Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Thailand's "Economic Crossroads." I am going to get into some of my thoughts as to why I think Thailand is not at all at an economic crossroads but is in fact sitting in the center of a spinning kaleidoscope. I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Bangkok Post, that is, bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: Thailand at economic crossroads. Quoting directly: "Thailand finds itself at a crossroads as global geo-economic alignments shift amid rapid changes in the technological landscape. Its top trading partners and foreign investors are changing, raising concerns about the relevance of its development model. While boosting competitiveness remains crucial." 

See, again the media is always just sort of putting out these premises; "raising concerns about the relevance of its development model". Among who? I would argue Thailand's development model has been proven; the proof is in the pudding. Show me another country that has developed as smoothly and as well since World War II as Thailand, when Thailand was truly a backwater in many ways; I don't mean that to be insulting, but I mean it was not like the centre of attention of much of anybody in the world particularly. As time has gone on she has shown herself to be, again it is an economic powerhouse in many ways; it has proven to be an economic powerhouse decade after decade; culturally it's unique beyond compare; Bangkok is one of the great cities of the world so I am always sort of taken aback every time I see things written about "well the development model!" Well the development model kind of worked. Meanwhile, yes, yes, yes, the world is changing and it is changing fast. We are seeing the rise of the BRICS, we are watching different technologies arise and have massive disrupting effects on the way we have economically operated for years and years and years, but I don't think Thailand should be second guessing herself at this point in time. If anything, I truly believe this, we are sitting here not only effectively the geographic centre if you will sort of ASEAN or even mainland Southeast Asia, but in the sense, the world is going to kind of spin around Thailand. Thailand is going to continue to do what she does the way she does it and there is nothing wrong with that. In many ways the Thai way, reasonable people can disagree on whether or not the Thai way is the best way to do everything, but in a lot of ways the Thais have found their own way to deal with economics, to deal with geo-politics and quite honestly it's working and it has worked and I think it will continue to work. 

I don't think it's correct to consider Thailand at any kind of economic crossroads. I think it is correct to look at the world as perhaps at an economic crossroads, but I think Thailand is standing tall and well-standing. It is standing easy, it's standing well, it's standing where it should as sort of a bulwark of its own national interest in a way and there is nothing wrong with that. The world is going to spin around Thailand I suspect over the course of the coming months and years and Thailand gets to sort of stand in the centre of this kaleidoscope and just sort of watch it happen, react accordingly and react in ways that are most beneficial to the Kingdom of Thailand.