BAHT TO U.S DOLLAR EXCHANGE RATE TOO HIGH

[MARK4PROPANE]

About 3 times a week i log on to see the front page of your website which shows the posting of the Thai baht to U.S. dollar exchange rate. I am stunned to see almost every other currency in the world fall against the U.S. dollar but what happens to the baht? NOTTA, NOTHING. It has stayed virutally the same for the past 2 months.

Why are the dunderheads in the Thai government who control these issues, letting the bhat effectivly raise up against almost every other currency in the world, when they are falling significantly? The Euro has dropped from an all time high this past summer of a rate of $1.585 U.S. to the Euro to a rate this past 2 days of $1.281 U.S. to the Euro. The British pound has dropped bigtime as well from $2.00 U.S. to the past week of $1.68 to the pound.

The Canadian dollar has dropped since Novermber 2007 by a huge amount when it was higher than the American buck at $1 CDN equal to $1.09 U.S. The rate this week is dramatic at 80.00 cents CDN at the close yesterday to the U.S. dollar. That is a drop of just under 29 cents CDN to the U.S. buck in the past 11 months. One of the big reasons the CDN dollar dropped is because it is called the petro dollar because of the huge increase every year in oil and gas output. When oil dropped so much, it pulled the CDN buck down with it like a stone. Canada exports a very high percentage of manufactured goods to the USA and since it is in a recession, factories are closing here on a huge scale.

Now, why is the baht still the same as 2 months ago against the USA dollar? WHY? The baht should be dropped to below 30 to the USA dollar liken it was in the winter of 2003-4 when i was in Thailand.

If Thailand wants more tourists and higher exports, it needs to devalue the baht ASAP. If you are a Thai business or work in the tourist industry, you need to raise hell with the Prime Minister and ask him to fire the finance minister and his top staff right now. Write letters to your members of parliament and do it fast. Make phone calls and have public protests ( sorry about that ) to drop the value of the baht.

Tourists around the world are booking now for Christmas, New Year's and winter vacations. Do not let the wonderful tourist industry in Thailand miss the boat by not acting FAST on this issue. A drop of at least 4 baht is required to make a dent and get attention for exports and tourist dollars. He who snoozes, looses.

My name is Mark Smyth and i live in Toronto, the business center of Canada and the world's biggest stock exchange for the mining industry. I see the world every day from international eyes. I plan to shop in upstate New York at least once in the next 4 weeks because they cater to Canadian shoppers, unlike Thailand is doing to the whole world.

[HybridEm]

interesting idea...

[SARDINES]

Hello Mark,

Our current Finance Minister wants to push the Baht to Devalue but the Bank of Thailand Governer does not agree. The BOT has always made decisions independent of the government. They might agree & disagree, but in the end, the BOT governer has the final say.

SARDINES

[Minnie]

That's because the BOT is controlled by Thai businesses who have a vested interest in keeping the bath high...import or buying things overseas...the poor farmers who are trying to sell their rice find that they are too expensive in comparison to other nations and loose out....
IF the PAD would just F off and let the country be Thailand may actually get back to some sort of a economic standing

[CrazyAhmadinejad]

If Thailand wants more tourists and higher exports, it needs to devalue the baht ASAP. If you are a Thai business or work in the tourist industry, you need to raise hell with the Prime Minister and ask him to fire the finance minister and his top staff right now. Write letters to your members of parliament and do it fast. Make phone calls and have public protests ( sorry about that ) to drop the value of the baht.

Wouldn't that be the other way around? Your reasoning sounds backwards 100 percent. If the Baht is at 30 then it is stronger if the baht is at 40 then it is weaker.

If someone comes to Thailand, assuming we are talking about exchanging the USD, then the tourist/importer get more baht for 1 dollar if it is at 40 (rather than 30). IF you are calling for it to be at 30, then you are saying give the tourist/importer less baht for their dollars (30 baht rather than 40 baht).

And as far as the PAD or political unrest affecting the baht, that's just nonsense. The value of a currency is determined by the value of its exports. Monetary policy, such as adjusting interest rates, affects currency value as well but this is artificial and with respect to making the baht stronger (at say 30), this would drive up inflation - making imported commodities such as oil and gas more expensive and driving up all prices for everything in Thailand. AND making the baht weaker (say at 40) would make exports like rice cheaper and more desirable (foreigners can buy more rice for their dollars).

However, since Thailand is an export driven country, and world demand for everything is falling, the value of the baht must fall too because the value of a currency is primarily determined by the value of its exports.

Also, the dollar has been gaining all year against most currencies...up fro 29 baht earlier this year...I think it would be quite difficult for Thailand to adjust the value of the USD (grin)...

I'm CrazyAhmadinejad and I approve this message

[CrazyAhmadinejad]

I forgot to say, and it is an important point, that the USD is the current "bubble" in the world economy. The current strength that the dollar is showing could be considered the last show of vigor before the final heart attack. The only safe palace to store value right now is (choke)... GOLD... and even that is dropping in price (but not value). And when the dollar enters is final stages, gold is going to spike like never seen before. God help those people and countries holding dollars and American debt.

It should be noted also that there is a huge disparity between the price of paper gold and physical gold. The current paper price is 734 but if you want to buy physical gold -coins or bars- you are going to be paying better than 900. A lot of people are attributing this disparity to price manipulations or emerging markets cashing in to pay down debt. I'd be looking for the dollar to POP sometime before the end of this year...right around the November fifteenth....so all this talk about adjusting the bahts value should just wait until the great reckoning.

I'm CrazyAhmadinejad and I approve this message

[Sean Moran]

I forgot to say, and it is an important point, that the USD is the current "bubble" in the world economy. The current strength that the dollar is showing could be considered the last show of vigor before the final heart attack.

RIP USD.

Maybe the world will be a better place without it anyway? When that and the THB reach the 1:1 exchange rate, it should do a lot of good for the Las Vegas international tourist industry, eh?

[villager]

Mark, you are quite correct , this lunacy come Feb is going to have a real adverse effect on tourism , the whole world is going through recession , and yet it would appear that Thailand is flying high, maybe the Thai trait of "loss of face" if they admit major problems could well be coming into play,after all you will very seldom get a Thai to admit he is wrong!!.

[Sean Moran]

by villager on Mon Oct 27, 2008 7:48 am [125.26.106.xx]
Mark, you are quite correct , this lunacy come Feb is going to have a real adverse effect on tourism , the whole world is going through recession , and yet it would appear that Thailand is flying high, maybe the Thai trait of "loss of face" if they admit major problems could well be coming into play,after all you will very seldom get a Thai to admit he is wrong!!.

I wonder which country in the world they could have learned that from?

[CrazyAhmadinejad]

Mark, you are quite correct , this lunacy come Feb is going to have a real adverse effect on tourism , the whole world is going through recession , and yet it would appear that Thailand is flying high, maybe the Thai trait of "loss of face" if they admit major problems could well be coming into play,after all you will very seldom get a Thai to admit he is wrong!!.

WHY is it so hard to understand? The baht is FALLING in value against the dollar not gaining....Ugghh...

I'm CrazyAhmadinejad and I approve this message