Advancing Time: Gold, They Make Diamonds, Is Gold Next?

Advancing Time: Gold, They Make Diamonds, Is Gold Next?:     Never forget the power of disruptive technology. Near the end of January, the emergence of DeepSeek as an inexpensive alternative to Ch...

Gold, They Make Diamonds, Is Gold Next?

 

 

Never forget the power of disruptive technology. Near the end of January, the emergence of DeepSeek as an inexpensive alternative to ChatGPT made headlines across the world. DeepSeek is a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) startup. Its latest model, DeepSeek R1, is said to be better than its rival's technology in its capabilities and cost far less to create. This underlines how markets can be disrupted by new technology.

Considering how the announcement of DeepSeek roiled markets, imagine what would happen if someone came up with a way to create gold. For years they have made a substitute for natural diamonds, what if they develop a way to make Gold? History is full of people who have tried this with no success.

Years ago, improvements in what are known as synthetic or laboratory-grown diamonds (LGD) started to greatly impact the diamond market. This is one of the reasons today you rarely hear that diamonds are a great investment. Jewelers who are trained gemologists may be able to tell whether a diamond is lab-grown with the aid of a powerful microscope but the only way to be certain is to send it to a gemological laboratory.

While natural diamonds form deep in the Earth and are obtained by mining. Chemically, physically, and optically, lab diamonds are identical to natural diamonds. A synthetic diamond or lab-grown diamond (LGD), also known as a man-made, artisan-created, artificial, synthetic, or cultured diamond, is produced in a controlled technological process. Both have the same hardness, brilliance, and fire.

This brings us to the question of whether lab-grown diamonds are real. Yes, lab-grown diamonds are as real as natural diamonds are. Their only difference is their origin. These are not "imitation diamonds" made of superficially similar non-diamond materials. Synthetic diamonds are composed of the same pure carbon crystallized material as naturally formed diamonds.

This takes us to the crux of this post, It is important to understand that we are in the midst of a technological revolution where barriers are falling and our limits to manipulate atoms is accelerating. Just 26 minutes into this recent panel discussion, Dr. Pippa Malmgren takes off on the remarkable and unlimited changes that are about to take place and she claims they will be happening far sooner than most people think.

Please join me in a peek down a rabbit hole and imagine tomorrow waking up to find that at a fraction of the cost of mining gold, the world could now produce large quantities of gold for very little. We are seeing the boundaries of possibility rolled back by technology and innovation. Whether you call it making, creating, or printing, the idea gold could be cheaply produced would have huge ramifications for its value and the whole economic system. This is especially true if it could be produced rapidly in large quantities at a cost substantially cheaper than it can currently be mined. 

For years gold has been considered the only "real money" by economists distinguishing it from tokens produced by governments to be used in commerce. They point to how unlike fiat currency no sovereign states cannot simply print more gold. Thus we have sayings like "as good as gold." To say the ability to produce huge amounts of gold at a low cost would be a game-changer is an understatement. It would turn global banking upside down and result in a huge transfer of wealth.  

The one thing you can count on is that the ability to cheaply produce a product indistinguishable from gold would give a whole new meaning to the term false gold. Another is that it would have profound implications for those holding their wealth in this precious metal. I'm not predicting this will happen, in fact, I don't see it likely. Still, the message here is we should never underestimate how technological advancements can result in watershed change.

 

(Republishing this article is permitted with reference to Bruce Wilds/AdvancingTime Blog)

Advancing Time: Penny Moves Closer To The Dustbin Of History

Advancing Time: Penny Moves Closer To The Dustbin Of History: A few weeks ago, on the floor of the Senate, Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) outlined the goals of the DOGE Caucus. She brought up the cost of mak...

Penny Moves Closer To The Dustbin Of History

A few weeks ago, on the floor of the Senate, Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) outlined the goals of the DOGE Caucus. She brought up the cost of making both the penny and the nickel. The cost of producing the penny has now soared to three cents and producing the nickel is eleven cents. The penny is a great example of government waste. Coins are meant to be a simple and efficient medium for the exchange of goods and services. The argument for discontinuing the penny is overwhelming, anyone still supporting its production most likely has not given the subject much thought or is resistant to change.

The Penny No Longer Makes Sense

The waste DOGE is bringing to our attention is backed up by the folks at Retire The Penny. Org. Adding to the argument that the penny should go is the number of hours wasted every year handling pennies or waiting for people to go through several penny-handling-related events. These events include waiting for people to dig through their pockets or purses to find that last cent so they can pay for something with exact change. They probably do this, so they don't get stuck with more pennies.

