Alton Drew

Reading the shift …

Tag: COVID-19

Interstate Market News Scan: Moving to digital currencies benefit you if it reduces your tax on living …

Posted by on in Amazon, cryptocurrency, currency, taxesLeave a comment

Suppose your monthly cost for accessing the infrastructure of a political economy came up to $20?  Suppose you looked at nation-states more like trading posts versus some object of irrational affection to which you pledge love and devotion?  Shouldn’t a practical approach to living in a political economy involve a resident generating a higher return on their physical and intellectual efforts to make a living where that tax for living is severely reduced?

In some ways, nations compete in this manner.  While they may not want to dilute their populations and cultures with outsiders, they want to attract investment into their jurisdictions.  Lower taxes, a reliable legal framework, a stable political environment, and minimal roadblocks to getting capital out of a country help bolster the demand for a nation’s currency.  Given the US dollar’s world reserve status, you can argue that the US scores the highest, on average, on these factors.

There are cracks in the demand for the US dollar that currency merchants should remain mindful of.  America has been experiencing real wage stagnation for over four decades.  Masking that long term trend is the immediate concern that inflation may be getting out of control as the U.S. and the rest of the globe claw out of the pandemic.  But Covid-19 may have sped up the long-expected elimination of certain jobs and has raised the discussion about how the American political economy will adjust to this major shift.

Currency merchants should incorporate these shifts into the valuation of currencies as they continue to make markets.  Currency merchants should not take their eyes off of the growing importance of digital currencies going forward into a Covid-endemic world.  This Covid environment will spawn more value creation from residences and other remote locations.  I will not be surprised to see in the next twenty years a world where more material and goods production happens overseas and payments for that production is made via digital currencies.  A processing plant in Ghana, for example, can be seen accepting Amazon, Google, or Delta Air digital tokens in exchange for product.  Given the networks these commercial entities represent or manage, their tokens could be re-exchanged as payment by the processing plants for other goods and services or exchanged with their local banks for cedi.

Not too far-fetched is the idea that an individual or a business could move their entire commercial enterprise into an Amazon network; an Amazon political economy.  If you can rent a residence using Amazon coin; purchase energy using an Amazon coin; buy food using Amazon coin; and pay a monthly “tax” at a fraction of what you would pay a legacy nation-state, wouldn’t you?

Alton Drew

For a consultation on any regulatory or legislative discussions or announcements, please reach out to us at altondrew@altondrew.com for information on consultation rates and to reserve an appointment.

Prices

Exchange rates of interest as of 6:44 pm EST

Currency pairExchange rate
AUD/USD*0.7334
EUR/USD*1.1866
GBP/USD*1.3895
USD/CAD*1.2473
USD/CHF*0.9054
USD/JPY*109.6700
USD/MXN*19.8540
USD/BTC+0.0000
USD/ETH+0.0004
Sources: *Reuters +OANDA

Rates reported by the Federal Reserve (Release Date 29 July 2021)

Effective Fed Funds Rate: 0.10%

Discount Window:  0.25%

Prime Bank Rate: 3.25%

3-month Treasury bill: 0.05%

6-month Treasury bill: 0.05%

1-year Treasury bill: 0.07%

The COVID/AI Era of Law …

Posted by on in American society, artificial intelligence, corona virus, COVID-19, government, legal philosophy, UncategorizedLeave a comment

For five months now, the United States has been in lock-up.  One of the ugliest hashtags I have seen and heard used is #AloneTogether.  At first it reads like an oxymoron.  If we are alone, how can we be together.  It sounds like the status of the last few years of my first marriage.  Sharing space with an energy pulling against you is draining.

The COVID-19 pandemic may be casting a new meaning on that phrase.  If you have the misfortune of having to share more time in energy draining space with a spouse that you are considering divorcing, #AloneTogether may be the last rallying cry before calling a divorce attorney.

Technology may also impact how we view the phrase.  Zoom calls and TEAMS meetings are a growing part of the workplace lexicon.  The spaces that we enjoyed being alone in at home have become offices and digital conference rooms where everything from sales pitches to digital happy hours are taking place.

For the extra sensitive, walking down a sidewalk and observing people take the extra precaution of taking a wider berth around you while hindering their own breathing by wearing a mask can be disconcerting.  The slightest attempts at saying “hello” or “good morning” are increasingly avoided because of fear that the slightest exhale from a fellow human may lead to a 14-day quarantine or time in a hospital on a ventilator.

In theory, the state quasi-mandated environment of staying away from each other should result in a reduction in analog contacts as our world goes increasingly digital.  Hard for kids to get into school fights when kids are at home distance learning.  Tough to get in a shouting match with a restaurant cashier over an order when Uber Eats, Grub Hub, or Door Dash is picking up your food.

There will be controversies; they will continue.  We are humans, taking conflict to levels that exceed what other lifeforms endure.  Legal philosophy should have us asking “Why are we engaging?” or “What is engagement?”.  Society will have to come up with tweaks to the rules for human engagement in a digital age where a corona virus is forcing on a global scale the reconstruction of society.  Should judges have to consider new threshold principles before trying to apply statutes, laws, rules, code, from a pre-COVID, non-artificial intelligence world to an issue before them arising out of a digital environment?  Will we need a new definition for personal spaces? For zones of danger?

In the area of political law how we structure political engagement and eventually the rules for engagement are already taking on a new twist.  For example, the recent squabble in the United States over funding for the U.S. Postal Service appears to be a result of the controversy over the use of mail-in ballots and the possibility of mail fraud.  As I ponder these questions, I suspect that new legal principles will appear as COVID-19 continues to change how we address the question of whose rule should prevail during political conflict.

Broadband networks remain resilient …

Posted by on in broadband, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Sponsored content

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JUNE 17, 2020

 

USTelecom recently released updated data on broadband network traffic growth during the COVID-19 crisis. Elevated levels of traffic persist compared to the pre-crisis baseline, though overall network traffic decreased since its peak in mid-April. Since reaching a high of 27% over the pre-crisis baseline the week of April 16, the average traffic increase was between 10% and 13% from May 7 – June 11.

Even with the traffic increases, USTelecom members’ core network capacity remains fully capable. Interconnections between networks have remained uncongested, even during peak traffic periods, with an average of 61% to 74% of the total capacity of peering links available as a buffer.

Source: USTelecom