On the spot: Can a US Treasury-issued digital dollar deliver?
Democratic Congressman Stephen Lynch on Monday released a legislative proposal for the US Treasury to compete with the US Fed on digital dollar issuance for broad public use. The architects of the proposal say this is the best way to protect the privacy of potential digital dollar users and to prevent a CBDC-panopticon from coming […]
Will the US Treasury rescue the world from a CBDC panopticon?
Congressman Stephen F. Lynch is proposing a digital dollar bill on Monday which addresses the privacy and power concentration issues currently posed by conventional central bank digital curency proposals.
WW3 Watch: Now that’s what I call economic warfare
Seemingly unprecedented times call for unprecedented library searches… not least because those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.
In the Blind Spot on Friday (Russian stocks, bitcoin, Covid)
Finance, markets and economics: Reuters reports that Russian stocks fell in their second day of trading after a near month-long suspension. [But as far as I can see that’s definitely a rebound in the Moex? That also looks like a rebound in the rouble: Russia considers accepting bitcoin from friendly countries for oil and gas […]
How to threaten the world and break the internet at the same time
In support of my “effective military propaganda should always be uplifting and a bit kitsch/eurovision” theory. A must watch in every possible way: Though, like with any good blockbuster movie there are many cuts going around. This is my favourite: Can NATO please hurry up and join this party by putting out its own kitsch […]
In the Blind Spot on Thursday (Commodities, Commodities, Commodities)
Commodity power US goods risk being late as China’s lockdowns worsen shipping port jams. [But remember it’s just “transitory” ] Someone in the Blind Spot Discord asked: Do sanctions cause a shortage of crude and gas or a displacement? [A verified par moi OSINT reply: “China is by far the largest importer of Iranian crude […]
Democracy’s ‘Anacyclosis’ blind spot
Last week The Blind Spot featured a satirical news report from the scene of Caesar’s assassination in 44 BC. It was a lighthearted attempt to generate interest in a theory close to The Blind Spot’s heart: that of Anacyclosis. But it’s not just a flight of classical fancy on our part. We genuinely consider the […]
Why talk of transitory inflation is reality denial
TLDR: The transitory inflation debate is a waste-of-time distraction. Animal spirits will dictate the breadth, scale and duration of inflation, not textbook definitions about what constitutes inflation and what does not. And animal spirits are far more likely to be influenced by the role poorly thought out government policy has played in driving inflation and geopolitical risk in the first place — notably lockdown and net zero policy.
In the Blind Spot on Tuesday (Commodity fallout edition)
Commodity power: The FT (reporting out of its FT Commodities Global Summit in Lausanne) warns of potential diesel rationing in Europe due to a “systemic” shortage of diesel. [The UK went through a mini drill on the consequences of this sort of stuff last Autumn, but suffice to say, if hauliers can’t get their diesel […]
WW3 Watch: The cost of believing your own disinfo
Investors can’t afford to get swept up by the propaganda wars. To stay afloat in such choppy market waters one has to maintain a cool and relatively dispassionate head. And doing so is not unpatriotic.