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It is easy to get bogged down by bad news when it comes to politics in America. The country is divided, both sides cannot come to a compromise, and inflation and the pandemic are hurting Americans. But there is one place where one can be optimistic.
That place is Bitcoin. Many politicians from both sides of the aisle have come in favor of Bitcoin. Miami Mayor Eric Suarez (Republican) has been a big proponent of Bitcoin. So has been Eric Adams, who is the newly elected Democratic mayor of New York. More politicians who love Bitcoin are coming from the American Midwest.
The latest breed of politicians to support the Bitcoin revolution is coming from the American Heartland. The latest to come in favor is 38-year-old Morgan Harper. Morgan Harper grew up in poverty and was born to a teenage mother. She then went to Stanford Law School and became a policy advisor at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. This is where Morgan learned about Bitcoin. Morgan’s take on Bitcoin is truly remarkable. As someone who grew up in poverty Morgan sees the decentralized technology behind Bitcoin as a way of bringing opportunities to areas in need and a tool to increase individual financial freedom and empowerment. Furthermore, Morgan sees that traditional banks are enacting decriminationary policies to maintain financial power in a few hands and maintain the financial status quo. The current financial status quo only makes a few people rich and does not give opportunity to the masses. Needless to say this is one reason why the current financial establishment hates Bitcoin. Morgan Harper is a progressive Democrat.
Morgan Harper is not the only politician/candidate praising Bitcoin. State Senator Jim Ananich who is a Democrat from Flint Michigan wants to make Michigan the most pro-Bitcoin state in the Union. Cynthia Lummins, Senator from Wyoming, has owned 5 Bitcoins since 2013 and has been one of the biggest advocates for Bitcoin in Washington. Senator Rand Paul from Kentucky, son of legendary Congressman Dr. Ron Paul (who also loves Bitcoin), has called Bitcoin the next global reserve currency. If you notice, besides Mayor Suarez and Adams, the politicians I mention all represent Middle America. We have not even heard Nancy Pelosi (whose district in San Francisco is the heart of Silicon Valley) mention anything on Bitcoin. Politicians who are from districts in Silicon Valley/Bay Area have been silent on Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies.
Now let’s look at the global adoption of Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies.
2021 Global Crypto Adoption Index (source: Chainalysis):
Listed above are nations that have the highest crypto adoption in the world. If you notice anything, the nations listed above have many traits in common. Some of these traits include:
Countries like India and South Africa have been victims of imperialism and have seen their fortunes stolen from imperial powers.
Countries are low income and have suffered from poverty
Countries where a significant percentage of the population is unbanked
Countries like Argentina that have been treated unfairly by the current financial system (like the IMF and World Bank)
Now similar to these countries, the American Midwest has suffered a lot thanks to big finance and globalization. After World War II cities like Detroit, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh (the industrial Midwest) served as the economic machine of America. Made in America Cars, Steel, and other industrial products built America to be the powerhouse it is today. First came cheap imported Steel and imported cars which started to destroy cities like Detroit and Cleveland. Then came globalization and financialization. China's opening allowed corporate America to cut labor costs and offshore manufacturing to China where workers in China are paid pennies on the dollar. The US economy which was built thanks to the hard-working men and women in the industrial Midwest was taken over by financiers and bankers from Wall Street. Money printing has only helped made Wall Street, Washington, and Silicon Valley rich. Flyover country has been ignored by Coastal America. While money printing has increased gains in the stock market, pumped up start-up valuations, and increased the value of real estate in the most exclusive neighborhoods, Middle America has been suffering from stagnant wages, declining standard of living, and an Opioid crisis.
Middle America has received the least benefits from globalization, financialization, and money printing. As Middle America benefits from growing the food we all eat and making actual things money printing and creating dollars out of thin air does not help the hard-working men and women in Middle America. Thanks to money printing and the Fed’s easy money policies we have witnessed unprecedented income inequality.
That is why I truly believe that it is ingenious for the Midwest to embrace Bitcoin and Crypto. Bitcoin is not only hard money but a great equalizer. Bitcoin has created so much wealth and unlike the Internet revolution the average joe frontran Wall Street. As you can see from the chart above the countries that have suffered financial and economic pain for years are fast to adopt Crypto. So it should not come as a surprise that the Midwest is embracing Bitcoin.
I truly believe that the Midwest can have a great come back thanks to Bitcoin and emerging deep technology. The Midwest is home to some of the best research Universities (ex: - University of Michigan, Northwestern University, University of Chicago etc.) in the world. The Midwest already leads in many areas like agriculture and automobile manufacturing. With the combination of these universities, already established industrial knowledge, and emerging technology knowledge can make the US Midwest once again and industrial and economic behemoth it once was. Also with cheap real estate and labor costs companies can easily build plants and attract labor to these areas. If state and local leadership can open their eyes they can create special economic zeons in the Midwest to attract the best and brightest entrepreneurs in the world to come and start creating the next big “thing”. Imagine cities like Cleveland, Detroit, Ann Arbor, Columbus, and Des Moines being the next “Silicon Valley” thanks to Bitcoin. A people driven revolution, like we are seeing with individual politicians and candidates embracing Bitcoin, can make the Midwest great again.
What I write here is not investment advice. I write these for educational purpose. Please do your own research before investing. Investing involves risk.
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