Thank you. My name is Ben Dyson. If you haven't met me before, I founded Positive Money back in 2010. Thank you. So what I'm going to talk about now is the current economic situation that we're in and what we need to be doing to deal with it and what our strategy is with where we're going over the next year or two. So, let me start. I think I'll just start with recapping how we got into this mess because it's good to keep the bigger picture in mind. Over the last couple of hundred years, we've had this evolution of money where we started off using metal coins that were created by the king or by the state. Over time, we started to put these coins into banks and these banks would give you a piece of paper to say how much coins you put into the bank. People then started to use this paper money as though it was as good as the coins and over time, people started to treat paper money as though it was the main form of money. Banks, of course, realised that then if they just print more paper money and they write anything on this, people will take it as loans. They'll pay interest to use this paper money and banks couldn't really resist that kind of temptation. So, they ended up printing too much paper money. It pushed house prices up, it pushed property prices up and caused a bit of chaos in the financial markets. So, in 1844, the Prime Minister at the time said, well, we can't be allowing private banks to create money. We're going to have to stop that. So, they updated the law to say from this point on, only the state through the Bank of England can actually create money. But then the nature of money has changed again to the point where we're now using electronic numbers that exist in the computer systems of banks for almost all of the payments that we're using, that we're making. And we're therefore using electronic money for most of the payments we make and yet the law has never been updated. Yep, there we go. So, this is where we've got to. We're now using money created by the banks. And yet there's been no debate about this in Parliament. There's been no real democratic discussion since 1844 when it was a hot topic. So, we've reached this point where the vast majority of money now, this is what has happened to how much money there is in the economy and 97% of that money is created by the banking system. It's created electronically whenever somebody goes into debt. In terms of where that money has gone, the 10 years running up to the financial crisis, the money that banks created, 40% of it went straight into the property bubble, 37% went into financial markets, 10% went to credit cards and personal loans and just the remaining 13% went to businesses that actually, you know, grow and employ people and create the real economy. So, most of that money was going into speculation and property bubbles. We've been arguing for a while that this is what caused the financial crisis. A few days after last year's conference, literally a week after last year's conference, Adair Turner, who was the head of the financial services authority, came out and confirmed the same thing. What he said was, the financial crisis of 2007-2008 occurred because we failed to constrain the private financial systems creation of private credit and money. So, what we've been arguing for is being vindicated by the guy who was in charge of the banks, really. So, the thing about allowing money to be created by banks is it gives you this very strange dynamic where if you want to get more money into the economy, you also have to take on more debt. And if you have a crisis that was caused by there being too much debt and therefore you want less debt in your economy, well then you also have to accept that you'll end up with less money in the economy because when people borrow new money as created, when they repay loans, that money actually disappears from the economy. And you can see this in the charts here. So, this red line is the amount of debt that people in the UK owe to the banks. And as the money supply goes up, the level of debt goes up, when people start repaying the debt after the crisis, then money also starts reducing as well. So, there's two ways to get more money into the economy, which is what the government wanted to do after the financial crisis. They needed more money in the economy to get people spending again and to get the recovery. First way is to get banks lending again because then they're going to be able to create more money. And this is the more money and more debt option. So, the first thing they did was lower interest rates to their lowest level in history to 0.5%, as though the problem behind the crisis was that people had borrowed too much and therefore we should lower interest rates to make it cheaper for people to borrow more. This is the madness of current economic policy. They introduced a scheme called Funding for Lending, which was designed to get banks to increase their lending again after the crisis. Again, because the crisis was caused by banks lending too much, so we want to encourage them to keep lending. We now have things like Help to Buy, which I've put help in quotation marks there. This is a government scheme that is going to encourage banks to lend even more for mortgages, for things like 95% mortgages and 90% mortgages. So, pumping even more money into the property market when house prices are at one of their highest levels in history and the least affordable they've ever been. So, you see all this is basically, we had a crisis caused by there being too much debt. The government response is we need to get more lending and more debt into the economy. Again, we've been warning about this for quite a while. A debt earner in that same speech, the former head of the FSA says, we got into this mess because of excessive creation of private credit money. We should be concerned if our only escape route implies building up a future excess. Basically, we're using the thing that caused the crisis as an answer to the recession that followed. The second way to get more money into the economy is for the Bank of England to actually create it directly. And it can do this, it has the legal power to do it. But they did it in the worst possible way that you could imagine. So, what they saw happening after the crisis had really blown up in 2008, they saw that banks were going to stop lending, so they'd stop putting new money into the economy. But at the same time, people would still be repaying those loans. And remember, as people repay loans, money disappears from the economy. This is kind of what happened in the 1930s after the Great Depression. So, the Bank of England said, well, we can't allow this to happen again. Therefore, what they did was with the banks essentially reducing the money supply, they said we need to step in to create money. And actually, Mervyn King, who was the governor of the Bank of England at that time, came out and said this. He said a damaged banking system means that today banks aren't creating enough money. We have to do it for them. So, he was talking about the quantitative easing scheme. So, I'm going to explain without getting too boring and technical how this works. So, basically quantitative easing starts off with the Bank of England creating £375 billion of new money. And they use this money to go and buy bonds from pension funds and insurance companies. Bonds are government bonds, which are basically government-boring pieces of paper that say that the government owes you some money. So, all this money floods into the bond market, and some of it overflows into the stock market. This is a very simple explanation of how this works. Nobody actually quite understands how quantitative easing is supposed to work, but the bottom line is that what this has done, and it's the Bank of England who have stated this, is that it has increased prices in the stock market and the bond markets by 20%. So, it's artificially, in the same way that money from banks has gone into the property market and artificially pushed up house prices, money from QE has gone into the bond and stock markets and artificially pushed up share prices and bond prices. Now, the idea behind that, if you ask the Bank of England, well, why did you do this? What did you think it was going to do to help? They will tell you that the people who own these shares are going to feel wealthier when they see the value of their pensions or their investments go up. And what they're going to do is then go out and spend more in the high street, and that is supposed to boost spending in the real economy, and that's going to lead to a recovery. The reality is if you've got lots of money in the stock market and you see the stock market going up, you don't say, oh, I'm going to start spending in the high street. You say, I'm going to get the rest of my savings and put them into the stock market too. So, even the basic theory wouldn't be expected to work, but what it has done, the intention was that it would make everybody who has some investments in the stock market wealthier, so it would make each household wealthier and then they would go out and spend more. What it actually did, because 40% of the assets in the stock market are owned by the wealthiest 5% of households, it's made them much richer off, much better off, by the tune of about 128,000 pounds per household in that top 5% in the UK. The vast majority of people either don't have significant amounts of investment in the stock market or they don't have any at all, so they saw no benefit. QE is a scheme that has used 375 billion of newly created money to make the very wealthy much better off on paper, so that's increased inequality and yet it's done very little to create jobs and to get the real economy going. There's another reason why it wouldn't work as well. Remember when I said when people are repaying loans, money is disappearing from the economy? Well, after the crisis, most of the money was disappearing from here, from non-financial businesses, so because banks had panicked and they said we're not going to lend to businesses immediately after the crisis, businesses as a whole in the UK repaid £100 billion of loans that were not replaced by new lending and that's £100 billion disappearing from the economy. There was also some small amount of pay-down of people's credit cards and personal loans. What quantitative easing did was it recreated that money but it went and put it into the financial markets. So they have this vague idea that money is going to somehow flow from the financial markets down to the real economy. It doesn't happen. There is no real connection between there. So all this money has become trapped in financial markets and that's where it stays. Because there's been so many big numbers after we've heard so many big numbers on the financial crisis hit, £375 billion might not mean a lot to you right now. So let me put it into perspective. £375 billion, quantitative easing. The government in one year in the UK spends £667 billion. So the Bank of England created as much money as the entire government spends on everything in six months and three weeks. So