hansnl

Really? The decline under T. was enormous, the last five years were remarkable in their recovery of the country. I am not a fan of military takeovers, not at all, but seen the state of the country, politically seen, under the last, hopefully, T government, it might have been necessary. About the poll, well, it is quite easy to ask 8000 people what party would get their vote, by phone for example, and with students doing the calling it can easily be done in a day, from early morning till evening.

Some may be, but I bet most don't.

Same ideas like the concerned netizens I presume?

And don't forget m the Malaysia Christians, they also need to be reminded that they are dhimmis...... And of course the Malaysia Buddhists need to understand they are just infidels. The religion of peace........

You think the Thaksin clan was or will be any better?

What happened to the combination method. Friend came to Thailand 3 years ago, he has a pension and his Thai wife also had a pension, together more than enough for the 65,000 retirement extension. His wife died, his income became borderline 65K. Now, due to the low Euro and changes in the pension taxes his net income falls to 55,000. And he has 200,000 on a Thai bank account, and growing. The embassy still supplies the income letter. Under the old rules this combo was ok for retirement extension. But what will happen now to him?

Of course 5gey can strike. But as came out last time, prices went up when the raise was advertise, and went up again when the raise was official. Besides that lots of jobs were taken from Thai people and given to foreign workers for lower wages. A strike will mean that all available jobs will go to foreign workers. That is why employers are so fond of daily foreign workers.

Or Thaksin, or any other PM in the world, they all have strong ties to money.

One day, on a visit to the heart centre of KK University after a doctor in a private hospital told me I had a heart attack, the professor asked me, after hours of tests & all, what I was doing there. I told him why, and his answer was of course he would say that. Then he said, and I remember that very well, if you want to pay a lot of money, feel free to go to a private hospital, if you want the best possible care, you come to me. Total cost of everything, 1729 baht. If I need to see a doctor, I go to the state hospital or the uni hospital in the evening clinic, pay 250 baht extra on top of the normal fee. Not busy, good service, doctor attentive, and all tests etc can be done "fast and furious".

Next time try a state hospital or a state university hospital, or a police or military hospital. Cheaper and same or better treatment.

Alcohol? Yes!

You must be expendable also, then, because sort recognises sort!

Most civil wars are not really tank wars, and the quip isn't funny.

The civil servants and social security schemes do collect premiums. The 30-baht scheme only gets income from the 30 baht payments. A combination of the three schemes would either mean everybody must pay a premium, or nobody does. Which means only taxpayers will have to foot the bill. Not many Thai however, pay income tax nor health care premiums. And I doubt very much if former democratically elected governments did anything, really worthwhile that is, for the people. I can't escape the impression democracy was used for personal and group gain. Like in most so-called democratic countries where voting doesn't mean or bring anything for the people in general.

Maybe have a look in China crashes also?