Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing this “digital wallet” situation yet again. I have to be honest with you, I kind of feel like I have kind of wandered into to sort of a quagmire here if you will as regards to this whole issue but it is something I find is extremely important and I don't think people are seeing all the long-term legal ramifications that could result from this notion of so-called "digital money". I initially thought of making this video and titling it "Can we just stop calling it money?" and I will get into that analysis here in a moment because by all accounts of how this thing is supposed to play out, I don't know how you call this "money" in any sense of the word - colloquial, professional, legal or otherwise, up to this point in time in human history - I don't see how you call it that. That said let's get into the analysis. I am trying to be as non-snarky as I possibly can in making these videos because this is serious stuff and as I have discussed in other videos, this new Government's, their desire to help people is laudable, I have to give credit where credit is due on that, but again this is something that I think is very much a Trojan Horse that if you don't understand what it is at the outset, it can cause, I think, tremendous problems for Thailand long term. That said, let me get into it. 

I thought of making this video initially and I have got a whole lot of citations I am going to do on this one, I thought of making this video initially after reading a recent article from the Bangkok Post, that is bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: Govt hits back at cash scheme slurs. So quoting directly from one site within this, and I am going to cite multiple sources, I am going to kind of tie it all up and do a final analysis here. Quoting directly: "The Government said it would seek to pass a Bill allowing it to borrow 500 billion baht to fund the scheme. However, Ms Sirikanya," (and that would be Sirikanya Tansakun who is a MFP deputy leader - so part of the so-called opposition which that whole word is a little bit loaded at the moment.) Leaving that aside though, quoting again, let's just quote again: "The Government said it would seek to pass a Bill allowing it to borrow 500 billion baht to fund the scheme. However, Ms Sirikanya said that she thought the authorities would find the Bill unconstitutional and contrary to financial and budgetary discipline law." Now a couple of things in there. I urge those who are watching this video, go check out all of these citations, read it for yourself if you are interested in this because a lot of information in there. As they get into, it's really kind of fascinating. The legal argument against this on the notion that there's no "urgency"; "urgency" seems to be something that gets into this. Also again, this whole issue of "is it money? what is it?" Again seems to be kind of percolating to the surface. Quoting further: "As for concerns over financial and budgetary discipline, the Government isn't working alone on this project, with the National Economic and Social Development Council and the Bank of Thailand supervising it. Various views were taken into the account when the Government revised its project before details were announced on Friday." Quoting further: "Political activist Srisuwan Janya, meanwhile, vowed to petition the Ombudsman to seek a ruling by the Constitutional Court on whether the Government's plan to pass a borrowing Bill to fund the handout scheme is constitutional and in line with financial and budgetary discipline or not."  So okay, there is that side of it.

Now moving over, again Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: Pheu Thai reaffirms digital wallet scheme will go ahead. Quoting directly: "The 10,000 Baht digital money project is equivalent to 'resuscitation' of the economy." (So resuscitation is in quotes). "It will literally create a 'storm' of economic stimulation, she said." (She being Trichada Sritada, a deputy Phue Thai Spokeswoman) quote: "Consumers will have more buying power while businesses will have better liquidity. More jobs will consequently be created and the economy that has been stagnant for years will recover and stabilize again." Well you know, I fail to see how that can happen where the money isn't actually liquid, which we will get into in a moment. So they say liquidity and where you are creating money out of thin air without concomitant goods and services being created along with that currency, then, I mean inflation is just baked into that. So you are creating something without underlying value associated or attached with it. I fail to see where the stimulation comes from. And, as we discussed and we will get into again, all of these folks have to be in the tax system and it is money they can't use on just anything, nor can they use it just anywhere. As a result, a) it calls into question how that can be money and b) all it really is at the end of the day, it is a digital ledger system allowing for barter effectively or exchange of goods between people that then imposes a tax. So when they say "stimulus" I find that a bit of a disingenuous term. Yes it will stimulate people walking in to certain places and saying, "I want to take this good home with me in exchange for these digital credits", but the digital credits are made from nothing and not backed by anything so there is no actual value exchanged and meanwhile, it can only be used on certain goods and services and only within the tax system. So our country is going into further debt to go ahead and create fake money that is then only used to create transactions that can then be taxed. It doesn't seem like a real win-win scheme to me.

