Transcript of the above video: 

I have been talking a lot about retirees lately, probably because they make up a rather significant portion of the expat population here in Thailand. Also because a lot of developments coming down the pike regarding them and how things pertain to them. And as the title to this video suggests, I think a lot of the onus for a lot of this can be placed on this Government; that I think needs to be sort of focused on in the title of this video.

I don't think this is a broad desire by anybody in Thailand and this Government to my mind, is so heavily influenced by the likes of the World Economic Forum - we've done the videos in the past where the now suspended Prime Minister was having discussions in the Purple Room with the envoy from the WEF, the current acting Prime Minister was once a Communist Guerrilla, which I never thought in a million years we would see somebody like that in that particular position, even in an acting capacity. But I think we are in an odd moment, so whatever policy, whatever is going on at the moment, what I would say is maybe we all just take a second, take a deep breath and ask ourselves, or say to myself really, "this too shall pass", because I expect it probably will, especially where we have a pending Constitutional Court ruling regarding the phone call between the now suspended Prime Minister and the foreign potentate Hun Sen over on the other side of the Border. 

That said, I thought of making this video after reading a recent comment on this channel. Before we get into that, it's worth pointing out, I do deep dives into all of this in our paid news service where we discuss how all these geopolitical events are sort of playing out, the economics of it and how that then interacts with how expats need to live their life here in Thailand. For those who are interested in that, please feel free to email us, [email protected] and you can ask for information about how to get on the mailing list for those long form videos. We already have 10 episodes; the last one was like 1 hour and 20 minutes. I expect the next one will be maybe even longer because I have got to get into all of this stuff about the recent developments along the border, how that is likely to impact Immigration, how that is likely to impact expat land. So a lot to talk about with respect to that. Also, while I am talking my book, it is worth pointing out, my better half and I opened a restaurant here in downtown Bangkok, Pancake Palace. Breakfast anytime, including as the name implies, pancakes. It's American style food, but we have also got a big English breakfast for those Brits out there, and American Diner style food. So we've got cheeseburgers, hamburgers, buffalo wings, chilli bowls, pork chops. If you're interested, check out the links in the description below. Come check out Pancake Palace, come on by. 

That said, quoting from this comment, quote: "I did a flight to PP (I think they mean Phnom Penh) back on June 6 for a Visa Run. I was gone two nights and heavily questioned when I returned. I was made to show I had booked an onward flight and asked the purpose of my visit and if I had a girlfriend. In the past I was welcome. This time I felt like I was being judged as to if I deserved to come back and stay for a couple more months. And I'm a typical looking retired US Boomer with no tattoos." Well first let's be clear. If you use a lot of Visa Exemptions, they do start to question more; they start to scrutinize more. Frankly that's their function. You are not supposed to be living in Thailand using visa exempt status, so I can kind of see that.

But it does bring up a good point, just sort of overall which is, are they kind of trying to discourage retirees? I did a video recently where I debunked the notion that there was a conspiracy against Western expats. I do stand by that analysis; I don't think it's any kind of conspiracy or concerted effort, but I do think that maybe ill thought out policies are sort of coming together in a confluence of events, a sort of perfect storm to operate to the detriment of foreigners in Thailand. Again I think everybody should probably take a big deep breath and say to themselves, "this too shall pass", because hopefully in the next six or eight weeks, we are going to be seeing some major changes and hopefully some new policies stemming therefrom.