On Henry Flagler and Florida's Atlantic Coast

On Henry Flagler and Florida's Atlantic Coast: As a co-founder of the Standard Oil Company in Ohio during the 1860s (along with John D. Rockefeller), Flagler later committed his substantial wealth into developing Florida's Atlantic coastline. He first visited the area around St. Augustine in the 1880s to help manage his first wife's illness. While there, Flagler saw Florida's enormous potential for growth given its plethora of natural resources. To facilitate such growth, Flagler started the Florida East Coast Railway, which originally ran from Jacksonville to Miami, but later continued on to Key West. By the time of Flager's death in 1913, his railroad's impact on Florida's Atlantic coastline was unmistakable. Resort towns and manufacturing communities from West Palm Beach to Fort Pierce to Melbourne began to sprout up along the railroad's route. Specific examples of Flagler's legacy on Floridian tourism include the Ponce de Leon Hotel (now Flagler College), the Breakers Hotel (Palm Beach), and the Royal Palm Hotel (Miami).

On the Prospects of Digital Currency

On the Prospects of Digital Currency: As a virtual form of money, digital currency (or electronic capital) has the potential to upend the global marketplace. Blockchain technology, which consists of a digital ledger for financial/online transactions, can be used to bypass traditional tracking mechanisms of paper money. When a central bank prints paper money for a particular country, it inflates the value of that money in an attempt to manipulate supply. With digital currency, however, pre-designated limits (or caps) to the money supply have already been written into their software codes. Thus, the chances of these digital assets experiencing hyper-inflation have essentially been reduced to nil. Perhaps the three most popular digital currencies today are Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin.  All of which benefit from the peer-to-peer anonymity (or lack of traceability) offered by blockchain technology.

On the Great Depression, 1929-39

On the Great Depression, 1929-39: Contrary to popular belief, the Great Depression was not simply a decade-long downturn of the American economy. In fact, the Depression occurred in other countries around the world as well. Additionally, there were even periods of prosperity during parts of the 1930s. Yet it was events at the beginning (Black Thursday in 1929) and at the end (1937-38 Recession) of the decade that caused the most economic hardship. Perhaps what best captured that hardship were the unemployment statistics. At times during the 1930s, nearly 25% of the American workforce had no official (wage) income. And two basic (complementary) reasons for this high unemployment rate have often been cited by historians and economists: overproduction and underconsumption. With overproduction, economists pointed to the massive output of industrial goods (in the 1920s) by car companies like Ford and steel companies such as U.S. Steel. Workplace advancements like the assembly line and scientific management had made the 1920s into a mass-production decade. But when demand collapsed in the early 1930s, many companies took awhile to scale back their outputs. Similarly, many consumers could no longer afford to purchase these goods. Yet if you could pinpoint two goods that Americans refused to give up during the Depression, it was their cars and radios. Houses became afterthoughts.

On Black Monday (1987)

On Black Monday (1987): On Monday, October 19, 1987, stock markets around the world declined by massive margins. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) in New York, which often comprises the 30 largest publicly traded companies in the United States, shed over 20% of its value. It was the biggest single day (percentage) drop in the index's nearly 100-year history. And since the DJIA generally signifies a bellwether for the nation's financial markets, broad-based losses continued to widen across the country. Although the systematic declines had originally started in Asia, they spread across Europe and into the Americas. This October crash became known as "Black Monday," as financial analysts began to digest the extent of the damages. Lawmakers sought answers through congressional hearings. The primary culprit appeared to be a mix of investor confidence and electronic trading. Interest rates remained high during most of the 1980s to "break the back of inflation." And with the advent of computerized trading programs, investors began to trade stocks on a whim. Therefore, trader psychology became an essential component in determining the market's overall direction.