Thailand Lounge and Chat area

[QUOTE=Smoothy;2355553]The place that really surprises me is Swensen's ice cream. Those are all over the place and really popular. Even during the big fat free yogurt craze, Swensen's extremely fattening real ice cream was more popular in Thailand.[/QUOTE]Swensen's is pretty good and Cold Stone Creamery is another purveyor that is not too shabby. I like Cold Creamery's Chocolate Peanut Butter flavor. I had a scoop of it in Glorietta 3, Makati recently. Ha Ha. But have you ever tried Godiva soft Chocolate Ice Cream? HOLY MOTHER OF GOD! I have never tasted a richer, more decadent chocolate ice cream. The sugar/calorie content must be thru the roof, but it is the best tasting ice cream in the world, IMHO. LOL. Sadly or maybe fortunately, it is not sold in Godiva Chocolate stores in the USA as far as I know. So I have only found two Godiva Stores; one in Macau opposite the Grand Emperor Hotel and the other one in Jakarta in the Plaza Indonesia ground floor, that sell this ice cream. I don't usually go on and on about ice cream. I like it on somewhat rare occasions as much as the next guy or gal to satisfy a sugar craving, it's no big deal, but this Godiva stuff is truly something else and it is very addictive. Give it a taste next time you are in Plaza Indonesia and you will know what I mean.

P.S. I liked your recent report on Ruth Chris Steak House. I know a great one about 5 miles from my home in Florida, but not all Ruth Chris restaurants are good. That is why I took note of your recent post.

[QUOTE=NattyBumpo;2355792]have you ever tried Godiva soft Chocolate Ice Cream? HOLY MOTHER OF GOD! I have never tasted a richer, more decadent chocolate ice cream. The sugar/calorie content must be thru the roof, but it is the best tasting ice cream in the world, IMHO. LOL. Sadly or maybe fortunately, it is not sold in Godiva Chocolate stores in the USA as far as I know. So I have only found two Godiva Stores; one in Macau opposite the Grand Emperor Hotel and the other one in Jakarta in the Plaza Indonesia ground floor, that sell this ice cream. I don't usually go on and on about ice cream. I like it occasionally as much as the next guy or gal, it's no big deal, but this Godiva stuff is truly something else and it is very addictive. Give it a taste next time you are in Jakarta and you will know what I mean.

P.S. I liked your recent report on the Ruth Chris Steak house. I know a great one about 5 miles from my home in Florida, but not all Ruth Chris restaurants are great. That is why I took note of your recent post.[/QUOTE]My niece's first job ever was working at the mall at a Godiva chocolate shop. She got a big discount, so, yes, I have tried the ice cream and every chocolate in the place. LOL. I used to get the milkshake there with that ice cream. Delicious.

Take the Jakarta Ruth's Chris post cautiously. This last visit last week it was absolutely great, the time before that a year ago it was not.

[QUOTE=NattyBumpo;2355792]But have you ever tried Godiva soft Chocolate Ice Cream? HOLY MOTHER OF GOD! I have never tasted a richer, more decadent chocolate ice cream. The sugar/calorie content must be thru the roof, but it is the best tasting ice cream in the world, IMHO. LOL. Sadly or maybe fortunately, it is not sold in Godiva Chocolate stores in the USA as far as I know. So I have only found two Godiva Stores; one in Macau opposite the Grand Emperor Hotel and the other one in Jakarta in the Plaza Indonesia ground floor, that sell this ice cream. I don't usually go on and on about ice cream. I like it on somewhat rare occasions as much as the next guy or gal to satisfy a sugar craving, it's no big deal, but this Godiva stuff is truly something else and it is very addictive. Give it a taste next time you are in Plaza Indonesia and you will know what I mean. [/QUOTE]There is a Godiva store in China where I live, I haven't been into it but now I'll go and see if they have ice cream. Otherwise I'll be in Macau on Saturday so I'll give it a try.

[QUOTE=NattyBumpo;2355792]Swensen's is pretty good and Cold Stone Creamery is another purveyor that is not too shabby. I like Cold Creamery's Chocolate Peanut Butter flavor. I had a scoop of it in Glorietta 3, Makati recently. Ha Ha. But have you ever tried Godiva soft Chocolate Ice Cream? HOLY MOTHER OF GOD! I have never tasted a richer, more decadent chocolate ice cream. The sugar/calorie content must be thru the roof, but it is the best tasting ice cream in the world, IMHO. LOL. Sadly or maybe fortunately, it is not sold in Godiva Chocolate stores in the USA as far as I know. So I have only found two Godiva Stores; one in Macau opposite the Grand Emperor Hotel and the other one in Jakarta in the Plaza Indonesia ground floor, that sell this ice cream. I don't usually go on and on about ice cream. I like it on somewhat rare occasions as much as the next guy or gal to satisfy a sugar craving, it's no big deal, but this Godiva stuff is truly something else and it is very addictive. Give it a taste next time you are in Plaza Indonesia and you will know what I mean.

