Monday, December 22, 2014
Monday, December 15, 2014
Monday, December 8, 2014
Sunday, November 23, 2014
Saturday, November 15, 2014
Thursday, July 17, 2014
Monday, June 30, 2014
On Feb 2, 2014, an election was held in Thailand, which was won by Yingluck Shiniwatra, re-electing her administration to a second term.
Following that election, the Bank of Thailand effectively froze the money supply and began marching it back month by month for the past 3 months. This monetary contraction took place directly in the face of a recession. ETDA reports Thailand's GDP contracted -0.6% in the first quarter of 2014.(1) International Business Times reported on February 13, 2014 that investment in Thailand had fallen four straight months.(2)
Why would the Bank of Thailand, which has expanded money supply consistently every month (214 months) for 18 years of published data
( http://www2.bot.or.th/statistics/ReportPage.aspx?reportID=7&language=eng ) suddenly find it necessary, in the midst of a recession - in the middle of falling tourism and falling investment - and with almost no positive economic forecast to be found anywhere - suddenly start constricting the monetary aggregate in Feb 2014? When, according to Milton Friedman's conservative framework, contraction of money supply almost certainly guarantees a slowing of economic activity and growth. This is the process which former US Central Bank Fed Chairman Benjamin Bernanke announced clearly and openly at Milton Friedman's 90th birthday party, as the kind of fiscal policy which caused the First Great Depression.(3) And Bernanke implied that this mistake would never be made again.
Why then would the BOT seek to stifle the Thai economy and risk further slow down and damage to GDP?
It might be suggested that the aim was, in complicity and conjunction with the military junta and PDRC, to cripple the economy in order to foment dissatisfaction with the Phua Thai Yingluck Shiniwatra administration which received a popular public mandate by being re-elected on Feb 2, and thereby contribute to the coup d'etat against democracy in Thailand. What other explanation could there possibly be?
1 - Thailand Electronic Transactions Development Agency - Thai Economic Performance in Q1 and Outlook for 2014 http://www.etda.or.th/etda_website/nesdb-documents/QGDP1-2557_06.pdf
2 - Thailand Economic Outlook 2014: 3.5% GDP Growth As Political Impasse Drags On Much Longer Than Expected By Sophie Song February 13 2014 http://www.ibtimes.com/thailand-economic-outlook-2014-35-gdp-growth-political-impasse-drags-much-longer-expected-1555077
3 - Remarks by Governor Ben S. Bernanke At the Conference to Honor Milton Friedman, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois http://www.federalreserve.gov/BOARDDOCS/SPEECHES/2002/20021108/
Following that election, the Bank of Thailand effectively froze the money supply and began marching it back month by month for the past 3 months. This monetary contraction took place directly in the face of a recession. ETDA reports Thailand's GDP contracted -0.6% in the first quarter of 2014.(1) International Business Times reported on February 13, 2014 that investment in Thailand had fallen four straight months.(2)
Why would the Bank of Thailand, which has expanded money supply consistently every month (214 months) for 18 years of published data
( http://www2.bot.or.th/statistics/ReportPage.aspx?reportID=7&language=eng ) suddenly find it necessary, in the midst of a recession - in the middle of falling tourism and falling investment - and with almost no positive economic forecast to be found anywhere - suddenly start constricting the monetary aggregate in Feb 2014? When, according to Milton Friedman's conservative framework, contraction of money supply almost certainly guarantees a slowing of economic activity and growth. This is the process which former US Central Bank Fed Chairman Benjamin Bernanke announced clearly and openly at Milton Friedman's 90th birthday party, as the kind of fiscal policy which caused the First Great Depression.(3) And Bernanke implied that this mistake would never be made again.
Why then would the BOT seek to stifle the Thai economy and risk further slow down and damage to GDP?
It might be suggested that the aim was, in complicity and conjunction with the military junta and PDRC, to cripple the economy in order to foment dissatisfaction with the Phua Thai Yingluck Shiniwatra administration which received a popular public mandate by being re-elected on Feb 2, and thereby contribute to the coup d'etat against democracy in Thailand. What other explanation could there possibly be?
