Coronavirus News (226)

How the US uses the dollar payments system to impose sanctions on a global scale The US dollar’s global dominance gives Washington a powerful tool that it uses to enforce sanctions on people, institutions and countries The decoupling of the world’s two largest economies has raised concerns about the United States deploying the ‘nuclear option’ of freezing China’s banking sector out of the global US dollar payments system   ........  The US’ ability to exploit the US dollar payment system began during the administration of former president Bill Clinton (1993-2001) and expanded under subsequent administrations. ..........  Iran, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela and, to a lesser extent, Russia. ..........  Last month, the US imposed sanctions on several Chinese government firms and officials, citing ties to alleged human rights abuses against ethnic minorities in restive Xinjiang. Most notably, the sanctions hit Chen Quanguo, a member of China’s Politburo, the centre of power within the Communist Party. ..............   the US Clearing House Interbank Payments System (Chips). Chips forms the primary settlement network for large-value domestic and international US dollar payments. ..............  the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) – the world’s largest electronic payment messaging system ............  Although it does not settle transactions, the Belgian-based SWIFT network connects 11,000 banks and companies globally, for sending messages about financial transactions. Among its 25-board membership, the US has two seats and the chairmanship, while China has one seat. ............... US-China interdependence is so extensive .............  The Cross-border Interbank Payment System, the Chinese payment system for yuan settlements, processed 135.7 billion yuan (US$19.5 billion) worth of daily transactions last year – less than 2 per cent of the daily volume in the US’ Chips clearing system.   

US dollar at risk of sudden collapse? Ex-IMF official warns ‘blow-up event’ could sink currency as debt mounts A fresh stimulus package worth at least US$1 trillion could spell relief for millions of Americans in pandemic, but could raise financial stability risks US Federal Reserve’s aggressiveness in easing financial conditions has succeeded in halting a further decline in the US economy, but that could change if major companies start going bankrupt ......... “The concern isn’t whether the US dollar will see an accumulated decline of 30 per cent in the future, but whether there will be a blow-up event that causes a sudden loss of confidence in the US dollar, and its market to collapse,” said Zhu, who is currently head of the National Financial Research Institute at Tsinghua University in Beijing. ...................  “So, the question of whether there will be a financial crisis will depend on whether a major company will be the next to go bankrupt, and thereby result in a jump in the corporate default ratio, leading to a sovereign debt crisis,” Zhu said. The US became the lender of choice for many countries that were willing to buy US-dollar-denominated bonds. This provided the US with what’s been dubbed an “exorbitant privilege” to run with soaring public deficits and debt, as international funds have chased the safe-haven status of US dollars and assets during times of turmoil. ....................  “Past an unknown critical threshold, [using monetary policy to deal with public deficit] could see the collapse of US dollar currency hegemony as people lose faith in it,” Every said. “All systems can only be pushed so far. Does the world still want a US-dollar-centric system if US dollars are openly printed to fund the state spending that drives the external deficit?” .................  The US dollar has been the world’s leading currency since 1919, when it overtook the pound in the aftermath of World War I.   

China keen to work with ‘US states, local councils, businesses’ despite Washington’s hostility, Xi Jinping says President Xi Jinping is keen to de-escalate rising tensions with Washington and ensure American companies continue to do business with China China has had close ties with states on the west coast of the US, while purchases of agriculture products have also boosted interactions with Midwest farm states

China’s economic future is being influenced by nine economists, but what did they tell Xi Jinping this week? Chinese President Xi Jinping met with nine prominent economists this week to help with the development of the 14th five-year plan for 2021-25 which is due next year Each of the economists has advocated specific policies that could shed light on Beijing’s policy priorities in the years ahead .........  China’s economy grew by 6.1 per cent in 2019, the lowest growth rate since political turmoil ravaged the country in 1990, before shrinking 6.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2020 after the coronavirus shut down large swathes of the country. It avoided a recession after its economy grew by 3.2 per cent in the second quarter, the first major economy to show a recovery from the damage caused by the coronavirus. ...........   Wang was the driving force behind the nation’s strategically emerging industries plan. As early as 2012, he put forward his countrywide competition idea under which Beijing should marshal the country’s entire pool of state, market and social resources to pursue industrial and technological leadership..........  In one recently published article, Zhang said China must uphold the rules of the World Trade Organisation and seek an open and multilateral trade system to challenge the unilateralism being pursued by the US. .............  China will rely more on itself but it will not close itself up   

Coronavirus News (225)