P.S. I liked your recent report on Ruth Chris Steak House. I know a great one about 5 miles from my home in Florida, but not all Ruth Chris restaurants are good. That is why I took note of your recent post.[/QUOTE]There was a Godiva branch in Central world now moved to Central Chit Lom. May also be one in Paragon. No better scoop if you are a chocoholic. Not an ice cream treat but another excellent Belgium chocolate at The Duc De Praslin RSU Tower Soi 31.

As I see it, some interesting situations for the risk takers among us. Need an offshore account to execute.

Take 2.6 on the exchanges on a no deal Brexit in 2019 hedged with shorting the pound against the Swissie. On current December '19 contract pricing it should give a 10% return assuming a 5% move either way.

A little further out Trump is evens to get reelected and a position on the dollar against the yen assuming a similar 5% shift should yield similar returns.

[QUOTE=Franciscass;2355236]I got an idea why don't we ET Smoothy yourself and myself meet for an evening get pissed and end up wrecking a go go when the disagreements on Trump get really out of hand, then shake hands and agree to do it all again the next night.[/QUOTE]Leave out the politics and you can count me in.

[QUOTE=NattyBumpo;2355941]Leave out the politics and you can count me in.[/QUOTE]OK but can we still wreck the go go.

Just curious if any of you guys have flown Nok Airlines and if so did you hit on the infamous stewardesses and have any luck. I'm flying Nok DMK (Bangkok) to HKT (Phuket) next month for that expressed purpose. Nok Nok. Who's there?

[QUOTE=NattyBumpo;2355243]...

The following quote is from the Washington Post, not exactly a pro Trump news outfit; " President Obama is the only president since Herbert Hoover to not have guided the US economy to 3 percent growth in any year he was in office." That was Obama's new normal in a nutshell. The weakest economic recovery since WW 2.[/QUOTE]I must have missed this added comment earlier.

First of all, Obama was the first president challenged with recovering an economy that was the worst decline SINCE (R) Herbert Hoover's disastrous Great Depression contributions.

Second, Trump has not yet produced or presided over a better than 2.9% GDP growth year either and likely never will. Particularly since Trump's front loaded spending of $2 Trillion+ to buy one has already shot its wad and failed to do so. And it is doubtful any Congress will give him the go ahead to make that mistake again unless the spending looks a whole lot like a Dem infrastructure expenditure and nothing like another Repub Supply-Side/Trickle-Down waste of serious money.

Third, I love that oft repeated criticism of Obama's historic (and still somewhat ongoing) economic recovery. Especially from seemingly anti Dem, pro Repub folks. LOL. So HIS latest Dem economic recovery from the latest Great Repub Depression/Recession was not nearly as strong and fast as all the previous Dem economic recoveries from all the previous Great Repub Depressions/Recessions, huh?

Really? That's the big criticism of it considering this time and for the first time ever the Congressional Repubs vowed on Obama's first inauguration night in the midst of the Niagara Falls plunge in that latest Great Repub Depression/Recession to remain as unified as possible in blocking, thwarting and slow-walking his and the other Dems' every effort to pull the country out of it?

For shame, for shame. What is the consistent, historical, century-long pattern of Dem economic recoveries from Great Repub Depressions/Recessions coming to! Lol.

Yet he and the Dems still managed to produce another remarkable Dem economic recovery from another Great Repub Depression/Recession anyway. Damn, that really rankled the Congressional Repubs and Repubs in general, didn't it?

Btw, in another example of lazy Main Stream and financial media, I see those charts appear to credit those particular upticks to the November 2016 election result. But I see no mention that a 2.3% GDP growth rate for 2017 was already projected by the Congressional Budget Office months before that election and on the assumption that no new major economic law or legislation would be passed. Which is exactly what happened in 2017; no new major economic legislation was passed until the last week of the year and the U.S. economy was therefore still moving on the economic legislation that was in place prior to the election.

With Trump's magnificent presence in the White House? Oops. It looks like 2017 came in UNDER the CBO's already (made in early/mid 2016) projected 2.3% GDP growth rate for 2017 and came in at 2.2% instead. Another UNDER performance from the economy handed to him for Trump.

Let's face it, if anyone is complaining about the current US economy under the Trump admin, they are just anti Trump politically.

[QUOTE=Smoothy;2356210]Let's face it, if anyone is complaining about the current US economy under the Trump admin, they are just anti Trump politically.[/QUOTE]Dude, look at the long / short term US bond yield curve. Just sayin'. However, this discussion doesn't belong in this thread.

[QUOTE=Smoothy;2356210]Let's face it, if anyone is complaining about the current US economy under the Trump admin, they are just anti Trump politically.[/QUOTE]I'm not complaining about it in general. It just isn't as good on almost any important economic measure as the economy Obama produced, presided over and handed Trump on January 20, 2017. Or as good as any number of Dem administrations before him. So he ought to just take it and STFU about how all of their results were crap but his are "the greatest ever." When someone does that, they are de facto discouraging superior economic policy and stewardship in the future and encouraging crappy economic policy and stewardship instead. "Hey, let's do more of this dumb thing I did that cost and wasted a ton of money and under performed what came before! MAGA!" That is a problem that ought to be pointed out early and often.

