Minimum wage 'not enough for daily expenses'

[SoilSpoil]

Interesting thread. I haven't met hardly any "poor" Thai people, although there are an increasing number of them. What they lack in economic means they more than make up for in there own sense of spiritual well being. You cannot compare the economic situation of any particular Thai person to a westerner, anymore than you can compare Thailand's climatic, economic, religious or political past to a country in Europe or with a western style "democracy" (what a joke).

Historically most Thai's wanted for nothing, it's only been the adoption of western values both in econmics and politics that's begun breaking the country's social fabric down, as everyone starts measuring themselves against a number called "money".

You completely nail it here. I remember that in school we learned about the Third World and how poor the people of Thailand were. Well they weren't, pure propaganda, life was good and food was available and plentyful according to my wife. Village life was simple but with a proper standard of living. People were happy.

Western companies setting up shop here led to the introduction of credit. Gullible people were pushed in debt and became part of the true poverty cycle. Labor slaves, the corporate worlds wet dream.

Tell me who is wealthier, someone with a 100K salary and a 5 million baht household debt or someone with no debt and a 300 baht salary?

Edited May 2, 2015 by SoilSpoil

[trogers]

Here's this Isaan woman, university degree, still had to work in a bar because no other jobs available. Now about to open a small shop, 20k rent per month, maybe 3 months before breakeven point is reached. And no bank will give her credit for investment.

She has a daughter who finished high school now. College costs 80k a year, must be paid in advance. Instalments would be fine. But again: no credit from a bank.

"Credit" comes from trust and faith.

What are banks good for if they have no faith in the people that are their customers?

College costs 80k a year ??wow some college that must be is that just tuition fee or all in ???

It's that Hi-So taste without the means...

[crankshaft]

Thailand....a third world country with third world problems that can not be solved in one years or 10 years...if ever.

[trogers]

Interesting thread. I haven't met hardly any "poor" Thai people, although there are an increasing number of them. What they lack in economic means they more than make up for in there own sense of spiritual well being. You cannot compare the economic situation of any particular Thai person to a westerner, anymore than you can compare Thailand's climatic, economic, religious or political past to a country in Europe or with a western style "democracy" (what a joke).

Historically most Thai's wanted for nothing, it's only been the adoption of western values both in econmics and politics that's begun breaking the country's social fabric down, as everyone starts measuring themselves against a number called "money".

You completely nail it here. I remember that in school we learned about the Third World and how poor the people of Thailand were. Well they weren't, pure propaganda, life was good and food was available and plentyful according to my wife. Village life was simple but with a proper standard of living. People were happy.

Western companies setting up shop here led to the introduction of credit. Gullible people were pushed in debt and became part of the true poverty cycle. Labor slaves, the corporate worlds wet dream.

Tell me who is wealthier, someone with a 100K salary and a 5 million baht household debt or someone with no debt and a 300 baht salary?

Don't know the answer. But the poorest would be having 50k debt on a 300 baht a day income.

[billd766]

I do not pretend to know about the situation in Bangkok and some of the larger cities in the south.

There are a few things about minimum wage I know to be true here in the north I have never seen mentioned on a TV post before that I think should be known.

1) Most people who work for Min wage are required to work 12 hours per day to get that 300 baht

.

2) Most min wage jobs require the worker to work 6 days per week.

That breaks down to 25 baht per hour.

A 72 our week pays 1800 baht

or 7,200 baht per month

3( Another important fact I never hear mentioned is that farm labor (working in the hot sun 12 hours per day ) does not pay 300 baht per day.

Farm labor is only paid 200 baht per day....legal or not, that is the fact in northern Thailand.

Can you imagine trying to support yourself on these wages with only one day per week off to take care of business at home?

