthy?

Indeed! They have probably been investing in a good-rebirth insurance plan, like the Dhammakaya, for eons

As a matter of fact, the Shins are one of their main donators.

Buying Your Way To Heaven: Thailand’s Dhammakaya

http://penhpal.com/2011/02/buying-your-way-to-heaven-thailand%E2%80%99s-dhammakaya-cult/

Dhammakaya: Traditional Buddhism Or Commodification?

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/354829-dhammakaya-traditional-buddhism-or-commodification/

See, it works.

[kannot]

I read that Thais are the most generous tippers in Asia so perhaps that is whee the billions are going?

u mean the others dont tip at all then!!

[MMarlow]

Indeed - so that the children can grow up and run over policemen with their Ferraris and get away with it.

Ridiculous posting rears it's head again.

Edited April 17, 2014 by MMarlow

[Coppernicussing]

:"There is an inherent selfishness in the concept that wealth should be kept within families, passed on from one generation to another. Greed is bound to be amplified when people feel they need to amass wealth not just for themselves but also for their children and grandchildren."

Excuse me but what gives non-family any more "rights to my money than my family has?

What are talking about is the the most horrible form of robbery and chicanery I have ever heard! You should be massively and implicitly ashamed of yourself for even suggesting you have a right to steal from a dead man's kids.

[Tomtomtom69]

There is a Thai word for philanthropy, but to my wifes' knowledge, she can not remember any rich family ever donating or leaving large sums to a cause.

Similarly the Chinese, they also never donate.

Greed and more greed......and there's never enough!

Wow. I do love your ignorance! How you can in one sentence generalize the whole Chinese population. To open your biased eyes, see the link to Forbes 2013 Chinese philanthropists.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/russellflannery/2013/04/23/2013-forbes-china-philanthropy-list-full-list/

I was just going to say the same thing. Chinese philantrophists exist. I have been quite impressed by China and it's people having studied and worked there and they are quite different to the Thais.

[baxida]

NOTHING I read about the super rich surprises me..These Billionaire's will be the destruction of society. It's happening the world over with the Bilderberg group attendants like Rockerfeller, Rothchild, Geithner, Kissinger, and all the other slime to humanity who are plotting to invoke a New World Order.

[MMarlow]

There is a Thai word for philanthropy, but to my wifes' knowledge, she can not remember any rich family ever donating or leaving large sums to a cause.

Similarly the Chinese, they also never donate.

Greed and more greed......and there's never enough!

Is there any reason that she should know about these donations? Do Thailand's rich report their financial activity to her? Somehow I doubt it.

[kurtgruen]

Considering that those so called super rich, the ones who have built business empires, have provided employment for many on the way to making their fortunes it could be said that they have already contributed to the wealth of others and in most cases to the country as well.

Sure it would be good if the really wealthy ones would give to good causes and quite possibly some do without making a show of it like those mentioned in the article.

Some of course never will, however many of the rich are still contributing via the aforementioned employment and indeed their efforts are what keeps this country going in spite of ineffective and incompetent Government.

I have heard that argument many times, but that only applies, if workers are paid decent, so they can advance themselves economically, socially and mentally (spiritually, if they so choose) and as long as they are provided with good medicare, including a good dental plan, a good pension, when they retire and safe, positive working conditions, with reasonable working hours.

Otherwise, it's just pure selfishness on the part of the rich, exploiting people to get ahead.

I think it's hard to justify billions of personal wealth, when you have workers, who barely survive and who cannot provide for their families adequately.

The sad thing is, the system is set up, to reward the selfish and punish those, who choose to share the wealth and help those less fortunate. (often companies go broke, when they are doing choose to do the above, because others will compete with slave labor practices and undersell them.

As a human race, we have not come very far

[chotthee]

There is a Thai word for philanthropy, but to my wifes' knowledge, she can not remember any rich family ever donating or leaving large sums to a cause.

Similarly the Chinese, they also never donate.

Greed and more greed......and there's never enough!

Is there any reason that she should know about these donations? Do Thailand's rich report their financial activity to her? Somehow I doubt it.

Create special tax for:

Shin Tax = 200%

Farang Tax = 50%

Chinese Tax = 30%

Thai Tax = exempted.

Edited April 17, 2014 by chotthee

[MMarlow]

It sure would be interesting to see how much wealthy Thais and even others give back in donations to their society...

My guess is it would be hard to gather b/c there is no reporting method in place. Since so few pay taxes really can't use income tax reports to disclose...

CB

"Since so few pay taxes..."

Really? You know that how?

Individual's tax returns are not available for public examination.

[The stuttering parrot]

Just another thai bashing thread.

Really some of the comments on here are just down right bigoted and it beats me how to moderators allow it.

If you guys aren't whinging about one thing then it's another or some are just plain racist.

Seems like paradise lost in your cases.

And by the way I have found the thai to be some of the generous people I have ever met both rich and poor.

[zaZa9]

Expecting them to give charity is hoping for too much. Just getting them to pay taxes once in a while and stop actively looting the treasury would be a good start

This is well said.

Stealing from the public purse in the form of 'snouts in the trough ' ( and what all the trouble in Bkk is really about) is the opposite to philanthropy ... its robbing the poor by the rich to make the rich richer.

And before you say , "But the poor doesnt pay tax " , remember that everyone pays at least 7% in the form of GST.

The difference between the rich and the poor is that the poor have no chance of siphoning anything off.

