• OPINION

  Sufficiency economy doesn't mean self-sufficiency

  News, Sawai Boonma, Published on 03/12/2014

  » Since the head of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) announced some six months ago that he would use the sufficiency economy (SE) as the guiding light for governing the country, I again have seen discussions equating SE with self-sufficiency. It's not.

• OPINION

  Sufficiency economy, our solution

  News, Sawai Boonma, Published on 01/08/2012

  » Over the past two years, I have occasionally referred to the notion of sufficiency economy - a term translated from Thai after His Majesty the King first uttered it publicly on Dec 4, 1997.

• OPINION

  More effort needed on sufficiency economy

  News, Sawai Boonma, Published on 07/10/2015

  » Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha's trip to New York to attend the United Nations summit generated a great deal of attention among Thais, including those in the United States. Some organised a protest near the United Nations headquarters while many more showed up to express their support. A large number who could not go to New York gathered in Los Angeles to air their views.

• OPINION

  Generals must lead way with sufficiency economy focus

  News, Sawai Boonma, Published on 02/07/2014

  » The timetable is set. If the generals keep their word, the country will hold parliamentary elections sometime late next year. Until then, they will be running an interim government as well as working with a constitution drafting committee and a national reform assembly to draw up ground rules and an agenda for governing and developing the country in the years to come.

• OPINION

  The universal truth of sufficiency economy

  News, Sawai Boonma, Published on 06/06/2012

  » The Great Recession of 2008 has been bad for most people, with one exception perhaps _ those who write about it. As I wrote in this column on April 28, 2010, I had counted 34 books on the subject published in the United States up to that point. Many more have come out since.

• OPINION

  Cabinet shuffle unlikely to kickstart growth

  News, Sawai Boonma, Published on 05/08/2015

  » As the economy continues to stagnate, speculation is getting more intense as to when the prime minister will replace some - or perhaps all - ministers in charge of the economy. Changing personnel may pacify the critics, but it is unlikely to change anything for the better. Both external and internal factors are working against any possibility of achieving robust growth in the near future.

• OPINION

  Somkid's stimulus plan an invitation to more debt

  News, Sawai Boonma, Published on 02/09/2015

  » The cabinet on Tuesday endorsed the emergency economic stimulus package proposed by the new team under the leadership of economic czar Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak.

• OPINION

  Face of change needs more than a mask

  News, Sawai Boonma, Published on 05/06/2013

  » Wearing a Guy Fawkes mask as a way of holding one's nose against the government seems to have caught on.

• OPINION

  Pawning rice is worse than pawning Thailand

  News, Sawai Boonma, Published on 05/12/2012

  » Since the launching of the rice-pawning scheme a few months ago ("pawning" is not only a correct translation of the Thai word jam nam but also reflects the sense of the scheme better than the "pledging" that many writers have used), two areas have been analysed most thoroughly: its potential impact on the budget and national debt, resulting from the large losses that will occur, and the corruption that is due to happen at various steps of the scheme. Some analysts go so far as to say that losses from this scheme will bankrupt the country and pawning rice is tantamount to pawning the country.

• OPINION

  Moderation provides key to happiness

  News, Sawai Boonma, Published on 02/01/2013

  » On June 6 of last year, I wrote in this column that the Great Recession starting in 2008 was bad for most people except those who wrote about it. Dozens of books have been published and I mentioned three that had interested me in particular _ two by Joseph Stiglitz and one by Jeffrey Sachs. These books ask more fundamental questions than most about the causes of the current economic problems.

1 2 Next Last