more than half of what they're spending in a year. And yet there was no real... Again, Parliament wasn't really paying attention here. They didn't question how this money was being used, where it went or whether it was having a beneficial effect. We did a little bit of analysis and we found maybe 20 MPs out of 650 who had asked questions about the scheme. That was the only analysis when this... The Bank of England had the power to create more money than the government is spending in half a year. We think about how much attention is given to half a billion of spending here or a billion there. And this is £375 billion. That is almost... Few people understand what's happened with it and few people are paying any attention to whether it's been used in the right way. So current economic situation. In the UK we're very happy to have a recovery. Recovery. Recovery means the economy is growing so we get more of everything. So there's more jobs, mostly in estate agents. So this is not a sign of a real recovery. It's a sign of a property bubble coming back to life. Again, because banks have started lending into property again. We've got more credit cards and consumer debt again. This is exactly what was happening before the financial crisis. We're now repeating these mistakes. We've got more people surviving on food banks and charity. So this next one is a chart from the Trussell Trust who run food banks in 2005. Sorry you can't read that. But there were less than 3,000 people in the country going to their food banks asking for food. We're now talking nearly 350,000 people who are dependent on charity to be able to get enough food to eat. I mean this kind of stuff happens in America but it's never really happened in the UK before. So this is a monetary system that's failing. It's an economic system that's failing and it's a government policy that's failing as well. We have now some of the most unaffordable housing we've ever had. Things have calmed down slightly.  In London you're still looking at about 50% of everything you earn after tax is going on your mortgage. In the UK as a whole it looks like this is coming down which might be encouraging but this is really just because interest rates are at an all-time low. Soon as they go up you'll see this affordability tracker go up and houses will become less and less affordable compared to people's salaries. This is a really good report that came out recently. It's from the Resolution Foundation and they just analysed the condition that people are in financially. They said a sixth of UK mortgage debt sits with households with less than £200 left at the end of the month. So you only need interest rates to rise by 1% or 2% for those people to find they have nothing left at the end of the month. If interest rates rise by 3% and start coming back to where they were before the crisis you're going to find a lot of these people are struggling to pay the mortgage. So we have this economic recovery. We still have an extremely fragile economy here which is absolutely saturated in debt because we've had this system where banks have been able to create money. 600,000 households currently spend more than half their income on debt repayments, a situation we call debt peril. 5,000 people made homeless every year because housing has become so unaffordable. 3.9 million families only have enough savings to cover one month's rent or mortgage. So they only need one redundancy in the family to find themselves in serious problems. This is about 20%. It's about one in five of every household in the UK is in this situation. The poorest 10% now in the UK owe four times their annual income, household income. In Europe you have some disastrous figures here on youth unemployment. In Italy 40% of all under 25s are unemployed. In Spain it's 56% and in Greece it's above 60%. So this is a massive waste of people who want to be doing something useful but can't because the economic system has failed. In most of these countries Europe has some unique problems with the design of the Euro but fundamentally this is all rooted in this system where we've allowed banks to create the nation's money. A lot of people are saying Europe is in danger of going into a decades-long deflation. The politicians and the economists are again saying well you're going to have to start using more quantitative easing because quantitative easing didn't work in the first place so let's use some more of it. There is a much better way of doing this and it is what we released a paper on earlier this year no sorry it was November last year and it's called Sovereign Money and the idea of this is quite simple. It's that instead of allowing the Bank of England to create huge sums of money to put this money into the financial markets create smaller sums of money but to put it into the real economy where it will actually create jobs and help the economy grow. So what it does is it breaks this catch-22 situation where we either have to choose between more money and more debt or less money and less debt and it actually allows us to get more money into the economy whilst also having less debt as well. So it changes the dynamics of how our monetary system works. So the way this would work we're not saying George Osborne or any politician should have the decision over how much money to print because you would see them printing money like crazy in the years before the election and then having to reverse those mistakes in the years afterwards. What we suggested is that you have a division between how much money is created and what that money is used for. Now if you've read Modernising Money you'll see that this is all very similar to that but we're suggesting that the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee decides how much new money needs to be put into the economy and that the government is responsible for deciding how to spend that money, how to actually get that into the economy. So how do they get it into the economy? Well they have a number of options. The first one is just to increase government spending. Now this doesn't have to be on white elephants and wasteful projects. It could be... We've come up with a couple of suggestions. One is to build affordable housing. So in the UK we're building 100,000 to 150,000 fewer houses than we need every year just to keep up with the growing population. If you were to put some money into building more affordable houses you could be creating up to 200,000 jobs and actually you don't need huge sums of money because you're talking maybe 10 billion to make a significant difference to this. You could also have retrofitting of... So in the UK you hear about the fact that our energy bills are so expensive that we leak most of the energy through the walls once you've paid for it. So by actually taking the older houses and fitting them out so that they're energy efficient, so this is retrofitting, you make them far more efficient, people save money, but also you get to employ 200,000 workers for about 10 years to keep them busy with that. So it creates jobs as well and it does something useful in the long run. It saves people money. You could use it for tax cuts. You could also just divide the money up between everybody and distribute it directly to people so that they can spend it how they choose. There's pros and cons of each of those different methods. So I'll just give you a worked example of how this whole thing would work. So we started off with the Bank of England creating £10 billion electronically. This is newly created money from the Bank of England. It gets added to the government's account. The government then pays employers to do whatever it's decided to maybe to build affordable houses, to build clean energy infrastructure to make existing houses more efficient, to build better public transport. The important thing is that this money is then going to employers who will pay their employees and then these employees actually pay taxes. So for every £10 billion that the government initially spends into the economy through sovereign money creation, it gets about £5.6 billion back as well. So it improves the government's financial position. This whole idea of we're going to reduce the deficit by reducing what we spend is actually the complete opposite of what you should be doing by spending money into the economy. You get more tax coming back and you improve your position. Then these employees go and spend their money with other businesses. So you get a bit of a virtuous circle here where for every £1 that goes into the economy through sovereign money creation you get about £2.80 of total spending. And the other thing is some of these households will then go and repay some of their debts to the banks. So that means that households will have less debt and banks will be smaller. Not enormously smaller, but smaller in the sense that we won't need to... then don't pose such a risk to us and they won't be quite so at risk if the economy takes a downturn again. So the important thing is we're not putting new money into the housing market like is happening now with the money that banks create. We're not putting it into the financial markets and we're not pumping new money in through personal loans and credit card debt. We're actually getting money directly into the real economy and into people's pockets so that spending goes up and that actually creates jobs and boosts the real economy. So to compare, quantitative easing £375 billion created by the Bank of England that gave us approximately £30 billion of spending that's coming from a Bank of England estimate. It's very hard to actually know precisely what effect it had. A stock market bubble, greater inequality but the main thing that really annoys me about quantitative easing is it was such a wasted opportunity. So we've just had, firstly, we had a lot of the schools in the UK are not really fit for purpose anymore. The buildings are leaking, they're draughty, they're badly designed and there's been a big program to rebuild those schools that was planned. Now when the crisis hit the government said well we can't afford this anymore. There's a billion pounds of spending cut from the education budget therefore we can't be rebuilding these schools. At the same time you had tens of thousands of workers laid off from the construction industry who were desperately looking for work. So you had all these people unemployed, you had this work that needs doing and we say we can't do it for the lack of one billion. At the same time the Bank of England created 375 times that amount and put it into the financial markets where it had no benefit for the economy and a great benefit for a very few number of people. A similar one, even more topical, for the international audience the UK has just been flooded. If you go outside of London you'll find it's still under water and one of the reasons for that apart from climate change and the bigger issues one of the reasons for that is that a lot of the flood defences that people have been calling for for years have not been built because there's not enough money and again this is another