OPINION

Walls of shame

Re: "Border wall won't work", (Editorial, March 18).

The Post editorial cogently outlines the many reasons why border walls are ineffective in addressing undesired and nefarious border activities. Unfortunately, one of the aspects of erecting a border wall that the editorial lists as unfavourable (ie, "constructing a 55km wall alone could cost hundreds of millions of baht") is exactly why it is so appealing to some public officials.

UN pay cuts

Re: "'People will die': Trump aid cuts threaten refugees' survival", (BP, March 15).

This is a typically anti-Trump biased article from The New York Times. According to their site, the United Nations offers "an attractive remuneration package with competitive pay and benefits". The average pay generally ranges from around US$42,000 (1.4 million baht) to over $250,000 annually.

Given that the UN secretary-general is now claiming the UN may not be able to meet its staff salary requirements without help from the United States, I suggest that in order to save the world, UN employees take a pay cut with a maximum of $75,000 per year and that all salaries be accordingly adjusted starting from a $20,000 annual minimum. This compensation package should also provide health benefits equivalent to those provided at the Cox's Bazar refugee camp in Bangladesh. Furthermore, the IMF and World Bank must comply with the same remuneration limits. In this way, at least $10 billion could be saved and given every year to the poor migrant refugees. And only $150 million per year is required to feed all the inmates at the Cox's Bazar camp. It is a winning idea. Tax the rich to feed the poor.

Acronym politics

Re: "DEI never mattered", (PostBag, March 18); & "US' DEI curbs spark local fears", (BP, March 17).

Please note that the full term is, in fact, "DEIA", short for " Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility", accessibility, of course, referring to disabled persons.

The Trump administration and Republicans, of course, deliberately and sneakily omit this last letter when they are squealing about DEIA policies because they understand the bad press they would get by removing such protections for the disabled.

Debt woes are real

Re: "Risk of financial crisis creeps ever closer", (Editorial, Feb 6); "Thailand on the brink of financial collapse", (Opinion, Feb 20).

Mr Parasuk notes that corporate debt has now reached an unprecedented level of about 130% of GDP, while the household level of debt is now so high that banks have refused to loan money any more to normal people, causing Thais to resort to using informal financial institutions that have ridiculously high interest rate levels, for their loans.

This is why the above economist is absolutely certain the Thai economy will soon collapse, but he leaves it up to the reader to decide. Some have mocked Mr Parasuk in this space for his dire economic pronouncements concerning the economy. These Smart Alecs can't accept the truth and have been unable to challenge Mr Parasuk using facts. I suggest that everyone carefully reads what the above columnist is stating here.