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As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing - this isn't exactly a funny thing - but attacking "hordes" trying to do business in Thailand. Now I have a couple of videos I've also made contemporaneously with this one where we are talking about this issue of what is being described as tightening up on "nominee structures" for doing business in Thailand. And I very much understand where folks are coming from with regard to policy, where they are trying to protect Thai business interests, insulate Thailand's economy, what some would call protectionism, what I call just being a strong nation state. Sovereignty goes hand and hand with this stuff. You have to protect your own countrymen's economic interests; I get that. That said I think going after these corporate structures in this way, it's really not conducive to one, encouraging foreign investments, and at the same time, I don't know, it just seems nitpickity for lack of a better term, it's like "oh well, you complied with the rules but we still don't like it so we're going to change it again".  Again, I get where it's coming from, but I think there could be better ways of dealing with this, and I'll get into the analysis after I go through this. 

I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: A nominee to a criminal is still a criminal. I went ahead and we made a thumbnail. This is from the movie The Gangs of New York where Bill the Butcher says, "on my challenge, we meet on this chosen ground to determine for good and all who holds sway over the five points. Us natives born right wise on this fine land or the foreign hordes defiling it." That's what he said so when but I go and quote this, you'll understand the reason for the thumbnail. Quoting directly - while I am sort of talking here, might as well plug Pancake Palace. I haven't mentioned that in a couple of videos recently, my better half and I did set up a restaurant in downtown Bangkok called Pancake Palace. As the name implies, it's American breakfast anytime; we also have a good English breakfast. We've also got American Diner style food: hamburgers, cheeseburgers, chilli bowls; now we've got tacos, grilled cheese sandwiches, and very good buffalo wings. If you're interested come on down and check us out. By the way, link is in the description below for the location.

That said, quoting directly: "Thai Nationals looking to take on more than 40% of a business with a foreign partner are now required to produce three months of personal bank statements to prove they have their own investment funds. If more than five companies are registered at a single address, they are automatically flagged for a physical inspection." You know, I have got to be honest. These types of things, it's not conducive to bringing in a lot of foreign investment. Now I can understand, Thailand doesn't want to be like the Cayman Islands or something where there's 10,000 companies registered on one post box or something. I get it, but this type of thing, it seems pretty overbearing to me, and it basically places a lot of work on people who just want to do business here, and meanwhile they have to deal with all of this compliance and it results in a situation where - one of the things I have talked to from expats over the years who come out and are trying to do business and Thailand, over the years they have said, “the ease of doing business here”. I remember talking to a friend of mine who was British, and he was talking about all the stuff that British people have to do to run a business and it is like you end up having a full-time job just working for the state to fill out paperwork to run your own business. And I worry that this type of activity, albeit I do understand where the desire to implement some of these policies comes from, I'm not sure if we are going to get to the goal that we want, and at the same time, we are also paying lip service to the notion that we want to encourage foreign investment. So it's kind of a lose-lose; it's what I'm worried about. It might not be, I could be wrong, but I don't know. 

That said, quoting further: "These precautions come years after the problem grew into a nationwide epidemic that has surely cost Thailand billions and even led to loss of life." 

Well again, in these articles, there's a recent development involving the coconut industry here in Thailand, and apparently undue foreign influence has been brought to bear to essentially suppress the price here in Thailand that gets paid to Thai farmers, and then once exported, there is a major margin that can be enjoyed in terms of costs and things associated with that. I get it. That's not a good thing. Thailand is being exploited; we need to deal with that. But is sort of mass punishment of businesses, especially small businesses operated by foreigners, is that really the way to do this? And we are talking about a lot of foreigners that pay taxes. We are talking about foreigners who want to be in compliance on these types of companies, who want to maintain their Business Visas and Work Permits. I am not saying there aren't some bad apples out there, but the most part, it's been my experience, most foreign nationals over here that are utilizing 49/51 setups are oftentimes just folks who want to be in compliance with the law, maintain their Work Permits and Business Visas, do business here and move on with their lives.  They're not all, it's like that line from the movie The Other Guys, where Will Ferrell is talking to Mark Wahlberg and Mark Wahlberg says, "no they can't be smuggling drugs, he said. No it's not drugs; this is not Miami Vice." Not every foreigner who is looking to do business in Thailand is necessarily trying to do something nefarious and therefore it requires an intense amount of oversight. In fact, the ability to just get on with doing business is what has stood Thailand in good stead, especially in Southeast Asia, lo these many years. 

That said, quoting further, and the reason for the thumbnail: "Like dealing drugs or mule accounts" - which again, again, yes, I'm sure there are some folks who may have engaged in nefarious activity. Meanwhile, this whole "mule account" thing, I didn't even know what this was like 9 months ago. Meanwhile, the minute the OECD came into Thailand, and we started seeing them meddling around in Thai banking policy, we started seeing this massive threat of mule accounts coming from everywhere. It's like the massive threat of COVID that turned out to be non-existent. I am not saying maybe this mule account thing is non-existent, but I'm saying it has the feel of a buzzword or a buzz phrase that comes when you see these narratives being created in order to basically impose some sort of policy or something onto Thailand that may not be in Thailand's best interest, or the Thai people's best interest - that said, quoting again: ": "Like dealing drugs or mule accounts, acting on behalf of those with illegal intent should be no less incriminating. Until social as well as legal reprisals match the actual damage done by Thai nominees opening the doors to attacking hordes, the nation will remain completely vulnerable." You know I don't think it's fair to say that a Thai who wants to partner with a foreigner in some sort of corporation - and partner isn't necessarily the right word - just be a shareholder in a corporation where there is foreign involvement, is necessarily "opening the doors to the attacking hordes."

That said, I do understand the need to protect Thailand's economy, so I do understand the notion that certain enforcement activity needs to take place especially in these instances where Thailand's economy truly is being exploited. But mass punishment and this this kind of overbearing paradigm, I could see really leading to some bad outcomes here in the Kingdom of Thailand.