thing where some of the places that have been flooded some of the homes that have been destroyed that would not have happened if they hadn't cancelled some flood defences some of this building program just after the crisis hit and you're not talking huge sums of money tens of millions fractions of one billion pound. Again you had tens of thousands of construction workers made unemployed at home doing nothing looking for work and for something useful to do. There was a lot of construction work that we needed doing if the Bank of England had been allowed to create money and grant it to the government so it could actually be spent directly into the real economy you could have got these flood defences built at the same time as creating employment and getting the economy back out of the recession. As I mentioned before we need to be building a lot more affordable and sustainable houses so that's something else that we could have had in the last few years. Instead we've had a stock market bubble and we've made the very rich a little bit better off. So sovereign money the policy that we're proposing just ten billion would lead to 28 billion pounds spending so pound for pound it's many many times more powerful up to about 284,000 jobs depending on what you spend that money on. 5.6 billion pounds in tax revenue for the government so that's immediately improving their financial position and also lower personal debt as well. These figures here the 284,000 so the 28 billion pounds spending that figure comes from the Confederation of British Industries estimate of the return that you get from spending on construction. It's not figures that we've plucked out of the air because they sound good these are figures from one of the biggest lobbyists for the banking sector, actually the CBI and the same with this 5.6 billion tax revenue as well. So just to compare the two QE may lead to greater debt it's partly designed to get banks to be more confident so that they can land again. Sovereign money should lead to less debt in the economy. QE gives a huge boost to the very top 5% of the nation not much for everybody else. Sovereign money because the money is more widely distributed it can create up to 284,000 jobs and for every £1 of money that is created by the Bank of England if they do it through quantitative easing it leads to about 8 pence of extra spending in the economy. If they do it through sovereign money they get £2.80 of extra spending in the economy. So we've had such a huge sum of money created but used in such an ineffective way at the expense of the things that we really needed to do at the expense of the people that were made unemployed over the last three or four years and could have been employed to do something useful at the expense of equality and any sense of justice being rewarded for the work you do rather than for sitting there and watching stock prices go up. We're arguing that this system needs to change and Martin Wolff, who is the chief economics commentator of the Financial Times has now been talking along the same lines so he recently said this it is astonishing how little this crisis has shaken conventional wisdom. An expansion of private borrowing to buy ever more expensive houses is deemed good privately created credit backed money from the banks is thought sound while government created money is not. None of this makes much sense and there isn't any sound economic reason for the fact that we do things the way we do it's more based on ignorance of how the system really works a lack of political awareness about the implications of these decisions, the fact that only 20 MPs asked any questions about quantitative easing. So what we're trying to do now is say that there is a better way of doing this and this sovereign money is something that we need right now to prevent us walking into another debt fuelled financial crisis. Now strategically it means we don't need to necessarily go to war with the banks at first you can have sovereign money create so you can have sovereign money creation whilst banks are still creating money and in the way that banks creating money is adding debt to the economy sovereign money can be offsetting some of that effect. It's something they can do now so that the government can see that it can put money into the economy in a way that is useful and which actually benefits the economy and benefits them and then we can say well look you have two ways of getting money into the economy when banks do it they put it all into the property bubble when you do it through sovereign money creation you're getting it directly into the real economy now if you want to restrict one of those two ways do you really want to restrict the one that actually creates jobs and actually creates growth in the economy. Okay last couple of things so modernising money the book that we launched last year that is still what we're aiming for in the end we still believe that you have to stop banks creating money there isn't a system that would give you the benefits that that actually has whilst banks still are able to create money but the sovereign money is the way that the government can actually take a step towards this without having to you know they're not going to take the risk of doing this overnight this is a way to get them into the idea of they can actually create money which in a way that will benefit the economy rather than leaving the banks to do it all. So just to wrap up we are fueling our economy through money created by the banks as debt that isn't going to last we cannot keep increasing the level of debt indefinitely so we need a different way of getting money into the economy and the best way of doing that is through this sovereign money proposal that we've put together and that would actually set a precedent for useful creation of money by the state instead of creation of money by banks.


Minister, with responsibility for the public service and labor, Dr. Virginia Albert-Poyutt met with stakeholders on Tuesday, October 26, 2021 to discuss some pertinent concerns with regard to the transfer of staff from Victoria Hospital to the Millennium Heights Medical Complex. More in this report from Jolita Peter. Since the transfer of staff from the Victoria Hospital to the Millennium Heights Medical Complex in 2020, there have been some unsettling concerns, one of which is the close in the Millennium Heights Medical Complex Act, which deals with transfer and secondment. Tuesday's meeting sought to begin the dialogue with the new minister for the public service and labor and was attended by representatives of the Solution Services Association, Solution Civil Service Association, Attorney General's chambers, Ministry of Health, Wellness and Elderly Affairs, Millennium Heights Medical Complex Board of Directors, and the Department of the Public Service and Labor. According to the agreement, the contract that the employees have signed, those who have moved across, they agreed for an ATSC convent. So we are asking what's about the job security after the ATSC, that's the concern that CSE has. I'm understanding from Millennium Heights that the conditions they have for the employees are better than what they had before, but that is subject to individual views and perspective. So right now I am open to listen to all contending views and then the Prime Minister and the Cabinet will take the matter beyond that. At Tuesday's meeting, parties agreed to continue to dialogue and subsequently present a position to the Minister for the Public Service and Labor for onward submission to Cabinet. The Millennium Heights Medical Complex is currently at stage three of the four stages of transition. Minister Albert Poyert is of the view that a time has come for the institution to be piloted to the final phase. However, she said the current hurdles must be addressed before that can happen. Meanwhile, Minister Albert Poyert has responded to queries regarding the proposed management of the OKEU Hospital by Health City Kaman Islands Group. Well, we are still exploring what is in writing because the Minister of Health would be looking at the document and as I said, this is a new administration and this administration has its priorities and its strategies and if what is existing is in keeping with the strategies and policies of the Labour Party will go along with it. If it is not in keeping the areas that need to be modified, we will modify them and then do what is necessary in the interest of the people. The Millennium Heights Medical Complex comprises of the Owen King European Hospital, National Mental Wellness Centre and a Turning Point Rehabilitation Centre and is being managed by a six-member senior management team from the Department of the Public Service, Julia Tepita reporting.


After two months since the resignation of former Pikeville City manager Philip Ellswick, a replacement has been found. Former Pike County Judge Executive Reggie Hickman was appointed to the position on Friday, September 1st. Mountaintop News spoke with Hickman to hear his thoughts on this accomplishment. I'm very excited to get started. The process has gone very smoothly to get to this point. What we'll do is we'll get on that first day, we'll start to get to know our management team and understand where their thoughts are about how the city needs to operate on day to day basis. Clearly we'll work with the mayor and the commission and deal with a vision moving forward for the city. Change is what it is and hopefully I can just add to something that is really already really really good. If not great. At Appalachian Wireless, we have the best service and the best deals right now. Save up to $500 on iPhone 13th and 14th, all models, all gigabytes with trade in. Maybe go for an iPhone 12 for a penny, a penny with a two-year contract. We're not leaving out Samsung, save up to $350 on select Samsung devices including the S23. It's a win-win. This month at Appalachian Wireless, the service, the savings, y'all gotta jump on this deal right now.  We are Appalachian Wireless. Hickman says his experience working with the fiscal court will help play to his strengths in this new role. In the meantime, he expresses his thanks to those who have supported him. The last four and a half years working for the fiscal court and Judge Jones, that I can't say enough good things about Judge Jones, the opportunity he gave me in that deputy judge position, his goal I think is very similar to the goals here in terms of trying to run government as much as possible, like a business. You may not get all the way there, but it's important to do that. That is one of my core beliefs as well. Those contacts and the things that we've done in the last four and a half years, I think will benefit everybody. Very humbling, to be honest, and very gratifying at the same time to be at the top of that list was very gratifying, very exciting, and I can't say enough about the commission and the interview process. Those guys are tough interviewers, but it went very well and I'm very excited and very humbled by the opportunity. Reporting from Outantop News, I'm Nick Colm.


