Money Talk – Page 4

Coronavirus, government, Money Talk, Science & Technology News

What should the government spend to save a life?

March 28, 2020

Economists have a way of measuring the cost of protecting people from COVID-19.

Economists have done the math.

The staggering economic toll of the new coronavirus is becoming abundantly, unavoidably clear. On Thursday, a Department of Labor report showed that a record-shattering 3.3 million people applied for initial unemployment claims last week. And with entire industries shuttered for the foreseeable future, economic output will almost certainly shrink dramatically.

As economic forecasts grow darker, talk of tradeoffs is getting louder: Is protecting Americans from COVID-19 really worth all this disruption and economic pain?

On March 22, before President Trump floated the idea of reopening the economy by Easter, against the recommendations of his own public health experts, he tweeted, “WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF.” Other politicians, meanwhile, rejected the idea that economic costs should be a factor at all. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo dismissed Trump’s push to get the economy moving again, saying, “No American is going to say, ‘accelerate the economy at the cost of human life.’ Because no American is going to say how much a life is worth.”

Continue reading… “What should the government spend to save a life?”

Coronavirus, government, Money Talk, Science & Technology News, Uber

For the first time, Uber drivers and other gig workers qualify for unemployment insurance as part of the Senate’s $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus bill

March 27, 2020

A protester outside Uber’s office in Massachusetts.

The Senate’s $2 trillion coronavirus economic bailout bill includes help for gig-economy workers, like Uber and Lyft drivers, who have seen their livelihood dissolve during the coronavirus crisis.

For the first time, these workers would qualify for unemployment insurance.

They would also qualify for the additional four months of extra payments this bill would provide to everyone who collects unemployment.

It isn’t clear exactly how much money a month drivers, contract workers, and freelancers could get, but they should qualify for a weekly payment equivalent to if they were a laid-off full-time employee.

The maximum weekly amount varies by state, but the extra unemployment insurance would add up to a maximum of $600 more a week.

Continue reading… “For the first time, Uber drivers and other gig workers qualify for unemployment insurance as part of the Senate’s $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus bill”

AI, Employment, Money Talk, Robots, Science & Technology News

The finance robots are coming: 73% of organizations plan to replace humans with machines this year

March 19, 2020

Even finance is being affected by the onslaught of human vs. machine with a recent Deloitte survey revealing some startling stats.

The finance function is experiencing rapid change, and a recent Deloitte survey found that 73% percent of respondents are planning to implement technology to replace humans in their workforce this year—up from 58% a year ago.

While the finance workforce will grow smaller, companies need to adjust existing staff and bring in new skills that typically aren’t found in the finance department, according to a new Deloitte report.

Continue reading… “The finance robots are coming: 73% of organizations plan to replace humans with machines this year”

Bitcoin, Legal Issues, Money Talk, Science & Technology News

French court recognises Bitcoin as “money”

March 12, 2020

The ruling, the result of a dispute between Bitcoin marketplace Paymium and crypto investment firm BitSpread, could benefit the French crypto market.

A French court has ruled that Bitcoin is money, for the first time.

The result of the ruling could lead to more action in the French Bitcoin market.

It’s the first time a French court has issued such a ruling, according to French publication Les Echos.

The ruling came from a dispute between French Bitcoin marketplace Paymium and crypto investment company BitSpread. Paymium had loaned BitSpread 1,000 Bitcoin in 2014. But in 2017, Bitcoin forked into Bitcoin Cash.

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Bitcoin, Blockchain, Money Talk, Science & Technology News

Bitcoin’s guardian angel : Inside Coinable billionaire Brian Armstrong’s plan to make crypto safe for all

March 8, 2020

Near the foot of San Francisco’s California Street stand the august stone pillars of a bank dating to the 19th century. A few paces away sit the offices of Coinbase, the largest American exchange for cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. It’s a beehive of software engineers and young marketing executives. There, the worlds of by-the-books banking and crypto-anarchism collide.

In style and philosophy, Brian Armstrong, the 37-year-old billionaire cofounder and CEO of Coinbase, is in the camp of the financial anarchists. He sits, jammed alongside lieutenants, in a row of tiny desks resembling library carrels. He wears a black T-shirt, black pants and shiny white sneakers. He talks about a brave new world in which we are liberated from the shackles of giant banks and government-controlled money supplies. During an expansive interview, this usually reserved and press-shy entrepreneur declares why he got into this business: “I wanted the world to have a global, open financial system that drove innovation and freedom.”

Continue reading… “Bitcoin’s guardian angel : Inside Coinable billionaire Brian Armstrong’s plan to make crypto safe for all”

Analysis, Human Behavior, Money Talk, Science & Technology News

Why aren’t more highly intelligent people rich?

February 20, 2020

A Nobel Prize-Winning Economist Says Another Factor Matters a Lot More

Intelligence is important, but intelligence without effort is sometimes wasted.

Nobel Prize-winning economist James Heckman likes to ask people how great a role innate intelligence plays in financial success. Like how much the difference between my income and yours, for example, is based on our relative IQs.

Most people say about 25 percent. Some go as high as 50 percent. (For a long time, I would gave guessed even more.)

But Heckman’s research reveals something else entirely. Innate intelligence plays, at best, a 1 to 2 percent role in a child’s future success.

Continue reading… “Why aren’t more highly intelligent people rich?”

Automobiles, Money Talk, Science & Technology News, Startup

Automaker startup is fast and furious

February 8, 2020

When it comes to startup investment, automakers are still going full speed ahead.