Now, try to imagine supporting a family on these wages...even with two adults working 6 days per week!

very sorry to disagree i live in Issan surrounded by farming land i have never witnessed any farm workers working anywhere near 12 hrs per day maybe 6/8 with 1 hr for lunch + any hammock time

the exceptions are owner /drivers tractors and harvesters yes i agree farm work is gutty stuff but not 12 hrs

Quite often across the klong where I live in rural Thailand I have seen and heard tractors working the fields as late as 10 pm and as early as 5.30 am. Granted this is not all the time but they do it.

We have a divorced lady that usually comes in once a week to clean the house and tidy up around the place for 300 baht a day. She usually starts around 8.30 and finishes about 4 pm. She drinks a coffee before she starts, takes lunch with my wife, has a little hammock time and I don't begrudge her a thing. She also takes food and veg home with her, she does ask and there is no problem there.

She also helps out when my MIL is ill and needs someone to sleep at the hospital with her. We pay her for that, give her an everning meal and also give her gasoline money.

It helps her out and it also helps my wife and MIL too.

[billd766]

I'd love to see the minimum wage /Thai bashers get by on 300!baht a day, whilst still paying for accommodation out of that too!!

You think it's cheap to rent accommodation in the cities where the "better" jobs are? After food and accommodation is deducted most of the Thai girls I know who are not bar girls on the minimum wage, are left with sometimes just 100 baht.

Sit in your ivory towers lads, unless you've ever tried living on such a low income, you're not really in a position to pass judgement, it makes you sound like snobs.

Utter nonsense . Most if not all people start on minimum wage. Ones with brain either get better skills and better jobs or stay in the same job getting yearly pay rise and bonuses . The lazy and useless ones change jobs every month and demand hand outs

I shall tell my wife and her friends to get their fingers out, and graft more then!!

Yes my wife works getting her hands dirty 5 days a week so she doesn't feel like she's relying on me.

She wants to work in Korat but after she pays for a room, as she would have to live there rather than travelling 2 hours each way in a bus she has to pay for plus petrol costs to get to the bus stop!!

I will presume you don't live in a rural area of the country?

The local chicken factories are full of migrant workers too, and please tell me this, would you like to work in a job you don't want to do, but have to, just to make ends meet?

You're a snob, and a Thai bashing one at that. You've been bashing them on the other thread too, do you even live in Thailand and if you do, why? As you seem to have a hatred for the poor

If your wife wants to contribute.. why don't you let her develop some useful skills and send her to school maybe teach her some online skills and setup a small company. I know that I have helped the wife to get extra skills and opportunities. That is how it works.

Some people will have to work for low wages because they just don't have the skills... others have studied long and invested in their future. Its normal that they get more money. (they got less when they were in school and the others were already making money)

That is fine if you live in the bigger cities but it doesn't work so well in rural Thailand.

Edited May 2, 2015 by billd766

[godden]

No need to go to work you can lie in bed and go skint.

[Benmart]

Same old story. I earn minimum wages. I have wife and children to feed. Cost of living is too high to support my wife and kids on minimum wages.

Yes we all know. But why are you still earning minimum wages? Why do you not aquire more knowledge or skill to be productive and climb the wage ladder?

And why do you get married and have children when you can barely support just yourself?

Should society be responsible for you and your foolish acts?

I am not in the position to decide what is foolish in another persons behavior. I tried to declare myself the all-knowing judge years ago and it only verified that I was indeed, the fool.

[davidbond]

not that easy in the west ,you need two out work to live always have done ,but thailand is a 3rd world country ,does not look after its workers ,or has little education for its children ,maybe one day it will change ,look where england was 100 years ago and where it is today if you work for tesco

[Mister Fixit]

After food and accommodation is deducted most of the Thai girls I know who are not bar girls on the minimum wage, are left with sometimes just 100 baht.

But, but, but, most of them seem to have iPhones or fancy Samsungs ...

Or perhaps their giks pay for the phones ...

Edited May 2, 2015 by Mister Fixit

[billd766]

Here's this Isaan woman, university degree, still had to work in a bar because no other jobs available. Now about to open a small shop, 20k rent per month, maybe 3 months before breakeven point is reached. And no bank will give her credit for investment.