1 - Thailand Electronic Transactions Development Agency - Thai Economic Performance in Q1 and Outlook for 2014 http://www.etda.or.th/etda_website/nesdb-documents/QGDP1-2557_06.pdf
2 - Thailand Economic Outlook 2014: 3.5% GDP Growth As Political Impasse Drags On Much Longer Than Expected By Sophie Song February 13 2014 http://www.ibtimes.com/thailand-economic-outlook-2014-35-gdp-growth-political-impasse-drags-much-longer-expected-1555077
3 - Remarks by Governor Ben S. Bernanke At the Conference to Honor Milton Friedman, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois http://www.federalreserve.gov/BOARDDOCS/SPEECHES/2002/20021108/
Thursday, June 26, 2014
Saturday, June 21, 2014
Tentative
boycott concept and information list vs. funders of PDRC fascists taken
from list released by NCPO last December - still working
## Saha Pathanapibul Plc,
http://www.sahapat.co.th/en/
Mama Noodles
###Gaysorn Plaza - shopping area, Bangkok
selling Louis Vuitton, Dior, Prada, Mont Blanc, Armani,
Olivia Diamonds, Pirada Gems, Bookazine, among others
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
## Siam Paragon Department Store,
selling Gucci, Chanel, Balenciaga, Valentino, Kenzo, Hermès, Bottega Veneta, Giorgio Armani, Jimmy Choo, Chloé, Dolce & Gabbana, Burberry, Salvatore Ferragamo, Cartier, Bally, Fendi, Zara, MNG, Versace, Louis Vuitton, Givenchy, Marc Jacobs, Emporio Armani, Hugo Boss, Prada, Ermenegildo Zegna, Swarovski, Coach, Shanghai Tang, Jim Thompson, Tod's, Mulberry, Kenzo, Escada, Emilio Pucci, Canali, Bvlgari, Paul Smith and many other upmarket brands.
The car showrooms in Siam Paragon including Lamborghini, Lotus, Aston Martin, Bentley, Porsche, Jaguar, Spyker, Maserati, BMW, Hummer and MTM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
##King Power Group,
Including several Airport duty free retail shops
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
In 2009, King Power and its staff were accused of being involved in an elaborate scam involving extortion of tourists at its Suvarnabhumi Airport outlets. A foreign couple were arrested for shoplifting an expensive wallet then instead of being handed over to the police they were taken to a hotel where they were threatened with lengthy jail terms unless they paid cash to secure their freedom. The couple allege they were innocent, that King Power were implicit in the scam and that a foreign mediator, a Sri Lankan named Tony handled the negotiations. King Power issued cctv footage of the couple allegedly shoplifting and a denial they or their staff were involved. After this story broke several other similar cases came to light.
##Dusit Thani Hotel,
http://www.dusit.com/
Hotels in UAE, China, US, Maldives, India, Philippines, Kenya, Qatar, Singapore, Egypt and across Thailand
##Siam Intercontinental Hotel, (HOLIDAY INN)
Part of InterContinental Hotels Group PLC or IHG is a British multinational hotels company headquartered in Denham, UK.
Brands Candlewood Suites,Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts,Holiday Inn Club Vacations,Holiday Inn Express,Hotel Indigo,InterContinental,Staybr
## Thai Beverage - Chang Beer, Chang water, Oishi Teas
## Boon Rawd Brewery Co, - Singha Beer, Leo Beer, Singha water
##Riverside Hotel,
http://www.montien.com/riverside/
##Mitr Phol Group,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitr_Phol
Mitr Phol Sugar Corp is Thailand's and Asia's biggest sugar and bioenergy producer.