Aroldes, how much pride does the pitching staff have after the job that you guys did this afternoon?  You know, for us, we knew what kind of game this was, how important it was for us. So the mentality was strong and we knew that at any given inning that we probably were going to have an opportunity to go in the game, go enter the game and, yeah, extremely excited and happy about the job we did tonight. Welcome to Post Game 2021, right? Post Season, Post Game.  Is it contagious or is it when you see one guy after the next going out there and putting up zeroes on the pitch one after another? Is it contagious? Is it energy? Yeah, in real life it's a game, apart from it being an important game, it's a game that's going on, there's not a lot of batting, it's being carried to the pitch. Thanks to God, I think we have good pitchers and good bullpen. Everyone's focused, everyone's focused on the goal. When you touch it, your input or more than one input gives you zero, because the game is being carried to zero. Yeah, you know, the way the game was going, right, not a lot of offense throughout the whole game. And, you know, in real life you're thinking like, okay, we got to keep up, you know, we got to do the best we can. If we got to go an inning, an inning plus, or whatever it may be, you definitely want to follow the guy that just entered the game and put up a zero on the board for sure. Giancarlo Stanton joked the other day, we are not afraid to make things interesting. Do you think this team almost thrives when you're back, is it really against the wall? I think so, we have a team, I think, apart from a lot of young people, we have a lot of experience. And I think it's a team that has to battle and a team that fights at a difficult time and they do everything. You know, I think experience is big, you know, just like Giancarlo said, you know, just going throughout the whole season, we have a young team with a lot of young guys, but at the same time I think we've done such a great job the whole year, you know, facing different challenges, you know, and we feel like we have the energy, the potential, you know, to at the end of the night be on top. Aaron Boone described the clubhouse post game as a little rock, is how would you describe it, Oraldus? The manager mentioned that there was a lot of energy in the clubhouse, in the celebration. How would you describe that celebration in the clubhouse? Yes, we were very happy, very happy. The whole world, from the players, to the bad boys, the whole world. We were very happy, very excited. I think we have fought a lot, with a lot of things, with good moments, bad injuries, to get here, and thank God we did it. So now, I think the team is motivated, is focused on that game of World Cup that we are talking about.  You can see from the players to the bad boys, you know, just jumping around and being excited and celebrating. You know, and I think it has to do with the kind of year we've had. We had a lot of up and downs, a lot of injuries, you name it, we've had it all. So, to finally be here, being the postseason, finally reach this point, you know, it's a great relief for all of us, a moment to celebrate. At the same time, we know we have an important game on Tuesday, and it's going to be a fun wildcard game on Tuesday.


I'm John Watkins, Community Moderator with opensource.com with this week's Top 5. At number 5, using the Alpine Linux email client to access messages from any network. Community Moderator David Booth with a fascinating article for those of you who wish to use your own email server even while you're on the road. Follow his step-by-step guide for setting up and using Alpine to access your messages from any network. At number 4, give old electronics new life with Linux and Raspberry Pi. New writer Leon Annavi, a professional software engineer and open source enthusiast with a captivating article on how to use and control legacy appliances with the Annavi Infrared P-HAT add-on board for Raspberry Pi using Linux software. At number 3, save time with Ansible without writing a line of code. Sean Powers, a longtime IT educator and sysadmin with a great article about how a line of Ansible code can simplify your life if you're managing a large network. At number 2, how to manage Linux containers with Ansible container. Tomas Tomacek, senior software engineer at Red Hat, writes about how you can pair Ansible with the Ansible container tool for the complete lifecycle of your containerized application. At number 1, for open source alternatives to Gmail. OpenSource.com editor Jason Baker says Gmail has achieved remarkable success. But if you're looking for some really good alternatives to that interface, then you should definitely read this article. Let us know which of these solutions you are using. That's it for this week. Thanks for watching. See you next week.


The pandemic delivered a devastating blow on world economies, including South Africa. And for us, first bits of data suggest that the economy contracted by over 50% on a seasonally adjusted and analyzed basis in the first quarter of this year. And that number puts us as one of the worst affected countries in the world. And of course, the economic weakness in the South African context predates the pandemic. What really happened is that the pandemic just exacerbated the already existing weakness in the South African economy, which then makes the recovery process a bit more difficult compared to other countries. Data suggests, looking at the data in its totality, suggests that it will take us a bit of a while to fully recover from such a massive impact. High-frequency data at this stage suggests that there's a bit of normality that is taking place at the moment. There is a recovery process that is underway at this stage. You look at retail sales data or shopping activity, which is a measure for shopping activity, suggests that there was a sharp impact particularly around April and May and now consumers are starting to go back to the shopping malls. They're starting to spend a bit more than during those times. So by all counts, it looks as though recovery is taking place there. The very low interest rates would have assisted the cash-strapped consumer. But of course, we know that that impact, the positive impact, the stimulative impact of interest rates is relatively short-lived. So we expect it to wane over time. But by all counts at this stage, data suggests that we are re-tracking the 2019 levels, but we are still a bit of a distance away from such levels. If you look at industrial production, which is a combination of mining and manufacturing output, which we measure, which we use as a litmus test for real economic activity, there seems to be some sort of recovery that is taking place after that sharp impact during the month of April and May, subsequent to that and as lockdown restrictions were lifted, output is starting to normalise and it is now re-tracking the 2019 levels, which were already low levels, I have to point out, but it is a recovery nonetheless. So all in all, the recovery is underway, but it looks a bit fragile at the moment. The biggest risk that we see at this stage is the potential of a delayed impact on the labour markets. Numbers are unclear at this stage, but large numbers are being thrown around, ranging from 1 million to 3 million potential job losses. And for a country with a 30% unemployment rate, that will really be devastating. The impact will be large and it definitely will undermine the recovery process that has started taking place. So all in all, the impact has been quite large, but high frequency data suggests that we are recovering, although we are still operating well below capacity at this stage. But third quarter data suggests that we will see much better economic activity in the third quarter compared to the first quarter. So we will definitely recoup some of the losses we suffered in the second quarter, but maybe not all of it. It might take us a long time before we fully recover from such a devastating impact. So what has been the impact on the property market? Quite an interesting question. It's a tale of two markets, really. On the one hand you've got your rental market and on the other you've got housing market. At this stage it appears as though the rental market has been disproportionately affected by the pandemic and of course the other side of the coin is that what has been a loss in the rental market has been a gain in the ownership market, in the home ownership market. At this stage we are seeing buying activity particularly from first-time buyers and first-time buyers that are under the age of 35, large volumes can't be attributed to that group of customers so those are buyers that tend to be sensitive to economic shocks and that tend to be sensitive to interest rate decision. So what has been driving this activity? We know that we are not creating new demand. We know that we are not creating new employment and so therefore we are not creating new demand. So what really is happening is that there is this ongoing shift away from renting towards ownership. So there is this ownership drive, if you will, that is taking place at the moment which explains why the rental market has been disproportionately affected by the pandemic. What are the drivers behind this? Well, the first and probably the biggest is the aggressively low interest rate that is taking place at the moment. The second one is good pricing in some suburbs particularly affluent suburbs, Yacu, Sentin, Laikyo, Kemsby, that seems to be attracting buyers, particularly first-time buyers. And number three, the lowering of transfer duties would have also assisted particularly for properties under one million value. So combining all these three factors means that affordability has improved quite significantly and data suggests that South African consumers are taking advantage of it. It did catch us by surprise. Not many of us would have expected this kind of activity that we are seeing in the middle of the pandemic. We did expect that the recover was going to be driven by first-time buyers but the timing of all of it was out in the latter part of 2020 and early parts of 2021. So timing did really catch us by surprise. And of course, the working from home arrangement would have assisted in this ownership drive. There is this perception that owning a home gives you a bit of more flexibility, so more of a conducive environment for working from home. So we are going to start seeing some types of properties gaining popularity in line with the working from home arrangement. So you're probably going to see properties that offer garden, properties that with an extra room for study, gaining popularity due to the changing needs of the South African consumer, mainly driven by this working from home arrangement. Again, the biggest question there is, will this kind of activity that we are seeing, will this be sustainable? I mentioned that we probably haven't seen the worst in terms of the labour market. We know that we are not creating new employment at this stage. So it hasn't been income driven. It's mainly been interest rate driven. And because of that, the stimulative effect of the low interest rate tends to be short-lived. It rains over time. And because it's not income driven in our view, is that once we start seeing large scale drop losses that will put downward pressure on activity and by extension it will push prices down. So at this stage it appears that this activity is probably not going to be sustainable for a long time. Once we start seeing some pressure in the labour market, it's likely going to taper off and prices are likely to then adjust from that point onwards. Now speaking about improved affordability and participation of first-time buyers in the South African property market landscape, what is the outlook on interest rate? How long before we start seeing hike in interest rates? Or are we going to see is the low interest rate environment a new norm? The sub came out a couple of weeks ago and suggested that their QPM model suggests that we should expect two interest rate hikes in the later part of 2021 in the third and fourth quarter of 2021. The market is already also expecting interest rate to start going up over the next two years. Our view is likely different. Our view is that with inflation being so low and with more pressure likely coming from the labour market, demand is going to take another knock, which will potentially mean that inflation will remain low for much longer than the sub or the market expects. So from where we stand, the potential is a room for one last interest rate cut and interest rate would remain flat after that throughout the forecast horizon. Over the next two years, even if there will be that pressure to hike interest rates, we don't think that it will be quite as an aggressive hike as the cuts wear. So even if there is a need to hike interest rates, it's probably going to be a gradual and a slow process. It's difficult to see aggressive hikes under the current circumstances with such high levels of unemployment, with such low levels of demand, with such low levels of inflation. It's just not easy to see that kind of a scenario. So by all counts, interest rates are probably going to remain low for a long time. Even if there is that pressure to hike, it's probably going to be a gradual process. It's not going to be as aggressive as the cuts wear. So in closing, the very low interest rates have been a major surprise factor in the property market. We are seeing a lot of activity, particularly from buyers that are sensitive to such decisions. But the biggest risk for us right now is the potentially delayed impact on the labor market, which has an impact of putting downward pressure on activity and by extension, downward pressure on prices. So in closing, I would like to encourage everybody to visit our FNB booth. There will be FNB representatives sitting ready to answer your immediate questions and there will be content for you to download.