Halting the production of the penny is not a new subject here on AdvancingTime. Over the years I have written several articles attacking the insanity of producing a coin so low in value that it cost businesses money to handle. It has become very clear that faced with the increasing costs for handling, storing and transporting pennies, the penny has become a burden to the economy. The logic of discontinuing  producing the penny has massively increased post-Covid with fewer people using cash and the inflation we have experienced during the last few years. 

 

Currency should be designed by the government as a simple and efficient medium for exchanging goods and services. In March of 2012, Canada decided to do away with its puny penny coin. Loved by some but an annoyance to many, it was withdrawn from circulation because it costs too much to make and had become a pecuniary pest. Ottawa said the penny retained only one-twentieth of its original purchasing power and discontinuing the penny was expected to save around $11 million a year.

Other nations have either ceased to produce or have removed low denomination coins the list includes Australia, Brazil, Finland, Israel, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Britain, and as stated above Canada. By the time it was discontinued many Canadians considered the penny more of a nuisance than a useful coin.

Using Pennies For A Bathroom Floor

Today, the cost and numbers to produce the American penny blow the Canadian numbers out the water. It costs our country billions of dollars,  year after year, this amount of waste adds up. Simply put, the American penny doesn't make sense! When weighed and measured is found lacking. Too many people, the penny has become a horrible little thing with no redeeming value.

 

The penny is costly to produce, no friend to the environment, wasting America’s resources and  sapping our productivity. To make matters worse,  not only does the government continue making the penny but over the years it has even made new versions of the penny. Our government has forgotten that it is not the job of the well-paid employees of the treasury to create collectibles or to pander to small segments of the population by designing coins commemorating or recognizing minor events.
  
For many years there have been discussions about discontinuing the penny which has become obsolete because of its minuscule purchasing value. The penny is a perfect example of our government's inefficiency and waste, and the cost is a burden carried by businesses. Businesses lose profit when paying an employee to count pennies, the cost of the labor exceeds their value. If an employee is paid $12.00 an hour they receive twenty cents per minute. As far back as 2018, the “Citizens to Retire the Penny” claimed it cost America one hundred million dollars a year to produce the penny, and more than 15 billion dollars annually is wasted in handling it.
 

Also, from an environmental standpoint, the penny is a disaster when you consider all the energy used to make, transport, and distribute this useless coin. There is no doubt the penny is destined for the dustbin of history, it is only a question of when. Ditching the penny would cost nothing and with a flourish of the executive pen create huge annual savings for business but such a move remains fiercely opposed by metal alloy industries.

 

This article dovetails with an AdvancingTime post from the fall of 2021 titled; The War On Cash, Is It A Real Thing? The Answer Is Yes. It delves into how cash reflects "options for the people" and it appears those in charge of such things want it gone. This may be why you have not been hearing about the penny being dropped or a new dollar coin being introduced. Today it is all about Central Bank Digital Currencies. These are digital versions of a country’s physical currency issued by central banks.

 

While CBDC will replace much of the physical currency we use today, the premise of why this is being done deserves to be scrutinized. We should not underestimate the need for coinage and cash in society. Small businesses often rely more on small cash transactions, it is the banks, big businesses, and companies like Amazon that flourish when cash is removed. Simply put, in general, the small businesses and retailers on Main Street are left worse off. 

 

A few years ago, it was pointed out that if we just got rid of the penny, the U.S. Mint would cut its work in half. This figure does not include the time, fuel, expense, and hassle of carting all of those pennies around to the banks, merchants, etc. Small things matter, if our politicians can’t get this right how can they ever deal with the more important issues facing our nation? The time to ditch the penny has arrived so we can focus on more important matters.

 

(Republishing of this article welcomed with reference to Bruce Wilds/AdvancingTime Blog) 

Advancing Time: DOGE, Its Goals, Its Caucus, And The Hope It Will ...

Advancing Time: DOGE, Its Goals, Its Caucus, And The Hope It Will ...: The formation of the Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been hailed by many people as a game changer. When its formation was an...