And donating anonymously is also asking too much.

Go to a temple or a wedding and your 'gift' is duly noted , and in writing!

Thus the culture demands that the 'big man' is acknowledged and praised - its the very driver that makes people spend on others.

[MMarlow]

What about the Shin clan who absolutely love their country and country men and women, isn't their aim to do good for all ( of their own family ) ?

Wow, that didn't take long, 2 post to turn this into a "Shin clan" bashing, I wonder do you know that any of the "Shin clan" do or do not donate to any cause? and for that matter do you? As for myself I do such as world wild life fund, world vision, green peace,

And of the 3 you donate to, how much of what you donate actually goes to the "cause" and how much is used to pay "admin" costs for some "activist" on a USD 250k/yr "salary"

It would be interesting if you could name one, just one, charity "activist" on a 250k USD salary. Won't be holding my breath.

[behonset]

Everybody that I know in Thailand who are rich are ethnic Chinese. The higher up you go to the superrich you will find that they are 100% Chinese (they do not marry Thai). Over the years I have noticed that the Chinese / Thai have a unhealthy dislike of Thai people. Especially the older generation that can remember the discrimination they suffered when they first arrived to Thailand. Now the ethnic Chinese control Thailand. The ruling party controlled by Shin Family and the opposition controlled by Abhisit are Chinese families.

In recent years I see that this dislike has changed to hate. They look down on the Thai with contempt. Anything that is even slightly dark skinned is considered unclean, uneducated, stand back .... sort of attitude. The Thai have picked up on this and now we see the divide.

Under these circumstances can you see the rich in Thailand giving to the poor? I think not rather they will treat the poor Thais with the utmost cruelty

[GuestHouse]

Looking back, I loose count of the number of people who I have known who have had their life ruined by the certain knowledge that they will at sometime inherit enough money to have an easy life.

"I don't want my kids to struggle like I did" - too often translates to 'Crippling them with a sense of entitlement while destroying any personal drive'

Rags to Riches to Rags in three generations - its a common enough story.

For another view on inheritance and its effects on society, read Thomas Picketty "Capital in the Twenty-First Century"

The cost impact of the Super Rich on all of us is examined - the amount of money in our pockets is the least of our worries.

[kieran2698]

They made it, they can do what they want with it. Don't see anything wrong at all with providing financial safety for x amount of generations to come, only wish I had a huge win-fall coming my way!

Win-fall is actually a rather ironic error as so many do fall soon after winning, it's windfall as in falling from the wind.

Your opening comment could be transliterated as "They stole it, let them keep it"

To help you to see all that is wrong with it, and it is quite simple really; it ensures financial danger for so many others. The hording of wealth by an elite has been one of the major contributing factors in the downfall of every major civilization in history. Inequality breeds social problems; you only have to look at countries like the USA with their massive wealth disparity and equally massive social problems or at the other extreme look to countries in Scandinavia with their virtual equality and social successes.

[zaZa9]

Considering that those so called super rich, the ones who have built business empires, have provided employment for many on the way to making their fortunes it could be said that they have already contributed to the wealth of others and in most cases to the country as well.

Considering that those so called the working poor , the millions who have built mere shacks , and have provided their cheap labour for the few on the way to making the wealthy their fortunes, it could be said that They have contributed to the wealth of others and in most cases to the country as well.

[rodroy]

They made it, they can do what they want with it. Don't see anything wrong at all with providing financial safety for x amount of generations to come, only wish I had a huge win-fall coming my way!

Say that to Ferrari drivers, aged 26, who don't care about much, as they inherited everything.

Or Kids who kill 9 people while driving an unregistered vehicle and no drivers license due to being underage!

[kieran2698]

Inheritance tax anyone?

That is one of the worse taxes there is your whole life your paying taxes VAT / Income tax and then all that money that was previously taxed will be taxed again.

It is a morally repulsive tax. You punish the people who save some money for their kids.

Just fix the current taxes don't add new ones.

Saving some money for the kids is fine but inheriting massive fortunes only hurts society. You think you punish the people who save?? No, they are dead, dead people can't be punished. Its actually the most important tax of all and is all we have to prevent us from returning to the feudal days.

[wolfmanjack]

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Land Tax would be a better way to tackle the problem.

Land tax is an essential need in Thailand, but first you have to cure the corruption and skim problem.

Land tax is the equivalent of saying no one owns their land they just rent it from the government and is wrong. There are many people that live off of their land and do not make enough money to pay tax on it. There are many that have lived on land for generations then lost it to the revenue department for not being able to afford paying the inflated taxes. Even if you set it up where you pay taxes on the purchase price instead of an ever increasing valuation basis many people lose their jobs then their homes even if the home is paid off.

An idle land tax would be more acceptable. If no one is living on it or using it to produce an income and the only reason for owning that land is holding it for investment purposes then I can see that.

I can also see a tax on second homes and property used for rentals etc.

Any land tax that takes a home away from someone or a farm that they need to live off of is wrong.

[BirdsandBooze]

Many of the Thai super rich are second and third generation heirs and they intend hanging onto their inherited wealth. No easy come easy go for them.

[bitcoinbob]

not just the thai's but seems to be a asian thing with not making donations back to the people ,arts musuems,medical wings, college aid for poor, foundtions for grants, clincics never seem to see any of those things in asia?? if so very few for the wealth in the area but the biggest buyers of expensive sports cars.

[shadmo63]

I believe the CPB does a lot of philanthropic work.