Welcome to Digital Asset News, I could top still raise in crypto current digital assets and break them down to bite-sized pieces. Today, pretty fascinating stuff. First up, Ethereum ETF to debut on the Toronto Stock Exchange. So if this is happening in Canada, how long before we see the same exact thing in the USA and other countries moving forward also? MicroStrategy has not stopped accumulating Bitcoin. Michael Saylor, the CEO, comes out and states that they have purchased approximately 2,500 plus more Bitcoins for 50 million in cash. So the question is asked, will there be any Bitcoin left for the rest of us? When large corporations like MicroStrategy are buying in mass on top of PayPal as well as Grayscale and Square. Also the currency czar, Brian Brooks, goes on to SquawkBox and states that Bitcoin is here to stay and they're not going to kill it. However, other members of Congress are not so diligent in their research. So we'll take a look at all that, but first let's go on into the market and before we get into that, it's December 5th, 10 a.m. El Paso, Texas time, I'm back in El Paso. I put out a quick poll and I asked, does everybody want me to keep doing market cap breakdown under each video? And it's pretty close. I mean, we've had over a thousand votes so far and really it's 47 to 48. And there's an other, so who knows? But I will just say this, I'm just going to listen to everybody and pretty much everybody says we like it to keep it. Some people say no, get rid of it. But I think to meet everybody in the middle, let's just do it a little bit faster. Instead of going all the way through like 100, let's just stick with the top 20. Because if you're not in the top 20, well, maybe your projects will work harder. And that's all I'll do and I'll just do like a minute, two minutes and that is it. Also, I'm going to try to do it in dark mode because people who are in different time zones around the whole world are like, hey, I'm just waking up, man. So it's not making it so bright. So sure, I'll do that. So here's what we got. So, Bitcoin 19K, hey, not too bad. I'll take it right now. It looks like it's maybe a little bit of a rebound. We have little pullbacks, but that's normal. If you're new to this space, just know there's going to be some pullbacks, two steps forward, one step back, some nice three steps forward and 20 steps back. Just how it is. And you know, Ethereum dipped below 600. But again, I can see it's rocketing up in 2021. I think it's going to be massively successful. And I think it will actually outdo Bitcoin in terms of ROI. But we'll see. XRP, 58 cents, watch out.  And I can't say XRP pegged the quarter because it's not a quarter. It went up, you know, 100%. So good for that. Good for all the XRP holders. But you know, it is at 58 cents. I know it was around 70, 68 something somewhere in there. So, but it is up almost a percentage and 4.6 for the week. So, hey, we'll take it. Ted is tethered, almost a 20 billion. Congratulations. Litecoin was the darling lately. It's up 20% for the week.  Because I could not hold on to that for when I bought a long time ago. I just didn't really see a purpose. But with PayPal listing it, I mean, I mean, really you almost have to own it. Just like Bitcoin Cash, now it's the number six spot. 284 looks like a market cap of 5.3 billion. And it's always jostling with Chainlink, which has a $5.2 billion market cap. So we'll see how it goes. But I can see these, I can see all three of these coins just jockeying for position. Unless Cardano comes out and really starts to do massive things. I see huge things for Cardano in 2021. I mean, with Gogan coming about with the smart contracts with Voltaire, which they just put out a release they're going to do about voting and things like that. This is going to be a huge project. And it's why I'm getting into Cardano staking pool. So I don't have the technical know-how. But two people reached out to me and they are very technical. I've got Brandon and Joe and they were a part of the actual test net when it was like super tough to have a stake pool. They did all those things. They kept up time up to 99.9%. And they're going to do the same thing with our stake pool. And that's why we're all working together. But again, I have to make sure everything's right. This is important. So just bear with me. I don't like to rush things, obviously. So I'll let everybody know when it's ready. Okadot down a little bit, Binance Coin Stellar. Anything great, top 20? No, not really. All right, so now I'm going to switch over to Bitcoin because it really all depends. You know, if we put in a U.S. dollar, that's great. But what if you would just invest in Bitcoin? Would you be up? Well, with Ethereum, yeah, you'd be up 3% for the week. XRP 0.3, but down 6% for the week. That's a bummer. Litecoin be up seven and a half at one for the day. What else is not too much really? So again, when you start to go down lower, you will get a little bit better returns. But in the top 20, usually if you just invest in Bitcoin, you usually do pretty well and nothing has really gone over to altcoins. I expect that to happen in 2021, but we will see. All right, that is it for that section. Let's break into today's top stories. So first up, I found this fascinating. I was kind of hoping that the ETF would be in America but because I'm a yank and that's what we like. We like everything to be in America because it's how all Americans are. But I will take Canada. I mean, I'll take any ETF anywhere. This is a good solid thing for cryptocurrency space. So what is going on? Well, this just got released about an hour ago and it states next week, Canadian digital asset investment manager 3IQ will be launching an IPO for the world's first Ethereum ETF or the Ether fund on the Toronto Stock Exchange, TSX under the ticker QETH.U. The launch, it's going to be 100 million and the closing date of the offering will be no later than December 10th. 3IQ counts more than 400 million Canadian assets under management. So there are no lightweights and they are experts in the game, I would say. When we talk about ETFs, really we start to think in America, we start to think about grayscale because that's like the close.  So really you're getting like, you know, paper, Bitcoin which whatever, that's fine. It's kind of like what an ETF. I mean, almost the same thing, but the problem is, is that you're going to pay a premium on that. And to me, when I look at that, I'm like, well, why are people paying such a high premium? Why can't I do it themselves? Because institutions can't custody it themselves. They need someone else to do it and they will pay a pretty penny because they know exactly where this market is going just like we all do. So they're like, okay, we'll play the game. We're going to pay your 20%, 50%, whatever fee and you guys just custody it for us and we'll just sit around and reap the rewards. So I mean, it just states here, despite a price premium which at time creeped upwards of 500% relative to the net asset value for Ethereum and that's true. They were paying like 5X just to get Ethereum. It's crazy. Grayscale's Ethereum Trust, the digital assets behemoth reports that more and more investors have been piling in and there's a reason why Grayscale is always one of those companies that is always talking about, hey, we bought more Bitcoin. Hey, we bought more Ethereum. Hey, we got this.  They are on their way to owning one, think about that. They're going to own one million Bitcoin. Now they're going to custody for their institutional players and credit investors, but that's huge. I mean, that's a huge, that's one million out of 21 million. I mean, we talk about decentralization, how great it is, but in reality I kind of see a lot of centralization of who is actually buying up these assets and we're going to talk about micro strategy in a bit and it's kind of worrisome, but it is what it is. So that's why on this channel, I try to teach people about having strong hands and don't sell, don't let it slip. And I always feel like all these little dips and all these little shenanigans that are going on the background, I always kind of feel like it's just like little plays for the big institutions and Wall Street and all these money managers to kind of get in and kind of scoop up the Bitcoin that we kind of sell on the side because they're like, ah, we got your Bitcoin and we're not going to let it go. Michael Saylor for micro strategy says, hey, I don't understand traders. I'm just going to hold this for the rest of my life until my grandkids' lives. I'm not selling Bitcoin whatsoever. And I kind of feel that way. So that's why I'm always preaching about dollar cost averaging.   So that's just why I'm always harping on it.  