Up2U
July 1st, 2015, 18:44
Sex shops, street bars survive government's graft crackdown
No change, other than costlier bribes, for Thailand's 'shadow economy'
1 Jul 2015
FernтАЩs cocktail bar appears each night on a sidewalk between a group of scantily-clad women from the next-door go-go bar and a noodle stall near one of BangkokтАЩs infamous red-light districts. By morning it has vanished.
The bar, the prostitution, even the food stall are illegal, part of a shadow economy that one economist estimates is worth more than two-fifths of the nation's gross domestic product. The government says it has cracked down on corruption, and that's the reason why the country has the slowest economic growth among developing nations in East Asia. Yet on the streets of the capital, there's little sign of any difference.
Payments to bribe officials and mafia are higher now, so everyone is earning less, said Fern, who uses an alias because the bar she's been running for almost five years is unlicensed. She said it has become more expensive since the army took over because the people she pays said they also have to pay more........ (read more).....
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general ... -crackdown (http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general/609672/sex-shops-street-bars-survive-government-graft-crackdown)
No change, other than costlier bribes, for Thailand's 'shadow economy'
1 Jul 2015
FernтАЩs cocktail bar appears each night on a sidewalk between a group of scantily-clad women from the next-door go-go bar and a noodle stall near one of BangkokтАЩs infamous red-light districts. By morning it has vanished.
The bar, the prostitution, even the food stall are illegal, part of a shadow economy that one economist estimates is worth more than two-fifths of the nation's gross domestic product. The government says it has cracked down on corruption, and that's the reason why the country has the slowest economic growth among developing nations in East Asia. Yet on the streets of the capital, there's little sign of any difference.
Payments to bribe officials and mafia are higher now, so everyone is earning less, said Fern, who uses an alias because the bar she's been running for almost five years is unlicensed. She said it has become more expensive since the army took over because the people she pays said they also have to pay more........ (read more).....
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general ... -crackdown (http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general/609672/sex-shops-street-bars-survive-government-graft-crackdown)