From ride-hailing apps to driverless car technology, transportation startups have attracted unprecedented sums of investment capital from auto manufacturers in recent years. In the past few quarters, that trend has been accelerating.

An analysis of Crunchbase data shows that since the beginning of 2019, the world’s largest car and truck manufacturers have led financing rounds valued at more than $6 billion. Over that period, they’ve participated in more than 50 deals for several million dollars and up, indicating an expanded willingness to pump significant sums into rounds.

“It has been a continuation of the trends for many of the automakers that have been particularly active over the past few years,” said Chris Stallman, a partner at Detroit-based transport venture firm Fontinalis Partners. “In 2019 and 2020, however, it has been interesting to see a few automakers—particularly those in Asia—aggressively ramping up their innovation efforts.”

Continue reading… “Automaker startup is fast and furious”

Analysis, Employment, Money Talk, Science & Technology News

Average IT salary hits record $113,639 in US due to these certifications

January 27, 2020

US tech employees lead the global pack thanks to a mix of certifications, job skills and tenure, according to a new report.

The average annual salary for IT professionals worldwide is $89,732—the highest yet found by Global Knowledge’s yearly report. The report is the largest worldwide study of professionals in the tech community and has been conducted every year for more than a decade.

IT professionals earned an average of $5,000 more in 2019 than in 2018, with the main reason being improved job performance, the report found.

This increase in both salaries and performance quality indicates that more people are taking steps to progress their professional development, resulting in better performance and more compensation, according to the report.

Continue reading… “Average IT salary hits record $113,639 in US due to these certifications”

Entertainment, Films, Money Talk, Record Breaker, Science & Technology News

What is the most profitable movie ever?

January 22, 2020

‘Avatar’? ‘Blair Witch Project’? ‘Star Wars’? The Hollywood Reporter crunches the numbers to see which film has earned the most hard cash.

What’s Hollywood’s most profitable movie ever? The answer depends on how you define “profitable.”

If you think of profit purely as a ratio of production cost to box office gross, 1999’s The Blair Witch Project and 2007’s Paranormal Activity run neck and neck.

Blair Witch involved an initial outlay of $35,000 — but that was just for the shoot; once postproduction was completed, the real budget was over $200,000 (and may have been as much as $500,000), including a sound remix and a transfer to 35mm. Artisan Entertainment’s Bill Block bought the picture for just over $1 million and (after a hefty marketing spend of $6 million to $8 million domestically alone) it earned $249 million globally.

Paranormal only cost $15,000 to make. Later, however, its sound was redone for an additional $150,000; and producers Oren Peli and Jason Blum spent an extra $50,000 to reshoot the ending at Steven Spielberg’s request, bringing the total budget to $215,000. As a return on investment (ROI), looking at the initial outlay alone, that beats Blair Witch — unless you also factor in the marketing costs, in which case Blair is in pole position.

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Employment, Housing, Money Talk, Science & Technology News

Americans are flocking to these 10 cities where salaries have risen 25% or more in the last 5 years

January 21, 2020

In a world of stagnant wages and rising costs of living, moving to a place where you can grow your income feels like a solid bet. And many American cities offer just that.

Financial advice website SmartAsset analyzed data for the 500 largest U.S. cities to determine the top “boomtowns” in the country. These areas are not only attracting new residents but feature thriving economies and ample housing. The site considered seven metrics in its ranking, including change in household income over a five-year period. It also looked at population change, unemployment rate, number of jobs created, GDP growth rate, business growth rate and housing growth.

To compile the list, SmartAsset used data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2014 and 2018 1-year American Community Surveys, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and the U.S. Census Bureau’s County Business Patterns Survey.

Here’s a look at 10 of the top boomtowns where household income rose more than 25% in five years.

Continue reading… “Americans are flocking to these 10 cities where salaries have risen 25% or more in the last 5 years”

Big Problems, Money Talk, Science & Technology News

Davos 2020 : the World is drowning in debt

January 16, 2020

New York (CNN Business)The world’s already huge debt load smashed the record for the highest debt-to-GDP ratio before 2019 was even over.

In fact, it broke that record in the first nine months of last year. Global debt, which comprises borrowings from households, governments and companies, grew by $9 trillion to nearly $253 trillion during that period, according to the Institute of International Finance.

That puts the global debt-to-GDP ratio at 322%, narrowly surpassing 2016 as the highest level on record.

More than half of this enormous number was accumulated in developed markets, such as the United States and Europe, bringing their debt-to-GDP ratio to 383% overall.

There are plenty of culprits. Countries like New Zealand, Switzerland and Norway all have rising household debt levels, while the government debt-to-GDP ratios in the United States and Australia are at all-time highs.

Continue reading… “Davos 2020 : the World is drowning in debt”

2020 Predictions, Housing, Money Talk, Science & Technology News

How real estate will radically change in the new decade

January 9, 2020

After a roaring decade, real estate is looking a lot less promising in the 2020s.

A sense of gloom hangs in the air. “Bloodbath,” “free fall” and “slump” were just some of the choice idioms deployed by headline writers to describe the New York real estate market during the twilight of 2019. Across the pond, townhouses in central London—long the favored investment vehicle for billionaires from Bahrain to Belarus—have lost 20 percent of their value in a five-year nosedive. Worldwide, according to Savills, a global property consultancy, “everything is trending to zero.”

“This is not a normal cycle,” says Frederick Peters, CEO of Warburg Realty. Even after the global financial crisis, luxury property prices in the world’s capitals recovered fully within two years and went on to smash all records. This time round, brokers and analysts agree, it’s different.

Continue reading… “How real estate will radically change in the new decade”