ECONOMY

Posts in "Economy"

Economy Energy Environment

Chia, A Greener Cryptocurrency

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Bitcoin?s Inconvenient Truth
Bitcoin’s Inconvenient Truth
The founder of BitTorrent is on a quest to develop an eco-friendly cryptocurrency.
“With Chia, Cohen aims to replace the energy-greedy part of Bitcoin’s code, which rewards miners for generating trillions of numbers a second, with an energy-efficient system, which rewards miners (or “farmers” in Chia’s parlance) based on the amount of unused hard-drive space they have on their computers and how long they’ve had it. If you opt in, the Chia Network will essentially populate that unused space with bingo cards. If Chia calls the numbers on your card, you’ll be awarded newly minted chia.”
story.californiasunday.com

 

Economy Health

We Can Buy Your Medical Debt, Wholesale

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2018’s Replacement for “Thank You for Your Service” – Actually Helping Veterans by Relieving Them of Unpayable Medical Debt
2018’s Replacement for “Thank You for Your Service” – Actually Helping Veterans by Relieving Them of Unpayable Medical Debt
“On July 25, 2014, my long-time partner and friend in the collections industry, Craig Antico, and I decided to establish ourselves as a 501(C)(3) non-profit called RIP Medical Debt. Our purpose, inspired by Occupy Wall Street’s Rolling Jubilee, was to provide a tax-deductible way for Americans to help us locate, buy and then forgive unpaid medical debt incurred by individuals and families.”
www.huffingtonpost.com

 

Economy Education Society

Don’t Hate; Cooperate

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“In his [free to download] new book, Ed Mayo brings together this rich story. Covering everything from the Commons to lending circles to labourer societies, this is a fresh take on the origins of co-operation form a leading voice in the global co-operative movement.”

Book of the Day: A short history of co-operation and mutuality

[English (PDF)] [Spanish (PDF)]

A Short History of Co-operation and Mutuality
Chapters
Preface 1844 – The birth of co-operation
Chapter 1 Co-operation and the human story
Chapter 2 An ancient way of getting things done
Chapter 3 Craft and co-operation in Europe
Chapter 4 Traditions of co-operation
Chapter 5 A friendly turn
Chapter 6 From friendship to resistance
Chapter 7 Freedom and repression
Chapter 8 Out of Rochdale
Chapter 9 After 1844: Plymouth and Finland
Chapter 10 Self-help and state sponsorship in the twentieth century
Chapter 11 The co-operative sector today
Chapter 12 Co-operation and mutuality over time: a conclusion

Culture Economy Society

Norway, the country where you can see everyone’s tax returns

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Norway, the country where you can see everyone’s tax returns

 

Norway, the country where you can see everyone's tax returns
In Norway, (since the 1800s) no one can disguise their earnings, as every citizen’s is made available for everyone else in the country to inspect. Workers can see what their colleagues earn and neighbours can snoop on how much the people next door make – all legally and online.

On a date every year in October, just after midnight, Norwegian citizens’ annual tax returns are posted online – and the country’s Norwegian newspapers leap to produce top ten lists of the country’s highest earners, the incomes and taxes paid by the political and cultural elites, celebrities and sportspeople. There are a few limits on how the data is disclosed. Only total income and total tax paid is revealed.

Culture Economy Education Environment Health Science Society Technology

Welcome to 2030 [Fiction]

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https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Parkway_Fountain.jpg
“Welcome to 2030. I own nothing, have no privacy, and life has never been better“
https://medium.com/world-economic-forum/welcome-to-2030-i-own-nothing-have-no-privacy-and-life-has-never-been-better-ee2eed62f710

Science fiction by Ida Auken, MP, Parliament of Denmark. And a rebuttal by  Salvatore Iaconesi, founder at Art is Open Source, Human Ecosystems and Nefula.

 Welcome to 2030. I own nothing, have no privacy, and I don’t know what life is anymore

 https://extranewsfeed.com/welcome-to-2030-i-own-nothing-have-no-privacy-and-i-dont-know-what-life-is-anymore-1cb245cd6721#.v751nki05

 

Culture Economy Education Society

Utopian Nostalgia

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The Return of the Utopians
The Return of the Utopians
What today’s movements for social and economic reform can learn from the intentional communities of the nineteenth century.
www.newyorker.com

 

Economy Society Technology

Crypto: Go Or No?

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An interesting innovation, but I can’t help but notice that these countries aren’t exactly the most stable. This could attract invesetment — but also volatility.

Senegal to Introduce National Digital Currency
Senegal to Introduce National Digital Currency
The small African country of Senegal is making waves by announcing that it plans to issue a national digital currency utilizing blockchain technology, the same technology that powers Bitcoin.
www.investopedia.com
National Bank of Ukraine to use blockchain for issuing e-money – EconoTimes
The National Bank of Ukraine plans to use blockchain or distributed ledger technology in the country for facilitating a cashless economy. The NBU Board has approved a roadmap for Cashless Economy, which for the first…
www.econotimes.com

And for an alternate take: Charles Stross pulls no punches:

http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2013/12/why-i-want-bitcoin-to-die-in-a.html

Charlie Stross: Bitcoin should die in a fire