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Hmm, I wonder why the shadowstats followed the official statistics so closely until 2010? They are higher, of course, but follow the same curve. Then all of a sudden there is a divergence between the two. What changed in 2010?
And when they say "Hawaii", do they lump in the whole state or just Hawaii island, which just has a fraction of the population in the whole state?
For what it's worth, I'm beginning to see "help wanted" signs appear in windows. Not that they are jobs that would support someone entirely, though. But Hawaii usually works with "household" income where one household is supported by multiple income streams so a member of a household would be able to now get a job and help the household prosper.
I'm also beginning to see the Big Island's economy shift away from "hospitality" and more towards diversified agriculture and other sorts of production. Just a lot of little bits of this and that. Folks with bees, folks with vanilla, folks growing lettuce, folks growing tilapia, folks making soap, folks doing crafts, folks starting little shops, etc. Most of this is sold at farmer's markets and festival/craft fairs and is just for additional income but for some of the folks, this is their entire income and they are thriving on it. Not rolling in dough, but making ends meet and being pretty happy so that's success in my mind. For a lot of these diversified things, they are sort of a second job or income stream or an additional income stream for a household. I don't know if or how this sort of industry would be reported in their statistics.
So perhaps while it shows higher unemployment, that means more folks are employing themselves? Traditional employers don't seem to have their employee's best interests in mind anymore. Employers don't seem to have any loyalty towards their employees yet expect the employees to be loyal to them. Loyalty is a two way street, IMHO. So, if folks are able to make it on their own without a traditional job, wouldn't that be better for them? If you get enough folks out there creating their own jobs, I'd think it would be a much stronger economy, too.
John Williams used to work for the FED govt. and got fed up with the lies and bs they were feeding the public. You can check him out. A very upstanding citizen, an old timer noted for personal integrity.
I work in California, have my own biz, so am acutely aware of the plight of new homeowners and their ability or inability to handle the mortgage pmnts - the situation has gotten so out of control again that even new owners are defaulting within 3-6 months of buying a new home. I sell them a water system within one week of moving into their new home. I know their finances intimately because I take a credit app.
I'm a Hawaii novice but it was not hard to observe that many Haqwaiians have double and triple jobs just to make ends meet. Combine that with the high prices and it puts a damper on living in Paradise. A Hawaiian told me that the survival method extant is many, many family members move in with Ma and Pa or just get a place together and share.
On my next trip I intend to study these aspects that I didn't have sufficient time for on the first trip.
We've had the same thing here in Hawaii because we don't have the same level of income generation that the typical mainlander does. Except instead of being the wealthy US citizen, we get to be the 3rd world country where everyone else with a higher income can buy everything out from under us.
Thailand is pretty famous for it's sex trade, but what do the Thai males do for income? How does all the farang coming over to Thailand impact their ability to attract women of their own? I doubt there are many farang females coming over to pay Thai men to meet up with them.
Oahu has the Korean bars which might be somewhat similar to the Thai bars, I'd expect. Just another way to extract money from tourists. Do they pay taxes on their income or is it all in the shadow economy?
Spain might be someplace to move to, what with their recent economic implosion. I think whole villages are up for sale at fairly low prices. I saw some castles listed online pretty inexpensively, but they did need a bit of fixing up.
We've had the same thing here in Hawaii because we don't have the same level of income generation that the typical mainlander does. Except instead of being the wealthy US citizen, we get to be the 3rd world country where everyone else with a higher income can buy everything out from under us.
Thailand is pretty famous for it's sex trade, but what do the Thai males do for income? How does all the farang coming over to Thailand impact their ability to attract women of their own? I doubt there are many farang females coming over to pay Thai men to meet up with them.
Oahu has the Korean bars which might be somewhat similar to the Thai bars, I'd expect. Just another way to extract money from tourists. Do they pay taxes on their income or is it all in the shadow economy?
Spain might be someplace to move to, what with their recent economic implosion. I think whole villages are up for sale at fairly low prices. I saw some castles listed online pretty inexpensively, but they did need a bit of fixing up.
Spain first:
Checked it out thoroughly - yes, Brits are leaving in droves because Spain govt. threatened them with double taxation and declaration of their assets back home too. Brits got scared and in the ensuing confusion hammered the market with thousands of for sale - causing property prices to drop further and in the end anyway many weere just abandoned as they just went back to the UK.
Now Portugal is trying to attract these and other settlers as its economy is in the toilet too.
Spain real estate has lower to go, I'd say 40% lower. Its outstanding for a holiday now but NOT to buy property. Be patient if you like Spain. I do too. don't pull the trigger just yet.
Goldman Sachs also did a study and said something similar - I'll see if I can dig up the report.
We've had the same thing here in Hawaii because we don't have the same level of income generation that the typical mainlander does. Except instead of being the wealthy US citizen, we get to be the 3rd world country where everyone else with a higher income can buy everything out from under us.
Thailand is pretty famous for it's sex trade, but what do the Thai males do for income? How does all the farang coming over to Thailand impact their ability to attract women of their own? I doubt there are many farang females coming over to pay Thai men to meet up with them.
