[p2p-research] Fwd: Report from Thailand and open money

Fri Dec 11 13:41:22 CET 2009

Working as I go, I post new interview and presentation materials to my blog
as they become available. Yesterday, I posted segments of my interview with
Daniel Pinchbeck at
http://beyondmoney.net/2009/12/08/thomas-grecos-video-interview-with-daniel-pinchbeck/.
You can see all four parts at: http://www.vimeo.com/8044402. The post also
contains a link to another interview I did with Regina Meredith of Conscious
Media Network. I think these pretty well describe in a few minutes the money
situation and what we can do about it.
This is only a portion of the wealth of useful material that has been
generated over the past few months, that is related in some way to my U.S.
tour. There are slide shows, interviews, videos, and photographs. I try to
post them directly, or link them, to my blog, http://beyondmoney.net. Make
sure you monitor the listings in the sidebar, especially under the heading,
My Audio-visual presentations.
Good friend and master networker, Sergio Lub, also counts photography among
his many talents. His pictures from THE ECONOMICS OF PEACE Conference can be
viewed here: www.flickr.com/photos/lub/sets/72157622654991360. His photos of
the IRTA Convention in October can be seen at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lub/sets/72157622518871622/. My own photos of
these events and other travels are provided on my photo gallery at
http://picasaweb.google.com/tomazhg. I’ll post my pictures of my current
Asia travels later on as time allows.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Thomas Greco <thg at mindspring.com>
Date: Fri, Dec 11, 2009 at 2:10 AM
Subject: Report from Thailand
To: Thomas Greco -- thg <thg at mindspring.com>

 *December 2009 Newsletter – Report from Thailand*

*Communications*

A recent edition of the New Straits Times (Malaysia) reports that the
penetration rate for cell phone usage in Malaysia has exceeded 100 percent.
That doesn’t mean that every person has one, only that the number of cell
phones exceeds the size of the population. By comparison, the rate for the
U.S. is around 89.0% (June 2009). Even Argentina, Uruguay, and Venezuela
have higher penetration rates than that.

I suspect that this situation has a lot to do with pricing. The competitive
situation in the US, the bastion of Capitalism, is pretty dismal. If the FCC
were doing its job, Americans might enjoy the same low cost service as users
in the rest of the world.

Here’s my own experience. My Verizon wireless service in the US costs me a
total of about $45 per month for minimal service. I pay for minutes whether
I use them or not, I must pay extra for text messages, and to start, I was
locked in for the first two years with a contract. When I landed in Malaysia
about 10 days ago, I paid $3 to recharge the SIM card I bought last year for
less than $5. That lasted me more than a week of fairly heavy voice and text
usage. When I arrived in Thailand a few days ago, I bought another SIM card
for less than $2 and loaded it with $10 worth of minutes that are good until
the end of February. Judging from past experience, I expect that I’ll not
need to top up my card for 6 or 7 weeks.

*So, Where am I now?*

I'm in Thailand for the next couple months, presently stationed at Krabi on
the Andaman coast. This is my first visit to this part of Thailand and I’m
liking it. The hotel where I’m staying in Krabi is pretty ideal. For 500
Baht (about US $15), I have a nice clean bright room with a comfortable bed,
A/C, private bath, hot shower, Wi-Fi, and TV.

>From Krabi, one can explore the many islands that are said to offer nice
beaches, clean water, and interesting topography, along with great
snorkeling, diving and rock climbing. I’ll take a pass on most of those but
am eager to lounge on the beach, plunge into the salt water, and take some
pictures.

Much as I hate to admit it, I’m discovering that my physical capacities are
not what they used to be. My body seems to be less tolerant of strenuous
travel. I’m carrying too much luggage. Will more exercise help to build up
my strength? We’ll see.

*More Resources*

Working as I go, I post new interview and presentation materials to my blog
as they become available. Yesterday, I posted segments of my interview with
Daniel Pinchbeck at
http://beyondmoney.net/2009/12/08/thomas-grecos-video-interview-with-daniel-pinchbeck/.
You can see all four parts at: http://www.vimeo.com/8044402. The post also
contains a link to another interview I did with Regina Meredith of Conscious
Media Network <http://beyondmoney.net/www.consciousmedianetwork.com>. I
think these pretty well describe in a few minutes the money situation and
what we can do about it.

This is only a portion of the wealth of useful material that has been
generated over the past few months, that is related in some way to my U.S.
tour. There are slide shows, interviews, videos, and photographs. I try to
post them directly, or link them, to my blog, http://beyondmoney.net. Make
sure you monitor the listings in the sidebar, especially under the heading,
*My Audio-visual presentations.*

Good friend and master networker, *Sergio Lub, *also counts photography
among his many talents. His pictures from THE ECONOMICS OF PEACE Conference
can be viewed here: www.flickr.com/photos/lub/sets/72157622654991360. His
photos of the IRTA Convention in October can be seen at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lub/sets/72157622518871622/. My own photos of
these events and other travels are provided on my photo gallery at
http://picasaweb.google.com/tomazhg. I’ll post my pictures of my current
Asia travels later on as time allows.

*Perspectives*

One gets a different perspective on the world when living in Asia. When
staying in a place that offers TV, one might find English-language channels
from Britain, France, Germany, Australia, and Japan, along with Al Jazeera
and the more familiar US offerings of CNN and Bloomberg.

Watching France24 today, I learned that there has been an explosive growth
in the number of elderly criminals in Japan. Most of these have been
incarcerated for petty crimes like shoplifting. The report showed a section
of one prison specially set up for these older inmates that provides what
seems to be a humane level of treatment, assuring that each inmate gets
whatever medication he requires. I can’t help but wonder if the geriatric
crime wave might be indicative of an increasingly impersonal Japanese
society and reduced availability of adequate care for older people outside
of the prison system.

I’ve heard it said that many repeat offenders in the US are intentional
about getting caught because prison life provides them some kind of
security, which they choose despite the dismal conditions of our prisons.
Privatization of our prisons seems to be encouraging incarceration across
the board. A while back I saw a program on TV (in the US) that described one
racket that targeted teens to fill the cells of a privately run prison.

Wouldn’t it be cheaper to make sure that everybody had their essential
living needs provided? Wouldn’t that make for a more peaceful society and
pleasant place to live in? Surely, we can figure out how to do that without
surrendering our power to the “nanny state.” Henry George had some good
ideas about that which he expressed more than 100 years ago.

Your faithful observer,

Tom

Thomas H. Greco, Jr.
+66 (0)88 390 4730 (Thailand Mobile)
PO Box 42663, Tucson, AZ 85733, USA
Website: http://reinventingmoney.com
Blog-Beyond Money: http://beyondmoney.net
Blog-Tom's News and Views: http://tomazgreco.wordpress.com
Photo Gallery: http://picasaweb.google.com/tomazhg
Skype: tomazgreco
My latest book, The End of Money and the Future of Civilization, is now
available. You can order it from ChelseaGreen.com, Amazon.com, or your local
bookstore.

-- 
Work: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhurakij_Pundit_University - Research:
http://www.dpu.ac.th/dpuic/info/Research.html - Think thank:
http://www.asianforesightinstitute.org/index.php/eng/The-AFI

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