She has a daughter who finished high school now. College costs 80k a year, must be paid in advance. Instalments would be fine. But again: no credit from a bank.

"Credit" comes from trust and faith.

What are banks good for if they have no faith in the people that are their customers?

College costs 80k a year ??wow some college that must be is that just tuition fee or all in ???

My son will be 11 in a couple of months and he goes to the anuban public school. We have paid for him to take the ELP program where the classes are smaller and much of the content is in English. That costs us 27,000 baht per year and does include insurance and a midday meal. We pay for uniforms and books but do get part of the uniform cost refunded. It also costs us 2,000 baht a month for the bus to take him 65 km each way daily or 20,000 over the school year and 40 baht a day or 8,000 baht over the year for himself.

So the school costs for my son are around 57,000 baht a year. This does not include the cost of some outings and last year his class went ot Malyasia for an English language camp for 10 days at a cost of 29,000 baht for him and another 29,000 baht for him Mum.

Last year cost me about 120,000 baht.

College costs of 80,000 baht a year? That may be possibly on the low side if you break down the costs.

[blazes]

not that easy in the west ,you need two out work to live always have done ,but thailand is a 3rd world country ,does not look after its workers ,or has little education for its children ,maybe one day it will change ,look where england was 100 years ago and where it is today if you work for tesco

Well, if you work for Tesco, you are just about to have your "pension" snatched away from you (to help Tesco's shareholders, a noble aim, you understand).

[wvavin]

If your income is only 300 baht a day, you should know you are not in the category to father 3 kids! It is that simple.

[trogers]

If your income is only 300 baht a day, you should know you are not in the category to father 3 kids! It is that simple.

Do they teach this in grade 7? Any later and it would be too late.

[Godders]

. . . the government. . . was working every day to serve the labourers

And I just saw a pig fly past the window.

[micmichd]

Here's this Isaan woman, university degree, still had to work in a bar because no other jobs available. Now about to open a small shop, 20k rent per month, maybe 3 months before breakeven point is reached. And no bank will give her credit for investment.

She has a daughter who finished high school now. College costs 80k a year, must be paid in advance. Instalments would be fine. But again: no credit from a bank.

"Credit" comes from trust and faith.

What are banks good for if they have no faith in the people that are their customers?

Her life would have been better should she studied to be a chef instead of getting a general University degree.

She's the manager of her extended family. Her brother is now the manager of a small building construction company.

Guess we'll make it somehow.

But credit from banks would be fine, instead of processing fees for lending money to them.

[rufanuf]

not that easy in the west ,you need two out work to live always have done ,but thailand is a 3rd world country ,does not look after its workers ,or has little education for its children ,maybe one day it will change ,look where england was 100 years ago and where it is today if you work for tesco

Western Values....Paradise Lost.....and replaced with Tesco's? Everything that's wrong with the UK they want to adopt in Thailand, so it can become "first world" (what a joke) . Prayut has said as much on TV. He admires the government of the UK.

[Guest]

Thank you all for a good laugh over my morning tea.

Can there be anything funnier (and more obtuse) than comments on the Thai Minimum Wage than the racist and condescending postings we see today?

Here they sit, the direct beneficiaries of long histories of economies built upon imperialistic conquest and direct slavery, waxing poetic about how the people of Thailand deserve less than $10 a DAY for their work. Here they sit, the most selfish of the selfish, exploiting the misery of many, for their own personal creature comforts

And the only question is, are you PRETENDING not to know that this planet is severely divided along racial lines, and the Farang landed on the right side of the dinner table?

Or do you REALLY not know this? Really? Well then, I would guess you have the most to say about why the citizens of the country you are a guest in cannot manage their own affairs.

Gents, slide into your ridiculously inexpensive clothes, made by slave labor children.

Sip your coffee, picked by migrant workers sold by human traffickers to the plantations.

Spend the afternoon in the air conditioned mall, perhaps you can buy some Blood Diamonds and Gold.

