Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing unfortunately this Digital Wallet situation yet again. Again I am doing some of these videos kind of informally; I'm kind of playing with different formats. I've been getting some feedback both negative and positive, it's all appreciated. I hope we have gotten the worst of the mic problems on this mic worked out and thanks again for the feedback on that to those folks who did provide it, that basically gave us a lot of good insight into this mic issue. So again bear with us. It's going to get better; it's probably going to take me a couple of weeks; I do apologize folks. Again I do have a day job and then on top it, I'm not as tech savvy as I may otherwise seem. I have had a lot of help over the years with that stuff. At the end of the day, I just like putting out the content. Frankly I would do this just with a microphone and almost do it vocally only but then you'd have to create graphics for a video or something. I don't really want to do that and I like to put my face out there, put the face with the voice I guess. 

That being said, I thought of making this video and again we're posing the question: Who asked for Thailand to have a digital economy in the first place? I certainly didn't. That said, I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Bangkok Post, that is bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: Days left before cash handouts. I mean the first thing I will say is it's interesting the way the headlines on this have changed. The whole “Digital Wallet” terminology seems to be a little passé at the moment perhaps. In any event, quoting directly: "The Government is expected to distribute 145 billion baht in cash under its Digital Wallet handout program to vulnerable groups and State Welfare Card holders from September 20th, Deputy Finance Minister Julapun Amornvivat said." Again, where is this 145 billion baht coming from? Is this the best way to spend it, just by handing it out? Are people actually getting money or are they getting these Digital Tokens. I find it very interesting now, it's just the narrative has become "this is happening", and no details particularly or what details are given, it's all very, I urge those who are watching this video and I'll put a link to the description; we usually like to cite them on screen. I'll put a link in the description below but you'll see where they start talking about the funding and it's a lot of words but when you start to really look at it, it's like well so where is the funding coming from? We'll get into that in a moment. But 145 billion baht. Meanwhile, they're seriously talking about issues with the Social Security scheme. If this is coming from tax money, this is coming from people that already paid in, again I understand there are people out there who are in need, and again there should be programs out there to help them, but we've seen from the West, stimulus and cash handouts are a bad policy across the board; it's just not a good idea. That said, quoting directly: "He said the scheme will stimulate the sluggish economy." Well first of all, that narrative has been necessary in order to create the "exigent need" for this “handout” - digital or otherwise - based on this notion that we're in some kind of an economic slump or whatever. That would have made some sense in 2020, 2021, 2022, I don't even think it would have made sense last year, but here in 2024 especially coming off of a boom first quarter, it's weird because the news narrative is sort of schizophrenic. It's funny to watch because on the one hand they'll say "well actually things are pretty good. The tourism sector and we want to have a good high season," but then they also have to continue with this "no everything's horrible" so that we can get this Digital handout which I am starting to wonder, is there some kind of inducement on folks to create this thing because they're pushing it hard notwithstanding the fact there are serious questions about funding it, there are also serious questions about the legality of it, and there are serious questions about the legality of a loan where you don't actually get money out at the end of the loan but you put the nation on the hook to pay it back. But then it became not a loan, so we're going to gut the budget and still require a loan to pay for the things the budget otherwise would have paid for; we're going to need a loan for that later, so again it's just a shell game as to whether or not it's funded by a loan. I mean it's really kind of nuts. 

