The Trump/Biden Handoff: Back to Business as Usual, as Usual

Few will find it surprising that the incoming Biden administration looks, in both form and function, a lot like the Obama administration of 2009-2017. After all, Joe Biden served as Barack Obama’s vice-president for those eight years. His staff and cabinet appointments comprise a veritable Who’s Who of Obama holdovers and members of Biden’s own political circle, built over decades in the Senate and White House.

What is Money?

The word “money” comes from the Latin moneta, which is where coins of precious metal were made and stored. Precious metals naturally rose to the top of money markets because they are scarce, long-lasting, and valued by weight. Gold in particular became the standard for money because it is uniquely suited to serve the purposes of money.

A Sea of Counter Conformity

We live in a sea of conformity and signaling. We are drowning in it, and, to some degree, this is okay. We are a social species, and we need to accept that the social nature of the species expresses itself in this way. I am on the far side of the spectrum that feels moderately comfortable being unacceptable, but I am an aberration. Even in myself, I feel the same social impulses everyone feels.

Apartheid Israel, Facebook Italy Fine, Seizing Sammiches, & Pakistan Blasphemy Executions (32m) – Episode 453

Episode 453 has Skyler giving his commentary on the following news stories: from APNews.com, “Leading human rights group calls Israel an ‘apartheid’ state”; from TheRegister.com, “Facebook appeals ruling that it stole tech. So, Italian judge issues new judgment: Pay 10 times the original fine”; from TheGuardian.com, “Dutch officials seize ham sandwiches of drivers arriving from UK”; and from AlJazeera.com, “Pakistan court sentences three to death for blasphemy”.