BRICS Introduces Gold-Backed Currency

In a week marked by breakdowns in global peace deals, the dissolution of governments in Thailand and Bulgaria, and increasing tensions between China and Japan and Europe and Russia, this still stands out as the most important thing that's happened in global affairs. The current world order sits on a particular banking arrangement, and ushering in the multipolar world, which is emerging, requires overhauling the banking regime.

BRICS is first and foremost an economic arrangement meant to give the countries who have long been oppressed by the enforcement of the dollar as the world's most dominant currency a chance to actually function as sovereign countries. The fact that not only have they managed to maintain the alliance but recently launched "The Unit", a gold-anchored digital settlement instrument (40% backed by gold and 60% by a basket of BRICS currencies), operating on blockchain as a prototype for cross-border trade without relying on the dollar or SWIFT, stands as a watershed moment in the remaking of the world. What do you make of this this effort by BRICS? Will the dollar remain dominant or is BRICS really challenging the current economic arrangement with this move?

Executive Order on AI Regulations

AI is clearly the most important technological advancement of our contemporary era, and regulating it is perhaps the most, or second most important, policy decision we need to make in relation to it, second only to generating enough power to keep it running. Here we have a controversial decision by the executive in the country to ensure the advance of AI is not hampered by businesses being forced to encounter a series of patchwork regulations throughout the country. The order establishes a uniform national framework, directs the Attorney General to create an AI Litigation Task Force to challenge conflicting state laws, and allows withholding federal funds from non-compliant states, all to prevent regulatory barriers from hindering U.S. dominance over competitors like China.

Some see this as a clear federal overreach. Not allowing the states to set any limits on the implementation of AI creates an environment where AI companies are free to dominate local communities and force them to bear the consequences of their advance. On the other hand, this is a battle at the level of world history, and failing to compete would have tremendously negative consequences both in the short and the long term. At the national scale, the competition is other nations, and these other nations definitely would not be hampered by overregulation, particularly by a patchwork of regulation that would be difficult to navigate. People are nonetheless concerned that the president is in the pocket of capitalists from the big tech industry and that all of this AI development is part and parcel of a larger scheme to essentially hand the country over to our new tech overlords. We could describe that shift as something between oligarchy and technocracy, which would leave the people as a total afterthought. My ramblings aside, this is clearly a pivotal moment in the ongoing history of the AI tech revolution.

Philadelphia to Spend $2 Billion on Housing Program

As it is increasingly clear that the world is urbanizing at a breakneck pace, the housing crunch has been the pressure point causing severe economic pain. In the most basic sense, the affordability crisis appears to be deeply related to a supply issue when it comes to housing. How to create that housing has been a real issue over the last several decades, as it is unclear how to create enough housing fast enough to deal with the rapid demand. At the same time, urban centers have to worry about becoming overbuilt and dealing with the deflationary pressures brought on by overproduction when the rapid demand slows down. Some think local governments should play a larger role in ensuring there is an adequate housing supply. This makes sense given the political makeup of urban centers skews young, progressive, and ideologically towards socialism.

There are ample critiques, however, of the consequences of having governments overly responsible for creating housing. On top of that is the issue of the type of housing that is overwhelmingly being created and the implications that has for the lifestyle choices they expect people to live in these cities. The arrangement is not suited for families, elderly, or really anyone that's not a single adult ranging somewhere between 21 and 45. This move in Philadelphia is massive because Mayor Parker's H.O.M.E. plan commits $2 billion, including $800 million in bonds and public land valued at $1 billion, to build 13,500 new units and preserve or restore 16,500 existing ones, targeting 30,000 total homes mostly for lower-income residents. It's an enormous investment on the part of the city that will have ramifications for several decades and will be pointed to as a source of distress when the city has an economic downturn. Philadelphia is already struggling to keep the buses running, the schools open, and the police paid, but somehow they have $2 billion, with a B, to spend on housing. This makes us quite nervous, but at the same time we understand the fervent desire for the government to intervene and help bring down the cost of housing.

Southern California Border to Become Militarized Zone

The reason this strikes us as so important is that as states are getting increasingly rogue in relation to the federal government, the federal militarization of areas of states doesn't simply feel like an effort to protect the homeland but a show of force between two hostile camps. The administration just transferred 760 acres of public land in San Diego and Imperial counties to the Navy for three years, creating a new National Defense Area along the border, extending similar zones already in place in other states, to allow military apprehension of migrants and bolster security operations. If this was a coordinated effort, it seems like the federal government would bolster efforts in California to strengthen border enforcement, but this is an aggressive maneuver to essentially go around the Californian government and have the federal government just do it themselves.

Also, and more conspiratorially, this seems like a strategic advancement of federal military force, and one can only wonder if this is really about migrants coming across the borders and cartels, or more about perceived seditious behavior on the part of the Californian government and the creep of quasi-hostile actors like China into the Pacific region. My conjecture aside, this is clearly an important story for understanding the tension between some states, particularly blue states, and the federal government.