Mitr Phol Sugar Corp is a privately owned group of companies, mainly owned by the Vongkusolkit family. As of 2011, Mitr Phol is ranked as the world's fifth largest sugar producer, and the largest producer in Asia. It is Thailand's largest sugar producer and the second largest in China through its joint venture company East Asia Sugar. In addition to Thailand and China, Mitr Phol has operations and investments in Lao PDR, Cambodia, Vietnam and most recently Australia.
##Wangkanai Group,
www.wangkanai.com/
Wangkanai Sugar, Thailand's major sugar manufacture with the capacity of 8000000TC annually.
##Yakult (Thailand) Co,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakult
Joint venture of Yakult Honsha Co Ltd Japan
Yakult (Yakuruto?) also known as Yang Le Duo, is a probiotic dairy product made by fermenting a mixture of skimmed milk with a special strain of the bacterium Lactobacillus casei Shirota.
Sold in Australia and New Zealand, Europe, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam. In the Americas (including Mexico, one of Yakult's largest selling markets), Japan, Philippines, Thailand and South Korea, It is also available in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China
##Neptune Co, Bottled Water
http://www.neptune.co.th/en/main.html
Pink top water bottles.
##Thai Namthip Co, - Cocoa Cola Thailand
ThaiNamthip Limited is an authorized bottler of Coca-Cola, Fanta, Sprite, Namthip, Schweppes and Minute Maid products of The Coca-Cola Co.
ThaiNamthip Limited began bottling Coca-Cola in Thailand 50 years ago. It is a private company with international management standard. ThaiNamthip Limited operates five manufacturing centers and 56 major distributions in Thailand. ThaiNamthip Limited employs more than 8,000 people and has a volume of over 300 million unit cases per year. The company operates 1,700 delivery vehicles servicing 270,000 customers.
Also ThaiNamthip is the major shareholder of Lao Bottling company, the bottler of Coca-Cola in Laos.
##Muang Thai Life Assurance Co,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muang_Thai_Life_Assurance
The company was the first life insurance company to be appointed under the royal patronage of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, which entitled the company to bear on all company’s documents the royal Garuda emblem. Muang Thai Life Assurance was also the first life insurance company that attained the International Standard Certification ISO 9001:2000.[1]
The company continued to grow and in the year 2010 had a countrywide network of more than 250 branches, including agency offices.
##Hello Bangkok Co
Outdoor media company
http://www.hellobangkoktrivision.com/index.php?cmd=5
##Metro Machinery Group.
http://www.metrocat.com/AboutUs.html
Today, the groups largest company is Metro Machinery Company Limited(MMC), the authorized Caterpillar Dealer in Thailand since 1977, Metro Machinery sell and services the complete Caterpillar machine and engine product lines
## Saha Pathanapibul Plc,
http://www.sahapat.co.th/en/
Mama Noodles
###Gaysorn Plaza - shopping area, Bangkok
selling Louis Vuitton, Dior, Prada, Mont Blanc, Armani,
Olivia Diamonds, Pirada Gems, Bookazine, among others
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
## Siam Paragon Department Store,
selling Gucci, Chanel, Balenciaga, Valentino, Kenzo, Hermès, Bottega Veneta, Giorgio Armani, Jimmy Choo, Chloé, Dolce & Gabbana, Burberry, Salvatore Ferragamo, Cartier, Bally, Fendi, Zara, MNG, Versace, Louis Vuitton, Givenchy, Marc Jacobs, Emporio Armani, Hugo Boss, Prada, Ermenegildo Zegna, Swarovski, Coach, Shanghai Tang, Jim Thompson, Tod's, Mulberry, Kenzo, Escada, Emilio Pucci, Canali, Bvlgari, Paul Smith and many other upmarket brands.
The car showrooms in Siam Paragon including Lamborghini, Lotus, Aston Martin, Bentley, Porsche, Jaguar, Spyker, Maserati, BMW, Hummer and MTM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
##King Power Group,
Including several Airport duty free retail shops
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
In 2009, King Power and its staff were accused of being involved in an elaborate scam involving extortion of tourists at its Suvarnabhumi Airport outlets. A foreign couple were arrested for shoplifting an expensive wallet then instead of being handed over to the police they were taken to a hotel where they were threatened with lengthy jail terms unless they paid cash to secure their freedom. The couple allege they were innocent, that King Power were implicit in the scam and that a foreign mediator, a Sri Lankan named Tony handled the negotiations. King Power issued cctv footage of the couple allegedly shoplifting and a denial they or their staff were involved. After this story broke several other similar cases came to light.
