A Week Of #GoodNews

Mnuchin: More Money Makes Jobs

These may be the last days of Donald Trump's presidency, but his Republican Party has quietly introduced a stimulus framework that would replace the Senate outline's $300-a-week federal benefit for unemployed people with a one-off cheque of $600 for all "non-affluent" Americans – most of them still employed – because it will "create jobs", reports Intelligencer, the New York Times' magazine. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin defended his proposal by saying it was an endorsement of demand-side economics. “We obviously want to get people back to work,” Mnuchin told Politico. “By sending out checks [sic], we’re putting money into the economy for people. This will have the impact of creating demand, which will have the impact of creating jobs. We want to get people their jobs back.” At GoodDollar we agree that lifting people out of the poverty trap will elevate their sense of purpose and encourage entrepreneurship.

Five Top Crypto Trends Of 2020

Finance Magnates runs the rule over what has been a "big, crazy, and important year for cryptocurrencies". Included in the top five trends are bitcoin's status a hedge against inflation, the growth of the decentralized finance space, and the arrival of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). "If the past can tell us anything about the future, 2021 may be a very exciting year for crypto," the article predicts. The GoodDollar team concurs!

Idea Of Basic Income Catching On In Arabia Peninsula

Project Syndicate makes the case for an Arabian universal basic income. In the oil-producing states of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), a mechanism of direct wealth sharing might be the only politically feasible way to reform bloated public sectors and avoid a long-term fiscal crisis, argues the piece, written by Steffen Hertog, Professor of Comparative Politics at the London School of Economics. He suggests Arabian authorities can be pioneers. "For the time being, a generous UBI remains unaffordable in Western countries. In MENA oil states, by contrast, some form of direct wealth sharing might be the only politically feasible way to reform existing welfare structures and avoid a long-term fiscal crisis." The GoodDollar team will be following developments with interest.

Blockchain Innovations Must Reach The Base Of The Pyramid

Will the next M-Pesa be a blockchain app, asks CoinDesk. Given 770 million people around the world still live without access to electricity it may be hard to reach "the base of the pyramid", says Leah Callon-Butler, Director of Emfarsis, a consulting firm focused on the role of technology in advancing economic development in Asia. M-Pesa is held up as an exemplar of how tech can enable mobile money in developing countries, but how can we lift the poorest out of the poverty trap, and ensure no one is left behind? This piece is a timely reminder that GoodDollar has much work to do to serve the people who need basic income the most.

No Longer A Fad: Sceptics Converted To Blockchain Technology

Further up the pyramid, blockchain sceptics are slowly but surely being convinced by the potential of the technology that underpins bitcoin, and countless other cryptos (including G$), according to Nasdaq.com. The article estimates that 75 of the world's biggest banks now use blockchain. "The New York Stock Exchange and the Australian Stock Exchange are adopting blockchain technology, too," the article states. At GoodDollar we're all for blockchain adoption, and finding new use cases.

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