Legal issues related to buying land, houses, condos in the LOS. Anything about contracts. Finance related, such as getting a mortgage, buying property from the bank, etc.
With the US$ continuing to weaken and the forecasters suggesting that the signs of recovery [such as they are] may not be sustained ... China is hedging it's bets that the Euro may be the currency of the future.
The Euro has this morning risen above the 42 baht mark and I see that the U.S. $ has also increased in value.
The Baht seems to have dropped, also against the Singapore Dollar.
Propaganda Radio (FM 88) this morning said the Australian $ will surpass the US $ in value shortly. I'm not sure if this just another furphy/guess/rumour/feel good thing, or will actually happen, but as long as the Baht and Aussie $ stay relatively the same at 29-30 to the $ it won't matter.
I've been here that long that I recall going back to Australia one time, when the baht was fixed, and you used to get 20 baht for the Aussie $ here, and handing over a 1,000 baht note, expecting to get $50 in return and ending up with just $28 in return, which just proved that the Thai baht was nearly worthless at that time.
If other countries had any sense nowadays, that's what they should do with the Chinese Yuan.....make it overvalued in all but China.
RR for most of this year AUD-CAD have been about par. Both are rich in natural resources. That seems to be our saving grace.
If China wasn't trying to suck up to the EU finance ministers both them and USA would be under the gun.
Mine you the US budget for 2010 totals $3.55 trillion dollars and they have to borrow $1.171 trillion of that which will be stuck on the the $14.078 trillion owed now.
A trillion here and a trillion there and soon we will be talking real money.
This is from Wikipedia:
The high level of debt and continuing large trade deficits have raised concerns regarding inflation and the value of the dollar relative to other currencies, as well as its place as the primary reserve currency. The Economist wrote in May 2009: "Having spent a fortune bailing out their banks, Western governments will have to pay a price in terms of higher taxes to meet the interest on that debt. In the case of countries (like Britain and America) that have trade as well as budget deficits, those higher taxes will be needed to meet the claims of foreign creditors.
From The Nation this morning.
The baht weakened to Bt 30.07 per US dollar on Monday amid anticipation that the government may implement tough measures to curb the strong baht, according to the Bank of Thailand (BoT)'s Deputy Governor, Paiboon Kittisrikangwan.
Currency traders expect the baht to remain in a narrow range, trading between Bt 29.80 and Bt 30.20 per US dollar this week.
BKKBILL wrote:SET index closed at 977.08, down 0.77; THB/USD29.86; GBP47.21; AUD29.07; EUR41.06; CAD29.35; HKD3.84; SGD22.68; JPY36.24
Thanks for the update Bill ... but it still makes no sense ... and probably never will
Our fall-back position to maintain sanity has to be ...................................
where did our money come from? Did we make the right decisions along the way? Are we ahead of the game or behind the game overall?
Irrespective of exchange rates ............. which we can only be affected by and can never affect.
Completely subjective ...... that's life ... not happy with the conclusion?
There's an 'If only' thread on here somewhere ......
I was surprised when comparing the affects on the Euro against THB compared with the GBP over the last twelve months ... on XE.com ... it seemed to me that we [GBP] had suffered more but the drop is very similar at around 15% with the GBP being a fraction better in fact.
Lucky young Bill has only been hit around 10% and RR and the other monkeys in his barrel a mere 5%.
Like the rest of us ... pundits do not belief that the government will have any sustained success in stopping the Baht's appreciation
With Western currencies being weak, investors are putting their money into SEAsia and Brazil .... profit taking is what we hope for but that won't happen until a better alternative opens up for the rich b's of the world. Still ... I do need my private pension fund to keep in the black ... shame they make the penalty for taking it early so harsh.
MGV12 wrote: ... I do need my private pension fund to keep in the black ... shame they make the penalty for taking it early so harsh.
Just what do you mean by harsh. I took one of my pensions at sixty. After doing the calculations it works out that if taken at sixty instead of sixty-five I would be seventy-two before a lost would incur.
As said before countries with natural resources will do the best at this time but suffer most in a falling world economy.
Britain has a trade as well as budget deficit this cannot last long before the spiral becomes uncontrollable resulting in higher taxes and lower pensions.
George Osborne is planning to eradicate Britain's budget deficit by emulating Canada, where borrowing was brought under control within just three years by spending cuts of 20 per cent.
Canada brought public spending under control guided by the principle that people should ask "what needs to be done by government and what we can afford to do". The income tax rate has dropped because of these measures.
Now isn’t that a novel concept for a politician. Some where some how some one is going to have to bite the bullet.
BKKBILL wrote:
Just what do you mean by harsh. I took one of my pensions at sixty. After doing the calculations it works out that if taken at sixty instead of sixty-five I would be seventy-two before a lost would incur.