Anyhow, in November alone, Gold Giant Van Ek launched a Bitcoin exchange traded note product in Germany. The Van Ek Vectors Bitcoin ETN and 3iQ also introduced the Bitcoin fund to Canada. So things are moving in the right directions for institutional investors to really get in. And these ETFs are exactly what big money players really want to have so they can get exposure to Bitcoin. This is Kevin O'Leary from Shark Tank, a pretty famous guy, you might know him. On Anthony Pogliano's podcast, he said, hey, I'd love to get into Bitcoin, but first of all, I don't want to custody that. I got a lot of money, what am I gonna do? You know, like buy millions and millions and put it on some ledger. He's like, no, I don't want that responsibility but I would like to do an ETF. And it's just what people are comfortable with in that circle. So if we could give them the ETF and then it would raise the whole value or the whole public consciousness of Bitcoin as well as other crypto assets, let's just do that. The whole hurdle, of course, is getting through the financial regulations here in the USA. But if they have it in Canada and things are going on globally and there's a lot of different movement, I kind of feel it like hopefully we can get it done. However, this whole ETF nonsense has been talked about since 2012 and before. So I never hold my breath talking about ETF and quite honestly, I don't think we even need one. I just think it would be like a feather in the cap. Anyhow, let me know what you think in the comment section, let's move on. Next up, and I'll make this quick, Michael Saylor's a baller. I mean, this guy just buys Bitcoin like it's going in style. This was a tweet yesterday, December 4th at 3.40 PM. He says, hey, Michael's strategy has purchased approximately 2,500 plus Bitcoins for 50 million in cash, just something laying around. And it coordinates with its treasure reserve policy at an average price of approximately 19,427 per Bitcoin. We now hold approximately a ton of Bitcoins. So there's two things I wanna bring up. First is this, Michael and everybody else who's invested in Bitcoin recently is looking like absolute geniuses because just take a look here. This is what they paid for, $475 million for the base price for Bitcoin. This is back in August. This is today's value. I mean, August, September, October, November, December.  So other businesses are looking at this like, why did we keep it on cash? Cash is on fire and the inflation rate is higher. And of course we're gonna have quantitative easing which is going to further debase that currency. So why do we have this?  But I'm just saying, if you're owning a ton of Bitcoin, I mean, a ton of gold over Bitcoin, I think it's a mistake, honestly. And we see it right here. Now, gold bugs will say, you don't understand, it's been a number of thousands of years and this is all gonna go to zero. And yeah, sure, okay, whatever, maybe it will. But for right now, you have to tip your hat and go, look, well played, sir, because you guys almost doubled your money. And gold has actually receded over the last couple of weeks. And I mean, there's been little fluctuations here and there, but I mean, it was at a high over in 2000. What is it, 1900, 1800 now? So not a great play if you did what you did. Also, everybody's up pretty much. I mean, Galaxy Digital 134, now that at 318, that's pretty good. 50 to 89 for square. And then just kind of look at the whole thing. And that's on top of what they just bought right now. That will go up, I think, in 2021 massively and they'll look even smarter. Now, here's the problem though. With all these big institutions coming in, this goes onto my first point where I think there's some kind of shenanigans going on. There's some kind of like manipulation because they want you to drop your crypto so they can pick it up and they can make all the profits. And I'm gonna tell you what, when I saw this blog, this was from Coinbase. They were the ones that did all those micro transactions to help MicroStrategy pick up all that Bitcoin in August and they didn't move the price that much. So they had a lot of moving parts and they helped them do this. That's fine, I'm not gonna take it away from it. That is the business strategy, right? Good for you guys. You really bought up a lot of Bitcoin for cheap. But here's the problem. I think when you have something like this, this was just one strategy. Do you not think that maybe they're in the background going, you know what? Maybe we could put out a press release or maybe we could start to talk about different things that could lower the price and maybe we could pick up some other Bitcoin. Just a couple hundred thousand, some right, whatever here and there, I think they will. And I think it's all a ploy against you. So keep your strong hands. You know where this is going. That's all I'm gonna say. Okay, everybody and their mother was talking about this while I was driving to El Paso from Houston yesterday and it was huge.  And if you haven't seen it, I have to play it because it's huge. One of these biggest arguments against Bitcoin is that the governments will ban it. And of course, some people will say, well, good luck with that.  Then some people will say, well, but they could, you know, they could ban the exchanges. Well, you can do that, but guess what?  Just come over here, because we'd love to help you out. And we'd love to make all those millions and billions of dollars. So I think it would be very foolish for that to happen. But this is Brian Brooks. He is the czar over there at the office of the comptroller of the currency. And he's doing great things. If you haven't followed him on his Twitter handle, I mean, it's great. It's like a lot of, I mean, it's a lot of great things he's talking about, especially things about cryptocurrency assets. I mean, this guy really is in the game. And when he said this, I mean, this was fantastic. Just take a listen. Our boss at Coinbase, the CEO, Brian Armstrong, sent out last week. And he said that the treasury could be, quote, planning to rush out some new regulation regarding self-hosted crypto wallets before the end of the term. Is that true? Yeah, look, Melissa, you know, rumors abound in Bitcoin more than almost any other place. What I would tell you is we're very focused on getting this right. We're very focused on not killing this. And it's equally important that we develop the networks behind Bitcoin and other cryptos as it is that we prevent money, lottery, and terrorism financing. So believe me, there's a balance here and it's gonna work for everybody. So that's an either a yes or no answer to that. Should we be expecting some new regulations by the end of the Trump term? I think you're gonna see a lot of good news for crypto by the end of the Trump term. Some of it's gonna have to do with banks connecting to blockchain. Some of it's gonna be more clarity around the nature of these assets. So believe me, there's gonna be very positive messages coming out. At the same time, it's a dangerous world out there. We have to be honest about that, but nobody's gonna ban Bitcoin. Nobody's gonna ban some of these transmission technologies. I think it's gonna be a lot less bad than people will worry about. So yeah, a couple of things. Remember the beginning when she said that Brian Armstrong put out a little tweet and said, ah, there's a little different problems. They're gonna start to rush regulations coming in as far as wallets. Well, do you remember what happened with the Bitcoin price after he put that out? Dropped. Guess what happened?  Don't you think that maybe that might have happened at that point? I don't know. I don't know. It could be, it couldn't be. It's just one of those things. You see, Brooks gets it. He understands what's gonna happen. He understands where everything is going. And he understands that retail and every other person on the planet, they want something faster, better, cheaper. And if we can do something of that with digital assets and cryptocurrency, then why not? Now, he understands exactly what it is. Here's the problem. When you have a new technology, it's scary for some people because they just don't understand it. And they get worried and they want to regulate the living tar out of it. And this is a problem. So this is something that, first of all, I'm 99% sure will not pass, but it has to be brought up and has to be talked about.   That's just not what it is. I think part of it is, is that people are uneducated and they are ignorant and they need to have someone sit them down and explain to them, I know you're afraid, I know this is new to you, but this is why it is unfounded. And here's how we can work together.  Digital assets, cryptocurrencies, it's in an open platform and it's decentralized. And we can do a lot of good here. Now, here's what this whole bill is about. This is where she had to lead, Democrat from Michigan, I believe. And the whole thing is this, she's worried about stable coins and these corporations, such as Tether and USDC and all the impactos and they're able to issue these stable coins. She's like, I don't like corporations doing that. I want banks to do that. And again, the problem here is that stable coins aren't familiar to people in Congress and regulators. They just don't know exact what is, except for Brian Brooks and his team. So Tileb introduced a bill co-sponsored by Reps Lynch and Chewie Garcia that offers a solution. They want to require stable coins that promise a fixed value in US dollars or petty the dollar to be issued by banks. This constitute taking a deposit, which is something only banks can do, not tech companies, nor the associations they set up to issue coins on their behalf. And what she really wants is for them to work with minority-owned banks. So in regards to this, Brian Brooks said, fine, here's some support for minority-owned banks. We have not been doing a good enough job. We'll help support this issue. This was actually two days ago, but then he further stated this and this is the whole meat and potatoes, the whole article. He describes the bill as a solution searching for a problem. He says some of the provisions, such as ensuring adequate reserves and the ability to redeem stable coins for dollars can be handled without requiring issuers to become banks, which he argues with stifle competition. So essentially what they're saying is like, like Circle and USDC and Tether and, I mean, Paxos, they have to become banks to issue these types of stable coins. And that would be awful because there's a lot of hoops to go through to become a bank just axe-cracking. And he makes a good point. He says, what if email got invented and somebody said only the post office can issue email accounts? So it's the same type of thing. Look, let's call a spade a spade. Banks have screwed over people left and right from the beginning of