Solving poverty goes beyond writing cheques

COMMENTARY

Solving poverty goes beyond writing cheques

Published: 4 Oct 2012 at 00.00
Newspaper section: News

The pungent smell of tobacco, urine and sweat reek of despair and degradation in the heat of the noon sun. How can they stand it? Hundreds, perhaps thousands of people, many old, some young, spread out on simple bamboo mats laid out on the asphalt in hopes of attracting attention from those beyond the tall steel gates.

Farmers stage a sit-in outside the Finance Ministry’s gates on Sept 27 as they call for debt restructuring reform. Over past weeks, they have travelled from afar to beg for help. APICHART JINAKUL

I doubt anyone will listen.

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khunbj
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Discussion 12 : 04 Oct 2012 at 13.2312
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D7 Pete ... the poll at BP you are referring to is only representative for the commenters here,.....Infrastructure, just now read more or less the same words from BoT Chairman Khun Virabongsa Ramangkurawill : "the Pheu Thai government's massive investment in infrastructure will be the catalyst to strengthen the country's manufacturing and logistics competitiveness" from ADB Bank same message in another form "Meanwhile, many countries - including Thailand - have inadequate ICT infrastructure and a shortage of skilled workers in modern service sectors, the economist added."
But that is what we would like to do , what is your vision Pete ? Wait and see and it will get better by itself and corruption will just magically disappear ?
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robins
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Discussion 11 : 04 Oct 2012 at 13.0211
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Assuring every child a quality education and the ability to go as far in school as their intelligence will take them is the only real way to end poverty. We also need to accept that those who fail to educate themselves when given a chance deserve a lower standard of living.
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jacksprat
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Discussion 10 : 04 Oct 2012 at 10.5610
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What a delight to read an intelligent, well written essay!
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bikeme
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Discussion 9 : 04 Oct 2012 at 10.539
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D4 Khunbj - Power and wealth will always be concentrated in the biggest city (cities) in any nation, that is nothing new nor something detrimental.

Thailand's downfall is a lack of decent education, lack of overall infrastructure and an intertwined political / big money / corruption system that eliminates any chance of progress.
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dao
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Discussion 8 : 04 Oct 2012 at 09.588
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All Thaksins populist polices have done is created a beggar mentality where people have grown accustom to handouts instead of standing on their own two feet .Wipe out poverty in 4 years .What a crock .You want to help people ? Enable them .Give them land and tools to improve their lives .Not handouts of cash via the rice scheme .Thaksin leads them like a buffalo to grass but he never gives them the field but just cuts some and brings it to them as not to cut himself out of the process .Disgusting .
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pete
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Discussion 7 : 04 Oct 2012 at 08.067
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Disc 4:
“There is a plan for a 2 trillion THB infrastructure investment……”

Investments are not without risk, and investments with borrowed money are a much bigger risk. With public debt approaching 50% of GDP and a spiraling trade deficit likely to be well above $15bn for the year, probably more with the lavish rice pledging scheme, then adding on rising inflation means the money might be hard to borrow at an economical rate. There is a BP poll at the moment which currently shows 76% against the idea. So, is this an investment the government can be sure about or another case of throwing good money after bad, and quite likely ‘doing a Greece’?
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whatajoke
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Discussion 6 : 04 Oct 2012 at 07.596
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Many of the poorest in this country aren't even eligible to vote, so what's the point.
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justfacts
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Discussion 5 : 04 Oct 2012 at 07.265
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As soon as all of you/us realize ,that it was never the intention to eradicate poverty, it was promises made to assure votes of the uneducated and untill education is addressed the likes of PT will rule forever.

If you could go back to the start of the Thaksin years and see how much he as well as his cronies/puppets etc wealth has increased, every time a populist policy was introduced,you would know why poverty has remained the same or gotten worse
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khunbj
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Discussion 4 : 04 Oct 2012 at 06.044
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As long as the power and wealth is concentrated in Bangkok and it's proximity and the willingness to give it up is not there , then nothing will change . Thailand need infrastructure and industry developed in the North and other regions that lag, that is the way forward, writing checks or making rice schemes or whatever will only keep people warm but not change anything. There is a plan for a 2 trillion THB infrastructure investment plan over the next 5 years, hopefully this can be helpful to start the transition, but be prepared for a lot of resistance because change is not going to be popular.
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onlyasking
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Discussion 3 : 04 Oct 2012 at 05.513
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Money don't rid a country of poverty, but money well spend came help to decrease poverty. The best Thailand can do is to improve education, improve infrastructure, fight corruption and create investment friendly policies. Then hope that market forces will create the growth needed to lift the majority of the poor people out of poverty. It is however a process and will take decades.
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Solving poverty goes beyond writing cheques | Bangkok Post: opinion