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If buying boxes of collectible cards is gambling.
Could going out in public without a mask, risking infection and illness might be considered gambling? Having sex without a condom also gambling? Eating day old fast food, gambling?
An expansion of the term gambling could be applied to almost everything. Creating additional red tape and regulation. But would there be any tangible benefits to it?
Purchasing boxes of (CCG) collectible card game packs is a straight buy. While some might hope to profit monetarily. The motive behind the purchase could also be for sentimental reasons or /other. Buying a box of CCG cards for sentimental reasons, wouldn't qualify as a gamble or speculation. The motive behind the purchase is relevant.
There are games like Call of Duty (mobile) which have yet to ban loot boxes or regulate them as gambling afaik.
It is possible that whatever movement there was to crackdown on things like lootboxes in video games has stalled and lost momentum.
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It was proven that minted gold and silver coins can be devalued during the roman empire. The percentage of silver in each roman denarius was reduced. Until catastrophic hyperinflation occurred. I did not know precious metal coins and gold/silver standards could produce high levels of inflation until recently. Prior to that I always believed what Ron Paul said about a return to a gold standard guaranteeing the integrity of our monetary unit of exchange. It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.
-Henry Ford Competition between rival currencies within the same national borders, sounds like a good idea to me. It increases the number of tools, options and opportunities people have access to. The opposite trend to the direction the world has taken since the 2020 pandemic began. |
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The value of the U.S. dollar is surging at a moment when there are few clear bright spots in the American economy. It's now the strongest it has been in two decades, and it's poised to get even stronger. The new power of the greenback is roiling economies and markets around the globe, and creating winners and losers. Early Monday, the British pound reached a record low against the dollar after the United Kingdom's new finance minister announced a package of tax cuts meant to stimulate the country's economy. Never before in history has the U.S. dollar's value been so close to the pound, and the news generated a sense of emergency for the U.K. central bank. Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey put out a statement intended to reassure the country, saying the bank "is monitoring developments in financial markets very closely." Just like in the job market, where unemployment's historic lows have meant an abundance of opportunities for workers and yet labor shortages for companies, the dollar's rise above all other currencies has cut both ways. Recent global shocks, namely the war in Ukraine, have helped push up the dollar's value, since investors, companies and other countries often stow their reserves in dollars during tumultuous times. But the overriding reason for the strong dollar is the fight against inflation. The Federal Reserve is ratcheting up interest rates to attack the current near-constant rise in prices and said last week it expects more hikes this year. As it continues to raise rates, the dollar will strengthen. Here is who a strong dollar helps, and who it hurts: The winners U.S. importersFor companies that buy goods from overseas, purchases are less expensive. "For importers, it's a positive story," says Jordan Rochester, a senior foreign exchange strategist at Nomura Securities. "For anyone importing from the likes of China, importing raw metals and energy from abroad, that's going to be positive for you — as long as it's not priced in dollars, of course." On top of that, having a strong dollar mutes the effects of inflation. U.S. travelersFor the first time in two decades, the dollar and the euro achieved "parity," meaning one dollar is worth as much as one euro, and the two currencies are still pretty close to even. So, U.S. travelers can get better deals on hotel rooms and meals out when they travel to Europe, or anywhere else right now. For them, it's like the world is on sale. The losers MultinationalsExecutives of multinational companies with headquarters in the United States have started to complain that the dollar's strength is hurting profits. "We had a great quarter, but yet again, the dollar had an even stronger quarter," Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said during an earnings call recently. Salesforce is based in San Francisco, but it sells its software all over the world, in different currencies. Benioff noted that in this fiscal year, a strong dollar is likely to cost the company more than $800 million. Michael Klein, a professor of international economic affairs at Tufts University, says that when a company like Salesforce converts what it makes in another country into dollars, it gets squeezed. "Repatriated profits from abroad, in euros or pounds or yen, are going to be worth less in dollars, because a dollar is stronger," he explains. Emerging economiesTwo factors are hitting emerging economies especially hard as the dollar strengthens: First, most of the world's commodities are priced in dollars. That means oil and wheat and soybeans grown in emerging markets are going to be more expensive. Second, a stronger dollar is a strain on countries that have debt denominated in dollars. Interest payments are going to be more expensive, and so is refinancing. Many U.S. exportersWhat's good news for