time, okay? So you got things like the Wells Fargo account scandal where they just created checking accounts out of thin air and without anybody's consent for their customers, they just kept doing it. And then of course, he had all the different fines that JP Morgan gets, 30 billion in fines and counting and believe me, I don't know what's going on in the background. They've also been spoofing metals and things like that and I don't know how long. It's just like a cost of doing business. And then you have the Dutch bank find 900 million for money laundering and they just kind of pass over those different problems to the consumer. And you got something like this, Bank of America, 16 billion in financial fraud. And of course, again, the people that are the most susceptible are the poor and the downtrodden. So when Tlaib is talking about these different issues, I mean, she should be worried about the people that are in her district but she's going about it, I believe the wrong way by giving power back to these bankers when in all reality, all they're going to do is take the information and all the different power that we give them and go, thanks, we're going to screw you over some more. So just get out of the way of innovation and everything should be fine. Again, I think this is an opportunity to teach and to include and bring everybody to the table because I think you're going to get a lot farther by meeting in the middle than just dividing everybody and trying to move forward. So those are just my two cents. Let me know what you think in the comments section. And that's really it. The last thing I'll say is, well, first of all, thanks for sticking with me through the whole thing. I really appreciate it. A lot of different information out there but I think it's good information. Also, don't forget that danteachescrypto.com, free website, it is up right now. You can learn a lot of great information for free and I try to convince as much as I possibly can. We break it into five different modules, basic safety investing reviews and then the how do I think how do I and basics from the data that I've been seeing for everybody who actually clicks on it. These are the two big ones and investing is actually coming in like a close second. But if you take a look at like how do I like how do I buy theta? How do I use Uniswap? How do I update the firmware, my nano ledger? All the different questions that you should know are right there.  What is Bitcoin? So for most of us here, it's not important because you probably know all that stuff already. But if you have someone who needs to know that then send them this link. There's a link in the description of every one of my videos looks just like this and then come on over and of course is 100% free. And that's it. Again, thanks for taking with me. I appreciate it. If you like these types of videos with two months gonna pop up on your left and right in YouTube, do all their magic and whatnot. But that is all. So thanks again. See you on the next one. Bye.


America. You blame me for interfering with your democracy, but I don't have to. You are doing it to yourselves. Polling stations are closing. You don't know who to trust. You are divided. There are strings we can pull, but we don't have to. You are pulling them for us.


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QuickBooks Online 2024 Bank Reconciliation Opening Balance Problem Get ready and some coffee because we're getting the books on track with QuickBooks Online 2024 Here we are in our GitGrit Guitars 2024 QuickBooks Online sample company file we set up in a prior presentation Opening up the major financial statement reports like we do every time The reports on the left hand side and the favorites right-clicking that balance sheet to open a link in a new tab Right-clicking the P&L profit and loss to open a link in a new tab Same with the trustee TB trial balance We will tab to the right, close up the hamburger and change that range up top going from 0101 to 4Tab 0229 to 4Tab Let's do this on a month-by-month breakout and run it Then we'll tab to the right, closing the hamburger, changing the range 0101 to 4Tab, 0229 to 4Tab, selecting the drop-down months and run it And then we'll tab to the right, close the hamburger, change the range 0101 to 4Tab, 0229 to 4Tab, drop-down and month Let's run it First a word from our sponsor Yeah, actually we're sponsoring ourselves on this one Because apparently the merchandisers they don't want to be seen with us But that's okay whatever Because our merchandise is better than their stupid stuff anyways Like this CPA thinking cap for example CPA thinking, CAP, you see what we did with like with the letters And this CPA thinking cap is not just for CPAs either Anyone can and should have at least one possibly multiple CPA thinking caps Why? Because based on our scientific survey of five people All of whom directly profit from the sale of these CPA thinking caps Wearing this CPA thinking cap without a doubt according to the survey Increases accounting productivity tenfold Yeah, at least Apparently the hat actually channels like accounting energy from the quantum field ether Directly into your head Allowing you to navigate spreadsheets faster It's kind of like how in like the matrix when Neo learns kung fu Or at least that's what the scientific survey saying So get one Because the scientific survey participants could really use some extra cash If you would like a commercial free experience Consider subscribing to our website at accountinginstruction.com Or accountinginstruction.thinkific.com And let's go back to the balance sheet We're now continuing on with the bank reconciliation process For the first month that being January We have this beginning balance issue that we're going to address now So note that the reconciliation is basically taking what we have Currently on the books 88,645,27 as of January And reconciling it to what is on the bank side of things On the bank side of things we have the 61,241,85 The difference between the two should be simply outstanding items Checks and deposits that we know on our side Which are not on the bank side But we have this beginning balance issue So let's go back into the reconciliation and recap that issue So we're going to go down to the transactions We're in the reconcile tab We're going to resume the reconciling that we started in a prior presentation And the edit info We have the beginning balance that's part of our issue It's zero here, it's 30,000 over here So that's an issue And then we plugged in the 61,241,85 We just put the ending balance on the bank statement That's the normal process As of the cutoff date 131,24 We didn't put anything down below in these items We have the recap up top The statement ending balance That's just what we typed in from the bank statement As of the cutoff January 31 We have the clear balance Which is consisting of this formula And this formula should match the summary That's basically on the bank statement Beginning balance plus additions minus subtractions So you can see the beginning balance is a problem With the 30,000 The additions We have the payments that we have are 106 So let's take a look at that 106,829 minus What we have over here Which is the 11,1829 And we have a difference of 5,000 So we have a bit of an issue on that one And then the deposits are at 168,70,85 That should match what we're over here Let me do that one more time We're at... Where did I go? We're at the deposit should be 146,70,85 So over here we're at the deposits 168 That's because I have this checked off Let me uncheck that 143,70,85 And then we're at 143,70,85 Okay, so we have an issue between the payments And the beginning balance So note that this beginning balance problem Really just means that we didn't get this in the system As kind of the beginning balance part But it's still showing up here As our beginning balance that we put into the system Which was 25,000 instead of 30,000 So if this was 30,000 Then all... What I could do is check it off And just say, okay, this beginning balance Is just going to be included here And it'll be part of the deposits And I'll be okay with that I'll note that in my first bank reconciliation And be able to move forward So, but even doing that I still have a problem because this 25,000 Is not 30,000 It should be the 30,000 Which is the beginning balance over here Why is it not 30,000? Well, because we pulled in this 25,000 From the prior accounting system Which had 25,000 on the balance sheet So we had to put 25,000 in place Because that's the thing that we needed to be In balance to bring over the books What's the difference between the 25,000 And the 30,000? Well, it's going to be the outstanding items You would think as of the prior bank reconciliation date Which in this case is December 31, 2023 So in other words, there were outstanding checks Prior to that point in time And that's why we also have a difference Between these cleared items We couldn't find these cleared items On our bank rec In our books And the general rule is If it's on the bank side It should be on our book side Or we should be adding it So, but this beginning balance Has a special issue Because these checks weren't actually Written in January They were written in December The prior period So that's going to be the issue This 25 that we put on top here Is representing the beginning balance Which includes the outstanding items Which in our case are those two checks Now note when I check that off Because those two things net out My difference is at zero So we could do that I could say, okay, it's my difference is zero I'm going to move forward Although it's not perfect to do that Because I still don't really understand Why I have 25,000 instead of 30,000 And why I have this 4,000 And 1,000 that has cleared That's