#  >  > Living And Legal Affairs In Thailand >  >  > Thailand and Asia News >  >  > Business, Finance & Economics in Thailand >  >  Thailand : Inflation surge

## Mid

*Inflation surge*
Today's Top Stories

Prices don't just _seem_ to be going up. The Commerce Ministry announced on Monday that inflation during February was 5.4 per cent - the highest for 20 months.

Food and fuel costs climbed, making it more difficult for the central bank to cut interest rates to spur economic growth, deputy permanent secretary Pairote Sudsawarng told a press conference. 

Consumer prices gained 5.4 per cent last month from a year earlier. In January, inflation was a relatively lower 4.3 per cent year on year. 

Core inflation, which excludes energy and fresh food prices, rose 1.5 per cent in February compared with the same month in 2007 - up from a 1.2 per cent rise in January. 

The Bank of Thailand now faces a difficult choice, as fighting inflation by raising rates would accelerate the appreciation of the baht, which it is trying to resist in order to support exporters, analysts say . 

"The central bank wants to cut rates, but they can't because of rising inflation," said Nuchjarin Panarode, an economist at Capital Nomura Securities Pcl, in an interview with Bloomberg news agency.

According to the Commerce Ministry announcement, prices of instant noodles and cooking oil are rising in line with soaring commodities and production costs. Pork prices have climbed 39 per cent since New Year's Day. (BangkokPost.com, Agencies)

bangkokpost.net

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## chitown

I have noticed prices out of control -


In the last few days,  I noticed that these items were almost double to what I paid 2 months ago.

1 green pepper 35 baht - that is over a dollar each  :Sad: 
butter - 79 baht
cheese is way up there these days
gala apples 35 baht each

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## MeMock

gala apples? Are they the ones they sell on the street? The big juicy mothers that were 20 baht each only 12 months ago?

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## John

There has never been inflation - neither in Thailand nor in the USA. The prices go up - but to talk about inflation? Inflation is a very bad thing since many slaves stick to it and want to get more and more. So there should not be inflation even if everything gets more and more expensive. My girlfriend still earns the same amount working at City Hall. So there cannot be inflation. Since I have a steady girlfriend I do not know - did the price for erotic services go up? Sure - the price tags in Carrefour, Lotus, 7/11 go up every day. But is this inflation? And if so who cares??? Perhaps it is not the Core Inflation like in the USA. This is the price increase of the toilet flush at the FED. But by reducing the water for this they could fight inflation. So what is this all about?

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## MeMock

Slow down a minute John and errr please explain??

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## bkkandrew

^^5555555555

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## Butterfly

Inflation is the general increase in the price level, salaries and wages are next to go up

With another oil shock, we are back in the 70s guys, isn't that great ?

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## MeMock

When you say oil shock, do you mean oil spike?

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## John

> Slow down a minute John and errr please explain??


Explain the toilet flush or the (pretty new) core rate of the FED or what? Please help me to help!

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## MeMock

Lets start at the start: "there has never been inflation"

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## Butterfly

Oil spike would be oil going to 60, but it's 100 now and could go as far as 120, see how long people will keep their price down when it does. Profit inflation, here it comes.

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## John

> Lets start at the start: "there has never been inflation"


Inflation is a too bad word because when many people lost everything it was used too much. So the core inflation or even only the core sounds much better. You can define the core freely - not so inflation anymore. And so you can say the prices increased by 10 percent but the core (in my example the costs for the toilet flush at the FED) decreased even by 3 percent. And if you cannot pay for the food anymore (what is not in the core) you use the toilet flush even less. So the core prices will go down! So you have deflation.

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## MeMock

I see oil never going back down - only up.

120 is just the beginning, we are on the verge of something huge.

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## MeMock

> Originally Posted by MeMock
> 
> 
> Lets start at the start: "there has never been inflation"
> 
> 
> Inflation is a too bad word because when many people lost everything it was used too much. So the core inflation or even only the core sounds much better. You can define the core freely - not so inflation anymore. And so you can say the prices increased by 10 percent but the core (in my case the costs for the toilet flush at the FED) decreased even by 3 percent. And if you cannot pay for the food anymore (what is not in the core) you use the toilet flush even less. So the core prices will go down!


Oh I got ya.