importers isn't good for many exporters. When the U.S. dollar is strong, American-made goods become more expensive — and less attractive to shoppers — in other countries. U.S. tourismPeople living in many other countries where the currency is now weaker than the dollar may think twice about traveling to the United States. As the dollar gets stronger, their visits will become more expensive. https://www.npr.org/2022/09/27/1124284032/strong-dollar-euro-pound-foreign-exchange-fx-inflation.... Decent and basic overview of what we can expect from a strengthening US dollar. One interesting question that was brought up on this forum. Is whether inflation protected provided by the US dollar were easier to access through FOREX or through purchasing stablecoins pegged to the dollar like tether. I'm not 100% certain on that. It is possible that foreign restrictions and regulations on FOREX could make US dollar inflation protection more accessible through crypto stablecoins than through FOREX markets which would allow them to directly buy the dollar. Would anyone go so far as to say that the US dollars strength will be consistent over the long term? The US economy must be the ultimate decider of which direction the dollar travels in. Does anyone envision the US economy recovering anytime soon. To provide a good foundation for dollar value being maintainable. |
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Not only is the UK breaking away from european norms by following through on #brexit. It would appear the UK is bucking global trends with its handling of their finances and economy as well. The UK is becoming an experiment for what happens when you do the opposite of what all other major nations are doing. To label it contrarian would be an understatement. Its more like bizarro mirror world opposites day.
While most major nations like the united states are raising taxes. The UK appears to be following a policy of tax cuts. History and the future might tell us who was right and who was wrong. Until then, I'm certain there will be no shortage of speculation.
Italy also appears to be following the example set by #brexit. If their new prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, is anything to go by. The world is fast becoming a crazy place. Buckle up those safety harnesses we're in for a wild ride.
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A new world monetary system is being set up right now which will completely kill the US dollar, which is the world's reserve currency.
23 countries (60% of the world's GDP) are setting up swap lines which bypass the dollar and SWIFT, which is the dollar-based worldwide financial transaction system.
These countries include Russia, China, India, and even Germany, France, and the United Kingdom.
I seem to remember reading news articles claiming russia was searching for alternatives to the SWIFT banking network 10 years ago. If this news is true, it has been a long time in coming. Russia, china, india, germany, france and the UK being involved sounds questionable. Germany and france are EU members. The UK left the EU under #brexit. Both china and india have troops stationed on their shared border and tensions have run high for a future war between the two. There have also been tensions between russia and germany as russia continues its invasion of ukraine. They say that politics makes for strange bedfellows. But that could be pushing things a little too far. De dollarization has been a legitimate movement for some years now. Major nations have dropped the US dollar as an international reserve currency. Some have gone so far as to cease oil based transactions using the US dollar. While the list of nations they claim are involved in creating an alternative to SWIFT might sound impressive on the surface. The history of these types of joint international attempts at development have not produced good results. |
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Researchers have identified climate-driven changes to food availability as a factor behind dramatic historical events that led the oasis city of Palmyra in Syria to its ultimate demise.Ancient Palmyra has gripped public imagination since its picturesque ruins were "rediscovered" in the seventeenth century by western travellers. The most legendary story of ancient Palmyra is that of Queen Zenobia ruling over a thriving city in the Syrian Desert who dared to challenge the Roman Empire but ultimately got defeated. Her kingdom was subjugated, and the city was reduced to a small settlement without any wide-ranging importance. This has only recently been overshadowed by the catastrophic events of the Syrian Civil War that saw the archaeological site and the museum plundered and many monuments destroyed. Deteriorating climate and a growing populationNow, scientists from Aarhus University and the University of Bergen are questioning the historical narrative about the final blow given to the city solely by the Roman invasion in 272/273 CE. "We can now see that food security, always the main concern for a large urban centre situated in a highly inhospitable environment, was gradually reduced with a deteriorating climate and a growing population of the city. The timing of this nexus matches exactly the time of the reign of Zenobia and of that of her husband, Odaenathus, marked by social shifts, militarisation, the rapid conquest of neighbouring lands and the dramatic conflict that led to the demise of Palmyra," says Dr Iza Romanowska, one of the authors behind the new study. Interdisciplinary team effort unlocks complex dataThe interdisciplinary research team reconstructed the hinterland of ancient Palmyra -- the area around the city that could provide it with basic