OPINION

Pedestrian roulette

Re: "Rider told to report over crossing crash", (BP, Jan 28) & "Police summons motorcyclist who hit Korean on crossing", (Online, Jan 27).

About 10 days ago I sent you the below comment regarding dangerous pedestrian crossings but perhaps it was too much of a hot potato for you to publish. I said the inactivity of the police encourages motorists to cross pedestrian crossings at red lights.

Today, on page 3, the Post reports "Rider told to report over crossing crash" with an elderly Korean tourist being struck by a motorist on a pedestrian crossing. Open your eyes! Walk through Bangkok and you will see that motorists do not care and police look in the other direction. I blame the Post for not checking the daily danger we pedestrians face.

Every day, I see tourists shaking their head in disbelief. But who cares? Nobody!

Border battles

Re: "Gulf of Mexico is now the 'Gulf of America'", (World, Jan 26).

With the wave of a magic wand, or actually the scrawl of a Sharpie on an executive order, a 'concept of a plan' becomes an apparent reality as the Gulf of Mexico becomes the Gulf of America, soon to be confirmed by Google Maps.

What other Trump executive orders could be confirmed on Google Maps? The border line between the US and Canada could be removed in anticipation of a 51st state executive order. Beware, as some jokes aren't funny if they become reality.

The reality of international borders is far more complex and fluid as demonstrated by the numerous disputed South China Sea maps. Google Maps doesn't seem to show any of the possible territorial borders, possibly because it's too difficult or they don't want to annoy the numerous countries involved.

Will President Trump achieve his "first day" tasks by just getting Google Maps to redraw the Ukraine-Russia border and the Israeli-Palestine territories border?

Bond blunders

Re: "Building a resilient climate future", (Opinion, Jan 29).

In this opinion piece, two researchers from the TDRI recommend the government issue catastrophe bonds, which "share" risks from natural disasters with wealthy global investors.

The usage of the word "share" here is a euphemism for the transfer of money to those who have an excess already. The authors use the Philippines' experience with this financial strategy as an example they believe Thailand should emulate.

Philippines CAT bonds issued in 2019 returned US$52.5 million (1.77 billion baht) after Typhoon Rai met the threshold requirements for investors to forfeit their investment. Typhoon Rai caused $951 million in damages and the Philippines received $52.5 million from their bond redemption -- not a highly impactful result. Similar to the Philippines, the risk of flooding in Thailand is high and CAT bonds would probably fall in the 9% to 10% interest range depending upon threshold specifications.

In this case insurance can be viewed as merely covering governmental prediction, warning, and planning failures. Wouldn't it be more prudent to invest that interest in pursuiit of tangible measures to protect people and property? It appears as though the authors acknowledge the government is so hopeless at planning that they would be better off insuring themselves against their inevitable blunders and systemic corruption.