So they are making up all new variations on inflation to show that the inflation isn't inflating.

Am I on the right track?

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## Butterfly

> nflation is a too bad word because when many people lost everything it was used too much. So the core inflation or even only the core sounds much better. You can define the core freely - not so inflation anymore. And so you can say the prices increased by 10 percent but the core (in my case the costs for the toilet flush at the FED) decreased even by 3 percent. And if you cannot pay for the food anymore (what is not in the core) you use the toilet flush even less. So the core prices will go down!


Cocaine ?

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## John

> Originally Posted by John
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>  Originally Posted by MeMock
> ...


Be honest now - are you Bernanke posting here or even Greenspan???

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## Butterfly

> I see oil never going back down - only up.
> 
> 120 is just the beginning, we are on the verge of something huge.


The law of gravity says otherwise, what goes up must go down,

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## MeMock

since when has a non renewable resource ever followed the rules of gravity?

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## Panda

I hope they get it under control. Either way its a hit for the tourists and expats with either the baht or prices going up.

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## Gerbil

So..... if we all go and flush our toilets, everything will be ok?  :bunny3:

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## John

> The law of gravity says otherwise, what goes up must go down,


In the long run everything goes down one day. Even we.

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## MeMock

Yeah only when oil is not needed anymore will it go down, by then it will be to late.

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## John

> Yeah only when oil is not needed anymore will it go down, by then it will be to late.


Who needs oil? All the variations of our genes survived so many years without it. Some speculators might suffer but the rest? Imagine you walk to a bar and sit with a lady next to a candle. No noise of endless speakers and traffic -  just nature. Not endless shortime tourists coming to Thailand. Not so bad for me. Sad that my life might/will end earlier than the oil...

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## DrB0b

> since when has a non renewable resource ever followed the rules of gravity?


When it's dropped out of a plane. I agree though, statements like Butterfly's are one of the reasons why, in civilized countries, economists and financial analysts are strangled at birth  :Smile:

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## John

> Originally Posted by MeMock
> 
> 
> since when has a non renewable resource ever followed the rules of gravity?
> 
> 
> When it's dropped out of a plane. I agree though, statements like Butterfly's are one of the reasons why, in civilized countries, economists and financial analysts are strangled at birth


Often in such cases there follows a hard landing or not?

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## JoGeAr

> Imagine you walk to a bar and sit with a lady next to a candle. No noise of endless speakers and traffic - just nature.


But, how do we keep the beer cold ?? :bunny3:

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## Butterfly

> since when has a non renewable resource ever followed the rules of gravity?


since the markets took over and decided of the price,

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## John

> Originally Posted by John
> 
> Imagine you walk to a bar and sit with a lady next to a candle. No noise of endless speakers and traffic - just nature.
> 
> 
> But, how do we keep the beer cold ??


I would drink a coco nut when I melt next to this perhaps then natural lady. No need for beer to make my dreams come true anymore
 :sexy:  :Smile: 

But I agree - today the beer has to be cold and the aircon. The ladies are cold anyway... 

Someone said "I have a dream" but he did not get old. So perhaps better for me to stop dreaming and drink some cold Leos. But even for Leo the inflation did not stop the last days. :Sad:  :gw bush:  :Confused:

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## Panda

> Originally Posted by MeMock
> 
> since when has a non renewable resource ever followed the rules of gravity?
> 
> 
> since the markets took over and decided of the price,


Read "NON-RENEWABLE" resource. It ain't like the $US where they can just print more.

There is enough oil around to keep the world going for a hundred years or more but the problem is the quality (cost to refine) and the cost to extract it.
Saudi Arabia will run out of the cheap to extract good stuff in the next ten to twenty years. Iraq and Iran still have some pretty good reserves on current estimates. But the current world demand has peaked out against the ability to produce the cheap to extract good quality stuff. So the world price of oil goes up. In the coming decades we will still have oil but it will become a lot more expensive in relative terms due to the cost of extraction and processing.  Canadas oil sands reserves are rated as one of the biggest oil reserves in the world, but up till now nobody wanted to know about them due to the high cost of extraction and refining. Now they are big business. But the last big reserves of the real good quality stuff lies in Iran and Iraq. Such is the USAs interest in these countries. And of course China and Russia.

