Saturday December 21st 2024, Bangkok, Thailand

Last night Zach and I went to Chabad for shabbat dinner. There was over 350 people there. It was interesting because it was mostly families and older couples. The Israeli obsession with Thailand is a little strange. Maybe after being here longer I will understand. After shabbat dinner we went out to a rooftop bar which was sub par. It had a nice view of the city though. Throughout the night we chatted to a variety of people, mostly Europeans. Throughout this trip it has been interesting understanding young European sentiment of the world and America. Overall, young Europeans are very sour towards America and the greater world. They see America as a world dominator which steps over others to win. They continuously overlook the plethora of advancements and improvements in quality of life the US has brought into the globe. The question then lies, would you rather have China, Russia, or Iran as the global strongman? I think Europeans are salty and a bit jealous of the US because their countries and economies are moving in the wrong direction and they do not make a lot of money. It is crazy that throughout this trip everyone associates American people with being rich and only view me as a person with money. They often overlook that we work hard and that is why we have the best economy in the world and that is why we have money. In the EU you have the freedom to move country to country. A young Italian told us last night that Spain, Portugal, and Italy are where all the young people flock to for quality of life perks, but lacks in career development. After reading this week's edition of The Economist, I learned that Spain, Italy and Greece were indeed some of the world's best performing economies this year. Also I want to mention a word about inflation really quick since it has become a buzzword since COVID. Inflation is inherent in the economy and actually good for economic development. Moderate, controlled inflation encourages spending and investment. If you know your money is going to lose value overtime by being inflated, it spurs you to spend it on goods and invest in the marketplace to grow your money. Increased transactions in the marketplace is positive. So now you can see, healthy inflation supports demand and helps avoid deflation, which leads to reduced spending and economic stagnation. Around 2% per year is a good number to balance growth without eroding purchasing power too quick. Since COVID inflation has gone crazy, up to 5% YoY, but it is trending in the right direction now.