##Dusit Thani Hotel,
http://www.dusit.com/
Hotels in UAE, China, US, Maldives, India, Philippines, Kenya, Qatar, Singapore, Egypt and across Thailand
##Siam Intercontinental Hotel, (HOLIDAY INN)
Part of InterContinental Hotels Group PLC or IHG is a British multinational hotels company headquartered in Denham, UK.
Brands Candlewood Suites,Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts,Holiday Inn Club Vacations,Holiday Inn Express,Hotel Indigo,InterContinental,Staybr
## Thai Beverage - Chang Beer, Chang water, Oishi Teas
## Boon Rawd Brewery Co, - Singha Beer, Leo Beer, Singha water
##Riverside Hotel,
http://www.montien.com/riverside/
##Mitr Phol Group,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitr_Phol
Mitr Phol Sugar Corp is Thailand's and Asia's biggest sugar and bioenergy producer.
Mitr Phol Sugar Corp is a privately owned group of companies, mainly owned by the Vongkusolkit family. As of 2011, Mitr Phol is ranked as the world's fifth largest sugar producer, and the largest producer in Asia. It is Thailand's largest sugar producer and the second largest in China through its joint venture company East Asia Sugar. In addition to Thailand and China, Mitr Phol has operations and investments in Lao PDR, Cambodia, Vietnam and most recently Australia.
##Wangkanai Group,
www.wangkanai.com/
Wangkanai Sugar, Thailand's major sugar manufacture with the capacity of 8000000TC annually.
##Yakult (Thailand) Co,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakult
Joint venture of Yakult Honsha Co Ltd Japan
Yakult (Yakuruto?) also known as Yang Le Duo, is a probiotic dairy product made by fermenting a mixture of skimmed milk with a special strain of the bacterium Lactobacillus casei Shirota.
Sold in Australia and New Zealand, Europe, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam. In the Americas (including Mexico, one of Yakult's largest selling markets), Japan, Philippines, Thailand and South Korea, It is also available in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China
##Neptune Co, Bottled Water
http://www.neptune.co.th/en/main.html
Pink top water bottles.
##Thai Namthip Co, - Cocoa Cola Thailand
ThaiNamthip Limited is an authorized bottler of Coca-Cola, Fanta, Sprite, Namthip, Schweppes and Minute Maid products of The Coca-Cola Co.
ThaiNamthip Limited began bottling Coca-Cola in Thailand 50 years ago. It is a private company with international management standard. ThaiNamthip Limited operates five manufacturing centers and 56 major distributions in Thailand. ThaiNamthip Limited employs more than 8,000 people and has a volume of over 300 million unit cases per year. The company operates 1,700 delivery vehicles servicing 270,000 customers.
Also ThaiNamthip is the major shareholder of Lao Bottling company, the bottler of Coca-Cola in Laos.
##Muang Thai Life Assurance Co,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muang_Thai_Life_Assurance
The company was the first life insurance company to be appointed under the royal patronage of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, which entitled the company to bear on all company’s documents the royal Garuda emblem. Muang Thai Life Assurance was also the first life insurance company that attained the International Standard Certification ISO 9001:2000.[1]
The company continued to grow and in the year 2010 had a countrywide network of more than 250 branches, including agency offices.