Not that dissimilar then as mine would have worked out about the same break-even when I looked at it at sixty ... it's a 43% drop.
Depends how long you hope to live doesn't it? I wish I had made better provision for my retirement but wives kept getting in the way of living for tomorrow instead of today. Now I would prefer to know that if I make it into my '80's, or better, as many in my family have that I will have enough to keep buying the Chang ... remember my mean government don't give cost of living increases on the state pension ... and with all these cutbacks we are promised that's unlikely to change any time soon.
IF I make it to eighty-five for instance that would be 40% more in the pocket .. less the affects of the great unknown ... inflation.
I realise you are a long way of seventy-two but with a strong guy like you eventually the day will dawn.
MGV12 wrote:
Depends how long you hope to live doesn't it?
Not necessarily as this shows.
In Canada we have what is called CPP and it has nothing to do with the old age pension which is drawn at sixty-five. This program has been set up so employees and employers both put into a retirement fund until you are normally sixty-five. This is the pension I am referring to. With early adoption of say sixty you will have a break even at seventy-two working out to a 30% reduction of the monthly payments but remember this is not taking into consideration the fact you will not be making payments into this fund of five years (60-65)
The current pension policy has too often rewarded early retirement because the savings earned from not paying CPP contributions for five years outstripped the reduction in benefits. Further, it penalized people who wished to work longer and made flexible work arrangements near impossible. A slight error made by the number crunchers which I took advantage of.
So new changes are in the works. This is from canada.com:
Chief among the changes is that Ottawa is going to allow Canadians to draw on CPP benefits early and continue working. Under the present regime, Canadians who opt to retire early, at 60, are required to quit their jobs and remain out of work for at least two months.
That will no longer be the case, starting in 2012. Individuals would be able to draw CPP benefits as early as 60 without leaving their jobs or reducing their hours.
According to a Department of Finance document, the change could help individuals to use income from their CPP pension to "phase into retirement or supplement their earnings."
However, this comes with a slight catch, as the reduction in CPP benefits for those who begin drawing at 60 increases, from 30 per cent to 36 per cent.
At sixty-five you are also entitled to the old age security program if you have lived in Canada for at least ten years. Your 43% drop seems high considering you don't contribute for five years.
BKKBILL wrote:Your 43% drop seems high considering you don't contribute for five years.
Thanks for the explanation ... makes your situation clearer.
In the spirit of balance let me respond:
My private pension is directly from my employer earned during my career with The Ford Motor Company ... I jumped ship in 1982 and so my contributions ended at that point and were frozen in their pension fund. During my time with them I paid contributions from my salary [employees contribution] and they reciprocated [employers contribution] not sure the ratio.
The fund has long since been farmed out to a private organisation and is secured directly by FMC ... as long as they stay in business ... as they survived the bail-out with their hat still firmly on their head and are now in profit all should be well; it's underwritten anyway as these people do by laying the risk off to someone else. Goodness knows what would have happened if the meltdown had gone all the way as these risk management and underwriting companies are as vulnerable as every other [Monopoly money] financial organisation if everybody makes a claim at the same time.
It's a complex and complicated web they all weave and many get away with it as others don't understand it. I doubt that many of those actually providing the service completely understand .. they're just good at appearing to
Bill,
It sounds as though Canada has finally worked out that the more money the government has in its coffers, the easier it is to run the country at a profit. The taxpayers must be really happy about that.
Being in all ex government jobs and being a pensioner (twice) 1 State (NSW) and 1 Federal, mine stays pretty much the same. When the State one goes up, the Federal one adjusts downwards, then the CPI kicks in and adjusts it up again. No tax either because I'm in zone B. The penalties I received for retiring early are more than compensated for in carrying years of service over between jobs (and I get free medical even here). It only works going downwards- Federal to State, not the other way.
I wouldn't mind the pension my sister is about to take, she's a senior manager at AustralianSuper and didn't take early retirement. http://www.australiansuper.com/
MGV12,
The reason the US and GB are running deficits is because they farm out to private companies all the paperwork they should be doing themselves.
I wonder how long the Brits will be singing that song "They'll always be an England, and England shall be free".
Roger Ramjet wrote:
MGV12,
The reason the US and GB are running deficits is because they farm out to private companies all the paperwork they should be doing themselves.
And many of them to the former Colonies such as India ... who we are now going to cap in hand to support our attempt at recovery.
Roger Ramjet wrote:I wonder how long the Brits will be singing that song "They'll always be an England, and England shall be free".
Haven't heard that in a while so they've probably stopped singing it
None of my business but maybe you and BKK could swap daughters for a while ... see how the other half live and might keep them down a short while as they find their feet.
but with a strong guy like you eventually the day will dawn.
as these risk management and underwriting companies are as vulnerable as every other [Monopoly money] financial organisation if everybody makes a claim at the same time. 
