Listen to the PODCAST (3:32)
Soon, your "wallet" will have something along the lines of a messenger app (specifically, Facebook Messenger) combined with bots. This is why Facebook purchased WhatsApp. "The new [Facebook] Messenger platform will affect the banking industry because most banking services are tasks that can be automated, and instructions can be provided in simple human language. With Messenger, I can just type "Send $200 to Jack Nielsen" in a message to my bank." This type of banking/payment activity is already prevalent in Asia. "In recent years, millions of people have grown accustomed to using messaging apps to communicate. Some of these apps now support person-to-person digital cash transfers. So the next step is pretty logical: Asian retailers have begun using these same messaging platforms to sell everything from clothing to hamburgers to train tickets. And as a consumer, you never have to leave the app to pay." From VentureBeat - Here’s how Facebook Messenger will change banking and from WaPo - The incredibly brilliant way people are now paying for things in Asia
+ Many remember PayPal from the Ebay days. Well, it's still around and trying to figure out how to compete with the likes of the mobile messenger app's discussed above. "No one can match PayPal's 184 million users yet, but the fact that few are using it in mobile is PayPal's biggest weakness. Global mobile payments are expected to reach $1.2 trillion in 2018." Let me say that again, $1.2 trillion. From Fortune - How PayPal Plans to Get Back on Top in Digital Payments
*2. THE RE-RISE OF THE THIRD REICH?
Maybe... But everyone appears okay with it. "You know times have changed when the Germans announce they are expanding their army for the first time in 25 years - and no one objects. It has taken decades since the horrors of World War II, but Berlin's modern-day allies...are finally growing more comfortable with the notion that Germany's role as the European Union's de facto leader requires a military dimension." The U.S. is stretched thin and needs Europe to start shouldering a lot of the load, so this is a good thing. From WaPo - In a Reversal, Germany’s Military Growth Is Met With Western Relief
*3. TECH ECONOMIC PRODUCTIVITY PAYOFF
A few studies out lately on the impact of technology on economic productivity. One camp says the economic productivity increase due to technology advance is there, but the means to measure it is outdated, so not accurate. Another school says the economic productivity is not there. From NYT - Why the Economic Payoff From Technology Is So Elusive
*4. KIND OF LIKE THE JAMAICAN BOBSLED TEAM, BUT DIFFERENT...
"Ten athletes were chosen for a team that will represent the world's refugees at the Olympic games in Rio. None of the athletes...appears to be a likely medal contender." Great story, but I don't see a movie coming here. From NYT - 'Symbol of Hope': Refugee Team Named for Rio Olympics
*5. WHAT'S YOUR PARTY?
Given the tectonic shifts playing out during this presidential election, Bill Scher from Politico posits a theory for how the U.S. two-party political system is changing and will look in the 2020s and 2030s. "The Republicans will be a party of mostly working-class whites, based in the South and West and suburbs and exurbs everywhere. They will favor universal, contributory social insurance systems that benefit them and reward work. The Democrats will be even more of an alliance of upscale, progressive whites with blacks and Latinos, based in large and diverse cities. The withering of industrial unions will liberate the Democrats to embrace free trade along with mass immigration wholeheartedly." From Politico - This Is What the Future of American Politics Looks Like
*BOTTOM OF THE NEWS
- An open letter to Tesla and Google on driverless cars
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