Fiats Oliver v Muhammad

FINANCIERS with PhDs like to remind each other to “read your Kindleberger". The rare academic who could speak fluently to bureaucrats and normal people, Charles Kindleberger designed the Marshall Plan and wrote vast economic histories worthy of Tolstoy. “Read your Kindleberger” is just a coded way of saying “don’t forget this has all happened before”. So to anyone invested in, mining or building applications for distributed ledger money such as bitcoin or ethereum: read your Kindleberger.
Start with A Financial History of Western Europe, in which Kindleberger documents how many times merchants in different centuries figured out clever ways of doing the exact same thing. They made transactions easier, and in the process created new deposits and bills that increased the supply of money. In most cases, the Bürgermeister or the king left these innovations in place, but decided to control the supply of money and credit themselves. It is good for the king to be in charge of his own creditors

Bitcoin is fiat money, too The Economist. Hmm.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi’s memo on London ban: ‘There is a high cost to a bad reputation’ Recode

Scott Walker’s Wisconsin Foxconn Deal Is Even Shadier Than It Sounds Esquire. Suicide nets not Made in the USA?

England says Oliver is the most popular boys’ name, but it’s actually Muhammad Quartz

JAMES CLAPPER: US intelligence assessment of Russia’s election interference ‘cast doubt on the legitimacy’ of Trump’s victory Business Insider

How Facebook sees the Russian ad scandal CNN. With companion story–

CNN poll: 54% say Russia-backed content on social media moved 2016 election CNN. Can anybody point me tocontemporaneous evidence? There was a ton of voter interviewing done in 2016, much more than usual, as the press struggled to understand what was happening in the flyover states, and I can’t remember a single anecdote. I do try to keep track. Readers?

Russian hackers targeted Florida, 20 other states in 2016 election McClatchy. Note the caption: “Researchers would like to see the U.S. move entirely to computer-scannable paper ballots, since paper can’t be hacked.” No, because — follow me closely here, McClatchy — the scanners can be hacked. “Program testing can be used to show the presence of 
bugs hacks, but never to show their absence!” –Edsger W. Dijkstra, adapted. It follows that software should be removed from vote tabulation entirely; it’s a phishin equilibrium.

The Long Night Ahead Global Guerillas

5 things Trump did this week while you weren’t lookingPolitico

The Supreme Court and Military Control of Civil OfficesLawFare

Want Proof that Corporate Money Influences Politicians? This New Study Has It. In These Times


What high earners need to fear from the taxman 


Triguboff lashes $650m tax and levy slug


Over-confident males make SMSFs riskier