It doesn't seem likely that Iran and Iraq are going to flood the world market with cheap, good quality oil and drive the world price down, so the most likely outcome is that the world price of oil will continue to rise in relative terms. Countries that have become affluent and rich on the back of cheap oil (like USA) will be hit the hardest. But the whole world economy will suffer. We simply haven't got a cheaper replacement for oil just yet. 

Iraq was the USAs last chance to get their hands on the worlds last (and second biggest reserves of cheap good quality oil). Now that chance seems lost as the Iraqi government put in place by the Yanks, has decided to go with OPEC rather than to go US/UK  control of their oil resources. the governments of OPEC  countries know full well that they have finite natural resources of oil to supply the current world market at present demands. No way they are going to turn the taps up just to keep the price of gas down in the west. Many of the OPEC countries have nothing else to base their economies on when their oil will be gone in a few decades. So its not in their interests to sell out their long term interests just so the petrol heads in the west have have cheap gas today.

Yea, the market will set the price for sure. And 5, 10 or even $20 a gallon is not going to be out of the question within the next generation as China and India start competing on the world market for a scarce resource. Supply and demand. Free markets. Why the hell do you think the USA is in Iraq? Just to promote democracy in the Middle East?

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## Spin

> the Iraqi government put in place by the Yanks, has decided to go with OPEC rather than to go US/UK  control of their oil resources.


So how long is it before we discover they have WMD's? :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):

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## everglaze

The root of all inflation is OPEC's greedy nature and lack of satisfaction.

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## NickA

> The law of gravity says otherwise, what goes up must go down,


You might have to check this with newton, but i don't think it does :Smile:

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## MeMock

> There is enough oil around to keep the world going for a hundred years or more but the problem is the quality (cost to refine) and the cost to extract it.
> Saudi Arabia will run out of the cheap to extract good stuff in the next ten to twenty years. Iraq and Iran still have some pretty good reserves on current estimates. But the current world demand has peaked out against the ability to produce the cheap to extract good quality stuff. So the world price of oil goes up. In the coming decades we will still have oil but it will become a lot more expensive in relative terms due to the cost of extraction and processing.  Canadas oil sands reserves are rated as one of the biggest oil reserves in the world, but up till now nobody wanted to know about them due to the high cost of extraction and refining. Now they are big business. But the last big reserves of the real good quality stuff lies in Iran and Iraq. Such is the USAs interest in these countries. And of course China and Russia.
> 
> It doesn't seem likely that Iran and Iraq are going to flood the world market with cheap, good quality oil and drive the world price down, so the most likely outcome is that the world price of oil will continue to rise in relative terms. Countries that have become affluent and rich on the back of cheap oil (like USA) will be hit the hardest. But the whole world economy will suffer. We simply haven't got a cheaper replacement for oil just yet. 
> 
> Iraq was the USAs last chance to get their hands on the worlds last (and second biggest reserves of cheap good quality oil). Now that chance seems lost as the Iraqi government put in place by the Yanks, has decided to go with OPEC rather than to go US/UK  control of their oil resources. the governments of OPEC  countries know full well that they have finite natural resources of oil to supply the current world market at present demands. No way they are going to turn the taps up just to keep the price of gas down in the west. Many of the OPEC countries have nothing else to base their economies on when their oil will be gone in a few decades. So its not in their interests to sell out their long term interests just so the petrol heads in the west have have cheap gas today.
> 
> Yea, the market will set the price for sure. And 5, 10 or even $20 a gallon is not going to be out of the question within the next generation as China and India start competing on the world market for a scarce resource. Supply and demand. Free markets. Why the hell do you think the USA is in Iraq? Just to promote democracy in the Middle East?


 :goldcup:  Well written Panda. Spot on.

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## Butterfly

> The root of all inflation is OPEC's greedy nature and lack of satisfaction.


OPEC is just parking their investment in future higher oil prices

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## Panda

Some here might remember the oil shock of the early seventies?
The Middle Eastern oil producers cut off supply to countries like USA that supported Israel. It drove the world into a severe recession with massive inflation, very high unemployment and skyrocketing interest rates.