foodstuff -- and used modern land-use models developed for dry and semi-dry environments to estimate the maximum productivity of the land. They then ran the model against existing climate records to determine how much food could be produced at different points in Palmyra's history and with what reliability. In order to do this, archaeologists, ancient historians and complexity scientists joined forces to unleash the knowledge locked in the otherwise impenetrable data. The results showed that a long-term climatic shift towards drier and hotter climate caused a gradual decrease in agricultural yields, reaching levels barely sufficient to feed the budding population of Palmyra around the middle of the third century. Innovative new approach -- new anglesCo-author Professor Rubina Raja, Aarhus University's chair of classical archaeology and director of the DNRF-funded Centre of Excellence for Urban Network Evolutions (UrbNet) heads the Carlsberg Foundation-funded project "Circular Economy and Urban Sustainability in Antiquity" from which the study stems. Rubina Raja adds: "While there have been numerous studies looking at Palmyra's history, social composition and infrastructure, it is thanks to the innovative new approach that we are able to look at the history of this important city and the whole region from an entirely new angle. By combining computational modelling with a wide range of archaeological data processed by humanities researchers with deep historical knowledge we are able to consider the circular economy and its long-term sustainability and resilience." Learning from the past is keyThe study sets up a research pipeline, including computer scripts and detailed instructions, that will enable other researchers to analyse other ancient cities and determine how often and under what circumstances food security played a key role in shaping historical trajectories of past peoples. "This kind of study showcases that many challenges which our societies face today had equivalents in the past. Contrary to the often-repeated trope that humans never learn from history, we can and we should learn lessons from the past," says professor in Global History at the University of Bergen and one of the study's authors, Eivind Heldaas Seland. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/09/220921141529.htm .... For many years, internet trolls have said if the united states government runs out of funding. They can simply invade a smaller and weaker nation to steal their wealth and generate liquidity. The US economy is backed by the US military. Which can happily steal whatever it needs from weaker nations, to render its economic policy sustainable, no matter how dire the conditions. With food insecurity headlines becoming known constants in the media. Is it possible that food shortages of the future could pave the war to violence, war and bloodshed on an international scale? If nations with powerful militaries are unable to feed their citizens in the future. Could it lead to them invading weaker nations in an effort to seize resources, supplies and farmland. In an effort to achieve sustainability? Apologies in advance if this sounds depressing. I try to consider most scenarios no matter whether I like them or not. It might be somewhat negative. But can also be a good source of motivation. |
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While most of the modern world has progressed.
There are still many cultures in the world today who practice indentured servitude, cannibalism, slavery, child sacrifice, stoning or burning people to death and other old world practices.
There is a woman known in the media as the 100 year old virgin. Who never dated or married. Due to every woman in a relationship she saw being a victim of domestic abuse. It wasn't long ago that practices like domestic abuse were normalized in western society.
So while there may be an effort to pin these old world social norms on gambling. It has much more to do with the native culture in place, than it does gambling. In some places of the world, it might still be considered somewhat normal for a person to auction off their sons or daughters to pay debts. Its simply their culture and way of doing things.
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So what can be the next black swan? It might be deduced by looking at past history. These types of events are not entirely random. They have come in cycles throughout history. At a time when the majority have forgotten the circumstances and events which led to the previous disaster(s). The generation gap contributes heavily towards society not learning from the mistakes of our ancestors. Causing the same errors to be repeated over thousands of years of history. Its hard to imagine how much life can change for the better. Or the worse. Within a short span of time. Many of us have never really seen a drastic adjustment to our own standard of living. Hopefully, we can adapt to our changing circumstances and thrive in spite of them. That said there are many, many, historical precedents which foreshadow which direction black swans will trend in. Schools made history a boring and useless topic. But there is such a thing as real history. Which can be useful for predicting future events. |
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Solutions
Western influences;
The West try to influence us so they can keep extracting our resources..
We need to be free of their influence and be independent in our national decision making
Technology
We have to invest in technology to improve innovation
We have to explore more of our immense natural resources
Corruption
Our growth is affected by corruption, a transparent Africa will be massive in development..
