17.00-Mark’s populus policies are running into resistance, by Pukky, this blog’s neutral economic analyst

 

Mark's smell the roses as populus wins voters but hurt the economy

Matichion newspaper reported cases, in separate stories, of populus money running into separate walls of resistance. Echoing what Thaksin said in a phone in to the Red Shirts a few days ago, a For Thai MP said the following:

“If you follow the academics and the Bank of Thailand, all of them are against just giving out money-like the 2,000 baht give away, because it indicates lack of financial discipline that will also hurt foreign confidence in Thailand. The government must open-up and allow for parliament to scrutinize the spending, because only this will result in responsible policies,” Matichon quoted a For Thai Party MP as saying.

Mark’s populus policies are running into several walls. First micro-wise, in one case, Matichon reported that the extension of the 2,000 baht give away to anyone making under 15,000 baht a month, will now include grass-roots leaders, namely village headmen and small community government leaders. This new addition by Mark, is running into funding difficulties as Korn is refusing to answer questions on where the extra money, expected to be in the billions of baht, will come from.

“He just ran into his car and drove off not answering the question,” Matichion reported of Korn’s actions at the government house.

In another micro-case, of Mark’s populus policies running into walls, the Minister of Education, decided to increase the funding to support students by 10,000 million baht. With the addition support, he said that the student assiatant fund has surplus left to support the give away. The agency that supervises the fund said however, that the extra 10,000 million baht funding will dry up the student assiatant fund, leaving it vulnerable to collapse.

“We can support only 1,500 billion in extra spending, but will go ahead and drain the fund to please the Minister,” said the funding management head.

Apart from problems at the implimentation level, at the Macro Economic-wise, Matichon reported that in parliament Mark’s populus policy spending is coming up against many who are looking for “more” responsible spending-such as during the Thaksin time when Thaksin decided to sheve many populus projects because he had no money and refused to borrow.

However, Mark is planning to borrow money to support the Democrats populus spending. Matichon reported that Mark’s populus policies may drive Thailand’s total public debt up to close to 50% of GDP and that is a threat to financial stability. 

“Mark’s populus spending indicates a lack of financial discipline,” the For Thai Party said, adding that apart from the 50% to GDP staggering figure, the government budget deficit is expected to explode to be at 5.5% of GDP-another very high number because normally sound fiscal position sees the budget deficit at a maximum of 3% of GDP.