On the way home, maybe you can receive some pleasure from a prostitute selling her soul to keep the family afloat.

But most of all, on the To DO list please tell us more from high on the hill .. why the poorest of the poor, why a day of their life .. is worth less than a cab ride to Starbucks and a coffee?

This is a sad day, for the true colors of Thai Visa are up the pole and waving for all to see. Mean spirited racists who seem to take pleasure in the misery of the poor.

It is a long road with no turns, the night is dark, and the bridge is narrow.

In summary. It is posting like many of these that make me ashamed to be Farang In the Kingdom

Great post!! Would that tea be the type of tea cut by poorly paid workers in whatever countries blend you're drinking?

Earl Grey grey in the morning is the only tea to champion even if it is unfortunately cut by poor farm workers in a far off land

Why yes, of course .. it is.

And ditto just about everyting else I use. since almost everything we consume comes from the slave class.

My point, and lost on you was ... shut your pie hole about whether the citizens of Thailand "deserve" more income.

And if you do want to debate it .. please do it along economic lines .... cost of goods, inflation etc ... and support your thesis with facts and numbers.

Not something that smells a lot like "F'em .. they are silly brown people who deserve less than an American house pet."

I did not say i was above it, did not benefit from it ... but at least I know it, and mind my own business when the oppressed decide that enough is enough.

I do appreciate your reply ... for it is spot on ... we all live here in relative luxury.

However, you know nothing of me, or what I have done to improve Thai lives here in meaningful ways.

(Hint: Payng for people to go to college is the gift that never stops giving. ""Teach a person to fish" ...etc)

[phycokiller]

I come from a western middleclass background and as far as I can see its pretty much loans from parents and government welfare that have enabled the next generation to set up businesses and buy houses. they believe they worked for it and they have but Im pretty sure without the financial backing of parents and government most of my family would be on low wages in rented houses not too different from how many Thais live

but the interesting thing about this news item is that a gathering or thousands of people happened and the military didnt make any attempt to break it up, things might be changing

Edited May 2, 2015 by phycokiller

[elgordo38]

Same old story. I earn minimum wages. I have wife and children to feed. Cost of living is too high to support my wife and kids on minimum wages.

Yes we all know. But why are you still earning minimum wages? Why do you not aquire more knowledge or skill to be productive and climb the wage ladder?

And why do you get married and have children when you can barely support just yourself?

Should society be responsible for you and your foolish acts?

A lot of "educated" kids are coming out of the halls of higher learning university etc. that cannot find a job. To many chasing too few. This feature also puts a "cap" on wages as the pool of labor to pick from is large.

[Fat Haggis]

Thank you all for a good laugh over my morning tea.

Can there be anything funnier (and more obtuse) than comments on the Thai Minimum Wage than the racist and condescending postings we see today?

Here they sit, the direct beneficiaries of long histories of economies built upon imperialistic conquest and direct slavery, waxing poetic about how the people of Thailand deserve less than $10 a DAY for their work. Here they sit, the most selfish of the selfish, exploiting the misery of many, for their own personal creature comforts

And the only question is, are you PRETENDING not to know that this planet is severely divided along racial lines, and the Farang landed on the right side of the dinner table?

Or do you REALLY not know this? Really? Well then, I would guess you have the most to say about why the citizens of the country you are a guest in cannot manage their own affairs.

Gents, slide into your ridiculously inexpensive clothes, made by slave labor children.

Sip your coffee, picked by migrant workers sold by human traffickers to the plantations.

Spend the afternoon in the air conditioned mall, perhaps you can buy some Blood Diamonds and Gold.

On the way home, maybe you can receive some pleasure from a prostitute selling her soul to keep the family afloat.

But most of all, on the To DO list please tell us more from high on the hill .. why the poorest of the poor, why a day of their life .. is worth less than a cab ride to Starbucks and a coffee?

This is a sad day, for the true colors of Thai Visa are up the pole and waving for all to see. Mean spirited racists who seem to take pleasure in the misery of the poor.

