Thailand 50Th On 'where To Be Born Index' 2013

[gobbledonk]

http://www.economist.com/news/21566430-where-be-born-2013-lottery-life

 

I know - lists are for losers, blah blah - whatever. It helps to pass the time for those of us in Switzerland and Oz who wonder where the hell the keys to our Porsche have disappeared to.

 

Top 10

1. Switzerland

2. Australia

3. Norway

4. Sweden

5. Denmark

6. Singapore

7. New Zealand

8. Netherlands

9. Canada

10. Hong Kong

 

The fact that Japan comes in at 25 (!) tells me the editors are interested in something other than 'GDP per capita' - over to you, T360ers.

 

(gotta love this from that puff piece:

 

Switzerland scored terribly on both counts. In the film “The Third Manâ€, Orson Welles’s character, the rogue Harry Lime, famously says that Italy for 30 years had war, terror and murder under the Borgias but in that time produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance; Switzerland had 500 years of peace and democracy—and produced the cuckoo clock.

[Flashermac]

Bangkok world's 3rd most visited city

 

 

Bangkok still ranks third in MasterCard's annual list of most visited cities in the world, according to Forbes magazine.

 

In the Global Destination Cities Index for 2012, London remains on top of the list, followed by Paris, Bangkok and Singapore.

 

The report says Bangkok has the highest total number of visitors (12.2 million) and visitors' spending (US$19.3 billion) in Asia-Pacific. The capital city of Thailand is also in front of Paris as the world's third-ranking city by visitor spending.

 

London ranks first by visitor spending, followed by New York, according to MasterCard.

 

"Despite sluggish economic growth around the world, the number of people travelling abroad continues to increase," the report says

 

 

http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/328835/bangkok-3rd-in-world-most-visited-cities

[Flashermac]

"London ranks first by visitor spending, followed by New York, according to MasterCard." Comparing prices in New York and London with Bankok, this comes as no surprise.

[chelseafan]

I should imagine they have indexed for cost of living and currency.

[Flashermac]

I should hope so too, but I wouldn't take it for granted.

 

I recall a survey of international cities' expenses in the mid 1980s that placed Bangkok above London, NYC and Paris! When you read at how they had made the survey, you coughed your coffee over the newspaper. They went by such things as the price of a steak dinner, a bottle of wine, a Mercedes etc - just the sort of things Thais buy.

[gobbledonk]

Good point - Thais prefer BMW, Porsche and imported champagne !

 

Scanning a list of Thailand's richest families the other day, it quickly becomes apparent that the top 1 per cent in BKK is every bit as filthy rich as the top 1 per cent anywhere .....

[zzzz]

There's an old saying: Money is like manure. If you spread it around it does a lot of good. But if you pile it up in one place [ex., top 1% of population] it stinks like hell.

[TheCorinthian]

Switzerland scored terribly on both counts. In the film “The Third Manâ€, Orson Welles’s character, the rogue Harry Lime, famously says that Italy for 30 years had war, terror and murder under the Borgias but in that time produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance; Switzerland had 500 years of peace and democracy—and produced the cuckoo clock.

 

Awesome!!!!