 Neuralink’s Wildly Anticipated New Brain Implant: the Hype vs. the Science  the brain mostly operates on electrical signals. If we can tap into these enigmatic “neural codes”—the brain’s internal language—we could potentially become the architects of our own minds. ..........  raw neural recordings are too massive for efficient transfer, and automated spike detection and compression of that data is difficult, but a necessary step to allow neural interfaces to finally “cut the wire.” ..............  an undercurrent of tension between what’s possible in neuroengineering versus what’s needed to understand the brain. ..........  as neuroscience is increasingly understanding the neural code behind our thought processes, it’s clear that more electrodes or more stimulated neurons isn’t always better. Most neural circuits employ what’s called “sparse coding,” in that only a handful of neurons, when stimulated in a way that mimics natural firing, can artificially trigger visual or olfactory sensations. With optogenetics—the technique of stimulating neurons with light—scientists now know that it’s possible to incept memories by targeting just a few key neurons in a circuit. Sticking a ton of wires into the brain, which inevitably causes scarring, and zapping hundreds of thousands of neurons isn’t necessarily going to help. ...................  Without an idea of how neural circuits work and in what sequences, zapping the brain with electricity—no matter how cool the device itself is—is akin to banging on all the keys of a piano at once, rather than composing a beautiful melody. ..........  the brain will eventually activate non-neuronal cells to form an insulating sheath around the electrode, sealing it off from the neurons it needs to record from .............  Rather than other brain-machine interface companies, which generally focus on brain disorders, it’s clear that Musk envisions Link as something that can augment perfectly healthy humans. Given the need for surgical removal of part of your skull, it’s hard to say if it’s a convincing sell for the average person, even with Musk’s star power and his vision of augmenting natural sight, memory playback, or a “third artificial layer” of the brain that joins us with AI. .................  Neuralink has a long way to go. ........ To quote Musk: “There’s a tremendous amount of work to be done to go from here to a device that is widely available and affordable and reliable.”

Algorithms Workers Can’t See Are Increasingly Pulling the Management Strings  At Amazon’s fulfillment center in south-east Melbourne, they set the pace for “pickers,” who have timers on their scanners showing how long they have to find the next item. As soon as they scan that item, the timer resets for the next. All at a “not quite walking, not quite running” speed. ............  US developer HireVue says its software speeds up the hiring process by 90 percent by having applicants answer identical questions and then scoring them according to language, tone, and facial expressions. .........  Granted, human assessments during job interviews are notoriously flawed. Algorithms, however, can also be biased. ........  Algorithms do what their code tells them to do. The problem is this code is rarely available. This makes them difficult to scrutinize, or even understand. ............  accepting gigs as quickly as possible and waiting in “magic” locations. Ironically, these attempts to please the algorithm often meant losing the very flexibility that was one of the attractions of gig work. ..........  When Uber Eats bicycle couriers asked for reasons about their plummeting income, for example, responses from the company advised them “we have no manual control over how many deliveries you receive.” .........  When algorithmic management operates as a “black box” one of the consequences is that it is can become an indirect control mechanism. ...........  this control mechanism has enabled platforms to mobilize a reliable and scalable workforce while avoiding employer responsibilities. .............  Without human oversight based on agreed principles we risk inviting HAL into our workplaces. 

New Zealand Is About to Test Long-Range Wireless Power Transmission  Earlier this month, Emrod received funding from Powerco, New Zealand’s second biggest utility, to conduct a test of its system at a grid-connected commercial power station. The company hopes to bring energy to communities far from the grid or transmit power from remote renewable sources, like offshore wind farms. ..........  four components: A power source, a transmitting antenna, several (or more) transmitting relays, and a rectenna. ............  First, the transmitting antenna transforms electricity into microwave energy—an electromagnetic wave just like Marconi’s radio waves, only a bit more energetic—and focuses it into a cylindrical beam. The microwave beam is sent through a series of relays until it hits the rectenna, which converts it back into electricity. ...................   if it works as intended, the beam won’t ever contact anything but empty air. .........  The system uses a net of lasers surrounding the beam to detect obstructions, like a bird or person, and it automatically shuts off transmission until the obstruction has moved on. ...........  metamaterials developed in recent years are the difference-maker. ..........  The relays, which are like “lenses” extending the beam beyond line-of-sight by refocusing it, are nearly lossless ............  the system’s efficiency is around 70%, which is short of copper wires but economically viable in some areas. .............  It’s not about replacing the whole infrastructure but augmenting it in places where it makes sense.” ..........  the company is also looking into whether they could beam power across 30 kilometers of water from the New Zealand mainland to Stewart Island. He said the system could cost as little as 60 percent of an undersea cable.   

Taiwan stuck at a crossroads with US and China over trade deals, facing conflicting prospects Speculation has mounted as to whether China will allow its Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement with Taiwan to end amid rising political tensions US Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar also floated the prospect of renewing long-running US-Taiwan trade talks, but doubts remain on both fronts ..............  If Trump decides to pursue an agreement, it would thus probably be for political reasons and could produce a reaction that he may not fully understand or expect.”