jonclark

Okay - so no new debt is created right? Shouldn't all governments be following Thailand's example then to improve GDP by giving away money at every election? If increasing consumer spending through monetary gift creates a boost to GDP. I am surprised other governments don't regularly follow this model to strengthen their country's ecomony?

Well if I booked a holiday to Phuket and ended up in Pattanakarn 20 I would have some serious concerns, wouldn't you? - I think you are talking about Chinese tour groups and zero baht tours? As most Western tourists actually travel independently and not as mass tours. BTW back in the day when I went around the world - I spent many days looking over a world map deciding where I wanted to go based on my research. But that was before the internet and mobile phones. I will provide you with Mr Adith number, so he can tell you where your next holiday in Thailand will be if you like?

Also if anyone who is literate on this can explain how "digital money creates a multiplier effect" I would love to hear that explaination

I would love to know the interest rate on a 172 billion baht loan and the total repayable over the loan's lifetime. If the government can get a loan of 172 billion interest-free, I would gladly give the entire cabinet a <deleted>.

Thata the sad thing with people with mental health issues..they often dont think they need help which in itself is a symptom of their mental health issues.

Oh i wouldnt say that, my saggy old man boobs are always on display around our farm.

To be fair though - it may put off the some of the tens of thousands of Chinese tourists on zero baht tours....if zero baht if their going rate for a holiday, then 300 baht is a fortune by comparison 😀.

Wise words indeed - look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves as the old saying goes.

The problem with that plan is that the tourists in all likelihood don't want to go to secondary destinations, otherwise, if they did want to go they would be going there already. It's the consumer who chooses where they want to go for their holiday. Not Mr. Adith. Alternatively, one could suggest that maybe the people who have profited handsomely from high tourist numbers, put some money back into the proverbial pot so that it can be used to improve public transport, water storage facilities etc as it's their customers who are partially to blame, but are nonetheless actively encouraged to come - Just had three weeks of highly publicized and globally promoted Thai 'soft power' songkran and now.... Sometimes feels like the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. Maybe if they do press ahead with the 300 baht tourist tax - they could include domestic tourists in that as well as they also play a part in traffic congestion and water shortages fairly easy to implement - any hotel within a primary destination location has a 300 baht tax added to the cost of each and every room irrespective of nationality or length of stay. Domestic tourists are more likely to go to secondary destinations as well.

But your graphics and videos are not. They are based on the right models. The models that fit your PoV. The average temperatures across Thailand (and remember that averages have extremes at either end) are not normal. Yes, we have El Nino, but science does not full understand the dynamics and complex interplay of factors that lead to El Nino strengths or formations, so dismissing global warming/climate change as a significant factor for El Nino would be very poor science as both are impacted by and affect the atmospheric system. However, rising global temperatures are not the only effect of climate change - increasing ocean temperatures (mass bleaching events in the Great Barrier Reef), increased ocean acidification (due to the formation of carbonic acid as CO2 dissolves into the oceans) more extreme and frequent extreme weather events - (currently 1 in 100 years flooding going on in China for examples), melting of ice sheets especially Greenland and Antarctica leading to rising sea levels (arctic ice sheet is melting but does not impact sea level rise) shrinking glaciers, loss of biodiversity. Earth's climate has always changed due to biological processes - remember plants and autotrophic organisms provide all the oxygen in the atmosphere, and also physical factors - milankovich cycles, sunspot cycles, and volcanoes. However, what is alarming is the rate of change. So dismissing human activities as a causal factor in climate change is very short-sighted, when it is know that speices can impact climate and our atmospheric systems. Climate deniers will always rebuff climate change - which is fine, as disagreement drives scientific discourse, but wouldn't it be wiser in the absence of definitive proof, which is the counter arguement in the videos presented by yourself, to take a more precautionary approach? we have a population of near 8 billion people most of whom are relatively poor and cannot adapt to any potential climate-driven events - a precautionary approach would be wiser, even if you fundamentally disagree with it. The average Bangkok temperature data for the past 12 years in April is 34C - currently for April 202 its 42. An 8-degree divergence from the average is an abnormality so significant that it cannot be pinned on El Nino alone.

I'm with you on this one Bob. That is just plain funny albeit very inappropriate...getting a shower from the security guard while standing naked in a shrines water feature after being filmed taking a <deleted> on a busy bangkok street.

Fair play.

Surely a government offical accepting a bribe should be the focus, especially when they are charged with protecting Thailand borders.

But this is a minor road accident - not worthy of deportation - like taking a hammer to kill a fly tbh.

No..are you?

This website has been taken over by zealots who try to be more right-wing and extreme in their belief and parroting of the official line as they mistakenly believe this will somehow make them more Thai or more in touch with the locals. Its become an echo chamber of self loathing and hate sadly.

So should we strip Thais (like this one) who drink and drive and cause death and destruction on the roads of their citizenship and deport them too? Seems fair right? Chucking out the trash right!

LOL - A german tourist in the country for 1 hour who has a falling out with a taxi driver is the cause of all Thailand's woes - Hilarious. Please explain how Thailand's biggest problem - the extreme political polarization of the population, is the fault of foreigners? How have foreigners contributed the the vast inequality in wealth between rich and poor? - because obviously, probelms these fall under the "Every problem and hassle.." category you so elequantly refer to in your rant. BTW whats a farnung my little yellow friend?

You always know a country is having a tough time economically when it starts blaming foreigners for its woes. Classic political misdirection tactics - to keep the public from seeing what is really important and rally the citizens to the flag. It's important to remember that the 'crimes' that have been committed are minor,(no one died, no one was raped, no one was kidnapped, no one was sexually assaulted, no vast amounts of drugs were seized or pushed). Watch Thai national news on TV, even if you cannot understand Thai, and in a week you will see far more violent and frequent acts in a single week than all the foreign tourists will commit in a year. Yet Anutin remains silent on that. This is a political deflection to keep the public engrossed - remember Brexit - one of the main theme of the Brexiter's argument was that UK sovereignty was under threat from foreigners - and that argument, though wildly untrue won.

Here's an idea Mr. PM - How about raising tax on recreational cannabis even further. I think taxation on tobaccois between 25 - 42% depending on the packet size - There your 500 billion baht black hole is fixed and a huge chuck will come from tourists and provide a limited burden to Thai tax-payers....and it will continue to give taxation money long after the 500 billion is repayed. Suggested taxation threseholds. 1 - 5g = 25% taxation 5g plus = 42% taxation Now go forth and deliver on your election promise.

Sadly though it is not. There are a very high number of local Thai men who have predatory sexual relationships with underage girls. Often reported in local news, but it never makes it to English news channels. Very easy with the limited number of English news outlets, all parroting the same stories to think westerners are the only pesos in Thailand. They are most definitely not, in fact western pesos are the minority of reported cases.

Hope you'll be first in the line for the jail and deport. Thailand doesn't need your kind here.

Yeah...that'll teach em.

Really - I have three Thai bank credit cards and have never paid upfront, even when issued. Signed the documents and the cards arrived a few days later. Makes no sense as if you deposit does the credit card not now become a debit card?

Only 700 illegals. Thats a shocking number. The Cambodians, Laotian and Myanmarese are slipping. They need to get some advice on how to add to their illegal number. Maybe Thailand could give this advice considering there are over 100,000 illegal workers in South Korea. Thais seems to be experts at working illegally in foreign countries.