SHOULD I VISIT THE AIRPORT TO PREPARE MY FLIGHT DEPARTURE?

Point being to prepare and rehearse your departure in advance - make sure you have all the covid and other new rules right and know where to go.The airline booths are half empty. It's hot-booths now, no flights for your airline today? Then no booth and no-one to ask.Airports are half empty, if that. You can only walk one way round, of course, it's all social distancing. So walk backwards.You risk being stopped by finger-twitching Security...

Read More

WHY COMMODITY PRICES ARE SURGING

You don't need to look far to see why commodity prices are surging and there’s the prospect of demand for some natural resources exceeding supplies for years to come. Some leading investment advisers now say that we’re in the early stages of another “super-cycle.”Factors to consider:Demand 1. Share price action From March 23 to May 10 this year, big run up. Biggest customer, China, responds with all manner of clever detailed...

Read More

THE TROUBLE WITH TAINTED MONEY

Is there tain't enough of it ...

Read More

PRINCIPLES OF APPROPRIATENESS

Some Rules : #1 The Principle of ValueCan buy at sales price less than intrinsic value.Aim to sell at above intrinsic value.IV for property = annual rent / yield (quick and dirty solution.)Intrinsic value is equal to the present value of all its future incomes - dividends for a share, rents for a property. #2 Principle of ConservationUnderstand why things are as they are before making it better.Eg, a wall might keep...

Read More

JULY 1ST WILL BE A FLOP

It is likely that few will attend the grand reopening party in Phuket on July 1st, in just a few weeks, bringing further humiliation to Thai authorities.Covid related restrictions abound across the planet, meaning only those with a serious need visit other countries - businessmen, diplomats, perhaps those seeking cures.So it is unrealistic to expect even an uptick in foreign tourism under current covid waves and defending restrictions. And domestic...

Read More

PUT TOURISM IN A COMA AND FOCUS ON THE VIRUS

https://thethaiger.com/hot-news/tourism/thailand-focuses-on-international-but-needs-domestic-tourism#comment-383625 The author has framed this piece round the idea that the govt (TAT) has focused on hopelessly trying to revive intl tourism in the midst of a pandemic, while - he argues - the focus should be on domestic.It is just a story. What the author doesn't say is that the economy runs 20% on the foreign currency from intl tourism...

Read More

IMPROPER GOVERNANCE

Should begin by saying that in normal times, I am a supporter of the monarchy and the BBC.In this case, we see Bashir - model journalist -  exposed as ambitious, greedy and dishonest.We see The BBC - the nation's broadcaster at home and abroad - as corrupt and evasive.We see Prince Charles - future King, husband and father of two little boys - as pompous, selfish and irresponsible.And ultimately we wonder why the Queen - who...

Read More

CHINA - QUADRUPLE DIP

https://is.gd/graSwy Rod writes A view i have held and spoken of for 20 years. The danger is that a state organised as China will seek to deflect the inevitable domestic upheaval against and threatneing the hegmony of the CCP by foreign 'adventures'. Prepare for world war 3. ReplyThe strategy is a big big fireworks party for 2049, so maybe you're right about war.China is trying to clear the gun rails this decade, in preparation.But ...

Read More

CAPITALISM

The capitalist market is something in which we live all the time, it’s the water we swim in, it’s given us all the things we take for granted.It’s a great machine for inventiveness and ingenuity, but it presents two really serious problems. One is dirt, it produces filth and pollution. The other is that it produces huge and unacceptable levels of inequality. The job of politics is to clear up the dirt and reduce the...

Read More

THE NEW INQUISITION

Free society is finished if we fail to resist this new Dark Age of unreasonWith the old arguments over, we’re living through an era in which rational debate itself is rejectedJanet Daley aged 76, 15 May 2021 • 1:00pm Many years ago someone who was not remotely sympathetic to Communism told me that he dreaded the collapse of the Soviet Union because the Cold War balance of threat between the two superpowers was the only thing preventing global...

Read More

NO WORRIES, WE'RE PROTECTED

This is the Jami An Nur Kramat Mosque in Bekasi. And this was Idul Fitri last Thursday. I guess in a few weeks the virus will have cleansed this corner of West Java of its human infestati...

Read More

TRUST TO LUCK AND ANECDOTE

Should we dig our heels in over all this government interference with our age-old liberties?It is very true that One Nation Toryism can look and feel like Totalitarianism. That dictators are those who got away with our liberties. Values and the urns are supposedly the nation's defence, but we feel herded by the media and govt legislation  We don't believe we will ever reach green pastures anew, they are propaganda mirages.To the...

Read More

WHATS GOING ON - MARVIN GAY

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000vwtlhttps://youtu.be/H-kA3UtBj4Mhttps://youtu.be/3qxDWoCsvTM This has got to be one of the greatest albums ever released.  ...

Read More

HARTLEPOOL

It would be a very different story if they'd drop The Woke, the Marxism and the Remain. It is possible while remaining true to the socialist idea of equality and solidarity. And some flag-waving and British pride would help them. One detail: when Karmer bent his knee everybody knew he was a fake and a los...

Read More

WHAT IS THE VALUE OF TOURISM IN THE THAI ECONOMY?

At an average spend of $2,800 per visitor, an annual 40 million visitors, generate 110 billion dollars or 22%, of the 505 billion GDP econo...

Read More

BEST INDEX FUNDS FOR GLOBAL TRACKERS

Best Index Funds for Global Stocks, Part IPart I - Strategy(Part II - SetupPart III -Operations)BackgroundStrategyTiltsModern Portfolio TheoryStrategic allocation rules“Core and satellite” portfolio designScreen for compliant ETFsSummaryBackgroundWithout enough knowledge or time to make a sound call, some investors nonetheless try to pin the tail of a stock they hope will outperform, on the donkey of all stocks in the market. The alternative is to...

Read More

HOW TO MAKE SENSE OF A CHANGING WORLD

Keep calm, put things in context and remain curious.The trouble is that people are reverting to opinion and feelings and prejudice and superstition. Yet progress over the last 300 years has come from the scientific approach - fact or data driven, open-minded yet skeptical , experiments with repeatable ie provable conclusions:ObservationQuestionHypothesisExperimentResultsConclus...

Read More