Road Blocks: The Big Issues That Thailand Needs to Solve [S8.E20]

Greg and Ed discuss an article on Ajarn.com by Dr. Jesse Sessions
called "What Does the Future Hold" which discusses some of the
bigger problems currently facing Thailand and how they might
impact the country's prosperity, competitiveness and social
longevity. The guys walk through the issues one by one and give
their take on its significance,


The first issue is border security. Ed points out that Thailand
actually has major security issues on the Burmese, Malaysian, and
Cambodian borders, something that is easy to forget from the
security of Bangkok. In fact several of the later issues tie in
to this problem, including the major problems of government
corruption and of scam centers in Cambodia and Burma, that
implicate Thailand in international crime networks. Greg points
out that these 'scam cities' are sometimes connected to the Thai
power grid or Internet service and may also be trafficking
victims through Bangkok. As a 'rule of law' guy, Ed emphasizes
the importance of cleaning up these issues and ridding Southeast
Asia of its Wild West image. 


Another cluster of issues centers around the economy, such as the
slower the expected recovery of the tourism sector after COVID
and Thailand's perennial fixture in the 'middle income trap,'
clearly surpassing Cambodia but somehow also managing to be miles
away from South Korea and Japan.


Check in for discussion of a bunch of other topics, including
demographics, AI adoption, and environmental problems, and make
sure to read the full article for a more thorough breakdown of
each issue.