Leadership, Africa need a young leadership to lead us
We need unify currency to ease trade
We need to bring insecurity to the barest minimum..
Was this inspired by Giorgia Meloni? People of the world have to decide the type of life they want for themselves. Many of the negative conditions we endure are an end result of our own choices. The oceans became polluted with plastic due to people choosing to dispose of their plastic waste improperly. Economies and job markets aren't doing the best at the moment. Due to the choices we've made and the things we have chosen to support. We can have anything we want in this world. But the catch is, we have to make the right choices, if we're to ever get there. If people are unhappy with circumstances and the status quo. That could be one area they can focus on. "Make better choices." |
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I was wondering if the Bank of England might buy the pound on FOREX under QE to strengthen it. That appears to be something the united states could be doing with its own currency atm. Although I could be underestimating the value global investors place on the US economy.
I think in 2020 or 2021 the federal reserve also bought up a large segment of the US bond market. It would seem that the UK is following in the feds footsteps as far as its bond purchasing go.
Japan and china were two of the largest holders of US bonds. Federal reserve purchasing of US bonds could have bailed both nations out on any losses they might have sustained HODL'ing them.
Not certain on who the largest HODLers of UK bonds are. The bank purchasing bonds from the largest HODLers could save them from taking losses during an economic downtrend. But there are other motives and reasons which could be behind it as well.
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Inflation rapidly increased this year. Basic food stuffs like egg, oil for cooking, meat, and fish here in our country almost doubled compared to its price last year. I'm wondering if it's possible that the price of commodities will return to its previous years. If so, how or what will cause it to happen.
It is definitely possible for commodities to return to previous year prices. Think of it this way. There are regions of africa where the average monthly wage is around $700 per month. People there can afford to pay their bills and feed themselves, comfortably. At a fraction of the cost of living expenses abroad. If food can affordably be produced in developing nations, for a fraction of the price that americans and europeans pay for it in their home countries. Then there must be some wiggle room for food production being made more efficient. Due to food production costs being so much higher than the barebones baseline of developing nations. Those in rural areas, might transition to fishing and hunting to reduce food costs. Rising cost of food is a supply issue which can be solved by boosting production. If everyone in the world started planting some type of food crop today. That could go a long way towards improving food sustainability for the future. |
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Through July 2022, American gaming revenue hit $34.3 billion, a 15.5 percent rise from the same period in 2021, according to the American Gaming Association. Those glowing statistics are misleading to a degree. Many gambling institutions suffered declines in revenue 2020/2021 due to travel restrictions and lockdowns. At least some of that positive growth might be considered the industry bouncing back from the pandemic, rather than linear growth. Below is a list of Casino's to consider buying their stock, it is not a broad list, but just names some, please feel free to extend the list. COMPANY (TICKER SYMBOL) MARKET CAP DESCRIPTION
Las Vegas Sands (LVS) $29.2 billion Operates a range of casino-hotels in Asia, including Singapore and Macau.
Caesars Entertainment (CZR) $9.9 billion Operates dozens of properties across the U.S. as well as a digital sports betting platform.
MGM Resorts International (MGM) $13.4 billion Operates major Las Vegas and regional casinos as well as sports and online betting sites.
Wynn Resorts (WYNN) $6.9 billion Operates a handful of high-end properties in Macau and Las Vegas as well as digital sports betting and online gaming.
PENN Entertainment (PENN) $4.9 billion Operates dozens of properties across the U.S., including casinos, online games and sports betting.
DraftKings (DKNG) $8.3 billion A digital gaming company enabling fantasy sports, sports betting and online gaming.
Melco Resorts and Entertainment (MLCO) $2.5 billion A Macau-based casino company, operates in the Philippines and Cyprus. You can read more about the casino's here-https://southfloridareporter.com/investing-in-casinos-and-online-gambling-key-things-to-know/ There is one key aspect to consider with a US gambling industry investment plan. Lake Mead -- the main source of water in Las Vegas is drying up at an astonishing rate. Water levels in the lake are declining by a factor of around 5 feet every 2 weeks or so. This has been documented by many boaters in the area who published video clips on youtube to draw attention to the crisis. The long term viability of las vegas casinos could be in doubt with their supply of water on a steep decline. Whether they can find alternative sources remains to be seen. Suffice it to say that the explosion of the human population in the area is far too massive to be supported by normal desert rainfall. There have not been any real steps taken to address the issue. It is possible that the entirety of las vegas could end up a ghost town in the years to come. Which could make investment in casinos and gambling establishments with a presence outside of las vegas the better option. |
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More than 50% of small businesses failing within 5 years is a commonly touted statistic.
