js007

Vietnam and Cambodia have the right idea. You just pay some money and you're in for a year. Retired people, especially, are usually there to spend money and goof around, not to work. Why give them a hard time?

This will blow over, right?

Yea, but think about all the people who have their own insurance, and all the different coverage possibilities. Are they going to do a six week investigation about everyone who enters the country who supposedly has insurance. I suppose mandated Thai insurance would be OK for the person on a two week vacation. But what about those who are staying longer? Retirees?

Sounds like one of those ideas that will prove to be unworkable.

I asked how they work out the tip, and apparently, you get an email after the ride and then if you want to give them a tip or something you can. I downloaded the app on my phone, but so far I haven't tried it myself. I suppose it's appropriate to tip the driver. Here in the States people usually tip taxi cab drivers.

I was in a Uber car for the first time the other day, in Chicago. I was with some other people in a restaurant when the decision was made to take an Uber to another location. Anyway, an a Uber car was ordered when we were leaving and by the time we walked outside, the Uber car was there. You pay with you phone and tip later. Very efficient.

Eliminate guesthouses? All they'd be doing is eliminating a large group of tourists. It hardly follows that "rich" tourists will take their place.

I've seen one or two strange incidents in go go bars. One time, some guy with what appeared to be a gun in a holster decided he was going to get up on stage and dance. One of the bouncers looked like he wanted to throw him out, but he was stopped by another bouncer. I guess they thought better of it because of the possibility that he had a gun. Another time, down in Phuket, I was in a bar one afternoon when two girls were fighting to the death over a small tip that someone had left. They were throwing chairs and tables at each other. Someone could have died.

Nice views during the day, and if you stick to just beer, you probably can't go wrong.

The Metro Apartments are air conditioned, they have a pool table, usually some girls hanging around that will play pool with you, and they have menus from the Golf Club restaurant/guesthouse, which is pretty much right across the street. Figure out what you want to eat and they'll call across the street to order it for you. When it's ready, someone will bring it over.

I've used this company without a problem. They picked me up at my hotel in Bangkok and took me to Pattaya. http://www.pttaxiservice.com

Part of the problem with deciding what to do is that we all have years of experience in our home countries, watching the real estate market. Here in the USA, over my lifetime, the real estate market has gone up in a big way. So I'm conditioned to assume that will always be the case, long term. But Thailand is different, perhaps. Possible considerations: -over supply -build quality -difficulty selling -knowledge of the various neighborhoods -exchange rate Renting is very very easy. Sometimes I think that's the way to go.

I've never had a bag "lost" permanently, but I've had my luggage misrouted or whatever numerous times. In fact, until fairly recently, there was never a time that I flew Delta when they didn't misplace my bags. It's almost like part of the "service." "Fly with us and your luggage will arrive a day after you do." The only time I've had no trouble is if I'm on a direct non-stop flight.

It's not about contracts or legal technicalities. It's about public relations. If United wants to treat paying passengers in that manner, so be it. They aren't the only airline people can fly, and I'm sure that, from this day forward, many won't.

United stock has today lost over a billion dollars in market cap. Perhaps they'll rethink their overbooking compensation.

If they're going to overbook flights like that, they need to make it right with the passengers. Raise the price to leave the plane to whatever it takes. I bet $10K would have done the trick.

One of the nice things about Thailand is that you never really know where you're going to find excellent Thai food. Some of the best meals I've had have been at hole in he wall places that don't even have a name.

I can see it now: passengers on one plane, in airline-issued pajamas, and all luggage/carry-ons in a separate plane carrying no passengers. To travel anywhere you need to buy two tickets. One for yourself and one for your luggage.

Even borrowed money has to be repaid. Lots of money is trying to get out of China these days. Maybe that's the source.

Even if there's no such thing as pure capitalism, the "markets" have usually been allowed to work, for the most part. But we now have government manipulation in all sorts of markets. Bonds, stocks, housing, gold, silver. It will all end badly, I'm afraid.

That's the whole purpose of Capitalism, right? You make money off your capital. Unfortunately, we're now in a time when the markets are distorted by the central banks and their shenanigans. And so we have zero interest rates and people are forced into risky investments and into assets that are priced at bubble levels. Imagine the poor person with a pile of money. Even with a few million in the bank, you get nothing or less than nothing, after inflation. It's hard to live on nothing.

Historically, interest rates have been 1% to 2% or so above inflation. Today, not only is that not the case, they also lie about the inflation rate. In other words, if you put money in the bank, you lose, at least a little bit. Maybe that's the best case scenario, though, as we have bubbles in stocks, bonds, and real estate. Gold?

People tend to think that they're going to live forever. I have a friend like that. He's far from broke, and yet he acts like he never has any money. He's 70 and has already had one heart attack. His cholesterol is out of control. My guess us that before too long he'll drop dead and other people are going to be having fun spending his money.

Long term. That's the secret. I have a good history of picking stocks. Unfortunately, I haven't always been patient and that has cost me dearly. For example, I bought a bunch of Apple Computer stock in the summer of 1985. Sold most of it after my initial investment had increased 15X. I thought that made sense at the time. If I still had that stock I'd have millions. Or more recently, I bought some stocks in the 2009-2010 period. I made money on just about all of them, but cashed out too early. Anyway, at this point for me, I'll be dead in the long term. I don't have another 30 years to

You have to look into whether the current dividends can be sustained. Some companies think they have an obligation to pay and regularly increase dividends, and yet sometimes they borrow money to do so. So maybe you can count on the dividends and maybe you can't.