It is a long road with no turns, the night is dark, and the bridge is narrow.

In summary. It is posting like many of these that make me ashamed to be Farang In the Kingdom

Great post!! Would that tea be the type of tea cut by poorly paid workers in whatever countries blend you're drinking?

Earl Grey grey in the morning is the only tea to champion even if it is unfortunately cut by poor farm workers in a far off land

Why yes, of course .. it is.

And ditto just about everyting else I use. since almost everything we consume comes from the slave class.

My point, and lost on you was ... shut your pie hole about whether the citizens of Thailand "deserve" more income.

And if you do want to debate it .. please do it along economic lines .... cost of goods, inflation etc ... and support your thesis with facts and numbers.

Not something that smells a lot like "F'em .. they are silly brown people who deserve less than an American house pet."

I did not say i was above it, did not benefit from it ... but at least I know it, and mind my own business when the oppressed decide that enough is enough.

I do appreciate your reply ... for it is spot on ... we all live here in relative luxury.

However, you know nothing of me, or what I have done to improve Thai lives here in meaningful ways.

(Hint: Payng for people to go to college is the gift that never stops giving. ""Teach a person to fish" ...etc)

It wasn't lost on me as it was a very much tongue in cheek comment ?

Yes teach a man to fish is fine.... As long as there is still plenty of fish left to catch ?

Don't pass your judgment on others sir, as you also know nothing of me, and what I do for the local villagers. It's not some sort of contest by the way ?

[MikeOwen]

Same old story. I earn minimum wages. I have wife and children to feed. Cost of living is too high to support my wife and kids on minimum wages.

Yes we all know. But why are you still earning minimum wages? Why do you not aquire more knowledge or skill to be productive and climb the wage ladder?

And why do you get married and have children when you can barely support just yourself?

Should society be responsible for you and your foolish acts?

Lack of opportunity !

[elgordo38]

Interesting thread. I haven't met hardly any "poor" Thai people, although there are an increasing number of them. What they lack in economic means they more than make up for in there own sense of spiritual well being. You cannot compare the economic situation of any particular Thai person to a westerner, anymore than you can compare Thailand's climatic, economic, religious or political past to a country in Europe or with a western style "democracy" (what a joke).

Historically most Thai's wanted for nothing, it's only been the adoption of western values both in econmics and politics that's begun breaking the country's social fabric down, as everyone starts measuring themselves against a number called "money".

Three times a week I sit by the KFC at KSK and watch the world walk by. I am having a plain 10 baht cone. That is after my 45 baht meal at Tops Restaurant ( I bring my own water) We spend 90 bahts or less and my g/f gets to enjoy a free Soy milk (You have to spend over 70 bahts) Plump well dressed teenagers on their IPhones talking to somebody somewhere and not for free I am sure.. I watch them in the mobile shops crowding around the tables full of the latest bestest. Even though they have a good mobile they want the latest. I use a cheap Samsung that I found by the side of the road complete with charger while out biking. I then trundle home to my 4,000 baht a month condo with a pool and in walking distance of everything except immigration of course. Tuesday and Thursday we push bike over to the salad bar and get salad for 2 plus fruit for the evening for around a 100 baht. I do not own a car(hassle to own and operate here) or motorbike(seen to many walking wounded over my time here). Thankfully my bar days are over. I watch my bahts on the spending side and watch them grow on the saving side(for my young g/f after I am gone) I have done all the exciting things in life and do not see a need to do more. Yes some may say my life is boring but at 77 which may be so but its time for reflections and I can now go back in time and watch all those good old movies that I have seen before but have forgotten. These are free. And well I spend a lot of time on TV trying to garner more knowledge as I believe your never to old to learn. Have to use the old grey matter while it is still functioning. Banks would go broke if they were depending on me for their existence.

[wump]

What many people in here don't get is that while everyone could get rich, not ALL can get rich at the same time. We do need someone to clean up the trash, to do the laundry, to plant your rice etc. And paying these people only 9 dollars a day is just extremely unfair.