Then meanwhile, I don't know any Thais that voted for Thailand to be a wholly Digital Economy. Who does that serve? The cash economy of Thailand is purely analog, purely analog, so do they really need that? And meanwhile, will all this Fintech simply be used to extract wealth from the people who can afford it least? Quoting further: "Mr. Phumtham said the 14.5 million State Welfare card holders and disabled people could spend the money on any products in small shops or large department stores." Again note there. They can spend the money only at small shops or large department stores. So it's not money. Again, the nation is going into debt, but the people who they say are going to be indebted by the taxes to pay this off, because ultimately we're going to have to go in debt for it. Whatever they say directly about this project or not, they have to take money from somewhere else that they will then go into debt later to pay for that shortfall. So at the end of the day, this is going to be financed by debt. They were being as truthful as they could be at the beginning and now as things have come along and they are slugging through their own narrative, and the fact that it makes no sense and isn't good policy, they're coming up with all these other things. Again but you can't spend this anywhere, these Welfare Card holders and I do understand. These people may need some help but the notion that this was a loan of money that in kind was a monetary benefit to the people that will ultimately have to pay it back, is a pretty spurious claim. In any event, quoting further: "He said the scheme's so-called negative list, which was introduced to ensure it would be spent at small shops only, will no longer apply." Well first of all, we'll get into the negative list here. It only would be that way because they say so. The system still allows for them to do this in the future, tell you what you can and can't buy with these “digital tokens”, with this “digital money”. Again, they could change that in a heartbeat. With the push of a button, they could say "well you can't buy this stuff now". And what is that negative list? "Products on that list include: alcoholic drinks, tobacco products, cannabis products, kratom products, vouchers, cash cards, gold, gemstones, diamonds or fuel" - well, okay some of that you can claim it's vice or luxury and then all of this at the end of the day is Socialism so they're going to tell you what to do, so they're going to be nanny minders and tell you what vices they don't want you to interact with and then they'll also tell you what luxury goods you can and can't buy; gold and gemstones. Again if it was real money you could spend it on whatever you want. But again we are going into debt to get people something that isn't money to not spend it on whatever they want. But what I love, oil, fuel is on that negative list, which you are talking about the one thing we all need to survive albeit indirectly, oil and fuel. Quoting further: "Natural gas, electrical appliances, electronic equipment and communication devices." Interestingly, and I cited the articles at the time, they actually said "debt" and I think they even said “electricity”, paying for your own electricity wouldn't be allowed with this thing. So again I ask, "how is this money?" and by the way they're doing you no favours by saying "oh well, okay. We've taken all that off the list and we'll allow you to buy that stuff. Well first of all, will the stores that you're being able to go and buy things from stock those goods and services? I highly doubt it, I highly doubt it.

Secondly again, okay they have turned off that restriction. This digital system is by nature totalitarian; they'll be able to turn it on and off at will moving forward. Just understand that, because that's what is going on here. Quoting further: "As for those who already registered via the Tang Rat application they will receive 5,000 baht by the end of this year if the Digital Wallet system is not finished in time." Well that's what I think is interesting. "Oh, oh, we're moving ahead, we're moving ahead. This is happening imminently." Again this is a narrative trick, because once they can get it in people's heads that it has already occurred, they don't care about it anymore but then in the same article they said "if it is not finished in time". So it's not finished. This is not a foregone conclusion. Thailand does not have to be saddled with this debt, totalitarian surveillance of the finance system, at the lowest possible level and the eventual wealth extraction from the lowest possible socioeconomic level that they can drill down and get to. Therefore the people who could afford such wealth extraction least. That's what this system is designed for. Quoting further: "The other half of the payment will be made in Digital Currency next year." So again, this is what's interesting. They're alluding to what is probably going to happen; they're trying to roll this out and then get everybody over on to digital. Then once they are all on to digital, everything is tracked and traced; we are financially enslaved from that moment. That's what we are talking about here. This isn't hyperbole. The experts around the world that talk about Central Bank digital currencies, even the ones within the World Economic Forum and the ones that they have talked about from BIS, Carstens has talked about it. “Oh we can you stop at source people's transactions”. This is about control, this isn't about money. We need to end this; we need to nip this in the bud before it gains any further momentum. This is nonsense. And we have to go into orders of magnitude more debt than we need to as a nation to put this system on us. Quoting further: "The scheme is the cornerstone of the Government's plan to jump start Southeast Asia's second largest economy which grew 2.3% in the second quarter." Well you know, I'm here to tell you, I'm sick of this narrative that Thailand has got some economic problems because it's not "growing" as fast as a bunch of bankers basically think it should be growing, because that's what this comes down to. GDP by the way is purely a function of metric if you will, of the economy in bank credit terms. The cash economy is not tabulated in this. Thailand's economy is far larger than it's tabulated to be, but it's also a free economy; it's also a free market, a free enterprise system and the moment that this digitization in terms of the actual Fiat currency, the money, the legal tender of Thailand is turned into this, it will be totalitarian, and by the way it will stifle and eventually kill the real economy in GDP terms. It's neo-Soviet, it's that bad. Again it's predicated on this notion that 2.3% growth in a very sophisticated economy, is somehow some huge problem. I'm not saying it is perfect. I am not saying Thailand's economy couldn't be improved but the notion that there is some kind of exigent emergency that requires two orders of magnitude injection liquidity into the system that currently exists in the banking system at this time and that two orders of magnitude is supposed to come from the nation in terms of national debt. So we are supposed to pay for this and meanwhile - we've done the videos - they can't even show that it's going to create significant economic stimulus. I think in one article, it was in the Bangkok Post, they said it was like 0.1% maybe. Again, I could be a little off on the numbers but again the conclusion was it will have a nominal maybe effect on growth. Because at the end of the day it's predicated on the theory that Keynesianism i.e. Government intervention, injecting money into the economy, somehow over time creates value and improves that economy. The fact of the matter is yeah the theoretical Keynesianism can work but Theory is one thing, sort of like Communism. Theory is one thing, application is another. It doesn't at the end of the day, and if you want the proof of that, look at Western Europe and what the United States is sitting in right now. Basically the collective West where Keynesianism gets you; not to good places really. 

