The Tanach on Bitcoin

The Economist writes that the answer to the bitcoin is in the writings of Kindleberger. I have read it. And no.

The answer is in the Tanach. Bitcoin has no intrinsic value in silver or other precious metal. In the Gemara, a coin like that is called ASIMON, a token. Only gold and silver coins are considered money, the asimon is merchandise.

Those Jews were not stupid. The bitcoin is not money, it is merchandise. It has no intrinsic value, it is worth exactly what the buyer is ready to pay for it. In money.

If merchandise, it must be taxed. Each transaction will pay VAT (17% in Israel) and its export/import will be regulated. Since each bitcoin contains a ledger of transactions,  its taxing presents no difficulties. It cannot be hidden. 

Courageous Policeman

Meng Jianzhu, head of the Communist Party’s central commission for China's security and intelligence systems, pledged to use AI through machine learning, data mining and computer modelling to help stamp out risks to stability. He must be a very courageous individual, as shown by his reddish monster hairpiece. Comment, if you dare, at your risk.

Ah! Forgot to mention Donald Trump's hair style.

Sex? No, thanks. We are Americans.

WaPo reports:

"…teenagers are increasingly delaying activities that had long been seen as rites of passage into adulthood. The study, published Tuesday in the journal Child Development, found that the percentage of adolescents in the U.S. who have a driver’s license, who have tried alcohol, who date, and who work for pay has plummeted since 1976, with the most precipitous decreases in the past decade.
The declines appeared across race, geographic, and socioeconomic lines, and in rural, urban, and suburban areas.
…Between 1976 and 1979, 86 percent of high school seniors had gone on a date; between 2010 and 2015 only 63 percent had, the study found. During the same period, the portion who had ever earned money from working plunged from 76 to 55 percent. And the portion who had tried alcohol plummeted from 93 percent between 1976 and 1979 to 67 percent between 2010 and 2016.
Teens have also reported a steady decline in sexual activity in recent decades, as the portion of high school students who have had sex fell from 54 percent in 1991 to 41 percent in 2015, according to Centers for Disease Control statistics."

The reason, I think, is antidepressants. The population is being sedated and manageable. Molecule: Oxytocin.

Brother, can you spare a (bit)coin?

“The efficacy of any bitcoin ban is dubious,” said Van Valkenburgh. “It’s bullish because if a powerful government like China feels the need to ban trading, then it’s a good indicator that the technology works and that it does what it’s supposed to. If it overcomes those controls, then it’s further proof that it’s independent from government controls, which is pretty radical.”(from Bloomberg)

The Bank of Israel is also very suspicious of bitcoin, and even small traders are accused of escaping tax and or be involved in drugs or whatever. Bitcoin seems to have escaped the nation state.

How is donor insemination affecting the genotype?

A million Americans have been conceived through donor insemination and the procedure is ever more popular. I presume that silently, it has started to affect American genotype. New generations of deracinated people grow up without pride and attachment to their family roots and history. They will be open to the concept of "new family" based on unknown sperm donors and bizarre sentimental and living arrangements. Culture and society will change. 

How will Western peoples evolve?

What will decide is what women really want when it comes to a sperm donor. Looks are number one in selecting a father. Six feet tall, blue or green eyes, either blond or brown hair, and with a medium complexion. You can even get down to details like dimples, which are desirable according sperm banks. Earning power is actually pretty low on the list. Future moms aren’t concerned about material things, but they do want impregnators to possess certain personality traits like kindness, charm, compassion, likability and a desire to make a difference in the world. Women want to give their future children a great personality. They want them to have internal values, whatever they imagine that be. They want to imagine their "husbands" as idealists, like feeding kitties, fighting cruelty to animals, volunteering to bring water to photogenic African babies.

They definitely do not want outliers, no red haired dwarf geniuses nor slit-eyed bookworms. Universities are appreciated, but not in esoteric geeky sciences. Doctors are loved.

Allowing the fantasies of young women to select the next generation seems to me crazy. Of course, women always made some selection, but societies were organized to severely limit their choices and actually few got impregnated by the football team captain or the firefighter.

The Chinese will do it better.

The Fracturing of European National States

Catalunya (a third of Spain's economy) has declared its independence. Madrid has closed down its financial system and many of its web sites, and this is just the beginning of the repression. Galicia, the Basques, Asturias and other aspirants to independence are watching how this develops. The union of the peninsula achieved by the marriage of Fernando and Isabel 500 years ago is now unraveling.

Investment Areas

History did not stop when I stopped blogging. The chip industry is expanding thanks new markets, such as blockchain mining (AMG, Nvidia) and Deep Learning, which need "computing power" and cheap electricity. The bio-pharma industry is getting FDA approvals for new technologies, such as Protalix from Carmiel (proteins from carrot cells). The China supply shock is being felt even on Kever Benjamin streets as shops are closing.