February 13, 2018 (THE FERO REPORT)

The most sublime act is to set another before you.
If the fool would persist in his folly he would become wise.
Folly is the cloke of knavery. – William Blake

Salon, the liberal news site, is getting in on the cryptocurrency mining game, too.

  • Salon asks ad-blocking users to opt into cryptocurrency mining instead, The Verge, Adi Robertson
  • Sound bite: “Salon trying to use readers’ computers in order to mine cryptocurrency is an impossibly 2018 headline” – @notwokieleaks
  • Less than ideal digital ad revenues – which are increasingly swallowed up by Facebook, Google and Snapchat – played a part in motivating the decision, Salon CEO Jordan Hoffner told The Daily Beast. 
  • “I can’t want for someone else to come up with a solution for me. So we did it ourselves … It’s worth a shot.” Salon plans to HODL their cryptoassets and sell for cash money at a later date.
  1. Is the US Due for a recession? Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, David Andolfatto
  • The nitty gritty: “Economists have found evidence of ‘positive duration dependence,’ which says that the longer an economic expansion goes on, the more likely it is to end soon.”
  • But, but, but: If economic growth continues 1.5 more years, economist Vitor Castro “found that the evidence for positive duration dependence dissipates after 10 years of expansion.” citing Australia’s lack of recession since the early 1990s, Japan’s 17 growth period from 1975-1992, and Canada’s recession-less run from 1992-2007.
  • “The concept of positive duration dependence does suggest that the U.S. economy has become more likely to contract soon, but it’s not a guarantee.”
  1. Skeptics say Trump’s efforts to lower drug prices don’t go far enough, FierceHealthcare, Paige Minemyer

Trump vowed lower pharmaceutical costs in his State of the Union address, but critics argue the White House Council of Economic Advisers’ recently announced policy fixes “are championed by pharmaceutical companies,” Minemyer reports.

  1. ‘V’ recovery? ETC posts big gains in sideways market, CoinDesk,Omkar Godbole
  • Ethereum Classic ($ETC) surged from $16.51 to $35.43 since last Wednesday, according to OnChainFX data.
  1. Tezos, the $230 million ICO from last summer, still hasn’t minted any coins, leaving investors, or, “contributors,” hungry and restless. The Tezos founders face a slew of class-action lawsuits in the US for selling unregistered securities.
  1. Opioid crisis has cost the US $1 trillion, Axios, Sam Baker
  • “Most of that $1 trillion comes from lost wages, productivity and tax revenue.”
  • Drug overdose deaths in 2016: 64,000
  1. “The American people should all remember that Kim Yo Jong [Kim Jong Un’s sister at the Olympics] is the head of [North Korea’s] Propaganda and Agitation Department,” CIA Director Mike Pompeo told the US Senate on Tuesday.
  1. The Cleveland Cavaliers have quietly gone 3-0 since trading away big name players like Isaiah Thomas, Derrick Rose, Jae Crowder, Dwayne Wade, Iman Shumpert before last Thursday’s trading deadline for a crew of young guys.

Thought bubble: Defense wins championships. The aging and offensive-minded players didn’t mesh well and the Cavs weren’t able to bring it on the defensive end. Youth and energy may reignite the defense enough to give the Cavs a shot against Golden State Warriors or Houston Rockets. And the Cavs still have Lebron.

~ Stay Classy San Diego ~

The Fero Report

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