Archive for the 'Business & Economics' Category
The Vongthip Letter Sep ’10
Reasons to celebrate: On 12/8/10, HM Queen Sirikit’s 78th birthday (also Thailand’s Mother’s Day), the people were in for a joyful celebration with their families over the long weekend. Local tourism managed to boost the number of tourists and hotel occupancies in most upcountry popular destinations, notwithstanding the heavy rainstorms and floods in some areas.
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Food Prices Soar
Thailand’s rising prices of sugar and egg – a political issue? Simple inflation? Dark market mechanisms or even speculators at work? Food giant CP must love it. You may not have noticed because for you the price increase is minimal or you don’t do your own shopping, but the issue has become so political that
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The Vongthip Letter Aug ’10
Looking more like 46 now?! With the extra heavy cares and woes that he has been experiencing in the last 20 months, PM Abhisit has certainly matured before our eyes. In 7/10 he was given hell by the yellow shirts for failing to take drastic actions to claim back the land surrounding the Preah Vihear
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The Vongthip Letter July ’10
Mending the fences: Thanks to FIFA, Thai football fans put away their politically colored shirts to spend sleepless nights watching the World Cup matches in South Africa. News of favorite teams and players dominated most newspapers and TV screens. An avid football fan himself, PM Abhisit has, however, managed to accomplish most of what
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From Million Man To Billion Baht March
Do the math, and it doesn’t look good for either the government and the opposition with the red “class war” exposed as a “cash war.” Authorities claim Thaksin kin transferred the astronomical amount of some 15 billion baht to the red movement within a few days after April 28th, along with the real escalation of
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The Vongthip Letter Jun ’10
Bangkok burning: May was a most agonizing month for the people of Thailand. Hardcore red shirts moved ferociously to expand their territory further into Bangkok CBD. With the number of casualties increasing by the day from snipers and M79 grenades, the Abhisit government declared 17-21/5/10 as public holidays in Bangkok, during which Bangkokians stayed put,
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Marc Faber On Thaksin’s “Getting Hold Of The Money Pot”
Investment guru Marc Faber needs no introduction. He predicted the Japan bust and saw the gold boom arrive in time. Marc’s a regular on CNBC, Bloomberg TV and the likes. Faber has a reputation for being a contrarian investor and has been called “Doctor Doom” for a number of years. His Gloom Boom & Doom Report
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The Thaksin Cancer & Boycott
The final days of the red mayhem have shown the red revolution was not about the people it claimed to fight for. It was about the very narrow interests of a small group of already privileged people hijacking the downtrodden, hopeful and innocent. But a struggle armed to the teeth and not negotiating in good
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The Vongthip Letter May ’10
Long live HM the King: On 5/5/2010, all warring factions in Thailand called for a truce to take time out to celebrate (in their own way) the 60th anniversary of HM the king’s coronation. Once again HM’s loyal subjects were seen shedding tears of joy as they sat watching their beloved king on TV. Their
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The Vongthip Letter Apr ’10
Abhisit’s red hot summer: March 2010 was indeed a month for a crash course on Thai democracy, not only for the Thai society but also for the international community. Political pundits have been holding their breath for weeks while the Abhisit government tried everything possible to steer the country away from another political breakdown. When
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