Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing budget conscious expats here in Thailand. I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Phuket News, thephuketnews.com, the article is titled: Step by Step: Phuket's soaring costs squeeze expats and locals alike. Quoting directly: "Phuket and Thailand, once an oasis for budget conscious expats seeking an idyllic escape, now face a harsh reality. The cost of living has skyrocketed since 2022 squeezing not just frugal expats but also Thai households already grappling with stagnant wages and high inflation. This isn't just about cutting back on beachside cocktails; basic necessities like food are becoming increasingly expensive."

I urge those who are watching this video go check out that article in detail, a lot of good information in there. But yeah, look inflation is a worldwide issue and it's a worldwide issue because many jurisdictions around the world, most notably in my opinion the United States, although the EU should be put on that list as well, just printed money out of thin air and they created orders of magnitude more money than existed in the economy, in the banking systems at that time. That inflation was not immediately felt; we're feeling it now. In a sense you'll sometimes hear economists, especially folks that study international trade and economics, talk about how the United States exports its inflation. Well this is an example of that. As time has gone on, all this money printing has occurred; they bring in their Foreign exchange to use it here in Thailand, that causes an increase in the velocity of money here in Thailand which then unfortunately because it's money created without any additional value added into the system at source, the source being the United States, it purely shows up as inflation around the world. It happens in an incrementally slower pace but that is what occurs. So yeah I can see where this could be creating a pinch if you will on many budget conscious expats out here, especially retirees I imagine are probably very conscious of this.

Now that being said, in spite of the fact that cost of living is rising here, I still think Thailand remains very competitive, very attractive in terms of reasonable pricing for goods and services in this jurisdiction precisely because it did not make the mistakes of the West in just wantonly printing money in the name of liquidity in the face of some giant in my opinion over exaggerated "pandemic". Thailand didn't make those same moves; it didn't just turn on the money printer primarily because of its bad memories of things like the crash in '97 I think, Thailand has more of a conservative paradigm especially in terms of Economic and Monetary policy than I think the West has had especially roughly the past 15 years, basically since the so-called great financial crisis between 2006 and 2009. So again, this is one of those situations where we are all just going to have to kind of get through it. Knowing what it is kind of helps not necessarily ease the pain, but at least you know where it's coming from and understanding that really this is not a byproduct of bad Fiscal or Monetary or Economic Policy here in Thailand, it is the byproduct of inflation exported by other countries to places like Thailand.