Thanksgiving

Living in the USA in the second half of the 20th century was probably the best situation a person could have selected, if given a choice. Corruption and immorality seem to be natural offshoots of prosperity and security, and we definitely let the vices flourish and will have to undergo a period of austerity and spiritual revitalization as a result. But that will be something to be appreciated as well.

Mumbai is in the news today. But the situation I've been keeping half an eye on is in Bangkok. Remember Anna and the King of Siam, brought to the musical stage as "The King and I"? The kings of Siam played a skillful game in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries evading colonialization, and the little country seems to have benefitted from stability in the 20th. The king enjoys the support of the army and the mercantile class and Bangkok is one of those south Asia boom towns which offer the wealthy a consumers' paradise.

The sex trade thing is a troubling indication all is not truly well. Young girls and women being forced into the sex trade indicates poverty must afflict a part of the society, and tolerance of this commerce indicates corruption in the government. For the last six years there have been other troubling signs that all is not well. An extreme wealth gap has opened berween the poor in the countryside and the wealthy in the city. Bhuddists, I suppose, are inclined to be accepting of the existing order, and prefer to avoid the bad kharma of confrontation. Thailand is however a democratic monarchy, and the poor in the countryside comprise a majority of the population, and in recent elections have voted in reformers.

The military threw out the first reforming prime minister out in 2006 on questionable corruption charges and the electorate promptly selected a succcessor from his party, the PPP (Peoples Power Party) The military and king are uncomfortable but are hesitant to overthrow a second popularly elected government. The wealthy city folks in Bangkok are less sanguine and continue to demonstrate and demand new election laws diminishing the representation for the country people who they say are ignorant and succeptible to being misled, This anti democratic movement (incongruously calling themselves the People's Alliance for Democracy) have occupied the elected Prime Mininster's office for the last three months trying to disrupt the government, and the reformist goverment had to move their offices to the Bangkok airport, which the bourgeoise mob occupied last week. The military has allowed these illegal actvities, saying they hope the demonstrators will wear themselves out. At this time, the military chief and the prime minister are at something of a stand-off. The prime minister cautious about replacing the military leadership whch act might be misconstrued as an attack on the old order including the king, and the military not wishing to attempt another coup, which could provoke an uprising of the patient poor in the city as well as among the farmers. This is the kind of perilous situation that often leads to a "colonel's coup", where junior officers enccouraged by commercial interests and proclaiming loyalty to the king usurp power, probably the worst possible scenario for all nvolved.

I see it as a confrontation between the bankers and the workers in a charming setting with the powers that be supporting the wealthy, but realizing the wealthy are too wealthy and the impoverished too impoverished for things to go on much longer without upheaval. Kind of a microsm of the new world order, and I guess you can infer where my sympathies lie.

Here's an interestng comment posted in response to the question, why is Japan wealthier than Thailand.

Good question.Been trying to figure this out for years myself. People in Thailand work really hard. A countries wealth really has little to do with how hard the people of that country work, or more accurately if it did it would be in the inverse of what you expect. e.g. a rice farmer obviously works harder than a company CEO. Technology manufacturing, exports have a fair amount to do with a countries wealth. If you can produce quality goods or technically advanced goods like the Japanese it boosts the economy. The value of a countries currency used to be based on gold reserves of that country. These days It is supposed to be based on the domestic product of that country but not even that is true. A countries currency value and wealth is based more on manipulation and fraud, otherwise known as banking. Japan became quite wealthy in the 80s as a result of offsetting the US national debt with loans (on top of high exports of technology products and vehicles). The interest on these loans greatly boosted the Japanese economy. Under Clinton when the US economy was no longer as a deficit the Japanese economy suffered greatly.Often countries where the poor suffer terribly is because of corrupt government and resource mis-management not helped by the "assistance" of the IMF, in these cases corrupt politicians "sell-out" their country to the IMF. The IMF (international monetary fund) offer money to develop a countries resources (at high interests rates), that essentially leave the population indebted to foreign bankers while the countries resources are exploited by foreigners.Wealthy countries generally are wealthy because of the exploitation of others. Take for example the UK... what does it really export that makes its currency so valuable? Aside from hundreds of years of imperialism the answer is modern banking.As for Thailand, wall street manipulation (the same crooks who have made the biggest bank heists in history recently) pushed the thai Baht down through speculative trading. If enough people organize together to place a bet that a currency will go down, then the currency goes down. The same manipulation (speculative trading, put options, and derivatives) recently drove up the prices of food world-wide, real-estate and fuel. This kind of activity hurts everyone, is based on fantasy money, and when the reality of the situation becomes apparent the market crashes and the people who had nothing to do with it suffer.In the event of a financial breakdown, such as the one we are facing, we begin to see what is Truly valuable. If the stores supermarket shelves are empty and your paper money is worthless in a hyper-inflated economy then food is the most valuable thing. (read about post WW1 Germany, post soviet Russia or the great depression in the US). In such a scenario Thailand is quite wealthy as it has a high rate of farming and a good non-industrialized food supply. In a Truly balanced society the creator of the most valuable resource is the richest (i.e. the Farmer), in a distorted and corrupt society the banker is king.