AndyBlueEyes

I commend the OP on his well thought out views on living in Thailand.  I think views differ mainly because everything is in comparison to what we have experienced before coming to LOS. The main attractions of Thailand for me are the lower cost of being able to live the high life and the fact that I have a strong preference towards the looks and cultural backgrounds of certain Asian women. The weather, noise and air pollution and sanitation however leave much to be desired in comparison to the beautiful area where I am from in the US. I am sure that my views might be somewhat different if I came from other parts of the world. For me personally, Thailand is a wonderful place to temporarily live or spend my time but the fact is that I am not a Thai wannabe and am very happy with who I am and will spend the majority of my life back in my homeland.

The things I enjoy best about Thailand as opposed to the US are inexpensive massage ( I get one or two everyday) and the many beautiful Asian women  ( I do not get one everyday as my gf does not approve) and the more adventuresome style of living in a strange land where I usually do not understand the language.  Most everything else, I prefer the US expecially in area of cleanliness of water supply, food handling, culture and the arts, and variety of things to do.  I am fortunate that I am able to go back and forth between the US and LOS and enjoy the best of both worlds but if I were mandated to choose only one place to live,  it would be the good old USA even with all it's current problems .

The majority of Americans did vote with their wallets.  They voted long ago by telling the airlines that they wanted the very cheapest flights possible by buying tickets on flights on which they had to pay extra to check their baggage, pay for their food in economy class and put up with indifferent and sometimes even nasty flight attendants.  The airlines have adopted this cattle car mentality in order  to achieve  this goal and regardless of what BS they advertise, their main goal is just to get you from point A to point B in the cheapest way possible while making a profit.  Airlines in the US are generally very poorly managed at the top which is reflected in the fact that even though they have drastically cut back on standards of service, most employees (but not top management), have taken large pay cuts as a result of 9-11 which has subsequently left a bitter taste in some of their mouths and is reflected in lack of motivation on the job which is more noticeable in the customer service area.   Even with all these cutbacks, US airlines are still finding it very difficult to make a profit which is glaring testimony to their mismanagement.
Some foreign airlines are doing a much better job in the areas of customer service and maintenance so I totally agree with you that the best way is to vote with your wallets and fly those carriers.  It will probably not have any effect on the way US carriers operate as they seem to be convinced that regardless of how poor their service, customers will continue to fly them if the price is right.

The US and Thailand are so diverse depending on what region you reside that it is almost impossible to make a comparison even with something even a mundane as availability a variety of cultural food.   In many respects, Los Angeles, Calfiornia   has more in common with Bangkok than it does with Indianapolis, Indiana.  IMHO many of the advantages that Thailand has over the US quickly  disappear if you have plenty of money.  There are even loads of young beautiful women available in the US to older guys that have big bucks which takes away one of the biggest advantages of LOS or to put it another way,  I don't think we are ever going to see Donald Trump chasing young beautiful women in Thailand.

Orphans are much more trouble free girlfriends in Thailand.