Economy
The Coming Currency War: Digital Money vs. the Dollar (Thomas R.)
Such a future, of course, might be a disappointment to many libertarians and tech-savvy investors who are pinning their hopes (and in some cases their money) on private cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.
US allies invoke treaty to pressure Venezuela’s Maduro (Sparky1)
Many of the countries that signed the 1947 Rio Treaty already recognize opposition leader Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s legitimate leader. He declared himself interim president in January, citing what many saw as Maduro’s fraudulent re-election last year.
Several nations have even imposed travel bans and frozen assets, although not in any collective manner.
Americans, behind in the race to build retirement savings, take steps to catch up (Thomas R.)
Gen Xers, Denerstein says, were caught between the phaseout of traditional company pensions and the rollout of 401(K) plans. They faced mid-career layoffs during the Great Recession of 2007-09 that set back their careers and investments, as well as stagnating wages during the slow recovery from the downturn, he says. Thirty-one percent of Gen Xers cited inadequate income as the main reason they fell behind, as did 27% of boomers.
IMF Staff Discussion Notes: A Capital Market Union For Europe (Sparky1)
Proceeding methodically, the note identifies three key barriers to greater capital market integration in Europe: transparency, regulatory quality, and insolvency practices. Based on these findings, the note urges three policy priorities, focused on the three barriers. There is no roadblock—such steps should prove feasible without a new grand bargain.
The $100 Trillion Opportunity: The Race To Provide Banking To The World’s Poor (Thomas R.)
Dingle’s fortunes took a dramatic turn after she responded to a Facebook ad for Tala, a Santa Monica-based startup that makes small loans through a smartphone app. After granting Tala access to her phone, through which the app cleverly parses mobile data to assess a borrower’s risk, she got a 30-day, $20 loan. She paid 15% interest and used the money to buy cold cuts, hamburgers and hot dogs. She marked them up 40% and sold them door-to-door, earning $4 in profit after paying back the interest and a small processing fee.
Facebook says ‘tens of thousands’ of apps suspended over privacy issues (Thomas R.)
The unsealed documents in a state court in Boston, part of a separate investigation by the Massachusetts attorney general into Facebook, indicate 10,000 apps were flagged for potentially mishandling personal data from Facebook users. Most of the suspensions occurred because developers failed to respond to emailed information requests.
China needs to change way it finances economy, think tank says (Thomas R.)
China’s reliance on technological innovation for future economic growth has made changing the structure of the financial system an urgent matter, said Huang Yiping, the report’s leading author and a professor of economics at the National School of Development of Peking University.
2nd Ebola vaccine to be used in Congo, as UN efforts slammed (Sparky1)
The medical charity said greater transparency is needed and alleged that WHO is “restricting the availability” of the Merck vaccine in the field. Doctors Without Borders, also known by its French acronym, MSF, said the approximately 225,000 people vaccinated so far is “largely insufficient” and that between 450,000 and 600,000 people should have been immunized by now.
China footage reveals hundreds of blindfolded and shackled prisoners (Sparky1)
The number of formal arrests and prison sentences has also increased. According to analysis by the New York Times, local courts sentenced 230,000 people to prison or other punishments in 2017 and 2018, as the campaign got under way. Xinjiang accounts for less than 2% of the country’s population but about 21% of all arrests in 2017.
Google upended Pittsburgh – but will the city’s working-class roots transform the tech industry? (Sparky1)
Today, the old factory building has been transformed into a shiny testament to Pittsburgh’s future: the luxuriously renovated Bakery Square is home to hundreds of Google employees, assembly lines and industrial ovens replaced with cubicles, meeting rooms and an indoor bamboo garden, the only hint of the manufacturing past in a few tasteful design flourishes.
Former Thomas Cook bosses under fire for excessive pay (Sparky1)
Nearly 11% of the travel company’s shares were ‘shorted’ ahead of its collapse. Short-sellers try to profit from firms they believe are in trouble. They borrow shares in a company, for a fee, and then sell them in the hope of buying them back at a lower price – and pocket the profit. Short sellers have cashed in on the rapid decline of Thomas Cook’s share price, which plunged 85% in the six months before Sunday’s collapse.
Nearly half of the U.S.’s homeless people live in one state: California (thc0655)
For starters, the White House cited a need for deregulation. Many states and municipalities have zoning rules regarding the construction of both single-family and multifamily homes that have impeded builders’ ability to meet the demand for housing. The resulting housing scarcity has driven up prices. Experts and politicians across the political spectrum have suggested that relaxing such regulations could provide a boost to building activity.
Sky turns blood red in Indonesia (Sparky1)
Professor Koh Tieh Yong of the Singapore University of Social Sciences explained the BBC that the reason for the red color has to do with certain particles that are present during the haze. He said the fact that photos were taken in the afternoon also gave the appearance of the sky looking more red.