That said, quoting further: "Paetongtarn Shinawatra, (that's the current Prime Minister) said last week that part of the handout will now be given in cash." How about all of it or don't do it at all? What we're seeing now is the curtain is removed. It's not the handout, nobody cares about that part of it, about who gets what. It's rolling out this Digital Currency. That is what certain people - I've done other videos where I've asked the question - is the World Economic Forum behind this at the end of the day because this is right out of their playbook is to get this country on this tyrannical, totalitarian financial system. Because that's what it looks like to me is the priority. It is not really getting people the money, they've been perfectly happy to bend and bob and weave and move around on that and ultimately come up with solutions where people actually get the money. Even going so far as to compromise and say "some of the money will come to you in cash" but what seems to be the real priority to certain individuals. And let's be really clear, there is no electoral mandate for this okay? There just isn't. I was here for this last election. Pheu Thai basically won, I don't know somewhere between 27%, a third of the total seats in Parliament, somewhere in there; does not have electoral mandate; does not have a majority; does not have an electoral mandate. I'm not going to get into all the rest of the last election, but long story short they represent one minority party in a coalition with another few minority parties to create a Government, okay? Why, if we are supposedly having to be saddled with their campaign promises under those circumstances is baffling to me; they didn't win a majority. Why are we being driven to this, driven to something that will fundamentally change this country for the worst by the way? This Digital Currency will have tremendous negative ramifications on just the rank and file of the Thai economy and it's being driven supposedly under some mandate that really doesn't exist, some electoral mandate. Yes we have a legitimate Government here in Thailand. Is there some broad mandate for this digital currency? Or "turning" Thailand's economy into digital one? No, that's not what anybody voted on. Quoting further: "Mr. Julapun previously said 32 million people have registered to the program including vulnerable groups but not those without Smart phones..." Another interesting take. This whole program will push if you will, nudge and herd if you will, everyone into smartphone usage, which once everyone's on smartphones, that's like a low-jack and then they can hook all the money through it and they can control everything in your life through your smartphone. If you think that sounds hyperbolic, just look at the last four years and the notion of “vaccine passports” and all of that nonsense. You think that's one ounce different then this Digital Wallet. No, we did the videos on it in fact. It's going to be basically the same thing. They're going to include your ID, all that good stuff. They want it to be vaccine passports. This isn't hyperbole, and this is bad for Thailand. Nobody is going to greatly benefit from this in Thailand. I don't even see anybody that really wants it. It just looks to me as if foreign interests have placed inducements for, or it looks me like one could infer that foreign interest have created inducements to saddle Thailand with this system. Nobody is charging the gate for digital money. Quoting further: "…through which funds were due to be received via an application." So drive everybody onto smartphones; put an application on there. Now all your money is attached to that, your ID, everything. I mean I can't think of a more direct and precise definition of totalitarianism. Quoting further: "According to the Government's latest revised figures, the 450 billion baht for the handout scheme will be sourced from the budgets for fiscal years 2024 and 2025." Well yeah, they're going to gut the budget that we were otherwise going to spend on things that we do need in the normal course of living our lives and doing business expended on this thing which will saddle us into a totalitarian “tokenized”, "Digital System" for all of our economy, and then they'll have to go in debt down the road for the things that they needed to spend for the normal course of business, so at the end of the day we're in more debt, and we end up with this “digital money, totalitarian” financial surveillance system.

Quoting further: "Thanawat Phonwichai, Chief advisor of the University to the Thai Chamber of Commerce's Centre for Economic and Business Forecasting, said that the distribution of 10,000 baht in cash to vulnerable groups is expected to help boost GDP by 3.5 to 4% in the fourth quarter this year." Yeah except for the fact I did already from actual economists, this person Chief Advisor to the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce's Centre for Economic and Business Forecasting. Well okay he's a Chief Advisor to a University, okay, this person may have some economic insights, perhaps. I've read the economic analysis from economists that said at best, this moves the needle very little and I've done the videos on that, you can go back and look at the archives of this channel.

At the end of the day, I can't believe we are still really having this conversation. It is clear to me their interests, and I believe they are primarily foreign - again the World Economic Forum being chief among them - who would like to saddle Thailand with a financial system, a financial surveillance system that will basically result in financial enslavement by everybody. And again, these are foreign interests that want this. I think it's a terrible idea and we all have got to go in debt to have it done to us, so perhaps we could maybe change our thinking on this, and I think the question remains, "Whoever voted for Thailand to be a Digital Economy?"