Oahu has the Korean bars which might be somewhat similar to the Thai bars, I'd expect. Just another way to extract money from tourists. Do they pay taxes on their income or is it all in the shadow economy?
Spain might be someplace to move to, what with their recent economic implosion. I think whole villages are up for sale at fairly low prices. I saw some castles listed online pretty inexpensively, but they did need a bit of fixing up.
What do the Thai males do for income? Buggerall, is what. They can't do much. They're stuck with low wages. But that's not the reason the Thai women leave them. The men just do not know how to be considerate to women, many beat their women left and right and cheat on them often right in front of their eyes. Its tragic. The Thai women you see with foreigners are 98% runaways from Thai men.
And the irony is that Thai women make awesome wives, super loyal, super care-giving, abs. top-notch companions. Hard to beat. And here's the kicker, the abs. top ingredient of a Thai woman - supremely ultra-feminine.
I tell my buddies stateside to not come here with their wives - why? Because anything longer than 3 weeks continuous here, its over for the american woman, she does not stand a chance.
That's just the way it is.
Video damatizes this in spades - and the other woman is Thai
Well, telling your stateside buddies not to come with their wives is going to make you less than popular with half the population right off the bat. Hawaii is pretty much a family oriented state, it's grounded in family and ohana, so unless you only have single men visit with you in Thailand, that's not going to go over well with most ohana in Hawaii.
My single male friend went to Thailand and fell into the Thai sex trade pile up. He ended up with a pregnant Thai girl following him around. He's never married her or ever done a test to see if the kid is actually his, but they've been living together - along with the three other kids she already had - for the past ten years. As he told me once when I inquired if he minded that she was pretty much with him just for his money, the answer was "at least she loves me for something". He is now speaking much more Thai and she still doesn't speak much English. He can't bring her into the US, even if he marries her. I forget exactly why. I think it was that he can't marry her since he bought her family a grocery store so they'd stop asking him for money. Something about she can't own property if she marries a farang and as a farang (foreigner in Thai) he can't own property either.
Thailand seems to have a lot of similarities with Hawaii in that outside economies are putting pressure on the local one. As a farang with more income than the locals, you can out buy the locals so they suck wind. Kinda fun for you, of course, but kinda hard on the locals, especially the men.
My friend had a pretty fragile ego and he preferred Asian to typical mainland women, although I don't think he actually had much of a grasp on their actual typical personality. He mostly sees what the media tells him to see usually. He did marry one Asian girl but there was a huge underlying cultural clash and it didn't work out. The rebound was Thailand.
I'm sure there's a lot more to Thailand than the sex trade, but that's about all that gets mentioned half the time. Kinda like the real Hawaii versus what the Hawaii Visitors Bureau puts out.
$100 is the discounted price for 1 hour approx. - I'm assuming that the usual price would be $120-160
I did not try it out since I noo my next stop was LOS-1 (Land of Smiles-1) aka Thailand aka Massage Central so I could wait it out. When in LOS-1 I get 2-3 massages per week and each one might last from 1-3 hours - we are talking foot to head with particular emphasis on the back, neck etc. If I opt for oil massages, a supremely effervescent, ebullient oil is selected with sooooo stunning an aroma that it sends me to another plateau of restfulness in a heartbeat.
The quality of massage in the latter one was akin to
Take me disappearing thru' the smoke rings of my mind
Down the foggy ruins of time
Far past the frozen leaves, onto the windy beach,
Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow
Yes to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free
Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands
With our memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves
Then we forget about today until tomorrow
These massage girls were relatively new and had not seen me before so were talking amongst themselves oblivious to the fact that I speak Thai quite well, not great but at least a Level 3 (out of a possible 10 on a strict evaluation).
This was what they were saying .....
"He is from Saharat America (USA), make sure you give him full attention and communicate with him from time to time to ascertain whether the pressure applied is enough etc., men like him from Saharat are the best tippers EVER anywhere in Thailand and are almost always thorough gentlemen"
Made my day, baby.
I gave them a tip that brought sheer pleasure to their eyes - and seeing that it thrilled me too. These girls are after all very hard workers and come from poor families. I help any way I can and in any event good service brings the best out of Joe.
Well, telling your stateside buddies not to come with their wives is going to make you less than popular with half the population right off the bat. Hawaii is pretty much a family oriented state, it's grounded in family and ohana, so unless you only have single men visit with you in Thailand, that's not going to go over well with most ohana in Hawaii.
The Hawaiian couple from Big Island got this info from me too. Yet they will visit me - she knows I will not lead them into harm's way. I am the guide - there is so much natural beauty in Thailand, fab sceneries, restaurants, cultural activities and so on, its easy to steer clear of or quickly breeze thru' temptation zones
FYI this is a beautiful young couple in their very early 30s - they were made for each other. They are my Hawaiian friends for life. Ain't nothing untoward going to happen to them, not on Joe's watch that's for sure.
This same lady is going to send me Kona coffee from her farm - along with some other Hawaiian goodies by Post just as soon as I can ascertain that Customs will not hassle me.
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Big Island versus World's Massage Central
