On Alphaville, Kadhim Shubber reports that just a few marketplaces handle the vast majority of illicit drugs-vs.-bitcoin trades. In short, the illicit bitcoin ecosystem is centered around a small number of services that could be subject to scrutiny, regulation and co-option by law enforcement. It’s a wild west, but luckily for the police all the bad guys are hanging out at a single saloon.
Read More »America’s Miserable 21st Century
In Commentary, Nicholas Eberstadt recounts how low employment, deteriorating health, and declining social mobility in the United States foreshadow a “Miserable 21st Century.” Between 2000 and 2016, the work rate for Americans aged 20 or older fell by almost 5 percentage points, to 60 percent. In the “prime working age” group, it fell by almost 4 percentage points. While work rates for men had been falling for much longer, a similar decline for prime age women set in in 2000. Death rates...
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