The Democrat’s Populist Progress
On November 21st, 2009, the prime minister of Thailand is visiting various provinces near Chang Mai. He is visiting those provinces for the opening of a program that will help country people pay off their loan sharks. This program will hopefully work as past programs have not been successful.
Under the Thaksin administration, they gave a million baht to every village as a way to deal with the loan shark problem. If did not work. They did pay off the loan sharks. Obviously, they would eventually run out of money and have to ask for new loans from the loan sharks as the program did not continue beyond the million baht. This program done by the current administration will hopefully be a more permanent solution to this loan shark problem.
This program is also a way hopefully for the Democrat Party to get voters from the North and the Northeast. Their traditional power base has been in Bangkok and the South. Thaksin and his people were able to win over these people with programs like the million baht program and the health insurance program where you only had to pay 30 baht for anything that you did medically. They also gave the people free cows. Thaksin would also literally give money to people on the streets. The Democrats are attempting to win the people of the North and the Northeast by attempting to do a populist program like the Thaksin people.