The US an UK wont let that happen again and the Saudis in particular know that any repeat would result in military intervention from the West. Since then the ruling Saudi royal family have become close friends and allies of the USA. As OPECS  biggest producer (at the moment), the Saudis have a lot of control over OPEC production levels and prices. Basically, The Saudi royals are the key to controlling oil production and prices in OPEC. So, as one would expect, the Saudi royals are pretty cosy with the US government. This is despite the fact that the extremely wealthy Saudi Royals (the royal family numbers about 5,000) rule over the country with an iron fist and are not particularly popular with the poor er classes. Saudi Arabia is not a democracy but a dictatorship. Something which the USA seems prepared to overlook in their so called quest for democracy in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia also practices Sharia law and is often in the news for draconian human rights abuses, especially against women. The country has massive unemployment while the royals bleed the country dry, -- literally. 
Not surprisingly to some, 17 of the 9/11 bombers were from Saudi Arabia. None of this seems to phase the US government though while the Saudi Royals keep OPEC production and prices in check. Rather the US and UK go off invading another, not so co-operative country, with lots of yet unexploited oil.

One of the biggest factors propping up the $US value on the world market is the $US hegemony as the worlds major trading currency. And particularly as the currency in which oil is traded. Other countries need to buy $USs as a hedge to back up their currency value in the same way they used to hoard gold back before the USA ran out of gold and replaced it with their own paper money.  

All OPEC oil transactions must be in $USs. And much of that money is reinvested back into the USA by people like the Saudi Royals, (further propping up the value of the $US). Prior to the US/UK invasion of Iraq, Saddam Hussein stopped using $USs to trade for oil. He demanded only payment in Euro Dollars. That was his death nell. Iran has been calling for the same and so has Venezuela. They raised the matter at an OPEC meeting last year but it was soundly put down by the currently controlling Saudis. Iran had plans to set up their own oil  bourse (stock exchange) trading their oil on the world market exclusively in Euros. It was due to open last year, but the Iranians chickened out and dropped the idea at the last minute. Something to do with WMDs I think.

All is not so cut and dried as the lying politicans and western media want to tell us. the truth is out there for those who want to go and look for it.

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## DrB0b

> Originally Posted by Butterfly
> 
> The law of gravity says otherwise, what goes up must go down,
> 
> 
> You might have to check this with newton, but i don't think it does




Which one of those terms represents currency ?  :Smile:

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## Butterfly

^ quite easy,

Flow of Ground (aka Oil) = Mass of Ground x (M1 x M2/(average growth rate of M1 and M2 squared))

M1, M2 = Quantity of Money

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## Bexar County Stud

I can't remember prices going up so sharply in my lifetime. Although I was just a tyke in the 70's.

Some sectors were/are bound to reach parity with the west eventually. Lodging prices have really skyrocketed. The little budget dive I stay at when I have to go to BKK has tripled its rate in the past 3-4 years. The nicer hotels seem to be tacking on another 10-20 percent every few months it seems, jeez.

I would think tourism would take a big hit, but I reckon they're making up for it with new markets, i.e. China & Russia.

It's belt-tightening time.

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## Panda

Here's an easy way to look at it.
The price of things go up and down, but in a growing economy the actual price of most things come down relative to the average amount of work having to be done to pay for it. Eg: if an average family sedan cost  say, 1.5 time the average annual wage in 1956, it now costs only .5 years work. So life is getting cheaper for us and our standard of living increases since we can afford more things for less. But oil ain't cars, its a commodity in limited supply and developing countries are now bidding on the world market against us. The price in relative terms (relative to our average incomes), has hit a point where it is not going down like TV sets, cars and computers, but rather its going up, up up!  Thats due to market forces composed of limited supply and increased demand from developing nations.

The law of gravity don't apply here in the simplistic way we have come to expect everything to get cheaper for the next generation. That's just wishful thinking of a generation who has been spoilt in the Wests post WW2 boom years. You got developing countries growing at between 5 and 10&#37; while developed countries are doing our best to maintain 3 or 4% growth. And everyone wants what available fuel resources are available. So what does that tell you about where oil prices are going to go in the future?

The redistribution of world wealth is not going to happen overnight. There will be ups and downs in individual economies as we are seeing now with the USA on a bit of a downer at the moment. But the overall trend is for the population of richer developed countries to take a bigger hit in living standards than developing countries as a result for competition for finite resources of affordable oil.

