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People need to understand, the Marshalls is a small country, consisting of less than a hundred thousand of people. The islands in the Micronesia are small, isol

People need to understand, the Marshalls is a small country, consisting of less than a hundred thousand of people. The islands in the Micronesia are small, isolated, and can hardly sustain themselves without foreign aid. I had never heard this till now even though my parents are from a nearby island. I did some searching, and the only thing I could find in articles about it were quotes from the CEO of Neema and quotes from politicians. Not a single quote from any normal person on the street and whether they think its a good idea or even know what's going on. It smells very fishy to me. Finally, I'll say, I don't have the kindest opinion of the IMF, but adopting a potentially volatile cryptocurrency and thinking they'll be able to augment their internal commerce with it is ill-fated.

true_religion 8y ago
> Not a single quote from any normal person on the street and whether they think its a good idea or even know what's going on. I never really expect to hear normal, man-on-street, type folk queried about international monetary policy. Personally, I don't think my few semesters of economics qualify me to discuss the economic impact of a US Federal Reserve decision. In a democratic government, we have to trust that the powers which we elect, have placed suitably expert people into the bureaucracy and act accordingly to their advice.
- noobermin 8y ago
  There are 50K people in the Marshalls. Imagine a rural town in the US decided to do something like this[0]. Wouldn't the strangeness of the arrangement with the small size of the city prompt a reporter to ask a random farmer or guy on the street? That would be the first thing I'd imagine. Regardless, I get it, unlike a small town, you can't really just ship your reporter on a road trip there without buying a $3K ticket, I'm just hinting that it's hard to tell whether people on the ground are really aware this is going down from just reading about it. Regarding the politicians it's very possible that the policy makers were sold a one sided perspective on this. People in the pacific just don't have access to information that people elsewhere do. That said, I'm not Marshallese, so I don't know the circumstances of the vote so I'm assuming a lot here. I've just seen a similar script play before in Palau and it usually doesn't turn out well. [0] Of course, cities can't issue their own currency practically, so the analog doesn't really work.
skybrian 8y ago
Did you see anything from a local reporter? I'd guess flying there would be pretty expensive and not worthwhile for the average technology reporter.

true_religion 8y ago

> Not a single quote from any normal person on the street and whether they think its a good idea or even know what's going on. I never really expect to hear normal, man-on-street, type folk queried about international monetary policy. Personally, I don't think my few semesters of economics qualify me to discuss the economic impact of a US Federal Reserve decision. In a democratic government, we have to trust that the powers which we elect, have placed suitably expert people into the bureaucracy and act accordingly to their advice.

noobermin 8y ago
There are 50K people in the Marshalls. Imagine a rural town in the US decided to do something like this[0]. Wouldn't the strangeness of the arrangement with the small size of the city prompt a reporter to ask a random farmer or guy on the street? That would be the first thing I'd imagine. Regardless, I get it, unlike a small town, you can't really just ship your reporter on a road trip there without buying a $3K ticket, I'm just hinting that it's hard to tell whether people on the ground are really aware this is going down from just reading about it. Regarding the politicians it's very possible that the policy makers were sold a one sided perspective on this. People in the pacific just don't have access to information that people elsewhere do. That said, I'm not Marshallese, so I don't know the circumstances of the vote so I'm assuming a lot here. I've just seen a similar script play before in Palau and it usually doesn't turn out well. [0] Of course, cities can't issue their own currency practically, so the analog doesn't really work.

skybrian 8y ago

Did you see anything from a local reporter? I'd guess flying there would be pretty expensive and not worthwhile for the average technology reporter.