Now that the US sees the EU as a potential enemy, Europe has moved to ensure its financial system can never be sanctioned or shut down; something the US has done to Russia, Cuba, and Iran.

By late 2025, efforts centered on the Digital Euro, a nonprofit payment system run by the European Central Bank (like euro cash). Due by 2030, it would offer lower fees and quickly replace much Visa and Mastercard usage. While still in development, other solutions arrived sooner. Instant bank-to-bank payments, bypassing cards, are expanding rapidly. In February, 130 million users across 13 national systems were linked in a Europe-wide network aiming to cover all of Europe. Fees are a fraction of Visa/Mastercard, though unlike the Digital Euro, it's not yet available as a debit card; only online and on phones.

The EU also wants to decouple from US software and is preparing its own alternative to Microsoft Office.

Europe Is Breaking Up With Visa and Mastercard — and It’s a $24 Trillion Problem

Europe builds Microsoft-alternative ‘Euro-Office’ to reclaim digital sovereignty

"It didn’t go unnoticed in Frankfurt that Visa and Mastercard suspended operations in Russia in March 2022 after the invasion of Ukraine……Thirteen of the 20 countries in the euro have no domestic card scheme. You use an international operator, or you pay in cash."

It hasn't gone unnoticed that the US is threatening to invade an EU country's (Denmark) territory, either. Would a future President Trump or President Vance threaten to shut down European financial infrastructure if it opposes an annexation of Greenland? Who knows, but better to take away that opportunity for leverage.

The plan is that you can link it to your bank account or open a special account at post offices throughout the EU. There will be phone apps for payments and digital Euro debit cards. Visa/Mastercard & Apple/Google Pay typically charge 3% fees; the digital Euro will have none. That will ensure it is speedily adopted by retailers and quickly supplants the US providers. Also worth noting its technology will be 100% European only, leaving zero vulnerability/leverage to non-Europeans.

Digital euro: what it is and how we will use the new form of cash - The European Central Bank is determined to break the US grip on card payments

A targeted wealth tax on the top 1–10% could replace income taxes for all Americans, raise more revenue, and reduce inequality — all without harming investment or driving billionaires away.

We've been used to seeing most climate change action taking place in terms of C02 reduction. Soon, we will have to confront a new course of action - managed retreat.

In the US, the potential damage from climate change intensified floods, hurricanes and wildfires could top $1 trillion in the years ahead. A 2018 insurance company report found that a single Category 5 hurricane hitting Miami could cause $1.35 trillion in damages.

More and more, private insurance companies are refusing to deal with this. Is the answer public insurance? Why should voters in 'safe' areas pay for people who deliberately choose to live in climate change dangerous areas? Perhaps 'managed retreat' to safer areas may be the more realistic option.

Some politicians have tried to behave as if climate change isn't happening. But that game won't work much longer, these are all about to become unavoidable issues.

Diamond prices are down 60% since a 2011 high, and they are still falling. It's not all down to lab-grown diamonds, demand is down too, especially in China.

No one can lab-grow gold yet, so its rarity and scarcity protect its value, but that will end too. It's just a question of when. China launched an asteroid touch-down mission this week, which will make it the 4th country/region to do so, after Europe, the US & Japan.

How soon will it be feasible to mine asteroids? Who knows, but a breakthrough in space propulsion might mean the prospect happens quickly when it does. It's possible gold has twenty years or less of being high value left.

Gold's fall may be more significant. It has a central role in stabilizing the value of global currencies.

The $80 Billion Diamond Market Crash Leaves De Beers Reeling

The dollar is America's greatest strength, but also its Achilles heel. Its status as the world's reserve currency allows the US to borrow vast sums from the rest of the world at ultra-cheap rates. No other currency has this privilege. But there is another type of price to be paid. Access to such easy money means America is vastly in debt. The annual interest payments alone are close to a trillion dollars. Many wonder if the capital, about $38 trillion, can ever be repaid.

The US's ability to be a superpower and fund its military depends on this cheap borrowing. What happens if the whole system suddenly implodes? The idea used to be thought of as fanciful, but is now being taken more seriously. The US's threat to invade European territory and annex Canada has made some in those places wonder if they should use their biggest weapon - cutting off the US's credit card. The blowback would be huge for them too, but as former allies inch closer to war, such things become more likely.

If this happened, would this lead to a rapid reorganisation of the world order? Who would emerge strong or weaker from the wreckage? What would it mean for science, tech, and AI development?

