Exponential -- June 14, 2015

The Briefing
The Briefing
Exponential the Skillbridge Magazine
Five key
reads
aiigle_dore via flickr
The New Scientist: 4 sinister threats
that loom for the cashless society
CASH; CURRENCY; DISRUPTION – Cash
is no longer king. The latest figures
show that in 2014, the total number of
cashless transactions overtook ones
using cash for the first time in the UK.
The change can be attributed to new
technology – apps for phones and
contactless systems that allow you to
pay by waving a card or a phone over a
terminal. Many other countries see
similar trends. But are there downsides
to cashless societies? Banks have not
always proved to be guardians of the
public interest and tech firms can be
disrespectful of privacy. E-payment
systems are becoming akin to utilities
such as water, in that they are
indispensable to everyday life. What will
happen when someone is "cut off" from
a payment system? New regulatory
safeguards will be needed to ensure
providers act responsibly. There are
also anti-competitive issues: Visa and
MasterCard account for more than 80%
of the global credit card market, and
well over 90% in many countries. This
represents a strong degree of control
over commonly used payment means.
Bloomberg: Larry Ellison is spending a
fortune to save American Tennis
ENTREPRENEURSHIP; TENNIS – Larry
Ellison, the founder of Oracle, wants to
rebuild tennis in America. Ellison, 70,
has a history of reinvigorating a waning
sport. His love of sailing led him to his
highly controversial domination of the
America’s Cup, the capstone to decades
of exploits that have included brushes
with death while sailing in the Pacific,
and the construction of a real estate
empire in Malibu and Hawaii (where he
owns 98% of the island of Lanai).
In the run up to the 2013 America’s Cup
in San Francisco, Ellison used his
fortune and connections in technology
to create the biggest, fastest yachts the
world has ever seen. The result was two
and three hulled boats that travel more
than 50 miles per hour. After initially
falling behind, Ellison’s team then
completed one of the greatest
comebacks in sailing history. As San
Francisco officials complained about the
regatta’s cost and impact, spectators
packed the waterfront, millions tuned in
on TV and tracked the boats online.
New York Times: In Europe, Fake Jobs
Have Real Benefits
WORK; WELFARE; BENEFITS– Five years
after the global financial crisis, there
are signs that a recovery may finally be
taking hold in Europe. The economy of
the 19-nation eurozone has been
growing slowly but steadily since last
year, led by Germany and a turnaround
in once-troubled countries like Spain
and Ireland. As oil prices have dropped,
consumer spending and manufacturing
have started to pick up. Unemployment
is even starting to fall. Yet the long-term
unemployment that 10 million people in
the eurozone are experiencing has
become a defining reality. In 2014,
Eurostat estimated that 53% of
unemployed people in the eurozone
were without work for a year or more,
and many of those have been jobless
for more than two years. The problem is
worst along Europe’s southern rim. In
Greece, which has plunged back into a
recession, 73% of job seekers have not
landed work in more than a year; in
Italy, it is 61%. But the trend is rising
even in more prosperous nations like
France, where the rate has recently
approached 43%, the highest
percentage in two decades.
The Atlantic: The Hospitals That
Overcharge Patients by 1000%
HEALTHCARE; HOSPITALS - On average,
US hospitals charged patients (or their
insurers) 3.4 times what the federal
government thinks procedures cost. For
example, when the hospital incurs $100
of Medicare-allowable costs, the
hospital charges $340. The ratio of
hospital charges to costs has only
increased over time. In 1984, it was just
1.35, but by 2011, it was 3.3. Facilities
that mark up their prices the most are
more likely to be for-profit urban
hospitals that are affiliated with a larger
health system. Overall, three-quarters of
the hospitals on the highest-markup list
are in the South, and 40% of them are
in Florida. Only Maryland and West
Virginia restrict how much hospitals can
charge. The Affordable Care Act makes
not-for-profit hospitals offer discounts to
uninsured people, but it doesn’t set
limitations on bills sent to patients
treated at out-of-network or for-profit
hospitals. Except for people on
Medicaid and Medicare, whom
hospitals can only charge a governmentregulated
amount, these high markups
can negatively affect many consumers.
Medium: How Federal Dollars Are
Financing the Water Crisis in the West
WATER; DROUGHT; GOVERNMENT -
Water shortages that have brought
California, Arizona and other Western
states to the edge of an environmental
cliff have been attributed to a historic
climate event — a dry spell that experts
worry could be the worst in 1,000 years.
An examination by ProPublica shows
that the scarcity of water is as much a
man-made crisis as a natural one, the
result of decades of missteps by
governments and businesses who have
faced surging demand driven by a
booming population. The federal
subsidies that prop up cotton farming in
Arizona are just one of myriad ways that
policymakers have been slow to reshape
laws to reflect changing circumstances.
Another crux are the provisions in
historic water-use laws that not only
permit but compel farmers to use more
water than they need. “Use It or Lose It”
is the cynical catch phrase for one of
those policies.
From Las Vegas to LA, leaders have
flinched when staring down the,
unstoppable force of urban sprawl.
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