it's because they are using the wrong land borders or they use airports.
There are certain land borders where you pay money for the stamp. That will not change. The only thing that will affect that is you might only be allowed to do 2 land border runs per year, just like it used to be a few years ago
there is only a risk if you do border runs by plane. It's easy to live in Thailand long term with land border runs. There used to be a 2 land borders entries per calendar year limit but they took away that limit over a year ago so now it's possible to land border run non stop
the jumpers are not the average person that runs out of money. The jumpers already had severe psychological issues and then the financial troubles just was the thing that topped it off. Any mentally stable foreigner living in Thailand that runs out of money would just go back home to work and earn some more money. It's not a big deal
I know for sure at Phuket transport office anyone can get a Thai driving / motorbike licence. Even people on visa exempt stamps. It's always been this way. The only limitation is when it's time to renew it they will only give another 2 year licence, they won't give the 5 year licence to people on tourist entry stamps