I don't see a classic, patented Great Repub Depression/Recession on the near horizon. Yet. Although Trump is certainly doing his best to trigger one with his trade war and tariff taxes on the American consumer.

[QUOTE=JohnClayton;2356216]Dude, look at the long / short term US bond yield curve. Just sayin'. However, this discussion doesn't belong in this thread.[/QUOTE]Who said this discussion doesn't belong in this thread? I mean, unless Smoothy's post and yours were just now moved from another thread to this one, which I haven't seen was the case unless I missed it.

Admin moved these discussions to this thread. So I'm guessing they do belong here.

[QUOTE=EihTooms;2356219]Who said this discussion doesn't belong in this thread? I mean, unless Smoothy's post and yours were just now moved from another thread to this one, which I haven't seen was the case unless I missed it.

Admin moved these discussions to this thread. So I'm guessing they do belong here.[/QUOTE]Are Smoothy and Eihtooms the same person? I have noticed Eihtooms is backwards Smoothie. Thank you in advance, and sincerely Notyalc Nhoj.

[QUOTE=EihTooms;2356176]...

Btw, in another example of lazy Main Stream and financial media, I see those charts appear to credit those particular upticks to the November 2016 election result. But I see no mention that a 2.3% GDP growth rate for 2017 was already projected by the Congressional Budget Office months before that election and on the assumption that no new major economic law or legislation would be passed. Which is exactly what happened in 2017; no new major economic legislation was passed until the last week of the year and the U.S. economy was therefore still moving on the economic legislation that was in place prior to the election.

With Trump's magnificent presence in the White House? Oops. It looks like 2017 came in UNDER the CBO's already (made in early/mid 2016) projected 2.3% GDP growth rate for 2017 and came in at 2.2% instead. Another UNDER performance from the economy handed to him for Trump.[/QUOTE]I like to correct the numbers if my memory is off by much. So, for those who might not even know periodic non partisan Congressional Budget Office economic projections are "a thing", these are good sources to know about:

[B]An Update to the Budget and Economic Outlook: 2016 to 2026
August 23, 2016[/B]
[URL]https://www.cbo.gov/publication/51908[/URL]
[QUOTE]...
[b]Economic Growth[/b]
In real terms (that is, with adjustments to exclude the effects of inflation), GDP rose at an annual rate of 1.0 percent in the first half of calendar year 2016. However, CBO expects that the economy will expand more rapidly in the coming months, with GDP growing by 2.0 percent over the whole of 2016 and by 2.4 percent in 2017 mainly because the major forces restraining the growth of investment, such as a decline in oil prices, have begun to subside (see figure below). Economic growth is expected to slow in 2018 and fall below but remain close to the growth of potential (maximum sustainable) GDP in 2019 and 2020. Most of the growth in output during the coming years will be driven by consumers, businesses, and home builders, CBO anticipates.[/QUOTE]Mind you, these projections can only be done on the assumption that no new law or economic legislation is passed in the interim. Once a new, major economic law is passed, all projections change accordingly.

So, in August 2016, months before the November election, the projection was for a 2.4% Real Growth rate in GDP for 2017. Since Trump spent that entire first year doing nothing but playing golf, thinking up insulting nicknames for his critics, tweeting hateful, divisive directives to his slavish supporters and eating buckets of KFC at Midnight (similar to his second and third year so far), no new economic legislation was passed until the last week of 2017.

Actually, even though there is no chance in the world Trump knew these kinds of routine, periodic and largely accurate projections by the CBO were "a thing", I have no doubt that Moscow Mitch McConnell, the Repub Senate Majority Leader, knew all about them. Therefore, it was probably his idea to slow-walk and delay any economic legislation on the table to be passed by them until AFTER they locked in that projected 2.4% Growth rate for that first year of the Trump presidency that was already handed to them by Obama since it was quite likely to be higher and less costly than anything his Majority and Trump could produce anyway. And they could then take credit for it as far as low information voters were concerned.

Eventually, this was the actual Real GDP Growth rate for 2017:

[URL]https://www.google.com/search?q=Real[/URL]+GDP+growth+for+the+USA +economy+for+2017&oq=Real+GDP+growth+for+the+USA +economy+for+2017+&aqs=chrome. 69 i57.22429 j1 j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8.

[QUOTE]2.3% annual change (2017)[/QUOTE]I just wanted to correct my earlier memory of 2017's Real GDP Growth Rate coming in at 2.2% under Trump's nothingness that year vs the 2.3% that was projected by the CBO long before the election. The actual numbers were that it came in at 2.3% Real Growth vs the projected 2.4%. And I thought it might be useful for everyone here to know those kinds of projections exist.