GM strike leads to layoffs at the automaker’s suppliers (Sparky1)
“After you get through the first week, the suppliers and then the suppliers’ suppliers start shutting down,” said Patrick Anderson, principal and CEO of Anderson Economic Group in East Lansing, Michigan. He cited electricians and truckers who haul GM vehicles from plants to dealerships as examples of other workers affected by the strike.
Bruce Linton Sees Psychedelics Having a Similar Run as the Cannabis Boom (newsbuoy)
Linton announced this week he will be serving as a director at the Toronto based company Mind Medicine. Mind Medicine is a psychedelics company with big plans to create a framework to treat mental illness using medicinal Psilocybin and MDMA. The company’s website further describes Mind Medicine as “a neuro-pharmaceutical company that discovers, develops and deploys psychedelic inspired medicines to improve health, promote wellness and alleviate suffering.”
Haiti: photojournalist shot in face as senator opens fire outside parliament (Sparky1)
Féthière later justified his actions, without actually admitting firing his weapons. He told Radio Mega, “I was attacked by groups of violent militants. They tried to get me out of my vehicle. And so I defended myself. Self-defence is a sacred right.
“Armed individuals threatened me. It was proportional. Equal force, equal response.”
Like fine whisky, Texan oil exporters tout unblended crude (Thomas R.)
To combat concerns about quality, producers and merchants are marketing barrels that come direct from the Permian Basin in West Texas and New Mexico, and pass from the wellhead through a pipeline straight to export facilities, as a way of distinguishing from barrels that first go north to the U.S. primary storage outpost in Cushing, Oklahoma.
California utility cuts power to 24,000 customers (Sparky1)
Meanwhile, Southern California Edison warned it might shut off power to 41,000 customers due to forecasts calling for gusty Santa Ana winds.
The cuts could affect Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
UK, France Germany blame Iran for Saudi oil attacks (Sparky1)
Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, denied any part in the attacks. He said Monday that Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who claimed responsibility, “have every reason to retaliate” for the Saudi-led coalition’s aerial attacks on their country.
Where the World Stores Its Emergency Stockpiles of Oil (Thomas R.)
Attacks on Saudi Arabian oil facilities have sharpened the focus on the world’s ability to absorb massive shocks to its energy supplies and raised pressing questions about emergency stockpiles around the globe.
Planned power plants in Asia likely to face water shortages (Sparky1)
According to the latest research, published this week in the journal Energy and Environmental Science, the problem is likely to be worse in places like Mongolia, Southeast Asia and parts of India and China. These regions are set to host more than 400 gigawatts of new coal-fired power production by 2030.
Video: The truth about mobile phone and wireless radiation – Dr Devra Davis (mirelo)
What are the health effects of mobile phones and wireless radiation? While Australia has led the world in safety standards, including compulsory seat-belt legislation, plain packaging on cigarettes, and product and food disclosure legislation, it falls behind in addressing the significant issues associated with mobile phone use. In this Dean’s Lecture, epidemiologist and electromagnetic radiation expert, Dr Devra Davis, will outline the evolution of the mobile phone and smartphone, and provide a background to the current 19 year old radiation safety standards (SAR), policy developments and international legislation. New global studies on the health consequences of mobile/wireless radiation will be presented, including children’s exposure and risks.
Does the Bow power plant really emit more CO2 in an hour than I do in 25 years? (thc0655)
But China’s decision to stop being our dumping ground showed me what a farce this was. Up to a quarter of the material I thought was being magically recycled was actually being burned or dumped in open pits in China, or even tossed overboard from container ships mid-Pacific. Even worse, as millions of people like me acted as unpaid or taxpayer-supported cleanup teams, the amount of stuff being produced and sold, particularly the growing variety of won’t-degrade-within-human-lifetime plastics, kept going up and up, overwhelming any possibility of solving the problem.
A New Generation of Activists Put Their Bodies on the Line to Defend California’s Forests (Sparky1)
The tradition in the region stretches back to the legendary activism of Judi Bari, Julia “Butterfly” Hill, and many less well-known but no less committed radical environmental activists. Today, a new generation of activists has taken up the cause, using direct action tactics to confront logging companies such as Sierra Pacific Industries, Green Diamond Resource Company, and the Humboldt Redwood Company (the latter is the company that used to be Pacific Lumber, which was the target of Earth First!’s activism in the “Timber Wars” of the 1980s and ’90s). Our short documentary, produced by Adamant Media, tells their story.
Beekeeper groups sue EPA over pesticide decision (Sparky1)
An EPA report from earlier this summer notes that some forms of the pesticide sulfoxaflor can be “very highly toxic” to bees. The EPA defended their decision at the time by citing studies that show the chemical disappears from the environment faster than other alternatives. But Earthjustice and other critics have attacked the EPA for relying on studies funded by industry groups.
Gold & Silver
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The post Daily Digest 9/24 – Digital Money vs. the Dollar, The Race To Provide Banking To The World’s Poor appeared first on Peak Prosperity.
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