I think most entrepreneurs make a mistake of thinking that starting a business has to be a large mega enterprise. Its much better to start small. Buying and selling items on local second markets. Having some type of profitable side hustle. It could be as low key as cleaning parking lots. Or cutting lawns. Starting a business is better to not be something people pour all of their time and life savings into. It should be a casual thing and natural progression that is done on the side. If incorporating, large expenses and other extras are tacked on. I think those extra and unnecessary steps greatly increase chances of failure.
A good educational system would give students real life experience owning and operating a small business. That is something that is very necessary and needed in this day and age.
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Does anyone anticipate market prices of GPUs rising due to semiconductor shortages? Or is the pure computational and data center segment of the market polarized enough to be isolated from rising demand of more general purpose chips?
It is possible GPU price declines will be temporary. Due to crypto miners panic dumping mining units. Once the excess supply is exhausted, prices could return to normal levels.
Considering recent stories of manufacturers purchasing brand new appliances to cannibalize the semiconductors in them to meet manufacturing component quotas. I feel tempted to call a bottom on GPU prices. Inflation could also contribute to current prices being the lowest we'll see within the short term. Possibly even the long term.
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Crypto and US stocks were in a bull market. It was easy to profit when market averages were trending upward everywhere. Everyone was making money and everyone wanted to be in on the gains.
The learning curve to profit in crypto and stocks was relatively low. In contrast to learning new skills, which typically carry a higher learning curve and investment of time and energy. I would guess those factors define the departure between the two areas.
Post 2020, circumstances have changed. With concerns about recession, investment in acquiring new skills could take precedence over investment in bear markets. Not only internet or IT skills. But real life skills also can be useful for bartering or trading in the event of a catastrophic collapse.
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The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is at historically low levels, when there are still many supply uncertaintiesBrace for impact: The U.S. is running out of a cushion reserved for oil shocks. The U.S. Energy Information Administration said Wednesday that the Strategic Petroleum Reserve declined by nearly 7 million barrels in the week ended Sept. 16, leaving it at roughly 427 million barrels—the lowest since 1984. For the first time since 1983, the SPR now holds less oil than commercial storage. The U.S. has been drawing from the reserve at a rapid pace this year. The Energy Department on Monday said it has released roughly 155 million barrels of crude oil since President Biden authorized a draw of up to 180 million barrels on March 31. That implies a draw of slightly less than 900,000 barrels a day, or nearly 1% of global oil demand. The DOE on Monday said it plans to sell up to 10 million barrels from the SPR in November, extending the SPR draw beyond the initial October target. That would leave only about 15 million barrels that could be sold under the emergency authorization.  Image link: https://i.ibb.co/vBhwFf5/spr-million-barrels.pngFor Mr. Biden, who was looking to use the emergency authorization to lower pump prices, the move has been a near-term success, at least in the critical time leading up to the November midterm elections. Gasoline prices have declined steadily in the past three months and average $3.66 a gallon, down from a high of $5.03 in mid-June, according to GasBuddy. Arguably, though, the release didn’t turn out to be necessary for energy security—the SPR’s stated purpose. The International Energy Agency initially thought Russia’s oil production would be cut by 3 million barrels a day after its invasion of Ukraine. Back then, there was at least a “perceived supply emergency” posed by Russia, said Bob McNally, president of the energy-consulting firm Rapidan Energy Group. That turned out to be a wild