[p2p-research] Fwd: February Newsletter from thomas greco, monetary transformer

Mon Feb 1 03:33:43 CET 2010

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Thomas Greco <thg at mindspring.com>
Date: Mon, Feb 1, 2010 at 9:11 AM
Subject: February Newsletter
To: Thomas Greco -- thg <thg at mindspring.com>

  *Newsletter      February 1, 2010*

*Thoughts about Thailand*

There is no baseball in Thailand, and there is no social safety net either.

Well, that’s not entirely true, I did see the movie Bull Durham on TV the
other day, and Pa tells me that when one reaches the age of 60, the
government does provide a monthly allowance of 500 Baht.

500 Baht, that’s about US$15 at current exchange rates, enough to buy four
roasted chickens in the marketplace or 6 modest restaurant meals. The most
frugal Thai might be able to manage to stretch that out to provide a week’s
worth of meals at home. But food here is among the cheapest of things one
requires to live. Rent on a basic apartment will cost many thousands of
baht, a used motorbike will cost upwards of 12,000, and a gallon of gasoline
(petrol) costs about 120 baht.

Medical and dental care here are cheap by western standards but everyone
must pay for it; there are no government supported programs like Medicare or
Medicaid. Everyone here is, by necessity, an entrepreneur, even if that
means selling a few trinkets on the street. Tourism and transfer payments
from people in western countries support a very large portion of the
economy, especially in the cities.

While most Thais struggle to make it, Westerners find living here to be very
cheap because we continue to enjoy favorable currency exchange rates (the
reasons for that make for a long story). A small pension that may be
inadequate for living in the United States can and does provide a
comfortable lifestyle in Thailand. Chiang Mai is a good location. It's a
fair sized city and has lots of good features--reasonably priced guest
houses and apartments, good food, interesting attractions, lively markets,
and a number of good used bookstores. I recently had some dental work--two
fillings and my teeth cleaned (by the dentist himself, not an assistant) for
the equivalent of $50 total. My very comfortable lodging, complete with A/C,
cable TV and Wi-Fi internet costs less than $400 a month, and decent
accommodations can be found here for much less than that depending on
location and amenities. Longer term rentals are even cheaper. There is no
need to have a car unless one wants to take excursions outside the city.
Songtaos and tuk tuks provide frequent and cheap transport anywhere in or
around the city.

Thailand is the land of mega-Wats. *Wat* means “temple” and there are plenty
of them. I thought I had become jaded to them, but recently I’ve seen a few
that inspire awe. One of these is the “white temple” up near Chiang Rai, and
the other day Pa showed me two others very close to my place that are truly
amazing. The ornate detail and extent of the hammered aluminum artwork in
these latter two is suggestive of the level of ecclesiastical devotion that
prevailed during the European gothic period.

*Activities*

When the living is easy, one can get pretty lazy and complacent. I still
spend a lot of my time working but at a more leisurely pace than last year,
which was pretty intense with the book launch and speaking tour. Trying to
keep up with email correspondence and responding to requests for advice and
information constitute a major chore, but I’m trying to guide a few
important projects that are moving ahead in various places. I’ve also been
making frequent posts to my blogs. Recent additions to
*Beyondmoney.net*include,
*Identification and Tracking in the Brave New World–RFID Chips and You, *and,
*The Real Meaning of the Wizard of Oz*.

The presentations I made in North America during the last part of 2009 are
now mostly posted. The one I gave at the Economics of Peace Conference in
California is available in four parts at
http://vimeo.com/channels/theeconomicsofpeace/page:4.

Fortunately, a volunteer has come forward with an offer to translate my
presentations into Spanish. Translations of two presentations have already
been completed and others are in process. These are being posted at
http://beyondmoney.net/ under the sidebar heading, *En español**.*

My other blog, *Tom’s News and Views* (http://tomazgreco.wordpress.com/)
features a new item on the hazards of cell phone radiation and another by Col.
Bob Bowman on free speech and popular
government<http://tomazgreco.wordpress.com/2010/01/24/col-bob-bowman-on-free-speech-and-popular-government/>
.