It ain't good news for us or our kids and grand-kids, but that's the way it is.

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## Butterfly

> The law of gravity don't apply here in the simplistic way we have come to expect everything to get cheaper for the next generation.


The law of relativity doesn't agree, it's more expensive in nominal terms, but should be constant in relative terms

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## Panda

> Originally Posted by Panda
> 
> The law of gravity don't apply here in the simplistic way we have come to expect everything to get cheaper for the next generation.
> 
> 
> The law of relativity doesn't agree, it's more expensive in nominal terms, but should be constant in relative terms


Well, your law of relatitively doesnt agree Butterfly. But the world rolls on.
We will see what happens.

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## Mid

*Thai Feed Mill Association asks for price increase*
05 March 2008

The Thai Feed Mill Association requests the Ministry of Commerce to raise the price of animal feed by 10-20% due to a 30% increase in prices of the materials. 

Chairman of the Thai Feed Mill Association, Pornsilp Phatcharintanakul (พรศิลป์ พัชรินทร์ตนะกุล), says the materials whose prices have been increased by 30% include corn, cassava, and soy bean. One of the factors contributing to the price increase is oil price hikes in the global market and a higher demand in the materials for the production of ethanol. 

Last time that the ministry approved an increase in animal feed prices is the middle of the year 2004. 

The chairman says if the ministry does not approve the associations request, feed entrepreneurs might reduce their production and lay off laborers, especially those in the daily business. 

At present, Thailand produces 11 million tones of animal feed a year or 130 billion baht. The cost of production is higher by 12,000 baht a tonne.

thainews.prd.go.th

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## good2bhappy

Just been to Tesco
In just a week prices have risen loads

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## good2bhappy

Good news was Chang light was on offer at 36 for a yai

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## blackgang

4 HASS avocados at Tesco for 220 baht, don't know where from but the Thai ones we get here are larger, smooth skin and mild flavor, the HASS is a better avocado,, but damn near $2 US each is a shame, and NZ rib eye strips have went from 450 baht a kg to almost 700 last order.
I usually do not pay much attention to what I pick up and buy in the markets as I have just done it for so many years that I do not look at the price, if I did I pobly wouldn't buy it if I knew what it cost the last place I was.
But it does seem Thailand does charge more duty for shit coming in, but they don't care cause they really do not need us here for any reason than the money in our pockets or in our bank accounts.
If they needed us to bring the infrastructure up to speed, as happens in other countrys when we are brought in for labor or general work then it would be different.

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## panama hat

This place is weird . . . a very strong baht, making imports (of everything!) much cheaper should have an impact on price hikes - - - actually keeping prices stable or even bringing them down.

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## Mid

^ ^

err , just a thought  :Smile: 

maybe inflation touches the locals also .....................

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## Mid

*Central bank signals interest rate reduction*

BANGKOK, March 11 (TNA)  The Bank of Thailand (BoT) has signaled its readiness to lower interest rates to stimulate the economy although inflationary pressures continue.

Speaking at a seminar on "Macro-Economic Policy Management under the Current Global Economic Circumstances," Ashvin Ahuja, a senior economist from the central bank's Monetary Policy Group, said the BoT's monetary policy implementation is rather difficult to accomplish since the inflation rate had surged.

A survey of businesspersons' opinions found that most are concerned that the rate of inflation would rise to 4-6 per cent.

_snip_

Mr. Ashvin predicted that the local inflation rate will remain within a target range of 2.8-4 per cent this year. Given these factors, the adoption of an appropriate monetary policy would help boost Thailand's economic growth.

"Thailand's policy interest rate is considered the lowest in the region. Even so, there remains leeway to further cut the rate," he said.
Mr. Ashvin admitted that local investment had not yet significantly increased due to the ambiguity of state policy.

He advised that the government attempt to lessen its policy uncertainties and increase investment in a timely manner. (TNA)-E005


enews.mcot.net

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## Butterfly

yep they have 2 solutions:

- High growth, high inflation
- Recession, mild inflation

The US is going for option 1

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## Blake7

but barfines and short time fees have remained constant for at least a decade. Doesnt that debunk the inflation theory?

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## Spin

^ In baht terms yes, but if ur paid in dollars and ur money comes from USA then they are going up for sure!