overestimate. As of August, Russia’s exports were down just 400,000 to 450,000 barrels a day from prewar levels, according to the latest IEA report. As Dan Pickering, chief investment officer at Pickering Energy Partners, puts it, “High prices are inconvenient. Lack of availability is a crisis.” Depleted SPR levels leave the U.S. with fewer options in case of supply disruptions, which remain possible. To begin with, Russia’s oil exports will become a real wild card after Dec. 5, when the European Union’s import ban on Russian oil takes effect. By February 2023, the IEA expects Russia’s daily oil output to be 1.9 million barrels below preinvasion levels. While the Group of Seven nations agree on some form of price cap on Russian oil, what that mechanism will actually look like and how it will affect Russian supply are uncertain. On top of that, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has repeatedly signaled that it will cut output if prices fall. It already did so—albeit in a symbolic way—earlier this month, pulling back 100,000 barrels a day. And then there are also demand-side risks in the form of a potential recession and further lockdowns in China. With so many hazards just around the bend, the U.S. needs a fully functioning air bag. Alas, this one comes with diminished cushioning capacity. Though the president can technically authorize more SPR drawdowns, there will be a limit, given that the IEA has a minimum stockholding obligation for participating members. RBC Capital Markets previously pegged that number for the U.S. at roughly 315 million barrels. And the DOE will eventually have to replenish the SPR by the same amount that it drew this year, increasing future oil demand. A DOE spokesperson said replenishment won’t likely occur until September 2023. Besides the short-term political gain, the SPR draw could turn out to have been a losing strategy however the supply-demand balance shakes out. If there is an actual oil shock and not enough oil in the SPR to cushion it, it would be a painful lesson on why the reserve exists in the first place. If there is no such shock, this year’s SPR draw might have set a precedent for politicized use in the future. https://www.wsj.com/articles/america-has-lost-its-oil-buffer-11663821015 .... This could signal a prelude to gasoline prices trending upwards in the states. SPR injection into america's fossil fuel industry was the only thing keeping prices at a maintainable level. I'm curious to know what effect this might have upon china's exports to the USA. Large US retailers like amazon might also experience difficulties with their free shipping contracts, over the long term. The following is an interesting point. Russia’s oil exports will become a real wild card after Dec. 5, when the European Union’s import ban on Russian oil takes effect. By February 2023, the IEA expects Russia’s daily oil output to be 1.9 million barrels below preinvasion levels. While the Group of Seven nations agree on some form of price cap on Russian oil, what that mechanism will actually look like and how it will affect Russian supply are uncertain. These points are very interesting as well: Though the president can technically authorize more SPR drawdowns, there will be a limit, given that the IEA has a minimum stockholding obligation for participating members. RBC Capital Markets previously pegged that number for the U.S. at roughly 315 million barrels. And the DOE will eventually have to replenish the SPR by the same amount that it drew this year, increasing future oil demand. A DOE spokesperson said replenishment won’t likely occur until September 2023. I wonder how long these trends will affect mainstream consciousness. Will people want to remember all these events that are happening. Or would they prefer to simply forget. |
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In the united states, its culturally glorified to be a low income thug. Drug dealers and pimps are put on pedestals.
Our cultural values are directly opposed to education, learning and knowledge. That's what prevents us from wanting to learn and know things.
If people want education to thrive. They have to put people like Elon Musk on a pedestal. Build a culture that respects intelligence, science and knowledge.
Throwing money at education will never have a legitimate effect. As long as our culture opposes basic practices like reading and learning.
