js007

He may want a weak dollar, but will he get it? The Fed seems determined to raise interest rates. Some think this would be an attempt to derail the Trump presidency by crashing the economy in time for the elections. And what about the tariffs and the trade wars?

I haven't been in Thailand in about seven years, so it'll be interesting to see what I think after that interval. My guess is that it hasn't changed all that much. Bars have come and gone, no doubt, and there are new hotels and condos everywhere, but I can't imagine it's all that different. As for the girls, we'll see. I always found the girls in Pattaya to be every bit as mercenary as the girls in Bangkok. maybe more so. And I spent the least amount of money in Phuket, for some reason. The only thing that was more expensive there was the transportation.

I'm in the US and I'm not so sure traveling to Central or South America would save you all that much time or money. One way or the other, you're wasting an entire day traveling, and the cost isn't all that different in either case. Of course, there's the time zone problem to contend with when traveling to Thailand. You're right about the length of the vacation break, though. People with only a week or two for vacation are screwed.

Some people seem to think that the US economy is doing "well" only because of the past monetary stimulus and the Trump tax plan which will add trillions to the national debt over the next decade. They point to current debt levels, both public and private and wonder how any of that can be sustained. And yet much of the world is in the same boat. I wouldn't count on things remaining stable.

The US dollar has dropped, although I keep reading articles that say it's due for another bounce. The theory is that it's a safe haven and some parts of the world have banking systems that aren't doing so well. I guess Europe and Italy are currently what people are worried about.

It's not just the phone. Unless people have everything properly backed up to the cloud, you can lose all sorts of stuff when you lose your phone. Pictures, videos, email, access to mobile apps including bank and brokerage accounts, cryptocurrency wallets, etc. Anyone getting their hands on all that could possible cause you a lot of trouble.

I'm almost 67 and have never had a prostate problem. Just had a physical and some blood tests, and everything is "normal," according to the blood tests. Anyway, I think I recall reading about two different types of surgeries for BHP, one being "experimental" at the time, but with fewer effects on erectile function. I'll look into it if I remember.

I don't know much about Nokia phones these days, but 4100 Baht for a new phone seems like a great deal. The last time I bought a phone in Thailand was in 2006, and back then the little flip phones were everywhere so that's what I bought, and as I recall it was almost 15,000 Baht. In any event, I guess I'll be bringing my phones with me from the USA, an iPhone X, a Samsung Galaxy S8, and a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. I don't use the Samsungs much, mostly just the iPhone X at this point, and with that phone, everything is backed up to the cloud. So I think when I get a new Thai Sim card for the

I'm not so sure the law will have much impact on the availability of rentals. What are the landlords going to do, eat their condos? If they want to make money, they'll rent them out. An empty condo produces no income.

I guess I'm not up to speed. what are the new "renters protection laws"?

I think the easy solution would be to show up in Pattaya and stay somewhere short term while you look around for something that suits your needs. On any given day there must be hundreds of condos for rent, ready to go.

There's a series on Netflix right now called "The Ranch" which isn't too bad.

I wonder why they're illegal in Thailand?

Apparently, multifocal lens implants aren't for everyone. Some people are good candidates, some aren't. Anyway, I had both eyes done last summer, here in the USA. One eye one month, the other eye the next. I had the single focal length lenses implanted. All went well, except that by December I had developed a retinal tear, so that needed surgery as well. Fortunately, Medicare covered everything and now all is well. It's nice not having to worry about contact lenses all the time. As for reading without glasses? I can, mostly, but sometimes reading glasses help with fine print.

The big hotel interests are affected by AirBnB, so maybe there will be a change.

Supposedly, short term vacation rentals like those available from Air BnB are no longer allowed, but I've read that enforcement of the rule is spotty. I wonder if there aren't hotel type operations that have condo type rooms?

When my 60 Sony 4K TV was hit as part of the most recent lightning strike, I took it to a shop and they fixed it for $400. They don't really do much repair these days, I guess. They just replace entire circuit boards. Anyway, perhaps I should have put the $400 towards a newer model TV. Sometimes, by the time you pay to fix something, you could almost buy a new one with better features.

That's what I thought, too. Lightning damaged some equipment and I thought to myself that the chances of that happening again anytime soon were pretty slim. And yet it happened again one year later.

I thinker's fairly typical that an agent will charge one month's rent to manage a property for a year. And supposedly, they screen prospective tenants as to credit, history as renters, etc. Depending on state law, the eviction process can be speedy or slow. I think that in some states of cities, landlords maintain a blacklist of problem tenants. Screw up at one place and no other landlord will rent to you.

To be sure, if you want to be a landlord and acquire a portfolio of rental houses, some areas of the USA could probably be a goldmine. As you indicate, Midwest US could be good for the right investor. For example, in many cities, you can buy small houses for $40,000, maybe less. And you could rent that same house for $850 a month or more. Not bad if you start out with a house in decent shape and the tenants don't destroy it. Of course, you have to look at the taxes.

If it's anything like the Premium Economy seats Thai Air used to have on the A340-500 (I think that's what it was), then they're nice. At least I thought it was worth the extra cost.

I think they know how many condos can be foreign owned and how many can be Thai owned. So, once you have a foreign owned condo, you can sell it to another foreigner. I guess if a Thai person wanted to buy it, that would free up another condo for a foreigner?

Phuket is nice, although I know next to nothing about Samui. And I have read some of the horror stories about foreigners and property ownership in Phuket. So, even if that's "the place" to be, I'd probably only rent down there. And that's unfortunate.

Some of the condos on jomtien Beach look nice, from what I can see online. Reflection, for example. Killer views from many of the condos. But there are several along that street. Who's buying all those? I've also been looking in Bangkok. Maybe those would be easier to sell, eventually?

I have mixed feelings about the 17+ hour flights. I've been on several of the BKK to LAX and BKK to JFK non-stop flights on Thai Air (before they were discontinued), and while you might arrive a little quicker with a non-stop, I have no problem with the trips that require a short stopover along the way. It's nice to be able to get of the plane, sketch your legs, etc.