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## Butterfly

very good observations, actually prices went up in the last 5 years, it used to be 1000 and 1500, now it's 1500 and 2000, barfined used to be 400 instead of 600 now, and drink in 5 years have gone up from 90 to 140 these days,

so yes the inflation is less in the "industry", mostly because demand is very sensitive to large price hike, and business has been good so the margins weren't affected as much as the raw material (the girls) are not price sensitive to the oil shock,

that said, it could catch up quickly, back in 1997, girls were asking to be paid in USD, and that meant a short time was about 2500 THB or 50 USD

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## Mid

^ ^ ^



abc-of-fishing.net

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## Blake7

similarly in uk the price of pot has remained constant.
Maybe some clever economist could write a thesis about how inflation does not effect the black economy. Presumably the conclusion would be that tax is to blame???

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## Norton

> Maybe some clever economist could write a thesis about how inflation does not effect the black economy.


Maybe the black economy is driven purely by supply and demand.  Far be it from me to hint legitimate economy is subject to manipulation in both supply and demand sides.  But...could be. :Wink:

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## Camel Toe

Damn Panda, you know your shit!

I always figured it as the cost to wash my car: $5 in the USA, 100 Baht here.  In the US I earned $190 a day and in Thailand 1000Baht a day for the same job.

So with that you can see Thailand charges about 50 minutes of my labour to wash my car.  The US charges about 5 minutes of my labour.  Does that equate to my stating the USA is cheaper for living?  I mean rent is cheap in Thailand, but it should be cause you get shit for your money and live in neighborhoods full of tacky and low class people.  Transportation is cheap, it should be cause you're lucky if you arrive in one piece.  I used to do hookers in the US who charged $20.  That's  40 minutes of labour in the USA.  It's about the same cost in Thailand: 1000B.  That's a day's pay.  Am I right to assume, Panda, Thailand is anything but a cheap place to live?

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## Panda

Dear Camel Toe,
you should have worked out by now that living and working in Thailand and earning a Thai wage (even though 30,000 baht a month is a pretty good Thai wage), will not provide you with a very high standard of living compared to what you could get back in the west.

Best to go back home and start earning $190 a day again so you can have plenty of money to spend when you visit the land of smiles.

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## barbaro

> There has never been inflation - neither in Thailand nor in the USA. The prices go up - but to talk about inflation? Inflation is a very bad thing since many slaves stick to it and want to get more and more. So there should not be inflation even if everything gets more and more expensive. My girlfriend still earns the same amount working at City Hall. So there cannot be inflation. Since I have a steady girlfriend I do not know - did the price for erotic services go up? Sure - the price tags in Carrefour, Lotus, 7/11 go up every day. But is this inflation? And if so who cares??? Perhaps it is not the Core Inflation like in the USA. This is the price increase of the toilet flush at the FED. But by reducing the water for this they could fight inflation. So what is this all about?


I see some of your points, but the beginning has me confused.

Can you elucidate this John.


TIA.

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## Told Stool

I'm not saying I like or dislike Thaksin, but he was cited on a Bloomberg web article as saying the Thai baht has appreciated more than any other currency in Southeast Asia.  He also was quoted as saying that this is the time for Thailand to buy things like heavy equipment (i.e. construction) and other things that might be needed for infrastructure, etc.

Expect a lower consumer confidence index if this inflation continues to occur.

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## Norton

> In just a week prices have risen loads


It is even rippling down to local markets.  Two weeks ago a kilo of pork loin was 89 baht.  Today 112 baht.  Rice, fresh produce are also on the increase in local markets.  Incomes not increasing at all in rural areas and with no reserves expect Thais to be hit hard.  In the end the village folk will just have to rely more on subsistence living off whatever they can grow themselves but they will do just fine as they always have.

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## John

> Two weeks ago a kilo of pork loin was 89 baht. Today 112 baht.


That is still a great price. Yesterday 1 kg pork loin was 152 at Carrefour in Pattaya. Carrefour always was at the low price end here in our Paradise. What is really cheap there are onions with Baht 9 for a kilo. But I cannot see them anymore :-(((( Breakfast steamed onions. Lunch fried onions and dinner roasted onions...

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## Norton

> Carrefour always was at the low price end here in our Paradise.


