Finance

Bitcoin: The Virtual Currency Bubble?

/ Matthew Clemente / 1 Comment

Bitcoin: The Virtual Currency Bubble?

A recent episode of NPR’s Planet Money discussed a new currency, a virtual currency called Bitcoin.  Bitcoin is essentially a currency predicated on a peer-to-peer system (think: the now-defunct Limewire).  The podcast explores some metaphysical economic questions (what is money?). 

Here is Planet Money’s decription of the story: 

Since the start of the year, the Japanese yen has risen by about 12 percent against the dollar. The euro has fallen by about 1 percent.

 

Then there’s bitcoin, a virtual currency that doesn’t even exist in the physical world. In the past few months, the value of bitcoin has risen by more than 1,000 percent — from less than $20 per bitcoin a few months ago to more than $200 today.

 

On today’s show, we ask: Is a skyrocketing value a good thing or a bad thing for bitcoin?

Abolish the Minimum Wage?

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Abolish the Minimum Wage?

That was the proposition being debated on the most recent Intelligence Squared debate.  The debater included James A. Dorn (Cato Institute) and Russell Roberts (Hoover Institution) arguing in favor of the motion and Jared Bernstein (Former Chief Economist to Vice President Joe Biden) and Karen Kornbluh (Former US Ambassador, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development). 

The Disability Boom: America’s De Facto Welfare System

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The Disability Boom: America’s De Facto Welfare System

After a half of year of investigation, Planet Money’s Chana Joffe-Walt reports a disturbing trend in the American economy-the constantly increasing number of of Americans receiving federal disability payments. The number Americans on disability has doubled in the last fifteen years. Currently, there are fourteen million people receiving disability payments, nearly a quarter of all adults in some towns and counties. The Planet Money team argues that the disability system has become a de facto welfare system and an economically inefficient one at that. The causes of this startling trend include the changing economy, lawyers, and, surprisingly, kids.
The results of Joffe-Walt’s findings will be on NPR all week this week. The full story was the focus of This American Life (59:17 minutes). A preview of the story is available on the Planet Money Podcast (13:38 minutes). The Planet Money website includes some fairly startling graphs about the problem. Finally, parts of the story will also be featured on All Things Considered.

High School Football Star Exonerated After 5 Years in Prison

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High School Football Star Exonerated After 5 Years in Prison

Last night on 60 Minutes, CBS correspondent James Brown reported the story of Brian Banks, a former high school football star who was falsely convicted of rape and kidnapping.   Banks went from recieving a call from Pete Carroll and being recruited play football for USC to Chino State Penitentiary.  After five years in prison, Bank’s accuser, Wanetta Gibson, admitted to fabricating the accusations. 

Sequester Disaster

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbwmTELYqxU

Our political leaders “lack courage” and have let government go “off the rails,” so says conservative commentator Ben Stein. According to Stein, the sequester represents how ideological rigidity has led to Washington dysfunction. Stein quotes two great Americans, Mick Jagger and Abraham Lincoln, along the way and concludes with the homage to Larry the Cable Guy:

“Senators, Congressmen and women, Mister President, get back to Washington D.C., and get to work. Compromise. Work like you love America.

And get it done”

This brief (2:30) video was part of the weekly commentary segment on CBS Sunday Morning.

Text of the commentary is available here.