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PayPal and other finance companies could be banned from blocking the accounts of campaign groups for political reasons under a new law being proposed by MPs.Conservative backbenchers are considering launching an amendment to upcoming financial legislation in the House of Commons that would ban companies from freezing campaigners’ accounts. It comes after UsForThem, which campaigned to keep schools open during the pandemic, and the Free Speech Union (FSU), a pressure group, had their PayPal accounts blocked and were accused of violating terms of service. PayPal has since reinstated UsForThem’s account but the FSU’s three accounts with the US tech giant are still blocked and are not expected to be reviewed. An amendment to the Online Safety Bill or Digital Markets Bill, which are both yet to be passed in Parliament, could be launched by Tory MPs. One source said ministers are likely to accept the amendment to the law because Conservative backbenchers will support it. It comes after officials from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport reached out to PayPal to demand an explanation for the accounts being blocked. PayPal is not understood to have provided any official explanation to the Government beyond its public statement, which says the company “assesses activity against our long-standing Acceptable Use Policy and will discontinue our relationship with account holders who are found to violate our policies”. Dozens of MPs sign letter calling for banAlthough the company does not comment publicly on individual accounts, the freeze is understood to have been imposed because of allegations of Covid misinformation, which both organisations deny. Dozens of Tory MPs, including Michael Gove, David Davis and Sir Iain Duncan Smith signed an open letter to Jacob Rees-Mogg’s business department calling for a ban on the practice by financial services companies. The MPs said it was “hard to avoid construing PayPal’s actions as an orchestrated, politically motivated move to silence critical or dissenting views on these topics within the UK”. Asked about the issue in Parliament last week, Penny Mordaunt, the Leader of the Commons, said the firms were “still in the dark about exactly why they have had those services removed from them despite making great efforts to find out”. She said the unexplained removal of service by tech companies was a “common theme amongst our casework” for MPs. Toby Young, the FSU’s founder and general secretary, told The Telegraph: “The withdrawal of banking services from an individual or an organisation because they aren’t toeing the right political line is something you’d expect to happen in Communist China or North Korea, but not in a supposedly free country.” The Department of Culture, Media and Sport was contacted for comment. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/paypal-could-be-banned-from-blocking-accounts-of-campaign-groups-for-political-reasons/ar-AA12es6K.... This is interesting: It comes after UsForThem, which campaigned to keep schools open during the pandemic, and the Free Speech Union (FSU), a pressure group, had their PayPal accounts blocked and were accused of violating terms of service.
PayPal has since reinstated UsForThem’s account but the FSU’s three accounts with the US tech giant are still blocked and are not expected to be reviewed. I read a lot of comments on social media, forums and the internet. And have never seen anyone propose laws to prevent banks or financial services from closing accounts for political reasons. Its an interesting if not unique line of thought the UK appears to have discovered here. I don't know whether it can be enforced or is feasible given our current political climate. The last time serious financial reform was attempted in the USA was early in Obama's 1st term. The backlash for the attempted financial reform was massive. Democrats lost significant amounts of campaign funding in retaliation from wallstreet and finance. Since then no one has made a serious effort to reform things. Even Trump didn't invest much effort in it. And he was by far the biggest political rogue and loose cannon we've seen recently. It seems that the UK has discoverd an interesting angle here. Is it possible that they could make this a reality. Would support this train of thought. |
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A huge negative economic impact will most probably follow after this great resignation but it's going to fight the current inflation in India. With less spending by people and with less growth in demand, the inflation may come within controllable range.
Its been claimed that the life expectancy for americans declined significantly in 2020, 2021 and 2022. Some sources claim life expectancy for americans diminished as much as 5 years in 12 months. Economic recession. Global pandemics. All would appear to contribute towards elevated homelessness, crime, violence, homicide, suicide and overdose rates. Which would take a severe toll on life expectancy and population growth. If you're searching for decreased demand. It could happen. At the expense of human life. Japan has arguably enjoyed success with its negative population growth. Perhaps that will become our model for the future. A case study where we may not have much input as to which trends materialize. Many of the trends we face could have grown too large to be stopped now. Even if a collective and comprehensive effort was made to reverse those trends. But even decreased demand won't necessarily curb rising inflation. The only thing that can stop inflation is people dong more to be informed and knowledgeable on the topic on an individual level. Many of our worst policies were enthusiastically supported by the majority. There were people willing to battle to their last breath to support things that directly led to inflation. How do get these people to stop supporting the wrong things? They must invest more effort into being more knowledgeable and making better choices. That's what is needed the most if these issues are ever to be fixed. |
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We normally look to systemic solutions to curtail negative trends like drug addiction, poverty, political corruption and inflation.
But what we really need is to create and nurture a culture where society takes issues like inflation seriously, before it snowballs into a major issue.
As people we generally look to solutions that require the least amount of effort and risk on our part. We advocate for systemic solutions: libertarianism or socialism. Hoping that libertarians or socialists will do all the work, and assume all the risk. Or people advocate for representatives, politicians or government to do all the work and fix everything. So the people will not have to invest time or energy into fighting their own battles.
Systemic approaches are a counter intuitive approach, as the area where the greatest gains can be made is typically one of self improvement.
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