DOGE, Its Goals, Its Caucus, And The Hope It Will Work

The formation of the Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been hailed by many people as a game changer. When its formation was announced, Elon Musk, one of the two men chosen with the task of leading it suggested he could cut at least $2 trillion in federal spending. Hope immediately soared with many people reacting like this claim was a done deal. Unnoticed by many Musk enthusiasts was that he soon rolled back expectations calling this a best-case scenario. 

DOGE's Efforts May Be Halted By Lawsuits

Now that Trump is in office, reality sets in, and what happens next is far from certain. Cutting government spending is easier said than done. This is apparent when Musk talks about cutting the jobs of government workers. He said the aim of DOGE was not to be cruel. He went on to say, "We will reduce a lot of government headcount, but we're going to give very long severances. Like two years, or something like that." To reality seekers, this conflicts with the idea that DOGE will bring about rapid and long lasting cuts.

While it won’t be an actual federal agency, other government agencies will hire DOGE teams to interface with them in an effort to find savings. This story just gained a new wrinkle, as an article following the inauguration revealed that one of its two co-leaders, Vivek Ramaswamy, plans to leave DOGE. This leaves DOGE needing someone to run the day-to-day operations and interface with Congress. A very busy Elon Musk already runs SpaceX and his other companies. 

This is starting to feed into Tesla's future and even Tesla's stock price as Musk is left with too much to do. It does not help that President Donald Trump pledged in his inauguration speech to undo the huge "electric vehicle mandate." This means Biden’s multibillion-dollar effort to usher in a transition to electric vehicles is slatted to be rendered void. 

The goals of the DOGE are huge, they include;

• Restructuring the federal government of the United States.
• Removing regulations to reduce expenditures.
• Increasing government efficiency.
• Cutting wasteful spending.
• Recommending elimination of unneeded government spending.

Still, government waste is huge and many cuts can be made. A few days ago, on the floor of the Senate, Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) outlined the goals of the DOGE Caucus. Six and a half minutes into this video from Forbes Breaking News, Ernst claims if you can't find waste in Washington, you aren't looking. She then talks about the cost of making both the penny and the nickel. The cost of producing the penny has now soared to three cents and producing the nickel is eleven cents. These are the low fruit on the tree of government waste.

The cost of producing coins many people don't want represent billions in waste and making matters worse there are not hundreds of wasteful government programs but thousands. Over the years I have written several articles about how it is time to toss the penny into the dustbin of history. This is not an obsession but rather an observation based on reason. Today, getting rid of small value coins is even more relevant.The the post-COVID war on cash and inflation has eroded their value and buying power.

In 2018, when it costs only 1.6 cents to produce each one-cent coin stamped out discontinuing the penny would have saved $11 million a year. It was pointed out here on AdvancingTime that the President could pay for his wall by stopping the production of the penny saving America billions of dollars, most of it from handling the near worthless little coin.  

Even back then, the penny was a perfect example of our government's inefficiency and waste, and the cost is a burden carried by business. I explained that if an employee is paid $12.00 an hour they receive twenty cents per minute. Businesses simply cannot afford to pay an employee to handle and count pennies, the cost of the labor exceeds their value. Back then, the “citizens to retire the penny” said more than 15 billion dollars annually is wasted just in handling the pathetic little coin.

Is DOGE A Self-Serving Tool For Musk?

Back in 2018 during Trump's first term the government shut down over an impasse concerning 25 billion dollars to build a wall on America's southern border. Many people who are not fans of big government did not have a problem with the shutdown. The problem is that in the end, unlike life in the private sector, it is standard operating procedure to grant all these government workers retroactive pay. In short, it is stupid to pay government workers to stay home over a few billion dollars in a  budget of well over five trillion dollars.

Most Americans agree there is a lot of waste in government spending.The big question is whether DOGE will be able to have any real impact on reducing spending and the size of our government. This will be an uphill battle. It is the nature of government to expand. Much of our governments growth has been hidden by outsourcing, forming quasi-governmental entities, and expanding its power through mandates. Until I see significant results, paint me skeptical.

 

Footnote: This is the link to the article about how discontinuing the penny in 2018 would have quickly paid for building a wall on the border.
https://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2018/12/getting-rid-of-penny-would-pay-for.html

(Republishing this article is permitted with reference to Bruce Wilds/AdvancingTime Blog)

Advancing Time: Revisiting Why EVs Are Not The Answer

Advancing Time: Revisiting Why EVs Are Not The Answer: It is time to revisit why EVs are not the answer. Over the years many articles have focused on EVs being over-hyped as an answer to our tran...