##Hello Bangkok Co
Outdoor media company
http://www.hellobangkoktrivision.com/index.php?cmd=5
##Metro Machinery Group.
http://www.metrocat.com/AboutUs.html
Today, the groups largest company is Metro Machinery Company Limited(MMC), the authorized Caterpillar Dealer in Thailand since 1977, Metro Machinery sell and services the complete Caterpillar machine and engine product lines
Friday, June 20, 2014
THAILAND UPDATE: I'm OK - if you are a white western dude, there is absolutely no problem whatsoever. Makes me think this is almost, in a way, a colonial coup on behalf of rich foreigners. However, for Thai people up north it is terror. Absolute terror. The news media is not even beginning to get at it. People I know in Isaan and Chiang Mai are telling me about mass roundups of red shirts. Invading homes in the middle of the night by soldiers. Smashing things up and beating people up, dragging people away. Disappearances. Everyone up there is too scared to even talk about it, because, apparently, if you ask about anyone who is gone you will automatically become suspect. And when I am talking disappeared, I mean into a black hole. Nobody has access, no contact, no lawyers, nothing. Gone. Nobody knows if people are dead, tortured, in solitary, and if you know the history, fed to dogs or burned alive in a petrol barrel, etc...Numbers are impossible to tell. I have heard anywhere from 3500-3700 top red shirts vanished and disappeared. Top poor people's organizers still in lockdown. Union organizer Somyot's wife and son in the black hole. Former PM Thaksin's son and brother in a black hole. Yingluck's education minister abducted at the Foreign Correspondents' Club and now in the black hole. Civil society organizer Sombat in a black hole - looking at 14 years for Lese Majeste. Top Nitirat human rights lawyer Worajet now in the black hole. Top professors in the black hole. (not even progressives, just mildly social democratic). Top union organizer Jittra Cotchadet called in and shaken down for 400,000baht bail (well over my years' salary) that she doesn't really have and shouldn't have to pay as she did nothing wrong except organize workers. Students in lockdown. 70 year old woman arrested for protesting. Woman captured on the street by plain clothes military and forced into a cab and taken away. Gone. Soldiers with assault rifles going door to door. Random stops and searches. Soldiers filming people on the streets. Everything is now criminalized. No public reading of Orwell. No eating of sandwiches. No three finger hunger game salute. No putting your hand over your mouth. No likes on facebook. Any calls for any protest will get potentially 7 years in prison. No gatherings of more than 4 people. Everything censored. TV news programs cancelled. Hundreds of radio stations off the air. Snitches encouraged everywhere. hundreds of new Lese Majeste cases in the last 3 weeks. If you are Thai, it is a situation of absolute terror. I took a trip to Udon Thani last week, and I saw pro-military banners strung up across the highway. My van was stopped and armed soldiers pointed guns at the passengers. Passports demanded. They filmed everybody. Real f-king fun. Saw armed military vehicles at the border. All passports entering the country being checked by soldiers carrying M-16s. Checkpoints along the road at the military bases around Sattahip. The curfew was lifted, but that hardly makes up for all the BS. About 200,000 Cambodians were run out of the country last weekend. Students have to sing a new round of pro-monarchy pro-military songs in the morning. etc. etc. So it is about as nasty as you could imagine. It reminds me totally of Eastern Soviet Bloc Stazi countries that I visited in the 1980s. I don't personally feel in danger, but if this bunch stays in power longer, they may get more paranoid and more aggressive going after western foreigners. The EU said they will not sign any treaties with the Thai military, but the US is, as usual, being a suckup weenie, and the Chinese friggin love it. The Mil boys went up to Beijing last week and gave what amounts to free fellatio all around. I think the entire project is a train wreck waiting to happen. Auto production fell year-on-year last week by 60%. Competence and rational approach to any problems seems to be in absolute freefall, denial of reality is everywhere. A big bank in New York yesterday gave a thumbs up buy recommendation for the Thai stock market. But they are on the other side of the planet. As far as I can tell, I wouldn't be at all surprised if 1/2 the country wasn't burned to the ground in the near future. OK. Hope everything is better for you. Cheers.
Update: Education Minister is release on bail, but now awaiting potential 14 year prison sentence for nebulous "incitement"...US reduces Thailand to Tier 3 status for slavery and human trafficking, now same category as North Korea, Iran.
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