Current Events in January 2021

The value of Bitcoin (BTC) has begun the new year the same way it ended 2020 -- hitting staggering new highes.

The digital currency’s value hit a high of $34,800 over the weekend before settling back slightly on Asian markets on Monday morning. Recall that it was only three weeks ago that the coin’s value crossed $20,000 for the first time. 

The value is now up 800 percent since March, when the beginning of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic reduced the value of just about everything.

While individual investors -- especially young people -- were among the first to adopt Bitcoin enthusiasm, analysts say they are not the ones powering the digital currency’s latest boom. Rather, it’s institutions that control billions of dollars in assets that are moving into the space.

Individual investors still holding Bitcoin are reaping the benefits of that move. But will it last? As with any investment, there are no guarantees.

Analysts say a couple of factors are fueling the rise. They point to the massive amounts of government spending since the beginning of the pandemic, which eventually will likely erode the value of the dollar.

Inflation hedge

There will never be more than 21 million bitcoins, suggesting its value will increase as governments print more currency. Institutional investors have been buying bitcoins at high levels in the second half of 2020 as a hedge against coming inflation.

Historically, gold has been that “safe haven” hedge against inflation. But gold prices, while slightly higher in recent weeks, haven’t had nearly the run that Bitcoin has enjoyed.

Analysts say the decision by Paypal to allow people to use their accounts to buy and sell bitcoins was a huge catalyst for the late-year surge. That makes converting dollars to Bitcoin a much simpler process. 

At the same time, it could make it much easier for consumers to start using their Paypal accounts to make purchases in bitcoins instead of dollars.

While travel plans have looked a lot different recently because of COVID-19, a new study conducted by researchers from Washington State University could have many consumers getting their suitcases ready. 

According to the findings, consumers are likely to be happier the more often they travel. The researchers found that talking about and researching trips, and then ultimately going on those trips, contributed to better overall well-being. 

“While things like work, family life, and friends play a bigger role in overall reports of well-being, the accumulation of travel experiences does appear to have a small yet noticeable effect on self-reported life satisfaction,” said researcher Chun-Chu (Bamboo) Chen. “It really illustrates the importance of being able to get out of your routine and experience new things.”  

Several benefits to more travel

To better understand how travel can impact consumers’ happiness and well-being, the researchers surveyed 500 people on their typical travel habits, including how often they travel in a year, why they travel, and their overall life satisfaction. 

The researchers learned that more than 50 percent of the respondents traveled for leisure at least four times a year -- and the more trips they took, the happier they were. The study also revealed that rather than just daydreaming about a vacation, participants were most likely to follow through with travel plans when they discussed their intentions with other people or actively spent time researching their desired destination. These participants were also more likely to make travel a regular part of their yearly plans. 

Ultimately, participants who traveled the most often were nearly 10 percent happier than those who put traveling on the back burner. 

Getting ready for travel

As consumers anxiously anticipate travel restrictions to be loosened in the coming months, it could be a good idea to start doing the research for an upcoming trip as soon as possible. Even if the trip is months away, getting in the travel mindset could help boost consumers’ moods. 

“This research shows the more people talk about and plan vacations the more likely they are to take them,” Chen said. “If you are like me and chomping at the bit to get out of dodge and see someplace new, this research will hopefully be some additional good motivation to start planning your next vacation.” 

On Monday morning, shareholders of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and France’s PSA -- parent company of Peugeot, Citroen and Opelar -- approved a merger of the two companies. 

The $58 million tie-up will create the fourth-largest automaker in the world, behind Volkswagen, Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi, and Toyota. The combined company will go by the name Stellantis. 

Officials have said the merger will yield billions in annual savings and speed up the development of electric and autonomous vehicles. The deal is expected to wrap up by mid-January. 

“We can approve the merger of Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot SA because their commitments will facilitate entry and expansion in the market for small commercial vans,” European Commission Vice President Margrethe Vestager said in a December press release.

‘Together we will be stronger’

PSA has been looking for a partner for the past decade, and Fiat-Chrysler is reportedly seeking to boost its presence in China, where PSA has a strong presence. The merger won approval from 99.15 percent of FCA shareholders and 99.85 percent of PSA investors, according to results from the online vote.

“Stellantis will be a sort of conglomerate of brands, some great and some not so good and most very regional,” said Jefferies analyst Philippe Houchois. “The merger will be a good opportunity for a reset.” 

Those heading up the combined group said it will be better positioned to face the challenges spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, one of which was last year’s double digit drop in global car sales. The deal will also supposedly help the group keep up with the shift to more technologically advanced vehicles. 

“We are aware of the fact that together we will be stronger than individually,” Carlos Tavares, the PSA chief tapped to lead the combined group, told shareholders on Monday.

Australia’s Qantas Airlines threw some extra shrimp on the barbie on Monday, as it learned it’s been named the “world’s safest airline” once again. 

AirlineRatings.com editors applauded the 100-year old Qantas for amassing a record of firsts in both operations and safety. 

