OPINION

Time to retire

Re: "US President Joe Biden must bow out of the race", (Opinion, June 29).

The performance of both candidates representing two major parties in the United States was so incredible that one would have to agree with Eddie Delzio: Let's hope we have seen the last of them both.

Immediately after the end, one commentator said succinctly that it was a debate between infirm and unstable.

Re: "Quest for tax clarity", (PostBag, June 30).

As usual, Songdej Praditsmanont shines a light on obscure issues.

As you may expect, before writing to BP and wasting the time of its esteemed readers and contributors, I did go to the Revenue Department and seek the opinion of two lawyers.

I can only say that according to my best advice, and a bit lighter in the pocket, I conclude with K Songdej that things are completely unclear.

It is a pity that sometimes in Thailand, to the uninitiated it seems that the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing, and the mouth is there to confuse everyone.

Re: "Budget will 'jump-start' growth," (BP, June 20).

Following Lao Tse and TDRI's advice will boost our productivity and stimulate our economy much more than an one-shot B10K digital wallet handout. As Lao Tse noted, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime". Promoting productivity will enable a lifetime of higher consumption, not just a day's worth.

We should focus on our farmers with laser-like precision to get the most bang for our baht. Now, although a third of our labour force are farmers, they accounted for merely 8.81% of our GDP in 2022. There's much room for productivity improvement: over 2008–2018, Vietnamese rice yields have consistently been 178% of ours.

Thai farmers are old and poor. On average, they are 50+ years old, and 40% are living below the poverty line. Our old farmers badly need the energy and receptiveness to innovation of the youngsters now fleeing the Myanmar civil war.

We should give the refugees an acculturation programme, permits to work at market wages in rural areas, and a merit-based path to citizenship so that they help us in the long run. The huge amounts earmarked for the B10K handout will be much more productive in "teaching how to fish" rather than being spent on mobile phones or in Big Business' convenience stores.

The Thailand Development and Research Institute did a study in 2022 outlining how Thai rice could reclaim its pride of place. TDRI found there are four groups of rice farmers: mobile-phone farmers, high-tech large-scale farmers, self-reliant small-scale farmers and professional farmers who collaborate with other sectors to produce different rice products.

Most Thai rice farmers are "mobile-phone farmers". Ageing and with no family help, they hire wage earners to farm as their ancestors did, monitoring the work with phones. Each works separately, relying on state subsidies to survive. The government should help this group form small businesses or provide them with opportunities to become high-tech or professional farmers.