Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing digital money yet again. Unfortunately this thing is considered to be like a frikking barnacle here in Thailand that we have had to deal with. That said, I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from Thai PBS, that's thaipbs.or.th, the article is titled: Thai teens to receive Bt10,000 under phase three of cash handout. Now I love the headline because it says "cash handout" except nobody's getting cash. Quoting directly: "The Economic Stimulus Policy Board" - when did that come about? agreed today to issue 10,000 baht to each of about? What is that and do we need it? And by the way, I noticed that as the DTV has sort of twilighted out at the end of high season here, and we've seen a dwindling of the farangs that are here for the normal high season, they're not here like they usually are, I am noticing now the mainstream, especially the financial press, the Bangkok Post, elsewhere but Thai PBS that sort of vein of Thai political thinking too, again they're all talking about, you can start to see the momentum building behind a storm of a narrative that is “oh Thailand is in dire economic straits again; we have got to print a bunch of money, or go into a bunch of debt, in order to do something about this; dogs and cats living together in mass hysteria”. It's a lot of nonsense. Just look, if you look around here, I'm not saying Thailand is perfect; we have serious issues with regard to the export market and exporters and manufacturing. I get that. And Thailand has to stand in between China and primarily the USA and China and has to kind of navigate those waters. I don't envy anybody that's in that sector. But is Thailand in dire economic straits? I don't think that's fair at all.

You know what, you can agree, disagree, like it, dislike it, the legalization of Cannabis had a tremendously positive impact on the Thai economy whether people want to admit that or not. Then on top of that it compounded with more tourists coming in and to their credit, the core coalition party came up with this DTV. That caused a lot of interest in Thailand and frankly we saw a great high season and now, as I have discussed in other videos, our tourism books aren't cooked anymore where we have these multi-entrants that are really just here once but they're coming and going like three times and being counted in triplicate, when they really are just a one-time entrant. So Thailand is doing well in the tourism sector. I would say while it may have some issues when it comes to exports and heavy industry and things, this is always kind of the teeter-totter, the seesaw back and forth here. Tourism is either doing good and that sector seems to be doing bad or it's the other way around. Well, we had 4 years of the other way around where exports were booming because everybody was buying stuff on Amazon, because the world was locked down but the tourism sector here in Thailand literally was on its back. I mean I saw people literally take their own lives as a result of the policies associated with Covid. And again, these are the people that are directly benefiting from the tourism. It's not the GDP economy if you will, the financialized economy, it's the real economy here in Thailand. It's the real people, the real stall owners, the people that make things and transact at the street level. Those people are doing all right. So all across the board, everybody has got their own problems but compared to 2 years ago, yeah, it's better. That said, again, this narrative that Thailand is in some sort of dire straits, I don't think it's fair and it is I think being used to try and push for an initiative for this digital money and for the Keynesian policies of going into a ton of debt which we all have to pay off in order to get this magic bean digital money that can't be spent everywhere, they can tell you the proximity where you can use it; it has a timing feature if you will wherein it can be turned off at will. It's not money, as I've discussed at great length. That said, quoting further: "The Economic Stimulus Policy Board agreed today to issue 10,000 baht to each of about 2.7 million young Thais in the 16 - 20 age group around the second or third quarter" - again with regard to this Board. Who elected these people? How are they appointed? When did it come about? I have never even heard of this and why do they have the authority to give away our money, because it is state money, okay. This is not just a giveaway that is just money grows on trees. We have got to pay this back, so why are you giving away our money and who gave you the authority Economic Stimulus Policy Board? What is that? Quoting further: “Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira announced today." Is this the same guy that that was a good idea to have more inflation? Quoting further: "Instead of handing out the financial support in "digital money" to all Thais aged between 16 and 60, as originally planned under phase three" - well okay. So, they're not going to make it all digital money. So we're all supposed to be thrilled about that? How about just no digital money. We don't need this, we don't want it, it's not particularly fit to purpose. What's the use of this? We already have the ability to move things in our standard currency via online transactions, so we don't need digital money and stop with these half measures as if I'm like somehow going to give up. I'm a dog on a bone with this thing, okay? I'm not going anywhere so just saying “oh, we rolled it back a little bit.” Not enough for me; it needs to go away; this is bad for Thailand, it will hurt Thais in the long term. That said, quoting further: "Deputy Finance Minister Paopoom Rojanasakul explained the Board chose to distribute the digital money, for the first time since the launch of the cash handout" - I love the double speak in this - "for the first time since the launch of the cash handout". So they are not handing out cash but they keep trying to use that word! - quoting further: "to the 16 - 20 - year olds only" - and look, 16 - 20 year olds. Why are 16-year-olds getting any money? They're not in the workforce. I mean they may be. They may be driving around a motorbike or something, like helping their dad or their mom or something, 16-to 20-year-olds? Why would you be handing out government money to these people? And on top of that, they can't form intent for an underlying contract and you're going to tend to put them on the hook in a public sense over this? How? How is it legal to distribute this to kids? To minors. That said, to 16 to 20 year olds only, quoting further: "because it is in line with the economic situation" - whatever that means - "and because these people are familiar with technology and will have no problem in accessing the digital money." 

You mean they are becoming indoctrinated to usage of digital devices that are being tied to them like a Low jack is tied to a prisoner on parole? Is that what you're talking about? It sounds to me like you're trying to “train” these kids into using digital money forever and in a way, it looks to me like a form of digital serfdom. This is wrong and what are you doing trying to give it to kids under 20? They're not adults. You are trying to saddle them with digital money? You're trying to saddle children? What are you doing? That shouldn’t be the policy of the government. The policy of the government should be to help the people. How is this helpful to the people? And by the way, why do some Thais get cash, but the young Thais don't get cash? Quoting further: "Under phase three of the scheme, Paopoom said that the Board had lifted restrictions on the goods which may be purchased with digital money, but has focused on regulating the outlets that participate in the cash handout scheme, such as gold shops and liquor outlets, which are not allowed to participate." Well yeah, this is exactly the push against cash that I have a problem with. This is a back door way of telling us all how to live our lives and what we can and can't do, whether we can go to a liquor store or a gold shop. And why are you going after the gold shops? What per se is immoral about buying gold? That said, quoting further: "He said that liquor available in convenience stores can be purchased using the digital money…" - oh so your morality doesn't mean that much when it comes to mass consumption of liquor in a convenience store context? What is that? Quoting further: "…adding that the restriction on the exchange of digital money, into currency by stores has also been eased." But not for liquor stores per se? Who are you to make the determination that it's somehow better or worse to buy liquor from a convenience store versus somebody who's just selling liquor? Quoting further: "Paopoom said the government expects that spending from the third phase of the scheme will generate a "whirlwind that will stimulate the economy."

Meanwhile we were just reading something here recently that says that the original stimulus from phase one didn't do much of anything, which I can get into in another video. Everything about this is wrong; it's wrong from its inception. I think this is a terrible idea and this is yet another iteration of how bad an idea this is.