Government appears to condone waste

It appears that this government is willing to expend 10 per cent of its revenue to win votes through the purchase of rice to be trashed. The fugitive ex-prime minister, who couldn't effectively run a movie theatre, thinks trashing the rice will raise rice prices, making everyone richer. He sure likes to talk about making everyone richer! Discarding 10 per cent of revenue not being enough to accomplish that, more mega-projects must be created, including high-speed trains. Trains are great, but the Thai rail agency remains as backward and corrupt as any other government department.

At the end of the 1900s, an anti-money-laundering act was passed, but still we see almost as many opticians as 7-Elevens, coffeeshops galore without any prospect of customers, and a currency mysteriously strong, purportedly due to "investment". Meanwhile there's babble about whether interest rates should rise or fall, instead of about public debt being half of public income, or incredibly high sales of automobiles, which are unlikely to get the oil changes they need.

Of course, what Thailand really needs is effective education. Without that, it will never again be the world's No 1 rice exporter.

Nai Amphoe

Chiang Rai