one problem The second problem is That if these two amounts had not cleared Meaning if they were outstanding And they remain outstanding They were outstanding in December They remain outstanding through January Then you're not going to be able to Do that method of simply Checking it off and be exactly in balance So what we would like to do instead Is really put these two on the books We would like to put them on the books As of the date the check was written Or possibly as of the date of the prior cutoff period Like we did with the beginning balances As of 12, 31, 23 in our case So that's what we will do here I'm going to say let's put these on the books So we'll go back on over And say if this 25,000 I want to get to the same 25,000 But I want to represent it as 30,000 on the deposit here For my beginning balances And two checks of 5,000 So that I have my audit trail Of the two checks that were written In the prior period I can see that they cleared in the current period And then if I want to go back To the prior accounting system I can get more detail about those two checks Alright, so to do that Let's go ahead and leave here So I'm going to say finish later So I'm going to uncheck this for now And then save for later And then let's go back into my chart of accounts And then in the chart of accounts I'm going to go into the checking account And look at the good old register And I'm going to imagine that I went back To my prior accounting system And looked up those two checks Which I'm going to enter as just Basically expense forms Because I don't want to enter a check number And I'm going to put them in there As of 12, 31, 2, 3 In our practice problem You may want to put them in there As of the date the actual checks were written But my thought would be I'm going to put them in there this way And then if I have a question about those two checks I can always go back to the prior accounting system And look them up This is just to give me a note That this is coming from the prior accounting system And I want to reference to The prior accounting system So then I'm going to say the name I'm going to say it's Epiphone Now Epiphone is a vendor that we buy And then I'll say this is a prior Period Expense form And so do do do And then I'm going to say that this was for 4,000 Okay, and then Epiphone is who we buy Inventory from So you might think well I have to put that to Inventory But we're not going to put it to Inventory Because when I put the beginning balances on the books I already accounted for Inventory As of the cutoff date of 1231 Inventory we made it correct By doing our journal entry process So what I want to do is just have a clearing account All my balances are correct already I'm just going to clear this out To the opening balance equity account Which is that generic account That QuickBooks makes up, right So I'm going to put the two checks To opening balance equity And then I'm going to make an adjustment to that 30,000 The other side also going to opening balance equity Which will net out opening balance equity Back to zero is going to be the idea Alright, so let's get an idea of what that will look like We're going to say this is going to be a prior period adjustment Checking account, the other side is going to go to opening balance equity Let's save it And then if I go to my balance sheet And run it And we had an adjustment to the checking account And we had an adjustment we can see down here The other is a balance And the opening balance equity I'm actually going to open up the general ledger report To see the detail that way I'm going to go to the tab to the right Right click on it and duplicate it And then I'm going to go to reports On the left hand side Close up the hamburger Go all the way down to the accounting reports Which are for my accountant Open up the general ledger And then I will type in here The date of the transaction 123123 to 123123 And just see that activity So in the checking account we have this expense form For the 4000 And then in opening balance equity We had a transaction For opening balance equity Here Of the 4000 Right there Alright, let's do the other one now So I'm going to do the second one I'm going to go back to the first tab We're back in the register again And let's select the dropdown And do another expense form And say this one is as of 123123 as well This is a prior period expense form And I'm going to say this was for the 1000 And I'm also going to say the payee is epiphone again But I'm going to put it once again to opening balance equity So same transaction Opening balance equity I'm going to run that And now if I take a quick look on the balance sheet And run that again We should have an opening balance equity now The 5000 So there's our 5000 in opening balance equity And then up top We made a change to the checking account as well Now what I'm going to do if I go back into my register And scroll up in the checking account Let's run this one again We have our activity here Now this 25,000 we put in the checking account I'm going to now change to 30,000 And the other side is still going to be going to opening balance equity I could do this two different ways I could just change this transaction This number 230,000 And the other side from this deposit form Went to opening balance equity Or I can make another transaction Basically another deposit form For 5000 And the other side going to opening balance equity We might be a little skeptical We could drill down on this form And just change it to 30,000 But maybe we don't want to go back and do that That might seem a little scary So maybe instead we add another one 5000 which will be on the deposit side of things Let's do that So I'm going to go over And this time I'm going to make a deposit As of 1231 And this is going to be for Beginning Balance Balance Adjustment For outstanding Checks Let's say And it's going to be a deposit of 5000 And the other side is going to go to Opening balance equity And now opening balance equity is going to Net out back down to zero So let's go ahead and save that one And if I go back to my balance sheet And run this We adjusted the checking account Should be basically back to where it was before And opening balance equity Should be back to zero If I look at the detail In my general ledger And run that one You can see that basically these two things Net out in the checking account And then in the opening balance equity We have a similar kind of Activity here Here's the deposit And then here's the 4000 And the 5000 And the 5000 here That are going to be a deposit And then these expenses That are going to check net out against it Leaving us once again To what the beginning balance was Which was 25000 But providing the detail That we can then check off To see the audit trail in 5000 here That are netting out against each other Okay, now let's go back into The first tab Hamburger Let's go into our transactions Again into the reconcile And close the hamburger We're going to reconcile again And then I'm going to resume The reconciliation process So now What we have here is I have these two that net out against each other And now I have these two expense forms Which I can check off Boom, boom And then if I go back to this side We now have these two that we can check off As things that were on the bank statement That are clearing That would give us the total checks Of 111829 So that's going to be The 111829 So now these two numbers tie out And it's just the beginning balance By the 30,000 Now I'm not going to get into Trying to get this beginning balance to be 30,000 But rather just say I'm going to check these two off As another increase Which is on the deposit side of things So I'll just basically check these two off And boom Now we're in balance We have an exact match Of the statement balance And the cleared balance And that's what you want that to be You want that to be exactly zero Remember if that's anything other than zero Even if it's off like by $2 The $2 that it's off by Could be a combination of like 20 checks And like three deposits or something Which means you're losing the detail That's used to create the other side of the transaction Like the entire income statement Also note that we have a bunch of stuff here That hasn't been checked off Remembering that those are the items That we expect to be outstanding Those are the That might not be wrong Those are the items that we think are going to be The difference between the bank balance And our balance So the next thing we can do of course When this is finished is we can finish it When that's a green zero We can finish it When we do that We'll actually be able to generate the reports Remembering that this process is important Even if you don't know what the reports are doing Because you're reconciling here But the report is the bank reconciliation It's going to provide us The balance between the bank balance And the book balance Which of course will be The things that we didn't check off here We'll finish it next time So we'll put us in suspense now And then we'll take a look at the actual reports That will be constructed when we finalize Next time So for now I am once again Once again again Going to save it for later Save it for later And then we'll finish it off If we jump on over to the trial balance Note that although we entered The transactions We didn't actually make any changes to the end numbers Because the transactions netted out against each other Those transactions being in the checking account Where we adjusted essentially the beginning balances And had an equal and opposite adjustment To the checks that were entered And then in the opening balance equity Where the other side offset each other as well So we're back to zero The starting point there as well So if your numbers tight out last time That would be good this time