They won’t get better, hence why security expert start to talk more and more about things like “sous-veillance” or “transparency”. The philosophy behind these being: “if you spy on me, then I should be able to spy on you”. If we know precisely what is being done with our data, and if we can also access the data of the one surveilling us (imagine getting to know the text exchanges of the representatives presenting this bill…) then we’d loose privacy but gain much more freedom in return

It would still be banks. Owning a bank account would just not be mandatory anymore.

Indeed, I remembered when the ECB first talked about it (2-3years ago) and I read the article diagonally.

But it still, most people could get rid of their cash bank account as most people earn less than 3k€net per month and just keep a saving account.

All in all, I’d still argue it’s a not-so-bad initiative, especially for small businesses who pay a hefty fee per transactions

Depends. With a digital euro, you can safely stash away your money without having allowing private banks to make a profit out of it. Same goes with transactions. Firms like Visa or Mastercard won’t turn a profit out of it. Of course there are many disadvantages as well.

Entirely agree, they deserve absolutely no pity, especially since it’s mostly their capital owners that will loose the most.

As you stated the issue in the end is how hard are we ready to fight for it

For sure it will be beneficial for many industries but I’d argue that it will severely impact (in a positive way) the transport industry, and the oil and gas industry as well. Since they have the strongest lobbying force, it’s going to be quite hard to go against them.

Moreover, it may upset the distribution chains e.g., it might be hard to do « right-on-time » stock management when waiting for a train to be fully loaded before chipping, etc.

In my opinion, money will circulate better, but to the detriment of those big industry, hence why it’s so hard for politicians to act on it.

Sometimes, I dream that at least half of the same effort was made for public transport between densely populated areas

Yeah, public transport is the most viable solution for the masses, but that also mean taking money out of the ends of firms (subsidies, infrastructure, etc.), which is not gonna happen without re-thinking our economy

Europe sure has a big resurgence in right wing politics, however a socialist left is still represented (albeit on the decline).

I’m not stating that there is a socialist paradise somewhere, just that in the US you can hardly consider the left “left” (Overton window, yadi yada)

Just be take a short trip to any country outside the US and you’ll realize that it is indeed the case: No left in the US.

Ugh, I think I’m having a seizure

I’d go farther in saying that staying the fuck away from “industrialy” grown meat, and overly processed food is the way to go (for health). Reducing a maximum the meat consumption, and subside it for higher quality one is what’s necessary for the environment.

Going vegetarian (mostly) is even more efficient in both cases as long as the diet is well crafted for balancing all the body needs.

Sorry to hear you missed your flight. It sucks but hopefully it won’t ruin your plans.

As for the story:

It was 15 years ago, my parents, my two siblings, and me were about to travel to Canada to visit our aunt. For all of us, it was our first ever transatlantic flight. We were all so excited about it, that none of us could catch a bit of sleep the day before leaving.

It required 5h of travel to catch the plane in the capital, so we had to leave at like 4 am to be on time for it. But somehow we manage to do it and arrive on time at the airport.

Excitation is at its maximum, finally our big trip is around the corner. We go to the check in desk, cue for a good a hour, and once our turn come, get asked for our passport. We all look at my father that start frenetically look in his pockets, then handbags to find our passport. But no sign of them. He start sweating heavily, ask my mother if she kept them. No, not with her neither. Big panic moment, everybody shouting, undoing all the luggages in order to find them. But nothing. We forgot our passport. No way to catch the plane.

Our father go back to our place, 5h away from the airport, while we stayed in a hotel for the night. Turns out the passport were on my parent shelf. Just one story higher than were they always were. My mother being quite short did’t see them and assumed my father had them.

We went back to the airport on the next day to see what we could do to save our trip. We got lucky as we got access to another plane, for free, and got upgraded to first class as a bonus, due to 5 other passengers missing their flight ! But we had 5 mins to catch it. The run though the check-in, security, the terminal gates was quite epic to fathom !

Damn that’s savage… I like it, well done op