Shows the differences between Isaan and Pataya prices.  I all my stuff from the local wet market so this would explain the big difference.  Doubt the overhead is anything close to Carrefour's. :Wink: 
Onions 5 baht per kilo.

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## Camel Toe

> Dear Camel Toe,
> you should have worked out by now that living and working in Thailand and earning a Thai wage (even though 30,000 baht a month is a pretty good Thai wage), will not provide you with a very high standard of living compared to what you could get back in the west.
> 
> Best to go back home and start earning $190 a day again so you can have plenty of money to spend when you visit the land of smiles.


At $2500-a-month rent, I'm doing better here.

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## chinthee

Well, here's my inflation report for today.  I took a private car taxi to the Phuket airport today.  Normally, I drive and park, or have someone take me, but today I needed to do it this way.  I haven't done so for about two years.  Last time I did it, the price was 500 Baht.

Today, the best I could negotiate was 700 Baht, and this was after being stuck on 800 for a bit.  The driver was complaining of increased airport tax, and fuel costs, etc..  Now, my house is not located in town, but is not far from town up a steep mountain - not a big deal.

This price must seem silly to people in Bangkok, because I took a public taxi to my home in Bangkok.  Total cost with tollway (now increased to 75 Baht - from Don Muang) including a generous tip, was less than 375 Baht.

Phuket just keeps getting more and more expensive.  Bangkok is still fairly reasonable, but has gone up some.

There should be more price hikes as crude oil climbs.

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## Butterfly

RON95 Gas is 34 THB now, from 32 about a week ago

Phuket is ridiculous, but the greedy local people don't want to cut their margin with rising inflation,

I also blame the eastern Europe tourists for that, creating an increase in local demand

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## Thetyim

> The driver was complaining of increased airport tax, and fuel costs


Most Taxis run on NGV at 8.5 baht a litre  so tell him to get stuffed   :Smile:

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## chinthee

> I also blame the eastern Europe tourists for that, creating an increase in local demand


Interesting side note.  Earlier today, I was offered a Russian girl for 2,000 Baht by a beach boy as I was having lunch in Patong.  I asked him if there were many available, and he said yeah, they are starting to come a lot.  This sort of agrees with what I've noticed walking mornings on the beach.  I see and hear lots of Russians (yes, I speak & understand Russian very well), and it seems like they are not only infiltrating Pattaya, but have moved down to Phuket as well.

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## Norton

> but have moved down to Phuket as well.


You expect a "clash" with the Thai, err..special interest organizations or will they just "recruit" the girls?

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## chinthee

> Originally Posted by chinthee
> 
> but have moved down to Phuket as well.
> 
> 
> You expect a "clash" with the Thai, err..special interest organizations or will they just "recruit" the girls?


Actually, I haven't seen _any_ Russian girls in the nightlife in Phuket, and I've been out on Bangla etc., several times over the past 3 months.

It was kind of interesting how this came up.  I was getting on my motorbike, and was chatting with the beach boy who was renting bikes there.  There was a tall, statuesque quite striking farang lady talking on her mobile nearby and I eyed her up and down.  The beach boy then said to me, I know her and she is working Phuket now.  She'll do 2,000 for ST.  I then asked him are there others?  He said yes.

I'm not sure if this is just the start of things, or what's going on, but I'm frankly surprised by this.  Never saw this before in Phuket....and, I still haven't seen it at any venue like you see on Walking Street in Pattaya.

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## Butterfly

^ with all the Russian tourists buzzing around, the locals are not in the mood to put their price down, so it will only get worse, even in Pattaya

In Pattaya, plenty of "freelance" Russians, they just opened a whole new building with Russian restaurant downstairs, Russian Disco upstairs, and Russian strip bar at the top

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## chinthee

^BF, as someone who spent many years in Russia, Ukraine and the other former Soviet states, there is a never-ending supply of lovely lasses who would be available.  In my experience, Russia rivals Thailand as the world's Capital of Squeekers.

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## Butterfly

Russians pussy are the best looking ones IMO,

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## Bluecat

Saw today that the gasoline 95 was close to 35 baht.
About 5 years ago, it was < 15 baht.

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## chinthee

^^Oh, the many stories I could tell...come to think of it, I will tell them at the Korat pissup.

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## Spin

^ noted :Wink:

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