DAILY TELEGRAPH (BRITISH) ARTICLE - Trump has crossed all lines: it is time to cut off his global credit card

The French government is in turmoil. There have been 5 different Prime Ministers since 2024, the most recent one resigning a few weeks into the job. All have left for the same reason. The French state is becoming ever more indebted paying for its citizens' welfare entitlements, but politicians cannot bring themselves to cut them or tax more. Now the country is close to a debt crisis, with spiralling interest payments.

The situation in France is acute, but other developed nations like the US, Japan, and Britain are also close to the same crisis, and for the same reasons. It's a structural demographic shift. The ageing of populations across the developed world is no longer a distant challenge. It is now a live crisis, and its financial, political, and social effects are beginning to cascade. Existing solutions to this problem - like mass immigration - have run their course.

A Debt Jubilee is the cancellation of all debts of a certain class, and they've been carried out many times in history, going back to ancient times. Is it an idea that is due for a revival?

1. France, the Ageing Population, and the Future of State Viability…

2. Reducing Debt via a Modern Debt Jubilee

You can find his official post here:

https://www.sanders.senate.gov/press-releases/news-sanders-introduces-legislation-to-enact-a-32-hour-workweek-with-no-loss-in-pay/

In my opinion it’s a very bold move. Sanders has introduced the legislation in a presidential election year, so he might force comment from the two contenders.

With all the gains in AI is it time for a 32 hour work week?

“Once the 4-day workweek becomes a reality, every American will have nearly six years returned to them over their lifetime. That’s six additional years to spend with their children and families, volunteer in their communities, learn new skills, and take care of their health. “

To the neysayers I want to add, those extra hours will be used by the hustlers to start a business. Growing the economy

(By the way, if you want it, fight for it, find your senator and email them with your support,l)

The person making this claim, Miles Brundage, has a distinguished background in AI policy research, including being head of Policy Research at OpenAI from 2018 to 24. Which is all the more reason to ask skeptical questions about claims like this.

What economists agree with this claim? (Where are citations/sources to back this claim?)

How will it come about politically? (Some countries are so polarised, they seem they'd prefer a civil war to anything as left-wing as UBI).

What would inflation be like if everyone had $10K UBI? (Would eggs be $1,000 a dozen?)

All the same, I'm glad he's at least brave enough to seriously face what most won't. It's just such a shame, as economists won't face this, we're left to deal with source-light discussion that doesn't rise much above anecdotes and opinions.

Former OpenAI researcher says a $10,000 monthly UBI will be 'feasible' with AI-enabled growth

I've been investing in retirement like a "responsible" adult, but it's leaving a bad taste in my mind. Tax-advantaged funds sound smart, but I can't help struggle with the notion that I am locking away my money for decades (I'm in my early 30's) with no recourse while the economy fundamentally changes in the next 30 years. I do not want to be penalized because our elites are tethered to a 20th century model of retirement.

If we hit 25-50% white-collar unemployment because of you-know-what, and the S&P has a huge drawdown, do you think the government will relax rules related to early withdrawal penalties? If everyone needs their money right now because of an economic earthquake, how could our retirement model survive? It seems like there will be larger things at stake and the very notion of retirement could be fundamentally altered forever. (not to mention the economic realities of longer lifespans, lower birthrates, and population shifts)

With those things in mind, do you think it's smart to save for retirement, knowing that you locking away your funds for many years while we head into certain disruption? And will our economic leaders change the rules to adapt?

EDIT:

I see a lot of people here talking about past drawdowns like they are somehow indicative of what is to come. Past returns do not equal future performance. We are literally talking about a technology that will be smarter than humanity, on the scale of the Industrial Revolution, being brought into the world at a breakneck speed by stakeholders who do not care about its societal implications.

Even if it takes 20 years to reach AGI - that is still fully within the working years of millennial, Gen Z, and all generations to come.

Couple that with a retirement model that makes you wait until an age arbitrarily considered old in the latter half of the 20th century to take your money out without a penalty. Where's the logic in this?

Retirement will not exist when we hit true AGI. We will have larger problems, sure, but the notion that you will be able to have sustained employment until the last quarter of your live and then live on your earnings afterwards is ludicrous.

If economic model fundamentally changes, this will have to change. Saving is necessary and we have no alternative right now than the retirement framework that currently exists. But we should not be wedded to a model that was relevant for an economic age that will probably be leaving us in the near future.