So okay. Quoting further from another article, again from Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com. A lot of great insight on this in the Bangkok Post. Bangkok Post is doing a heck of a good job staying on top of this particular story and hats off to those folks over there, tip of the hat to you guys. Those who are watching these videos, go check out these articles in detail because there is way more in there. I am just kind of skimming the surface on a lot of this. Again quoting directly from a recent article from the Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: Srettha clarifies conditions and funding sources, says 50 million people will be eligible for 10,000 Baht handout. Quoting directly: "Under the programme, 10,000 Baht in digital money will be transferred into a digital wallet on the Pao Tang mobile app, which is already used by millions of people. The transfers will begin in May, three months later than previously planned." Okay now this is where the rubber hits the road, okay. "The money must be spent within 6 months in the district where the recipient's home is registered." So there is a geographic restriction and there is a timing restriction. This is money that expires. Quoting further: "It cannot be transferred to other people or converted into cash." How is that money? Quoting further: "The handout can be used to buy food and consumer goods only. It cannot be used to buy goods online, cigarettes or liquor; cash vouchers and such valuables as diamonds, gems or gold; and cannot be used to pay off debts or pay for water or electricity bills, fuel, natural gas or tuition fees." As noted in the title, is this a digital wallet or a leash? I mean what is, how is this money? And again, as I have said in another video, I find this whole thing antithetical to being Thai. The notion of just being a free person, a Thai. I mean Thailand was the bulwark, the bulwark in Asia against especially South Asia, Southeast Asia, against Communism. This is the kind of stuff Communists do! I don't know how to put that any other way. Let me read this again, to not put too fine a point on it. "The handout can only be used to buy food and consumer goods only. It cannot be used to buy goods online, cigarettes or liquor; cash vouchers and such valuables as diamonds, gems or gold; and cannot be used to pay off debts or pay for water, electricity bills, fuel, natural gas or tuition fees." So basically you can use your "digital money" money to go buy chicken and Chiclets because I don't know what else, what is not covered in the restricted side of this. Quoting further: "Shops are required to register to join the programme and they must be in the tax system." Again, I find it laudable what this Government is trying to do, I truly, truly do. It has been a long time since we have seen or heard these kind of voices and had these kinds of discussions. That said, this thing scares me. If it's not clear from these videos, I worry greatly about Thai people and Thailand should a scheme like this come about and should people become sort of indoctrinated to the notion that this is actual money, that worries me greatly more than anything. Again, it can expire; it can have a proximity where you can use it; it can have parameters on which you can buy. How is that” ‘money" in any sense of the term that we know of it in the Free World? 

Now finally, quoting from a different source, I am going to go over here to ZeroHedge, who is actually quoting the Epoch Times in an article titled: Aussie Telco Blackout Chaos Proves Cash Still Remains King. Here is another side to this whole thing. If we get really used to dealing with digital money, we have no analog option, which is pretty easy to do from what we have seen in certain other countries, Australia being one of them, where people become kind of complacent and they just get used to using a system and they stop really worrying about it well and then they end up having no other option. Quoting directly: "The Optus blackout proves that a small glitch in the system can cause total mayhem in a cashless society..." Quoting further: "Modern technology is a wonderful thing... until it isn't. In short, the mayhem, frustration, and missed opportunities piled up in all quarters." Quoting further: "It is a timely reminder to us all that carrying cash may be a sensible thing to do for occasions such as that experienced on Nov. 8." I urge those watching this video, go check out that article in detail and see how this all went down. Basically one minor glitch within this whole system resulted in essentially people not being able to transact in their economy at all for a prolonged period of time. Quoting further: "The removal of cash from the economy will give unprecedented power to the banking institutions, as they will be able to control all transactions other than bartering." I would even go so far as to say the system that is being talked about at least in theory for here in Thailand, is actually the worst of both worlds because what it effectively does is tracks bartering and then taxes it more because that is what is occurring in the transaction between those using it in these places that can actually sell goods for this “money” - can't even call it that, we will use it for the sake of argument - again it's basically like a step even further in certain ways. Quoting further: "The Royal Commission into the Australian banking sector exposed the power exercised and the moral-free zone it became as profits were pursued in an ethics-free environment." Yeah they get into a whole analysis in that article about how, as people went more and more cashless, they stopped really seeing what things cost and they stopped seeing the little hidden fees that were just kind of digitally added in there. Again another one of these sort of unintended long-term consequences I don't see anybody talking about in this context. Finally, quote: "It is doubtful that with even more market power, there would be a commensurate enhancement of moral and ethical standards." Yeah. 

Look, at the end of the day, if people can make more money with virtually no consequences, they are probably going to try to do that and if they are running a cashless system where they can basically say whether or not your money is any good; that they can turn it on and off; they can tell you what you can buy and sell with it; they can tell you how long it's good for, it has an expiration date, none of these are good things. None of these are particularly good things. I can see arguments on a one-off basis. Okay, we want to hand out money but we don't want people all running down and spending it on cigarettes and alcohol, yeah I get that. That said, if that is your real problem, don't hand out the money. Let people just work and earn and use whatever products they feel like doing or using. 

But long story short, I just view this as something again I don't view this politically. I don't care who brought this up quite honestly. It is the fact that it's really, really dystopian when you look at how this can be applied on a long-term basis. So I am very, very hopeful quite honestly we come up with something else, some other idea other than this because again to my mind this just looks like a Trojan Horse.