“The Australian airline has been a clear leader in the development of Future Air Navigation System; real-time monitoring of its engines across its fleet, the flight data recorder to monitor plane and later crew performance; automatic landings using Global Navigation Satellite System as well as precision approaches around mountains in the cloud using RNP (Required Navigation Performance),” said AirlineRatings Christine Forbes Smith. Smith noted that Qantas has been either first or second to roll out the 16 major safety enhancements introduced in the past 60 years.

The Top 20

In evaluating an airline’s safety, AirlineRatings.com took an exhaustive range of factors into account, including: airline’s crash and serious incident record, government audits, audits from aviation’s governing and industry bodies, industry-leading safety initiatives, and fleet age.

Here’s how the researchers ranked its who’s who:

1. Qantas

2. Qatar Airways

3. Air New Zealand

4. Singapore Airlines

5. Emirates

6. EVA Air

7. Etihad Airways

8. Alaska Airlines

9. Cathay Pacific Airways

10. British Airways

11. Virgin Australia/Virgin Atlantic

12. Hawaiian Airlines

13. Southwest Airlines

14. Delta Air Lines

15. American Airlines

16. SAS

17. Finnair

18. Lufthansa

19. KLM

20. United Airlines

Despite Qantas sitting atop the field and United bringing up the rear, AirlineRatings.com editor-in-chief Geoffrey Thomas said that, in reality, there’s not as much disparity as it seems between #1 and #20.

“These airlines are standouts in the industry and are at the forefront of safety, innovation, and launching of new aircraft. In fact, there is very little between the top 20, they are all standouts,” Mr. Thomas said.

In the past, low-cost carriers have been excluded in the rankings. But in response to public interest, AirlineRatings.com editors decided to include them this time around. Their Top 10 safest & best low-cost airlines are as follows in alphabetical order: Air Arabia, Allegiant, easyjet, Frontier, Jetstar Group, Jetblue, Ryanair, Vietjet, Westjet, and Wizz.

Venmo has launched a new “Cash a Check” feature that will enable both Android and iOS users to deposit paper checks without having to visit a physical cash-checking location or use their bank’s app. 

The rollout of the feature coincides with the distribution of a second round of government stimulus checks. Venmo said it will be waiving all fees for cashing government issued checks “to ensure customers can use their stimulus funds to pay for the things they need most.” 

After taking a photo of the check, Venmo said users will typically see it approved in “seconds” and in their Venmo account in a matter of minutes. At most, the company said it will take an hour. 

“We know that with health and safety top of mind for many, having a safe way to access stimulus payments is essential for many of our customers, especially those who are receiving paper checks and traditionally would have to visit a physical check-cashing location,” Darrell Esch, SVP and GM, Venmo, said in a statement. 

While fees won’t apply to government issued checks for a limited time, they will apply to most other checks. 

The feature is currently available to “eligible” Venmo app users in the United States. Venmo users can see if they’re eligible to use the new feature by downloading the latest version of the app and making sure the operating system on their device is up to date. 

More than 200 Google and Alphabet workers have banded together, trumpeting their intention to form a labor union -- The Alphabet Workers Union -- which will be open to both employees and contractors.

Its goal will be to tackle ongoing issues like disparity in pay, mistreatment, and controversial government contracts -- many of the issues that a group of U.S. senators pushed Google to stop in 2019. 

The structure of the union will be members-only. While going that route doesn’t allow the union to negotiate a new contract for its workforce, it will allow it to speak for any employee who seeks to participate, including temporary workers, contractors, and vendors.

“We’ve had enough”

While the organizing effort is still in its infancy and built mostly out of Google/Alphabet workers in the San Francisco Bay Area, its organizers are confident that the story they have to tell will help their effort spread.

“For far too long, thousands of us at Google — and other subsidiaries of Alphabet, Google’s parent company — have had our workplace concerns dismissed by executives,” Parul Koul, the executive chair of the Alphabet Workers Union, and Chewy Shaw, the union’s vice chair, wrote in a guest editorial in the New York Times on Sunday.

Koul and Shaw reminded the world that when Google was originally formed, its motto was “Don’t be evil,” then took the company to task for a litany of issues ranging from profiting from ads by a hate group to failing to make necessary changes to meaningfully address retention issues with people of color.

How much can be accomplished?

This is not the first time Google/Alphabet workers have joined forces to fight what they consider to be “abuses.” Organized workers at the company were able to get executives to drop Project Maven, the company’s artificial-intelligence program that the Pentagon contracted for, and Project Dragonfly, a strategy to launch a censored search engine in China. 

Still, the organizers need to prepare for a fight. If the recent past is any indication, Google/Alphabet will not take this effort lightly. Just a month ago, the company was not only accused of violating labor laws by monitoring workers, but by going even further and allegedly retaliating against -- and firing -- workers who were trying to unionize.

However, Koul and Shaw are confident that the effort can produce some positive results. They point out that some of Alphabet’s subcontractors “won a $15 minimum hourly wage, parental leave, and health insurance” after previous mobilization efforts. 

“And the practice of forced arbitration for claims of sexual harassment was ended after the November 2018 walkout -- albeit only for full-time employees, not contractors. A few months later, Google announced that it would end forced arbitration for employees for all claims,” the pair wrote.