You guys go on about "get skills", "get educated", "setup a small business". Again, this will work only for some, but not for all. Do you have no compassion? Some people are just not that smart and will only ever be a maid or a labourer. But is that any reason to exploit them?

As for Toyota, how come in production lines in other countries they can afford to pay 700 Baht an hour, yet in Thailand they won't even pay 70 Baht an hour? It's not like - even before tax - the cars are any cheaper in here? The answer: Because they can.

[SoilSpoil]

Thank you all for a good laugh over my morning tea.

Can there be anything funnier (and more obtuse) than comments on the Thai Minimum Wage than the racist and condescending postings we see today?

Here they sit, the direct beneficiaries of long histories of economies built upon imperialistic conquest and direct slavery, waxing poetic about how the people of Thailand deserve less than $10 a DAY for their work. Here they sit, the most selfish of the selfish, exploiting the misery of many, for their own personal creature comforts

And the only question is, are you PRETENDING not to know that this planet is severely divided along racial lines, and the Farang landed on the right side of the dinner table?

Or do you REALLY not know this? Really? Well then, I would guess you have the most to say about why the citizens of the country you are a guest in cannot manage their own affairs.

Gents, slide into your ridiculously inexpensive clothes, made by slave labor children.

Sip your coffee, picked by migrant workers sold by human traffickers to the plantations.

Spend the afternoon in the air conditioned mall, perhaps you can buy some Blood Diamonds and Gold.

On the way home, maybe you can receive some pleasure from a prostitute selling her soul to keep the family afloat.

But most of all, on the To DO list please tell us more from high on the hill .. why the poorest of the poor, why a day of their life .. is worth less than a cab ride to Starbucks and a coffee?

This is a sad day, for the true colors of Thai Visa are up the pole and waving for all to see. Mean spirited racists who seem to take pleasure in the misery of the poor.

It is a long road with no turns, the night is dark, and the bridge is narrow.

In summary. It is posting like many of these that make me ashamed to be Farang In the Kingdom

Great post!! Would that tea be the type of tea cut by poorly paid workers in whatever countries blend you're drinking?

Earl Grey grey in the morning is the only tea to champion even if it is unfortunately cut by poor farm workers in a far off land

Why yes, of course .. it is.

And ditto just about everyting else I use. since almost everything we consume comes from the slave class.

My point, and lost on you was ... shut your pie hole about whether the citizens of Thailand "deserve" more income.

And if you do want to debate it .. please do it along economic lines .... cost of goods, inflation etc ... and support your thesis with facts and numbers.

Not something that smells a lot like "F'em .. they are silly brown people who deserve less than an American house pet."

I did not say i was above it, did not benefit from it ... but at least I know it, and mind my own business when the oppressed decide that enough is enough.

I do appreciate your reply ... for it is spot on ... we all live here in relative luxury.

However, you know nothing of me, or what I have done to improve Thai lives here in meaningful ways.

(Hint: Payng for people to go to college is the gift that never stops giving. ""Teach a person to fish" ...etc)

I think that your arguments would be more convincing if you would cease to play a rather insulting racist card.

[chilli42]

An increase in minimum wage will help a bit but in 6 months it will be as if it never happened. Prices will rise to meet the additional demand and the minimum wage earners will incorporate it into their spending pattern. The net of an increase in minimum wage is that it barely moves the needle. In Thailand, as in the rest of the world, minimum wage increases are just the politicians short term way of gaining popular support by showing they are doing something. The only way forward for a country is with enlightened political and industry leadership that has vision, perseverance and that puts the long term good of the people/country first. The answers to the country's future are not going to be found in making factory workers and rice farmers work harder.

[Don Mega]

As for Toyota, how come in production lines in other countries they can afford to pay 700 Baht an hour, yet in Thailand they won't even pay 70 Baht an hour? It's not like - even before tax - the cars are any cheaper in here? The answer: Because they can.

