Business, Econ, Finance:
- ARK Invest’s Catherine Wood sends an open letter to the Fed, claiming its record-breaking rate rise risks a deflationary spiral.
- Yields on German government bonds jumped following reports Olaf Scholz supported EU joint-debt issuances to counter the energy crisis.
- There were reports that Germany may pay its citizens’ gas bills in December to offset rising gas prices.
- The United States offers Venezuela the opportunity to direct oil supply to American consumers in exchange for easing sanctions on the country.
- Removed Reddit post leaks information suggesting Metaverse-based platforms are failing.
The Blind Spot has already noted that Metaverse platforms are likely to fail if they continue to rely on older generations’ idea about what a virtual world should look like; clean, boring, and politically correct.
The success of games often relies on just the opposite; violence, incorrectness, and brutality.
The point of games is precisely to add experiences that cannot be done in real life. Attempting to imitate a more boring version of life will doom the platform to failure – DGG.
- More leaked evidence points to OnlyFans’ bribing of Meta executives to blacklist and throttle rival porn websites and performers.
- Document from Germany’s Finance Agencies outlines repo activities carried out by this agency.
- Germany imports coal from South Africa, having extended the country $810mn last year in exchange for the African nation to cease the use of coal.
- The WSJ goes big on US politicians who like to trade stocks with which they have conflicts.
- Risk gauges in German government debt markets rose beyond those recorded in the 2008 GFC.
Don’t take your eyes of German bunds. As the piece notes: “The cost of hedging German government debt with interest-rate options, or option-implied volatility, rose to the highest level on record.” – IK
- Crypto.com lays off 2,000 employees, around 40 per cent of its staff.
- White House document outlines the technical possibilities for the launch of an official digitalised currency.
- The outlook for France’s Casino is not good.
Political Pivots:
- The Dominican Republic closed its land border to Haiti following the government’s request for UN peacekeeping forces after criminal groups closed major ports around the country.
- Zelensky called on NATO to launch preemptive strikes on Russia to “eliminate the possibility” of a nuclear strike.
- The Biden administration purchased $290mn on Nplate, a drug used to treat radiation sickness.
CBDCs:
- Pippa Malmgren on the inevitability of a CBDC-data-driven money system.
I’ve come to a similar conclusion. And that’s largely to do with three factors.
1) The surveillance forces out there may be beyond our control. They may be a naturally occuring reaction to a hyper-scaled and overstretched system that needs to re-generate trust to ensure that predatory foces don’t erode it entirely.
2) A la Diocletian, when the system becomes so overstretched that monetary foundations are rocked to their core, the only remaining option will be to bond people back to the land. In the digital world that means finding virtual tools to synthesize the same sort of localist surveillance system that used to be naturally occurring in small rural towns and villages. Where everyone knew your business.
3) I used to worry that if CBDCs were rolled out, they would crowd out the banking system and bust it entirely. I know wonder if it’s the other way around. Banks will self-combust regardless under the pressure overly restrictive regulation, and CBDCs will be there waiting in the wings to pick up the totally unprofitable business no other private institution wants to do.
Is there an option where we don’t go down the demonetisation pathway? If we’re at war with a competitor that doesn’t mind imposing this sort of system, then sadly I think not. Whether we like it or not, CBDCs will impose huge efficiencies on the system. Not because of their technical capacities, but because they will be able to repress and incentivise demand in the most direct and personal way. It will be Gosplan on steroids. Any nation that goes to war with a nation already imposing such a system, will never be able to win against it. So, if you can’t beat them, we may have no choice but to join them. But once we do beat them, we need to do everything we can to rollback these surveillance systems as quickly as possible. – IK
Spooks:
- GCHQ boss Jeremy Flemming gives a rare presentation and ironically warns about the perils of sleepwalking into a surveillance state.
- The GrayZone reveals docs showing British military types thought about blowing up the Kerch bridge in Crimea.
De-energisation:
- Greta belatedly has a change of heart about nuclear.
- France is running out of fuel just like Brexit Britain.
Organised Disinformation:
- Meta has disabled an incompetent Chinese disinformation campaign aimed to manipulate the US midterms.
- The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons filed a motion to sue the FDA for its misleading statements on ivermectin for the treatment of Covid-19.
- Pfizer supposedly admits it did not test for its MRNA Covid vaccine for impact on transmissibility before it brought it to market.
- A very badly edited video of Justin Trudeau and Gavin Newsom.
- Fake Joe Rogan interviews fake Steve Jobs.
