A library of snippets
xxx
So does pot contribute to GDP? It does in Canada but not in the United States!
Neither Canada nor the United States include prostitution in GDP although the Netherlands does. The United States has higher GDP per capita than either the Netherlands or Canada but if we included pot and prostitution our GDP per capita would be even higher and would better reflect our true standard of living relative to these other countries!
xxx
xxx
When Francois Reihani opened La La Land Kind Café in Dallas three years ago, he knew immediately that it would be cashless.
“The main reason was for sanitary purposes,” Reihani said. “I’m a bit of a germaphobe, and cash is a very dirty thing. I wanted to keep it away from where we prepare food and drinks.”
Fewer than two miles away at the edge of Dallas’ nightlife neighborhood of Deep Ellum, Sky Rocket Burger had a different reason for refusing cash earlier this year. The place had two break-ins when the register was taken both times.
A nearby pizza joint, Serious Pizza, a common late-night spot wedged into a string of bars, has also switched to cashless payments in part to move the line of club goers along at a quicker pace.
From Cash is no longer king in the U.S., but will it ever go away? | American Banker:
xxx
When New York fines the ice cream seller Van Leeuwen $12,000 for not equipping its stores to accept cash, thereby violating the city’s ban on cashless businesses, you have to wonder what the dynamic is. Presumably if the persecuted purveyor found it cost effective to accept cash instead of electronic payments, then they would. But presumably they made a calculation along the lines of the cost of a register and the wasted counter space and the cost of taking notes and giving change and the cost of the float and shrinkage and the employee time to count, bag and deposit cash is greater than fees for accepting cards.
If cash was cost effective for them, they would take it. It isn’t, so they don’t. If you force them to take it, then you are raising their costs.
A ban on cashlessness is, essentially, a tax. The city wasn’t offering to cover the cost of accepting the cash.
There are a variety of reasons as to why someone in New York might not have access to an electronic means of payment and there is no need to list them here, other than to note that for some people who do not have a bank account, the alternative of prepaid cards can be costly.
xxx
AmEx noted that China’s bank cards in circulation rose to 9.03 billion, of which 91% are debit cards
From How are AmEx’s prospects in China shaping up? – Kapronasia:
xxx
xxx
the share of nails in GDP dropped back from 0.4 percent of GDP in 1810—comparable to today’s share of household purchases of personal computers—to a de minimis share more recently
From The Price of Nails since 1695: A Window into Economic Change | NBER:
xxx
xxx
In response to a complaint by the Consumers’ Association of Ireland, the Central Bank of Ireland issued a statement saying that cash would be accepted at all stores.
From Irish central bank announces all retailers in Ireland must accept cash:
xxx
xxx
The Games will also feature ATM machines that can convert foreign currencies, including US dollars, into virtual Chinese money, which will be carried in a digital yuan card (Chinese).
From China’s digital yuan wallet is now in app stores — Quartz:
xxx
xxx
Following news that customers of Nationwide were unable to carry out any payments, the third time this month, thousands of angry Brits took to social media to demand an explanation.
xxx
Alan Brown, Professor in Digital Economy at the University of Exeter’s Business School and an expert in digital transformation in large-scale enterprise, talks about the need to develop strategies that respond to five key post-pandemic shifts: the “great acceleration”, the “great disruption”, the “great resignation”, the “great dispersion” and the “great reset”. As he says, “with so much turmoil, there is significant debate about what comes next”.
The Bank of Japan’s research paper on topic identified universal access and resilience as two key characteristics of a digital currency. It must be possible, in their view, to use a digital yen without electricity, especially given Japan’s recent earthquakes and power outages.
xxx
Authorities in the United Arab Emirates have requested the US Department of Justice’s help in probing a case involving a bank manager who was swindled into transferring $35m to criminals by someone using a fake AI-generated voice. The employee received a call to move the company-owned funds by someone purporting to be a director from the business. But it was all a scam… The criminals used “deep voice technology to simulate the voice of the director,” it said. Now officials from the UAE have asked the DoJ to hand over details of two US bank accounts, where over $400,000 from the stolen money were deposited.
From Criminals use fake AI voice to swindle UAE bank out of $35m • The Register.
xxx
Snippings