Thai politics by Andrew Spooner

[Gustaf]

It was the 'typical pensioner in Western Europe' bit that interested me, not any comparison to other ex-pats or to Thais. It's really only anywhere near close to true if you just look at exchange rates.

Oh. Well, that's certainly not true compared to Sweden. A Swedish pensioner has about 11 000-16 000 SEK a month (depending on age) which translates into about $1 750-$2 500, which is certainly not twice the rate of $2 000.

And, of course, $2 000 buys you a lot more in Thailand than in Sweden.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

It was the 'typical pensioner in Western Europe' bit that interested me, not any comparison to other ex-pats or to Thais. It's really only anywhere near close to true if you just look at exchange rates.

Oh. Well, that's certainly not true compared to Sweden. A Swedish pensioner has about 11 000-16 000 SEK a month (depending on age) which translates into about $1 750-$2 500, which is certainly not twice the rate of $2 000.

And, of course, $2 000 buys you a lot more in Thailand than in Sweden.

Sorry, I was playing with litotes again

[opebo]

It was the 'typical pensioner in Western Europe' bit that interested me, not any comparison to other ex-pats or to Thais. It's really only anywhere near close to true if you just look at exchange rates.

Oh. Well, that's certainly not true compared to Sweden. A Swedish pensioner has about 11 000-16 000 SEK a month (depending on age) which translates into about $1 750-$2 500, which is certainly not twice the rate of $2 000.

And, of course, $2 000 buys you a lot more in Thailand than in Sweden.

Guys, I said I make about $1,400/month, and that the typical pensioner here has nearly twice that.  I can't speak for Europe, but I looked up on the Social Security web site that the average retirement benefit for a worker is $1,180/month.. given that we are speaking about male retirees here, it would probably be slightly higher given their higher incomes during working life.  Since these retirees come from a generation when there were still private pensions and generally better economic times, they usually have another $1,000-1,500 in other incomes, so something like double my income is not at all unusual, and in fact rather common for these elderly gentlemen. (of course the vast majority are in fact from Europe - primarily Britain, Germany, Netherlands, and Scandinavian countries, and to all appearances and anecdotes these people also receive reasonable pensions).

[minionofmidas]

It was the 'typical pensioner in Western Europe' bit that interested me, not any comparison to other ex-pats or to Thais.

I see the "here" is misplaced in that post, but I would still think it was very very clear from the context that ex-pat pensioners were meant.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

It was the 'typical pensioner in Western Europe' bit that interested me, not any comparison to other ex-pats or to Thais.

I see the "here" is misplaced in that post, but I would still think it was very very clear from the context that ex-pat pensioners were meant.

Oh, that might be what he meant (and, reading later posts in the thread that I couldn't be bothered with, it is what he meant), but it's certainly not very clear.

[minionofmidas]

Meh, I read it as that anyhow.
Then again, English is not your native language.