Which Toyota production lines outside of Thailand are the line workers getting $21.00 USD per hour ?

And ahh, cars are not cheaper here.

My missus recently took delivery of her new Mazda 3 sedan, it cost her Bt.833,000 ($25,000 USD), the same entry level spec mazda 3 in the USA is $22,000...... I assume the USA vehicle was not built in Thailand for Bt70 per hour but instead Mexico or somewhere where the wages will be higher....

Why is it sooo expensive here?

Edited May 2, 2015 by Don Mega

[SoilSpoil]

What many people in here don't get is that while everyone could get rich, not ALL can get rich at the same time. We do need someone to clean up the trash, to do the laundry, to plant your rice etc. And paying these people only 9 dollars a day is just extremely unfair.

You guys go on about "get skills", "get educated", "setup a small business". Again, this will work only for some, but not for all. Do you have no compassion? Some people are just not that smart and will only ever be a maid or a labourer. But is that any reason to exploit them?

As for Toyota, how come in production lines in other countries they can afford to pay 700 Baht an hour, yet in Thailand they won't even pay 70 Baht an hour? It's not like - even before tax - the cars are any cheaper in here? The answer: Because they can.

Good point, but in order to get rich you need to pay people a low wage. That's how a corporatocracy works. If you start paying people $20 a day, than the CEO's bonus would be a lot lower and the shareholders less satisfied. And we can't have that, can we? The higher the GINI number, the gap between rich and poor, the more profit can be made by the mostly corrupt lucky few. Sad but true.

[wump]

Australia, France and possibly UK?

And yes, the cars are not cheaper in here. Just recently there was a big thread about how the Thai cars exported to Australia actually cost less over there.

[rufanuf]

Interesting thread. I haven't met hardly any "poor" Thai people, although there are an increasing number of them. What they lack in economic means they more than make up for in there own sense of spiritual well being. You cannot compare the economic situation of any particular Thai person to a westerner, anymore than you can compare Thailand's climatic, economic, religious or political past to a country in Europe or with a western style "democracy" (what a joke).

Historically most Thai's wanted for nothing, it's only been the adoption of western values both in econmics and politics that's begun breaking the country's social fabric down, as everyone starts measuring themselves against a number called "money".

Three times a week I sit by the KFC at KSK and watch the world walk by. I am having a plain 10 baht cone. That is after my 45 baht meal at Tops Restaurant ( I bring my own water) We spend 90 bahts or less and my g/f gets to enjoy a free Soy milk (You have to spend over 70 bahts) Plump well dressed teenagers on their IPhones talking to somebody somewhere and not for free I am sure.. I watch them in the mobile shops crowding around the tables full of the latest bestest. Even though they have a good mobile they want the latest. I use a cheap Samsung that I found by the side of the road complete with charger while out biking. I then trundle home to my 4,000 baht a month condo with a pool and in walking distance of everything except immigration of course. Tuesday and Thursday we push bike over to the salad bar and get salad for 2 plus fruit for the evening for around a 100 baht. I do not own a car(hassle to own and operate here) or motorbike(seen to many walking wounded over my time here). Thankfully my bar days are over. I watch my bahts on the spending side and watch them grow on the saving side(for my young g/f after I am gone) I have done all the exciting things in life and do not see a need to do more. Yes some may say my life is boring but at 77 which may be so but its time for reflections and I can now go back in time and watch all those good old movies that I have seen before but have forgotten. These are free. And well I spend a lot of time on TV trying to garner more knowledge as I believe your never to old to learn. Have to use the old grey matter while it is still functioning. Banks would go broke if they were depending on me for their existence.

I'd be more likely to aspire to the peace you have found from your own outlook than the material objects you deny yourself. You've discovered the real beauty of Thailand, you can live freely, at very little cost because this far government haven't yet got their claws into the whole population, pretty much thanks to Generations of powerful yet generous and kind monarchs....but big government, it's coming and I expect you'll be glad to not have to witness the deterioration of Thailand into a "first world" country.