Since my work involves a lot of reading, I don’t normally read for
recreation, but when I’m traveling I’m sometimes inclined to pick up a
novel. Most guesthouses have a small library of books that have been left
behind by guests. On this trip I’ve discovered a couple popular British
fiction writers. While staying in Bangkok I picked up *Black and Blue*, one
of the Inspector Rebus mysteries by Ian Rankin, which I enjoyed immensely.
That induced me to read still another of that series, the name of which I’ve
now forgotten. The other author is Bernard Cornwell, whose book, *Sharpe's
Tiger* provides some interesting historical perspective on late eighteenth
century India.

In addition, Axel Aylwen’s, *The Falcon of Siam,* is a rather engaging story
that provides a glimpse into what Thailand was like more than 300 years ago
when the various European powers were competing for dominance and seeking to
exploit the treasures of Asia.

*More Blatant Bank Abuses*

With the contraction of bank lending to the private sector and the
consequent reduction in their interest earnings on mortgages and business
loans, the members of the banking cartel have found other ways to exploit
the public. Overdraft fees, late payment fees, penalties, and interest rate
hikes on credit card debt are among the most celebrated abuses that have
even stirred Congress to investigate (
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/20/AR2009092002879.html
).

I use a credit card as a matter of convenience but I typically pay in full
the balance due each month to avoid paying interest and other bank charges,
but last November, I made an exception and paid only a portion of the
statement balance. I expected to pay interest the following month on the
remaining amount, which I did. The next month I paid the full balance
thinking that there would be no further interest charges, but when I got my
January bill there was a charge for interest on *new* purchases made in the
subsequent period. To make matter worse, there was also a charge for a
“foreign transaction fee.” I disputed both charges, first by phone then by
email, all to no avail. My telephone complaint was answered by a man with a
heavy Indian accent. I could just image him sitting in some crowded call
center in Bangalore or Mumbai, or more likely some low rent backwater in
rural India. His English was reasonably comprehensible but I still could not
understand the reasons for these charges. I thought perhaps it might be
because of deficiencies in his vocabulary, but the written relies to my
later emails did not make much sense to me either.

The foreign transaction fee I’m told was associated with the purchase of my
airline ticket from San Francisco to Asia on EVA Air, a Taiwanese air
carrier. This still puzzles me. I had booked the flight online while I was
still in the US and I paid for the ticket (I thought) in US dollars. I’ve
made similar purchases in the past on “foreign” airlines like British
Airways, Air France, and Malaysia Airlines and never been charged such a
fee. Does that mean that henceforth any purchase made from a foreign company
will incur a “foreign transaction fee?” Apparently it does. Buyers beware!

The Thai banks are no better. When I was here last year, it cost, at most,
20 baht to use an ATM to draw cash from my account at home, and at a couple
banks it was free. This year they all are charging the same outrageous 150
baht ($5) for each withdrawal. By way of adjustment I’ve had to start
drawing larger amounts of cash each time to keep from being raped.

Another change I’ve noted since last year is a further increase in the
already excessive number of massage studios. This includes a proliferation
of fish spas. I had seen a couple of these in Malaysia but none in Chiang
Mai. Now they seem to have cropped up all over town like mushrooms after the
rain. A fish spa is a place where you can immerse your feet (or hands) in a
tank of water and have a school of small fish nibble away the dead skin.

If you’re interested, you can see more of my pictures from Bangkok, Chiang
Mai, Koh Jum, and other parts of Thailand at my online Photo Gallery,
http://picasaweb.google.com/tomazhg.

Cheers,

Tom

-- 
Work: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhurakij_Pundit_University - Think thank:
http://www.asianforesightinstitute.org/index.php/eng/The-AFI

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